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Looking for the best vegetarian lasagna recipe? You're in the right place. This Butternut Squash and Spinach lasagna will become one of your favorites! This lasagna is stuffed with vegetables and combines Ricotta, Parmesan, and Mozzarella cheeses to create the ultimate Fall and Winter comfort food.
This delicious veggie lasagna recipe is healthy, meatless, gluten-free friendly, and perfect for the Fall and Winter season. Because it uses butternut squash, it's a great choice as a holiday vegetarian main dish or just a holiday recipe. It's so good, it's popular with kids!
To me, this is a great recipe to make any time of year, but because this lasagna has butternut squash, it is surely a good holiday veggie main dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Eve.
This vegetarian recipe uses butternut squash puree, which you can easily make by following my easy step-by-step tutorial: how to make butternut squash puree. Or, you can always buy pureed butternut squash at the store.
I also want to warn you that this is my most photo-intensive post yet with lots of step-by-step photos which I think are quite helpful to make this delicious vegetarian lasagna. So, if you want to go directly to the bottom of this post - just scroll down.
Cooking tips
- Use cooked lasagna noodles. Bring a large pot of water to boil, cook the noodles al dente, rinse each noodle with cold water and drain. This will guarantee the perfect texture!
- Make this vegetarian lasagna gluten-free! Use brown rice gluten-free lasagna noodles and follow all the recipe instructions as-is.
- For butternut squash filling, make your own butternut squash puree from scratch or use a store-bought version.
- Here is a great tutorial on how to cook fresh spinach - this recipe uses lemon juice and lemon juice which will pair well with the butternut squash, but you can also skip the lemon and/or lemon zest if you don't like it.
- No boil lasagna noodles. You can use no-boil lasagna noodles with this recipe! You might need to add about ½ cup of milk or water or vegetable stock to the squash purée, in addition to the milk called for in the recipe. (Thank you, Debbie, for your great tip!) You might also have to bake the lasagna for 10 extra minutes.
- Make this lasagna vegan. Use vegan Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses, then make vegan ricotta out of tofu and lemon juice using this recipe. (Thank you, Laura, for this wonderful tip!)
- Don't like vegetarian and want protein or meat? No problem. Add rotisserie chicken or cooked crumbled bacon in between lasagna layers.
I also tested this butternut squash and spinach lasagna with gluten-free noodles, and it works great! I used Tinkyada gluten-free brown rice lasagna noodles - almost the whole 10 oz package. So, yes, this recipe is gluten-free friendly, for sure!
Bake this vegetarian lasagna at 375 F covered with foil for the first 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes.
With this delicious meatless vegetable lasagna, you will have no leftovers!
How to make vegetarian butternut squash and spinach lasagna (step-by-step photos):
First, prepare the butternut squash filling. Using a food processor, combine butternut squash puree with Ricotta cheese, milk, salt, and nutmeg. Add more milk if needed (to make the butternut squash filling very creamy). Mix very well, taste, and add more salt, if needed:
Next, make spinach filling by mixing cooked spinach, Ricotta cheese, Mozzarella cheese, minced garlic, salt and pepper:
Prepare a baking dish - I used a casserole dish 11 inches x 8.5 inches x 3 inches deep. Grease the bottom of the baking pan lightly with olive oil spray. Spread ⅓ of butternut squash filling on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella cheese.
Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package instructions, rinse with cold water and drain. Top the first layer of butternut squash mixture with cooked lasagna noodles without overlapping - as you can see I used 3 noodles. Use as many noodles as you need for your baking dish.
Spread half of spinach filling over the cooked noodles.
Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese:
Top with cooked lasagna noodles:
Spread another layer (⅓) of butternut squash mixture:
Sprinkle lightly with Mozzarella cheese:
Top with cooked lasagna noodles:
Spread the remaining half of spinach filling over the noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese.
Top with the final layer of cooked noodles:
Spread a generous amount of butternut squash filling (the remaining ⅓) over this final layer of noodles:
Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and remaining Mozzarella cheese (about ½ cup of Mozzarella):
Generously sprinkle the cheese with Italian seasoning, paprika, basil:
Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 min. Remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes.
Your veggie lasagna is ready!
Recipes with Butternut Squash
Since you're looking at this butternut squash and spinach lasagna, I assume you like butternut squash. Here are a few other delicious recipes using this wonderful ingredient. All these recipes are also vegetarian and meatless.
- Butternut Squash and Spinach Tortellini
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Cinnamon Butternut Squash, Pecans, and Cranberries
- Black Bean and Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole
- Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash, Pine Nuts, Caramelized Onions and Feta cheese
Butternut Squash Salads:
- Autumn Salad with Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Seeds
- Butternut Squash Salad with Spinach, Pecans, Cranberries, and Pomegranate
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna
Ingredients
Butternut Squash Filling:
- 2 cups butternut squash puree (about half of squash)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- ½ cup milk or more, if needed
- ¼ teaspoon salt plus ⅛ teaspoon more
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Spinach Filling:
- 8 oz spinach (1 cup cooked spinach)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- pepper to taste
Other Ingredients:
- 10 oz lasagna noodles cooked (for gluten free, use Tinkyada brown rice lasagna noodles)
- 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese or more
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese on top
- ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon Paprika
- ¼ teaspoon Basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
Butternut Squash Filling:
- For this filling, you will need to have pre-cooked butternut squash puree. Using food processor, combine 2 cups of butternut squash puree with Ricotta cheese, milk, salt and nutmeg. Add more milk if needed (to make the butternut squash filling very creamy). Mix very well, taste and add more salt, if needed.
Spinach Filling:
- Combine cooked spinach, Ricotta cheese, mozzarella, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix, taste, and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
- Note: The recipe I provide for how to cook spinach uses lemon juice and lemon zest which pairs nicely with butternut squash but you don't have to use lemon juice and/or lemon zest if you don't like it.
Cooking lasagna noodles:
- Bring a very large pot of water to boil, and cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Rinse in cold water, drain. Using knife, trim noodles to fit your baking dish (if necessary).
How to assemble vegetarian lasagna:
- Prepare a baking dish - I used a casserole dish 11 inches x 8.5 inches x 3 inches deep. Grease the lasagna dish lightly with olive oil spray. Spread ⅓ of butternut squash filling on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked lasagna noodles without overlapping (I used 3 noodles).
- Spread half of spinach filling over the noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked noodles.
- Spread another layer (⅓) of butternut squash mixture, then sprinkle lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked noodles.
- Spread the remaining half of spinach filling over the noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with the final layer of cooked noodles.
- Spread a generous amount of butternut squash filling (the remaining ⅓) over this final layer of noodles, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and remaining mozzarella cheese (about ½ cup of mozzarella). Generously sprinkle the cheese with Italian seasoning, paprika, basil.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 min. Remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes.
Notes
Make it GLUTEN-FREE
- Use brown rice gluten-free lasagna noodles (or any other kind of GF lasagna noodles) and follow all the recipe instructions as-is.
How to use NO-BOIL LASAGNA NOODLES
- You can use no-boil lasagna noodles with this recipe! You might need to add about ½ cup of milk or water or vegetable stock to the squash purée, in addition to the milk called for in the recipe. (Thank you, Debbie, for your great tip!) You might also have to bake the lasagna for 10 extra minutes.
How to make it VEGAN
- Use vegan Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses, then make vegan ricotta out of tofu and lemon juice using this recipe. (Thank you, Laura, for this wonderful tip!)
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I have been making this recipe since you first posted it in 2014. It is incredible. The textures and the flavors are amazing.
I altered the spinach filling by sautéing an onion and a package of crostini mushrooms and a cup of pine nuts before adding the spinach. Overall, you've done a fantastic job developing the recipe. Thank you!
Thank you for such a kind comment! I am so glad you found this recipe useful! Love your additions: mushrooms and pine nuts!
This is a great recipe! My grand-daughter has decided to be vegetarian and so I have been trying to find different recipes and this was a hit. I had family over today and they brought Costco lasagna so I thought this would be a good time to try this recipe so she would have something to eat also. Most of us tried both lasagnas and everyone really liked this recipe. I didn't change a thing and don't think I will in the future!
Your comment made my day, Felicia! So glad you tried this recipe and that everyone enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to share such a kind comment.
Can the lasagna be assembled and then refrigerated until the next day?
Yes! Just make sure to cover it air-tight when you refrigerate it.
This was DELICIOUS-thank you so much! A great hit with my friends. I used low fat cottage cheese instead of ricotta and also seasoned the butternut squash puree with a bit of paprika.
So glad you liked this lasagna! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your comment!
I added Greek yogurt instead of ricotta ..... delicious
Glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
I made this lasagna and popped it right in the freezer before baking. How long should I bake it for and can it be baked from frozen? Thank you!
I would let the lasagna thaw completely and then bake it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes at 375 F.
This is a great recipe!! I added some cumin, chopped jalapeno peppers, and whipping cream to the squash mixture and pureed it all in the blender. I also used fresh, uncooked spinach and it was perfectly done after baking for 40 minutes. Thanks Julia for this fabulous recipe - definitely a keeper!!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your comment!
I’ve made this recipe many times now and make 2-3 pans that I freeze as it is a labor of love.
I added a layer of dark golden sautéed onions and added cottage cheese to both my spinach and butternut squash. Any great Italian lasagna always needs more garlic and basil in our house!
Absolutely the best recipe!
Thank you
Your comment made my day! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Love your additions, especially the sauteed onions and cottage cheese. Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to share such a wonderful and positive comment!
D E L I C I O U S ! I just ate it and it was amazing!! Thank you for that!!
You are very welcome! Thank you for your comment!
I used a 10 oz package of frozen (thawed and drained) chopped spinach. I enjoyed this recipe, but if I were to make this again I would omit the last layer of noodles and all of the cheese topping. It was denser than I was hoping for and the topping made it too rich.
So glad you liked this recipe! Thank you for your feedback!
Dying to try this recipe!!! Can you make, bake and then freeze? And reheat??
Also would this work in a slow cooker?
You could actually make this, assemble the lasagna, cover it air-tight, and freeze it without baking it! Then, when you are ready to bake, just let the lasagna come to room temperature and then bake it according to the instructions.
Julia,
What could I use in place of spinach? This looks delicious but I wouldn’t be able to use spinach. Thank you!
You could use kale or Swiss chard.
Excellent recipe! I added carrots and roasted red peppers to mine. My toddler loves it!
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Have you ever tried this in a crockpot?
This recipe is AMAZING! I've been making it for the last few Christmas holiday's and it always goes. Even my brother-in-law who is not a veggie lover LOVES this lasagna. I make it often. Making one tonight to eat and one to freeze for after I give birth in May and won't want to cook but still want something tasty. One of my favorite recipes! 🙂
I love comments like yours! Thank you for such a kind and wonderful comment. It made my day! So glad you've been making this lasagna regularly, and it makes me feel good that it's one of your favorite recipes! Thank you!
Can you please tell me the temp and how long you heat the lasagna after thawing? Thanks
If you freeze the lasagna, thaw it first. Then, bake in the preheated oven at 375 F for 30 minutes.