I’m in the full-swing fall spirit, even though it’s still nearly 95°F here in LA—I live in the valley! Those who are long-time hot for foodies know that I’m not into spooky eats. I like to keep it classy. Enter this vegan pumpkin lasagna. It’s about as classy as pumpkin can get and it’s easy to throw together for dinner.
Obviously, pumpkin haters need not keep reading! This is a pumpkiny recipe through and through, so you gotta love it! This vegan pumpkin lasagna has layers of herby tofu ricotta, spinach, and a creamy spiced-up pumpkin bechamel. Not a tomato in sight! I love the warming spices in the pumpkin bechamel. It makes this dish very cozy and super savory. See how to assemble this yummy dish by watching the video below.
I added sage to the tofu ricotta. If you’re looking for a classic lasagna try my recipe here, which uses the same tofu ricotta mixture. It’s also customizable so you can make the layers with veggies, mushrooms, vegan ground beef etc. But the pumpkin lovers are going to fall head over heels for this lasagna!
Two important things for this recipe are the use of miso in the pumpkin bechamel. It makes it super tasty! And I always use oven-ready lasagna so there’s no need to boil the pasta in advance. You could, of course, use gluten-free pasta as well.
You’re probably wondering what does this lasagna taste like? Well, it’s not sweet. The mind might go there with the use of pumpkin and the spices, but remember pure pumpkin puree is only pumpkin. There’s no sugar. Pumpkin is earthy and slightly bitter. That comes through in this. I think it compliments the vegan cheese, and there’s also lots of nutritional yeast in this to give it even more umami-ness in addition to the miso. It also has a lovely herby flavor from the fresh sage and basil. I absolutely love this pumpkin lasagna and I hope you do too!
Instructions
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To make the tofu ricotta, crumble the tofu into a large mixing bowl. Combine with basil, sage, nutritional yeast, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Refrigerate this mixture until assembling the lasagna. Can be made a day in advance as well.
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To make the pumpkin bechamel add the pumpkin puree to a high powered blender with nondairy milk, nutritional yeast, miso, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, pepper, and all spice. Blend until very smooth. You might need to stop the blender and stir with a spatula to get mixture off the sides. Then continue blending until well mixed.
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Preheat oven to 400°F.
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To assemble the lasagna brush olive oil in an 11 x 8-inch glass baking dish. Add ½ cup pumpkin bechemal and spread evenly on the bottom of the dish. Add a layer of noodles across. I did 3 sheets across but I could have done 4 and slightly overlapped them. Add 2 cups of the tofu ricotta in an even layer, sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella shreds ontop evenly. Then add 1 ½ cups frozen chopped spinach in an even layer and dollop spoonfuls, about ¾ cup, of the pumpkin bechamel on the spinach. Repeat with another layer of noodles, then spread ¾ cup of the bechamel over noodles. Add remaining 2 cups of tofu ricotta, 1 cup of mozzarella shreds, then 1 ½ cups of frozen chopped spinach, then ¾ cup of the bechamel dolloped on top of the spinach. Add another layer of noodles, spread the remaining bechamel evenly over the noodles. Add any remaining mozzarella shreds and 1 cup of the vegan parmesan shreds in an even layer. Cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes or so until the top is melted and and the lasagna is bubbling. I like to broil as well for about 5 of the remaining 10 minutes to get the top to brown.
