This lasagna has crunchy edges, a melted-cheese top, tender vegetables, rich sauce and noodles with just a hint of chewiness. It’s also super easy—and made with no-boil noodles and without ricotta.
There are a few things every home cook should know how to make and have a signature recipe for, and lasagna is one of them. Lasagna is amazing because it’s so much more than the sum of its parts. You everything in the oven and some kind of magic happens and melds the whole thing together.
This isn’t a stiff lasagna with perfect photogenic layers. It’s luscious and messy. It’s eat-your-fill-and-then-nibble-at-the-edges lasagna. It is, in my opinion, the best vegetable lasagna. It’s also vegetarian, but you won’t miss the meat. It’s all crunchy edges flecked with just a touch of black, a soft melting-cheese top, tender vegetables, rich sauce and noodles with just a hint of chewiness.
I made a (much smaller) version of this a lot in my later undergrad years, when I was too busy to cook every night but didn’t want to live on boiled eggs and granola bars. It’s pretty quick to put together, and bakes long enough for you to clean up and get a small task or two done. It’s also super versatile: you can switch out vegetables you don’t like for something you do, and use whatever sauce you want. If it’s a Sunday afternoon and you want a project, making homemade marinara like this one is easy, even if it takes a while. If you’re short on time or just can’t be bothered, jarred sauce is totally fine. Just pick one you love—sauce can make or break a lasagna. You’ll need 3 ½ cups, no exceptions. Any less results in a lasagna that’s too dry, and nobody wants that.
Here’s how to make it: First, you preheat your oven so it can get toasty. Second, you make your vegetables. This sounds like a lot because you have to do it in three steps, but it’s super easy and goes pretty quickly. You cook the mushrooms first until they’re small and brown, then the zucchini until translucent and browning, and then you wilt the spinach, which takes two or three minutes at the most.
Mix all of the vegetables with the cream cheese and most of the cheese until it’s all combined, and add a little bit of the sauce. I find that adding some sauce makes it taste more cohesive and makes the mixture easier to spread. Then you layer it with noodles and sauce and more cheese on the top. Don’t worry if you accidentally mess up the layers or don’t divide everything totally evenly between them. It’ll taste the same anyway, so there’s no need to stress. It bakes for 30-40 minutes, which gives you more than enough time to clean up and chill for a bit, which is always a plus in my book.
mushroom, spinach & zucchini lasagna
time: ~1 hour & 15 minutes
serves 8 ish, with leftovers
ingredients
12 no-boil lasagna noodles*
butter
salt & pepper, to taste
garlic powder, to taste
1 package mushrooms, chopped small
2 zucchinis, sliced into half-moons
1 package spinach
8 oz cream cheese
1 ½ cups parmesan
2 cups mozzarella
3 ½ cups sauce
*I like using these because they cut out a step, but you can use regular ones if you want. Just boil them according to the instructions and lay them flat to dry while you cook your vegetables.
directions
- Preheat your oven to 375 F and place the rack in the middle.
- Cook your vegetables. Heat butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, tossing to coat them all in butter. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook until they’re small and brown but not completely shriveled (about 10 minutes) and set aside. In the same pan, add a bit more butter (if necessary), and all of the zucchini. Season the same as the mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until the zucchini are translucent and brown spots begin to appear (10-15 minutes). Drain any excess water and set aside. Throw in spinach by the handful and stir until it’s wilted.
- Make filling. In a medium mixing bowl, combine mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, cream cheese, 1 ½ cups of the mozzarella, 1 cup parmesan, and ¼ cup sauce. Mix gently but thoroughly, until there are no more bits of unmixed cream cheese and everything seems pretty thoroughly distributed.
- Build lasagna. Put about 1/3 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass casserole dish and spread evenly into the corners. Top with 3 noodles, then 1/3 of the vegetable mixture and 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Do the same for the next two layers, then top with the last 3 noodles, the rest of the sauce, and remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
- Bake. Bake on middle rack in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until the top is browned and the sides are bubbling. Let it cool before you eat it—it’ll be hot!
2 thoughts on “mushroom, spinach & zucchini lasagna”