Great lasagna recipe wanted
January 10, 2022 2:30 PM   Subscribe

I want a great recipe for classic, homestyle lasagna – but without beef or pork.

A recipe with ground turkey would be great, if you have a good one.

Many of the veggie lasagnas I've had are too watery. But maybe you have a recipe that solves this problem?

I'm not trying to make this healthy, or anything like that. Nor am I trying to make it fancy.

To the contrary, I want the classic gooey, steamy, family-style brick of cheese and carbs – just sans the four-legged meats.

Thanks!
posted by escape from the potato planet to Food & Drink (19 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don’t know if it’s quite what you’re looking for, but I use a variation on this recipe, with red sauce in place of the Parmesan sauce it calls for. There’s no meat at all as-written. The fact that it uses uncooked regular lasagna noodles instead of “no-boil” ones means that the result is extra tight and not at all watery.
posted by okayokayigive at 2:43 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


We made Smitten Kitchen's "perfect vegetable lasagna" last night and it was, well, perfect. No meat of any kind (though I think you could easily add ground turkey if you want), not healthy in any way, just a glorious pile of cheesy, gooey carbs.
posted by fancypants at 2:45 PM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


The year is 2002...you just made a special trip to the Mediterranean Delights display case at the grocery store to pick up a thing of goat cheese...you're making the Barefoot Contessa's turkey sausage lasagna for dinner and life is good
posted by katiec at 2:55 PM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I don't have a recipe for my vegetarian lasagna, other than sort of winging it. I have red layers (tomato-sauce with lots of vegetables for crunch) and white/green layers (a mix of cheeses, like ricotta or cottage cheese + tofu because its cheaper, sometimes with kale or spinach). How many layers is to your taste, but I often do 5 (red - white - red - white - red), with pasta in between each. That makes for a LOT of pasta and makes the lasagna quite solid/brick-like. The other thing I do is use oven-ready noodles, because they are easier. But they also absorb a lot more liquid - my lasagna is sometimes a bit too dry.
posted by jb at 2:56 PM on January 10, 2022


For very classic-classic, as in just sauce, cheese, and pasta, Alison Roman's is excellent.
posted by superfluousm at 3:00 PM on January 10, 2022 [4 favorites]


Instead of meat you can make a mix of cottage cheese, egg, and mozzarella, and add a few layers of it with your noodles and sauce. I just use the recipe on the box and it works well!
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:02 PM on January 10, 2022


I'm also a fan of Smitten Kitchen's recipe, and she just released a video that walks you through it.
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:12 PM on January 10, 2022


My adult children prefer my vegetarian version of Daniel Gritzer's lasagne. I basically just sub finely diced aubergine for meat. BUT, it is really important that the red sauce is cooked through so it is thick and sticky, not watery at all. And it has wine, and generally everything a bolognese normally has. I use chicken stock, unless my guests are vegetarian. You could add in very finely chopped rehydrated porcini mushrooms for more meatiness, but I rarely do.
posted by mumimor at 3:12 PM on January 10, 2022


I love really classic lasagna bolognese, so when I want to make it vegetarian, I sub in an all-out mushroom and eggplant bolognese. (Bonus: I put the mushrooms through a meat grinder.) It loses very little in translation with the other components, just be sure to salt it sufficiently. It would not hurt to add in some ground turkey or turkey Italian sausage in place of some of the mushrooms.
posted by supercres at 4:38 PM on January 10, 2022


Oh yeah, adding back in the chicken livers to this would probably be even better than adding back in ground poultry. Stock too-- doubly so if you can DIY to get it nice and gelatin-rich (should set up in the fridge), or supplement with gelatin (0.5-1 tbsp for 2 cups) that lines up with your requirements.
posted by supercres at 4:41 PM on January 10, 2022


This is the best lasagna I've ever had/made, and I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be just as good using turkey sausage. The first time I made it, I actually took a picture of it coming out of the oven, and I *never* do stuff like that.
posted by DrGail at 5:11 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Seconding Alison Roman. It's absolutely no-frills and deeply satisfying.
posted by less-of-course at 6:08 PM on January 10, 2022


I make this recipe every New Years. It always comes out really well. Just make sure you don’t scorch the sauce at the bottom of the pot (low heat is your friend!!!) And for the noodles, soak them in hot tap water for an hour (change the water a time or two to keep it hot) instead of boiling them. They’ll come out much better that way.
posted by azpenguin at 6:46 PM on January 10, 2022


Cookie and Kate has you covered. Just made this last night and it’s a family fav.
posted by jasondigitized at 8:01 PM on January 10, 2022


This recipe might be slightly lighter than you want but Julia Turshens' A Nice Lasagna is so delicious.

Also to address soupyness, try her suggestion of letting the lasagna rest for 15 mins after it comes out of the oven before serving (I had soupy issues too until I learned this trick!)
posted by kitkatcathy at 8:26 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


I would suggest roasting the vegetables, this should help make it less watery. Using uncooked noodles so they absorb the extra water as the lasagna cooks.

I would also browning the turkey adding garlic powered, Italian seasoning and fennel seed to give it a sausage flavor.
posted by tman99 at 6:29 AM on January 11, 2022


I recently made a very tasty lasagna using Chef John's recipe but replaced the meat sauce with a recipe from America's Test Kitchen. Finely minced mushroom gives the sauce that umami flavor and the crushed chickpea does a surprisingly good job at replicating the texture of ground beef.
posted by hark at 8:46 AM on January 11, 2022


I make these Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups from Budget Bytes as a regular spinach lasagna, and it's my favorite lasagna.
posted by jabes at 11:37 AM on January 11, 2022


Tofu could be a substitute for whatever meat you're used to. The first Time I used it in my Lasagnas I wondered why I had been using meat up to this point. So you may take any recipe and simply replace meat by tofu.
posted by nicolin at 12:56 PM on January 11, 2022


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