A nut-free and gluten-free raw vegan lasagna with mushroom meat, golden zucchini cheese, garlic herb tomato sauce, and eggplant/zucchini “noodle” layers.
This is a wonderful refreshing summer meal as all the vegetables are in season. This food combination keeps me feeling full but light and is easy to digest.
Despite having 4 layers, this is a fairly simple recipe. All it requires is a dehydrator or an oven at it’s lowest temperature. A food processor, shredder, and mandoline will make this recipe especially easy.
All you have to do is a little prep work for dehydration and then assemble the layers.
The first thing I do is peel the eggplant skin off, then I bust out the mandoline and slice the eggplant and zucchini into 1/4 inch thick strips. If you do not have a mandoline, cut very slowly and try to cut as evenly as possible, it doesn’t have to be perfect.
The bigger the zucchini or eggplant, the more seeds in the middle. I would go for the smaller ones, although I like using the bigger ones because you get a more substantial “noodle” I just discard the soft seed center.
Next is the zucchini cheese! I used a golden zucchini because it looks more like cheese and they had it at the farmers market, but green zucchini will work as well. I haven’t tried squash but I’m sure that would also work. All I do is mix the zucchini with nutritional yeast and salt, and dehydrate; it’s very simple.
I use this cheese for my raw vegan pizza too!!
Next I slice the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and put some fresh basil and parsley on top. This is also dehydrated for the same amount of time as everything else.
I then put mushrooms, spices, herbs and soy sauce in the food processor and chop it all until it resembles ground beef. Dehydrate, same as everything else.
When all the layers are complete and spread out onto a dehydrator sheet or baking pan, everything goes in the dehydrator at about 135 degrees for about 1-2 hours, or in the oven at it’s lowest temperature for about the same time.
Once the tomatoes are somewhat dry, mix everything on the tomato tray in the food processor until it becomes saucy. If you want a more heavy sauce that tastes similar to real pasta sauce, I recommend adding in soaked sun-dried tomatoes to the food processor..
Lastly is my favorite part, the assembly! You can basically layer it however you’d like; sky’s the limit, you can’t go wrong.
There are many different ways to make raw lasagna, some cheap, some more expensive, some easy and some more difficult. I wanted to try and make a simple, inexpensive lasagna that could be made many times without breaking the bank.
For fancier lasagnas I have seen many with basil walnut pesto, or the expensive pine nut pesto. I have also made them with a raw vegan “meat” made with a base of walnuts and sun-dried tomatoes. I also used to make a cashew ricotta cheese, or the more expensive version with macadamia nuts. However I want to keep it light, and keep eating good with money to spare for fun activities! And so I give you the all veggie lasagna!
Raw Vegan Lasagna
INGREDIENTS
"Noodles"
- 1 eggplant
- 1 zucchini
Tomato Sauce
- 4 to matoes; sliced preferably romas
- 1/2 cup fresh basil
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
- 2 garlic cloves; sliced
- 1/2 onion; sliced
- 1/2 tsp peppercorn
- pinch of salt
Mushroom Meat
- 4 cups crimini mushrooms
- 2 tbsp tamari; or soy sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin seed
- 1 tbsp rosemary
Zucchini Cheese
- 1 cup golden zucchini; shredded
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 tsp salt
INSTRUCTIONS
"Noodles"
- Peel the eggplant; cut even 1/4 inch strips, best done with mandoline.
- Cut zucchini in even 1/4 inch strips, also best done with a mandoline.
- Lay the "noodles" flat on the dehydrator sheet, or baking sheet with parchment paper. You may also want to oil the surface if using the oven.
- Sprinkle a little salt over them.
Tomato Sauce
- Slice the tomatoes, onions, and garlic and lay them flat.
- Put the herbs over top.
Mushroom Meat
- Throw all the ingredients into the food processor and mix until it resembles ground meat.
- Lay it out flat and spaced as best as possible.
Zucchini Cheese
- Shred the zucchini and put it in a small mixing bowl.
- Add the nutritional yeast and salt, and mix together.
- Lay out flat and spaced as best as possible.
Dehydrate or Bake
- Dehydrate all the trays at about 135 degrees for 1-2 hours.
- -Or- Bake at the lowest temperature for 1-2 hours, check frequently. If your oven has a convection setting, use it.
Assembly
- Layer all the ingredients and serve.
NOTES
Heat up in the dehydrator or oven at aprox.165 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Comments 2
How is it raw if over 118 degrees?
Author
Hi Jennifer! The food will not actually reach 135F in the first hour or two, and it is important to start at a higher temp to reduce the risk of mold and bacteria development. If you don’t feel comfortable with this you can certainly dehydrate at 115F the entire time. If you smell or taste sweet/sour fermentation, then I would worry about bacteria/mold growth.