Vegetable Lasagna with white sauce is delicious, creamy, and easy to make. It’s packed with 5 different kinds of cheese and vibrant veggies to give you the ultimate flavor.
Coypcat Stouffer’s Vegetable Lasagna Recipe – Why You’ll Love It
This copycat Stouffer’s Vegetable Lasagna Recipe is creamy, cheesy, and delicious. It’s easy to make while still being packed full of flavor.
Sometimes when you think of vegetable lasagnas, you think of bland, boring dishes. This recipe for vegetable lasagna with white sauce is anything but boring.
If you’re a big fan of the vegetable lasagna that Stouffer’s used to make, this is a copycat recipe for that. It’s different from any other vegetable lasagna.
While most vegetable lasagnas have zucchini as the noodles, a red sauce, or big chunks of vegetables, this one still uses real pasta, has finely chopped vegetables, a white sauce, 5 kinds of cheese, and a crunchy topping.
It makes the perfect Meatless Monday dinner or anytime you want creamy, delicious pasta.
Before You Make this White Vegetable Lasagna Recipe:
The ingredients may seem a little intimidating since the list is long, but I promise if you buy some already shredded cheeses and just take it one step at a time, you’ll find out it’s a breeze to put together!
White Veggie Lasagna Ingredients
- Lasagna noodles – You’ll want to use standard lasagna noodles. I do not recommend using oven-ready noodles. They tend to have a completely different texture and result in a rubbery, chewy lasagna.
- Carrots – I like to start with matchstick carrots and then chop them up finely. By starting with matchstick, it saves some times and guarantees a small dice.
- Baby spinach – I recommend sticking with baby spinach vs. regular spinach because it has a sweeter, more tender flavor than mature spinach.
- Broccoli – The key with the broccoli in this recipe is to make sure you chop it finely. You want to give it the opportunity to soften in the lasagna while it’s baking. You also don’t want to get any large chunks in the final dish.
- Onion – I like to use a yellow onion finely chopped. You can use a vegetable chopper to make this easier.
- Butter – Both salted and unsalted butter work well in this recipe.
- All purpose flour – This will help you make the roux that will thicken the sauce
- Garlic – Fresh garlic works best for the ultimate flavor. By mincing the garlic, it will release the best flavor.
- Onion powder – It seems redundant, but the onion powder adds a different flavor than the whole, fresh onion.
- Vegetable broth – You can used vegetable broth or vegetable stock here. If you aren’t strictly looking for a vegetarian dish, you could also replace it with chicken broth.
- Milk – I like to use 2%, but you could use whole milk as well.
- Heavy cream – The heavy cream shouldn’t be replaced with anything else because it is needed for the correct texture and taste. It helps it have a smooth, creamy sauce.
- Ricotta – I prefer part skim ricotta, but full fat works great as well.
- Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and Mozzarella cheese – Freshly grated cheese works best here if you can. Pre-shredded cheese has an anti-caking agent that doesn’t allow it to melt as well.
- Ritz crackers – The buttery, rich crackers make the perfect crispy, crunchy topping.
- All purpose seasoning – Any all purpose seasoning works here, just be mindful of the salt content because it will be added to the ritz crackers that are already salty.
- Salt & pepper to taste – I always recommend coarse kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
How To Make Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce
- Start by preheating the oven to 375°F.
- Cook the lasagna noodles to al dente according to the package instructions. Don’t go past al dente, they will continue to cook in the oven.
- Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.
- Add the chopped yellow onion and saute until it is softened and translucent.
- Once the onion has softened, add the garlic and onion powder. Stir quickly to combine. Saute for about 1 minute, just until garlic is fragrant, but be careful not to burn it.
- Add the flour and whisk constantly until it is completely combined and smooth. It will take about 2-3 minutes.
- Slowly add in the vegetable stock and continue to whisk.
- Continue by adding the milk and cream one at a time while continuing to whisk allowing the sauce to thicken.
- Reduce the heat and continue to whisk slowly until the sauce is about the consistency of gravy.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and add the carrots, spinach, and broccoli to the sauce mixture.
- In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, parmesan, romano, asiago, and mozzarella and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Add in the ritz crackers, all-purpose seasoning, and about 3 tablespoons of the shredded cheese mixture to the melted butter.
- Spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick spray.
- Place 3 noodles on the bottom of the dish.
- Add ⅓ of the vegetable sauce mixture and spread across the top of the noodles.
- Cover the vegetable mix with ½ of the shredded cheese mixture.
- Cover with 3 more lasagna noodles, followed by ⅓ of the vegetable mixture, and the remaining ½ of the shredded cheese mixture.
- Lay the final 3 lasagna noodles across the top with the remaining vegetable mixture.
- Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with the ritz cracker topping.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. You’ll want it to cool so that the pieces don’t fall apart.
Tips for this recipe for Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce
- Feel free to swap out the vegetables for some of your favorites. Some great options include mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and cauliflower.
- When adding water-heavy vegetables like zucchini, you will need to release a lot of the water content to avoid a soggy lasagna. Chop the zucchini, add it to a bowl with salt to release the water, drain, and dry before adding it to the sauce.
- Do not use oven-ready lasagna noodles. They will not give you the same result.
- If you decide to make this ahead of time, I recommend keeping the ritz topping separate until you’re ready to bake so that it can stay crispy.
Serving Veggie White Lasagna
To serve veggie white lasagna, you’ll want to be sure that it cools for about 10-15 minutes before you slice into it. This allows it to stay together when you remove it from the baking dish.
Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce goes really well with:
Storing White Vegetable Lasagna
To store any leftover white vegetable lasagna, let it cool completely. Once it has cooled, place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for up to 3 days when stored properly.
To reheat leftover lasagna, you can use the oven or microwave. I recommend taking it low and slow when using the microwave to avoid overcooking it and causing the noodles to harden.
Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce recipe FAQs
To keep vegetable lasagna from being watery, you have to be careful with the vegetables you are using. If you are using a vegetable that has high water content like zucchini, you need to salt it first to allow it to release its water.
You’ll then drain it and dry it before using it in the veggie lasagna.
If you don’t release the water content of vegetables like this, they will release the liquid as they cook and it creates a watery lasagna.
White sauce in lasagna is made up of a roux (flour & butter), heavy cream, and vegetable stock.
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Ingredients
- 9 whole lasagna noodles
- 2 cups matchstick carrots finely chopped
- 2 cups baby spinach finely chopped
- 3 cups broccoli finely chopped
- 1/4 whole yellow onion finely chopped
- 7 tablespoons butter keep 4 tablespoons + 3 tablespoons separate
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup 2% milk
- 1½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup part skim ricotta
- ½ cup Parmesan shredded
- ½ cup Romano shredded
- ½ cup Asiago shredded
- ½ cup mozzarella shredded
- 1 cup Ritz crackers crushed
- 2 teaspoons all purpose seasoning I use Mrs. Dash
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Cook lasagna noodles to al dente (they will finish cooking in the oven).
- Melt 4 tablespoons of your butter in a large, deep skillet.
- Add chopped onion and saute until softened and translucent.
- Add garlic and onion powder, stir quickly to combine.
- Add flour and whisk constantly until completely combined and not lumpy (about 2-3 minutes).
- Raise heat to medium.
- Slowly add in vegetable stock and continue to whisk.
- Continue in adding the milk and cream one at a time while continuing to whisk. You want the sauce to thicken.
- Reduce heat and continue to whisk slowly until the sauce is about the consistency of gravy.
- Remove from heat and add the carrots, spinach, and broccoli, to the sauce mixture.
- In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, and mozzarella.
- In a separate bowl, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.
- Add in the Ritz crackers, all purpose seasoning, and about 3 tablespoons of the shredded cheese mixture to the melted butter.
- Spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick spray.
- Place 3 noodles on the bottom of the dish.
- Add 1/3 of the vegetable mixture and spread across the top of the noodles.
- Cover the vegetable mixture with 1/2 of the shredded cheese mixture.
- Cover this with 3 more lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the vegetable mixture, and the remaining 1/2 of the shredded cheese mixture.
- Lay the final 3 lasagna noodles across and top with the remaining vegetable mixture.
- Sprinkle the top of the lasagna with the Ritz cracker topping.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Cool for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can’t wait to make it. Great recipe!
Only change I made to this recipe was a fresh bread crumb & butter topping instead of the crackers and seasoning. Nice recipe that came together well. I was surprised that the bechamel didn’t call for any salt, and I added maybe 1/4 teaspoon, but it wasn’t quite enough. It’s possible the original recipe has enough salt with the cracker and Mrs. Dash topping, but with my variation, it definitely needed more seasoning throughout, so just a note to others to season to taste. Loved the generous amount of veggies in this!
This recipe was big hit at my “Italian Night” party. I was able to make it gluten free using GF noodles and GF panko instead of Ritz. It turned out great! I made the full tray a week a head of time, brought it out the day before to thaw in the refrigerator and baked as noted. It was a fan favorite and met the needs of the GF folks as well as vegetarian folks.
I love hearing this!! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it!
Delicious! This is my go to veggie lasagna recipe.
I love white sauce veg lazagna. I do have a question that always confuses me. As far as the veggies go are the measurement pre chapped or post chapped?
Hi Cindy, those measurements are post-chopped.
This recipe is a winner! Not only is it delicious, but it looks and tastes ‘fancy’, and can be made the day before! I made it just as it called for with one change…. I added a layer of shrimp! Perfect for company dinner.
I’m making this today and will freeze it. Should I defrost before baking? Or bake from frozen? Any ideas on timing? I’m really excited to try this!!
Hi Lori! I would recommend thawing it before baking. If you go straight from fridge to oven (if your baking dish allows), it’ll need closer to 55-60 minutes.
I am making this for Christmas Eve. I’d like to make it the day before (I’ll leave the Ritz topping off until bake time). What would you suggest in regards to cooking instructions for a cold veggie lasagna?
Hi Crystal, if you’re going straight from the refrigerator to the oven (with a baking dish that can handle that), you’ll probably need closer to 55-60 minutes baking time. Hope y’all enjoy it!
This recipe is delicious! I divided it into four portions and froze in tin foil pans. To cook from frozen I set the temperature to 375 for 40 minutes covered with foil, then 15 minutes without foil. The vegetables weren’t done enough. Next time I’ll try 50 minutes. I also added salt and cracked pepper.