Dairy Free Lasagna (Gluten Free Options)
A great make-ahead and freeze recipe for the entire family to enjoy. Super high in protein and just straight up delicious. You can use real cheese like ricotta in place of dairy free ricotta. If not gluten free, you can also use regular no boil pasta sheets instead of gluten free chickpea pasta noodles. Caramelizing the onions and garlic with the meat drippings is a great way to merry the flavors together without drowning the sauce in olive oil. 
Incorporating some browning to the tomato paste before adding the sauce and crushed tomatoes adds a depth of flavor. 
Lastly, let it simmer a bit to thicken and merry the flavors together before assembling. 
Layer pan with meat sauce layer then start the first layer of noodle, cheese, meat sauce, and repeat .
This process repeats until you reach the final noodle. At that point at meat sauce and dairy free cheese of chose like vivolife mozzarella, nutritional yeast or lust plain red sauce. 
One last note is to let the lasagna sit 10 minutes before serving for easy cutting and saving your tongue from hot sauce burns.
A great makeahead and freeze recipe for the entire family to enjoy. High in protein and just straight up delicious.
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage sweet or hot
- 1 onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 4 cloves garlic minced (can be canned or fresh)
- 1 can crushed tomatoes (28oz can)
- 1 can tomato sauce or marinara sauce (15oz can)
- 1 can tomato paste (6 ounce per can)
- 1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or pinch of sugar
- 1 teaspoons 1.5 dried basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 pinch of dried fennel seeds or red pepper flakes for heat (optional)
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 recipe for vegan Ricotta see below
- 2 boxes of gluten free lasagna noodles (like chickpea organic no boil noodles or regular noodles no boil noodles)
Begin by browning the meat in a large pot. Once it begins to brown, add the onion, garlic and tomato paste. Cooked for about 8-10 minutes. Onion and garlic should be lightly caramelized and soft. Add the balsamic, herbs and salt before adding remaining ingredients crushed tomatoes, sauce etc. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened on medium to medium high heat 10-15 minutes more.
Let cool for 20-30 minutes and you prepare the pans for assembly.You can use mini individual meatloaf pans or do standard lasagna pan 8 by 13.
- Grease the pans with olive oil. Spoon a layer of meat sauce into the pans to coat the bottom. Next add the noodles and layer of dairy free ricotta.Add another layer of meat sauce on top and repeat with layer of noodle, cheese, sauce. Top the final layer with noodle and sauce. Optional add on toppings dairy free mozzarella like vivolife or nutritional yeast. At this point you can freeze or bake right away or let sit in fridge overnight before baking.
- Baking: Turn the oven to 375F. Bake covered for 25 minutes and remaining 25 minutes uncovered for a total of 50 minutes baking time. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.
- Freezing option: Let cool for 1-1.5 hours and you can freeze the dish for 2-3 months. Simply defrost in the fridge overnight before baking.