Photos by Lindsey Johnson
This is the first recipe I developed that used cashews to make a creamy sauce. Memories! Misty, cashew-colored memories. There are other ways to mimic the creaminess of dairy in a vegan recipe, but using cashews is my favorite method by far. It's easy, the ingredients in cashew creams are unprocessed whole foods, and cashew creams are delicious. I make cashew cream so often that I bought a Magic Bullet pretty much dedicated to all things cashew.
The base of most cashew sauces is soaked raw cashews and water. I always add a little oil too. If you want a cheesy sauce, a little lemon juice will add tang and nutritional yeast adds pungency (I was going to say "cheesy funk," but "funk" is not a word you want to associate with food, is it?). I nearly always add some garlic for flavor and in the case of this Mushroom and Kale Lasagna, I also added some fresh rosemary.
Cashew cream performs best when you combine it with already cooked food - tossed with pasta just before serving, for example. If you bake it in the oven, it has a tendency to dry out a bit. When baking this lasagna, it's important to cover it with foil and keep it covered the whole way through. There's no cheese to brown on top, so keeping it covered is fine! This will help the lasagna stay creamy in the middle.
This December, we're republishing updated recipes from Oh My Veggies' first year. This post was originally published on June 21, 2011.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2-4 hours, rinsed and drained
- 3 cups boiling water, reserved from cooking lasagna noodles
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced
- ¾ pound kale, rinsed thoroughly, stems removed and leaves chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Prepare the lasagna noodles according to instructions on package, reserving 3 cups of cooking liquid.
- To make the sauce, place the raw cashews and 1 cup of reserved water in a blender or food processor and process until the sauce is smooth. Add more water as needed until sauce has a creamy, alfredo-like texture, neither too thick nor too thin. Add the lemon juice, garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, nutritional yeast, and rosemary. Process again until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the mushrooms and cook until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms begin to brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in the kale and continue cooking until wilted, about 2 minutes more; remove from heat.
- Spread about ½ cup of the cashew sauce on the bottom of a 8 x 8 inch baking dish that's been lightly coated with oil (I use an oil mister). Layer 4 lasagna noodles and top with half of the veggie mixture. Top with ⅓ of the remaining cashew sauce, 4 more noodles, remaining veggie mixture, another third of the cashew sauce, and then the rest of the noodles. Spread the last of the cashew sauce over the top of the lasagna. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Let the lasagna rest for 5 minutes, then cut into pieces and serve.
Lesley says
Nom nom! This sounds very tasty and I love that it's dairy free. Bookmarking this one for sure!
Texas Type A Mom says
That sauce looks so creamy - I'm in shock that cashews can do that!
BEadECLECTIC says
YUM! I wonder if this would go well with a bechemel sauce? I'm growing both kale and rosemary, so this might just have to be something I'll try... 🙂
Mushrooms Canada says
What an innovative recipe! Certainly sounds like the perfect combination of flavours!
-Shannon
The Type A Housewife says
Thanks for stopping by and for posting my recipe on Tumblr. I love mushrooms--your Tumblr makes me hungry! 🙂
Mushrooms Canada says
So many great recipes to try! Keep up the yummy work 🙂
All Natural Katie says
This sounds AMAZING! I finally found the nutritional yeast, so I really want to try this recipe. My meat loving husband will definitely like this.
The Type A Housewife says
The sauce is so good. If you don't want to do all the work of putting together a lasagna, just make the sauce and serve it over pasta with broccoli or mushrooms in it. You will never believe it doesn't have cream in it!
Millie | Add A Little says
Looks so lovely - i love making my own cashew cream sauce!
Jen @ The Happy Healthy Balance says
This looks amazing! I can't wait to try it! Thanks!
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
Delicious! I am a great fan of cashew cream - and keep a tub of soaked cashews in the freezer all the time so I have them to hand.
Vee says
This sounds and looks wonderful! The photo doesn't look like it has a lasagna noodle on top. It looks more like a crust of some kind.
Kiersten Frase says
That's the sauce - there's a layer of it on top of the last layer of noodles and it dries out a little bit. Kind of how the top layer of cheese in lasagna bakes up crispy. 🙂
Vee says
Making it right now!!!
Vee says
I just made it. It was divine!!!!! I try to avoid oil and left the oil out of the cashew sauce. It was totally fine without it! The cashews are so rich! I also added an extra tsp of lemon juice as I like things more zingy. Next time I will dice, instead of slice, the onions and the mushrooms. Overall, this recipe is a keeper and I know it will be a crowd pleaser. Thank you so much!!!
Kiersten Frase says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Lisa Meran says
looks absolutely delicious! Will definitly try this tomorrow =) Greetings from san leonardo, lisa
Natalia @ Body Mind Freedom says
I've always done my vegan lasagna with a tofu "ricotta" filling but I've been wanting to try it with a nut cream sauce instead. This looks divine! I will definitely be trying it. Great idea!
Deanna R. Jones says
This lasagna recipe is pretty much my dream dish. It's a beautiful combination of my three favorite things to eat: mushrooms, kale, and pasta. The fact that it includes a vegan creamy sauce recipe is the only thing that makes it better. Using cashes and nutritional yeast to make a creamy lasagna sauce seems like it would taste brilliant. I grew up loving alfredo sauce growing up, but I can't have it anymore, because I developed a milk allergy when I was a teenager. This vegan lasagna recipe looks delicious, so I can't wait to try it out for dinner tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
David says
I'm confused what the 3 cups of reserved lasagna cooking water is for. It doesn't mention where to use it later in the recipe.
Kiersten Frase says
It's used for the sauce. You start with 1 cup; the other 2 cups are added as needed.
frida says
I tried this, realising too late that i had too little cashew. Made do with the little I had, made a vegan béchamel sauce and mixed the too. It was delicious!