This vegetarian-friendly tofu lasagna is packed with protein and bursting with savory flavor from roasted cauliflower and butternut squash sauce.
Those of you who are regular readers of my blog already know about my stockpile of Dave's Gourmet Pasta Sauce. We've been using the sauce on pasta every week since January, but I wanted to try to do something different with it.
We never really get tired of the pasta + veggie combo, but I wanted to adapt the dish we've been making with the Butternut Squash sauce into a cauliflower and tofu lasagna.
Could I do it? Would it be a success like my Chicken Florentine Casserole Redux? Or a massive failure like my attempt at vegetarian meatloaf?
The answer: IT WAS A SUCCESS! This was so good, even better than I had anticipated. So kudos to me. 😉
The crumbled tofu gives the lasagna a meaty, chewy texture and the slightly nutty flavor of whole wheat noodles are perfect with the butternut squash sauce and roasted cauliflower. I think it's now my favorite lasagna recipe.
If you can't find Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Sauce near you, use the sauce from my Whole Wheat Penne with Butternut Squash Sauce recipe - the flavors are the same, it's just a little more work. Or you can order this exact sauce I used here.
P.S. This post was not sponsored in any way by Dave's - I just like the sauce!
More Vegetarian Recipes
If you love this tofu lasagna, be sure to check out all my vegetarian pasta recipes here, or try these reader favorites:
Ingredients
- 1 small head of cauliflower cut into small florets
- 1 medium yellow onion quartered into wedges and separated
- Olive oil cooking spray mister
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1-12 oz. package of extra firm tofu drained, pressed for 30 minutes (I use the Tofu Xpress), and crumbled
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups of butternut squash pasta sauce like Dave's Gourmet
- 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles cooked according to package
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese omit for vegan version
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss cauliflower and onion on rimmed baking sheet with olive oil spray, salt, and pepper. Roast in oven for about 45 minutes, or until golden, stirring halfway through. Cool for 20 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. While veggie mixture is cooking, heat olive oil spray in medium skillet. Add tofu crumbles, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook until golden brown, stirring constantly, about 8 minutes.
- Put cooled veggies into a food processor; pulse 3-4 times or until coarsely chopped.
- In a greased 8x8 inch baking dish, spread 3 tablespoons of pasta sauce. Add a layer of lasagna noodles and top with crumbled tofu. Spread ⅓ of remaining pasta sauce onto tofu, top with another layer of noodles. On top of this, spread chopped veggie mixture and another ⅓ of pasta sauce.Top with a final layer of noodles, the remaining pasta sauce, and cheese, if using.
- Bake for 40 minutes.
Brandy, April, and Amanda says
This looks good and sounds interesting. Not sure that we would do the tofu but that could be subbed out. Thanks for the idea.
Giveaway Blogdom
Texas Type A Mom says
Yay for recipe successes! You're so creative coming up with something like this!
Kristina Y. says
I'm planning on making this, this week, do you think the cooking time would be different if I used oven ready lasagna? I happen to have it on hand.
Kiersten says
I haven't made it with that kind of lasagna, so I can't say for sure. I'd follow the instructions on the package and cook it for the time suggested there. I hope it works out!
Zuska says
I made this last night and it was the best vegetarian lasagna I've had. Definitely making this again and recommending it. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Kiersten says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Cathy says
This was super yummy! The flavor is all there!
It a bit of a pain to make - since it's a reasonable amount of hours to get it all cooked, etc. but it's well worth of the wait! I would recommend making it on weekend though - I tried making it on after work on weekday and was pretty much going to bed right after it was finished lol
Kiersten Frase says
Yeah, it's a wee bit time consuming--definitely a weekend recipe! I'm glad you enjoyed it though. 🙂
Olivia says
Thanks so much for a delicious recipe! I have been planning to make it all week and finally did last night! I saved leftovers and brought some to my mom tonight because earlier this week she said the recipe was NOT up her alley. Well she tried it-and loved it! She gave it 2 thumbs up!! Pats on the back all around. I did alter it a bit though: first, I used actual garlic cloves and roasted them with the cauliflower and onions. Also my local grocery store didn't have a butternut squash sauce so I just bought 1 (oops) can of butternut squash purée. I had to mix that with a bit of leftover marinara sauce, skipped the third layer of noodles, and add cream on top to compensate so it wouldn't dry out. Totally worked. Can't wait to explore other recipes, make more delicious food, and prove my mom wrong again!!
Olivia says
Oops sorry! I thought my earlier comment hadn't posted. 🙁