Vegan Wild Mushroom Lasagna

In this elegant Vegan Mushroom Lasagna, delicious mushrooms is layered with a creamy white vegan bechamel sauce, jewel-green leeks, vegan mozzarella and vegan parmesan. It’s the perfect dish to impress family and guests!

For more lasagna deliciousness, try this classic vegan lasagna or this low-carb zucchini lasagna.

Get a double dose of decadence and deliciousness with my Vegan Wild Mushroom Lasagna drunk on a creamy, silky bechamel sauce.

The lasagna noodles cook up perfectly tender and toothsome, absorbing the delicious bechamel and the flavors of the mushrooms. I used a mix of dried wild mushrooms and fresh cremini mushrooms, but the recipe is versatile enough that you can use any mushrooms of your choice.

Most lasagna recipes can be time consuming, but not this one. You can get the prep work done in minutes, and you can also make the different elements, or the whole lasagna, ahead of time. Assemble and/or bake before serving and you’ll have a dish to wow!

Why you will love this vegan mushroom lasagna

• Differently delicious. Everyone loves a classic lasagna, but if you’re looking for something different to serve for dinner you can’t go wrong with this vegan mushroom lasagna. The creamy sauce and chewy mushrooms along with the al dente lasagna offer a vivid interplay of textures and flavors.
• Healthy recipe. I use whole-wheat lasagna in this recipe, and the homemade cashew cream adds a boost of healthy protein. Mushrooms, a health star, and leeks or scallions, add more yummy nutrition.
• Easy recipe. This is a pretty simple recipe and although, like with any lasagna, there are a few different elements and steps, you can’t go wrong if you follow the directions.
• Soy-free and vegan, can be gluten-free and nut-free. You can make this recipe with gluten-free lasagna noodles and you can use a nut-free milk for the bechamel.

Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil. EVOO acts as a wonderful flavoring agent in addition to being a cooking medium.
• Herbs: garlic and oregano
• Mushrooms: I used a mix of 12 oz cremini mushrooms and 2 ounces of dried wild mushrooms, which I rehydrated. You can choose to use just one kind of mushroom, like crimini or portobello, or use fresh wild mushrooms.
• Leeks or scallions. You can use either in this recipe, with great results.
• Lasagna noodles. I used whole wheat lasagna noodles but I sometimes make this recipe with regular lasagna noodles with equally good results. The whole wheat noodles I used were not oven-ready, so I added more liquid to the baking dish to help them cook to the perfect texture, without having to cook the noodles separately first. You can also use gluten-free noodles in this recipe if you can’t or won’t eat wheat.
• Vegan mozzarella shreds and vegan parmesan cheese. I buy the mozzarella shreds and make my own vegan parmesan cheese, which is fabulous. You can make the parm several days ahead and store it in the refrigerator to sprinkle on your favorite pasta dishes.

For the vegan bechamel

• Raw cashews or non-dairy milk. I like making my own cashew milk for the bechamel because it adds a boost of protein, but you can also use a store-bought non-dairy milk of your choice. If you can’t eat nuts, you can also make a protein-rich homemade milk by blending pumpkin seeds.
• Garlic. To add flavor to the bechamel.
• Shallots or red onions. Shallots with their garlicky flavor are great here, but you can use red onions if that is what you have on hand.
• Nutmeg. Nutmeg is essential in a bechamel sauce and it adds amazing flavor.

How to make vegan mushroom lasagna

Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl with 2 cups boiling water. Set aside for 30 minutes for the mushrooms to rehydrate. Before using the mushrooms, squeeze out all the stock and reserve the stock.

In a wok or skillet, place 1 tablespoon of olive oil with garlic, cremini mushrooms and oregano. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Saute until the mushrooms begin to brown and express juices. Stir in the drained dried mushrooms. Add the wine and continue cooking over medium-high heat until most of the liquid has evaporated and the wild mushrooms are still chewy but tender.

Evaporating the liquid will take a few minutes. (When adding wine or any alcohol to a pan on a gas stove, reduce flame to the lowest setting or turn off the flame temporarily for safety).

Stir in the leeks or scallions and saute another couple of minutes. Add salt and more ground black pepper as needed. Set aside.

In a saute pan or saucepan, heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil with garlic and onions. Add salt and ground black pepper. Saute the onions over medium heat until they are soft and translucent.

Add the flour to the pan and mix well to form a roux.

Saute the roux until it is no longer lumpy and becomes grainier and aromatic.

Whisk in the mushroom stock from the reconstituted mushrooms slowly, making sure you get all the lumps out.

Pour in all of the nondairy milk and mix well.

Add the nutmeg to the milk.

Bring the sauce to a boil over medium heat. Continue cooking and turn off the stove once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Place one fourth of the bechamel sauce in the lasagna pan, spreading it around evenly.

Layer five noodles over the bechamel. (These instructions are for no-boil noodles or oven-ready noodles. If using regular noodles see FAQs below for instructions).

Ladle a fourth of the sauce over the lasagna noodles…

…followed by a third of the mushroom mixture.

Sprinkle a third of the vegan parmesan cheese and vegan mozzarella shreds over the mushrooms. Follow with another layer of five lasagna noodles followed by a third of the mushrooms and the cheeses.

Once you have topped the final layer of lasagna noodles with the mushrooms, parm and mozzarella, cover the lasagna pan tightly with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 350-degree Fahrenheit/180-degree Celsius oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking another 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Tips for success

• Save and use the mushroom stock from reconstituting the noodles. It adds amazing umami. If you don’t use dried mushrooms, you can use a good quality or homemade mushroom stock or vegetable broth to make the bechamel.
• Using a mix of dried and fresh mushrooms gives great texture to the lasagna, which would satisfy even a meat-eater. But you can use only fresh mushrooms if you want to.
• Because the vegan parmesan cheese and the vegan mozzarella can both be salty, factor that saltiness in when you salt the bechamel and the mushrooms.
• For a golden-brown color to the top of the lasagna, turn on the broiler for a minute or two at the end of baking. Be careful and watch the lasagna so you don’t burn the cheese.

Recipe FAQs

Make-ahead and storage instructions

• Make-ahead: You can make the vegan parmesan, the mushroom mixture and the bechamel up to three days ahead and refrigerate. You can also assemble the mushroom lasagna and refrigerate it, unbaked, for up to three days. Or cover with two layers of freezer-safe wrap and freeze for up to two months.
• Refrigerate: The baked mushroom lasagna can be refrigerated for up to three days.
• Freeze: Freeze the mushroom lasagna for up to three months.
• Reheat: Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in a 350-degree F/180-degree C oven until warmed through.

Perfect pairings with vegan mushroom lasagna

• A fresh salad, like a vegan Caesar salad or a shaved Brussels sprouts salad.
• Roasted Brussels sprouts or air-fryer Brussels sprouts.
• Creamy mashed potatoes with vegan gravy or mashed orange sweet potatoes.

More yummy pasta recipes