Grilled Vegetable Lasagna Recipe
A vegetarian’s lasagna dream. This is a full and hardy lasagna made with vegetables that have been grilled first to give this dish a distinct grilled flavor yet live up to every bit of the word lasagna. This easy vegetable lasagna recipe features three different cheeses to further its unique taste and this is a dish even confirmed carnivores will love.
With filling grilled bell peppers, eggplant and zucchini, this grilled lasagna recipe also uses some different spicing then many other lasagna recipes to make it extra unique. It is sure to be a crowd pleaser and people will be begging you for the recipe.
This low-fat vegetable lasagna recipe is a healthy alternative to fattier meat lasagnas. If you wish to reduce the fat content further you could use reduced-fat mozzarella and ricotta. These taste slightly different when eaten alone or when they are the main ingredient in a dish but used in something as flavorful as this lasagna they would complement the other ingredients really nicely and it would be hard to tell the difference.
Of course, you can also use the full-fat ingredients if you prefer. This is such a great recipe you can use whatever you want and it will still have an amazing flavor.
Of course, what makes this dish so special is roasting the veggies over a barbecue, enjoying the smoky flavor the barbecue imparts and also enjoying the open-air cooking. Not many people fire up the grill on a regular basis. Although popular during the hottest months of the summer, your grill is also good at other times of the year, so this recipe can be made anytime you have a craving for it.
This is an excellent vegetable lasagna and much more enticing than similar recipes you can find on the web. A lot of them are similar but using the BBQ on the veggies before you assemble the lasagna really does give this one the edge.
In no way does it taste like a meat lasagna without the meat. Instead it has its own character and flavor, and you can really enjoy all the different vegetable flavors. It would not be as good if you did not barbecue the veggies because that is where a lot of the character comes from.
The zucchini, bell pepper and grilled eggplant are blended with fresh basil and parsley, tasty cheeses and pesto too, offering a really fresh flavor and plenty of appeal to vegetarians and carnivores who fancy a change.
Grilled Vegetable Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients
- 9 no-boil or regular lasagna noodles
- ¼ cup fresh parsley minced
- ¼ cup fresh basil minced
- 15 oz ricotta
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella
- 2 red bell peppers de-seeded and cut into quarters
- 26 oz jar tomato and basil flavored spaghetti sauce
- ¼ cup green pesto
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg
- 3 zucchini in ? inch lengthwise slices
- ¾ cup Asiago cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggplants in ¼ inch lengthwise slices
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to moderately hot.
- Spray cooking spray over the sliced eggplant and zucchini and sprinkle half the salt and pepper on them.
- Grill them for about 90 seconds on each side then let them cool.
- Grill the bell peppers skin side down until soft.
- This should take about 3 minutes.
- Cut the bell pepper into 1 inch strips and combine it with the zucchini and eggplant strips.
- Mix together the ricotta, egg, basil, parsley, ½ cup of the Asiago cheese and the rest of the salt and black pepper. Cook the lasagna noodles following the instructions on the packet, leaving out the salt and fat.
- If you are using no-boil noodles you can leave this step out.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Spread half a cup of the spaghetti sauce over the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Put 3 of the noodles on top of the sauce, then half the grilled vegetables on top of that.
- Spread half the ricotta mixture on top, followed by ¼ cup of mozzarella.
- Put 3 more noodles on top of that, then a cup of spaghetti sauce. Add the remaining grilled vegetables, the remaining ricotta mixture and finish with the pesto.
- Sprinkle ¼ cup mozzarella on top, then the final 3 lasagna noodles.
- Spoon a cup of spaghetti sauce on top then add the rest of the mozzarella and Asiago cheeses.
- Bake the grilled vegetable lasagna for an hour and let it stand for 15 minutes before serving.
If you have eaten a vegetable lasagna in a restaurant the odds are it was made with some packaged ingredients and perhaps even the previous day. Make this yourself and you will know the vegetables are fresh and you can serve this hot from the oven. Let it stand for 15 minutes before serving because it will be far too hot and you do not want anyone to burn their mouth. This 15 minutes gives you time to make a salad. The lasagna already contains cheese and tomato sauce, so leave those out of the salad and instead use baby mixed leaves, avocado, cucumber, green onion and anything else you want to put in there. Some walnut halves would also be very nice.