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Feta Cheese Vegetarian Lasagna

ByElena Paravantes, MS, RD

Tomato Lasagna

I love lasagna, especially vegetarian lasagna with plenty of sauce and cheese. But I don’t make it that often because 1. That is way too much cheese in one dish and 2. It is time consuming. So I thought of a simpler, less fatty dish using lasagna noodles and ingredients that I usually have at home. So here’s what I did: I made pasta sauce with as many vegetables I could fit in and basically layered the pasta with the sauce, a bit of feta and a bit of parmesan and that was that. I put it in the oven and I had “lasagna”, a light dish that you can accompany with a salad for a complete meal and it not complicated to make.

This is not one of those extravagant cheesy 5-layer lasagna dishes that seem to be require a separate recipe for each layer. It is an easy and tasty lunch or dinner, with plenty of tomato sauce, a great choice especially for kids, since you incorporate all those vegetables. I used a bit of olive oil in the pasta sauce and moderate amount of cheese, and only a few sheets of lasagna making it a vegetable rich recipe with few calories at about 270 for a generous piece.

You can make your own recipe for pasta sauce, but the idea here is to get a lot of vegetables in the sauce. I used vegetables that I had that day in the fridge and I like red pepper because it gives a sweetness and makes the lasagna very “red”. I also cut the vegetables in teeny-tiny pieces. This idea came from a recipe I saw in the book The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher, the American food writer. For her pasta sauce recipe she basically advised cutting the vegetables in tiny cubes, and it makes for a nice texture for pasta sauce.

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Feta Cheese Vegetarian Lasagna

Vegetarian Lasagna with Feta Cheese
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Course: Entree
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Servings: 6
Calories: 270kcal
Author: Elena Paravantes, MS, RD
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Ingredients

  • 9 lasagna noodles I used the ones that do not require pre-boiling
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 2 red bell peppers finely chopped you can use green
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2 carrots finely chopped
  • 2-3 sticks celery finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove crushed
  • 20 ounces chopped tomatoes you can used canned
  • 2 tablespoons basil
  • 2 tablespoon oregano
  • 4 ounces crumbled feta
  • 4 ounces grated parmesan
  • Salt/pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius)
  • Finely chop all the vegetables.
  • Heat the oil in a large sauce pan and sauté all your vegetables at low heat for about 15 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and sauté until you start smelling the garlic.
  • Add the tomato sauce, oregano, basil, pepper and salt to taste.
  • Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
  • In a medium baking dish/pan that is about 12 x 9 inches, spread 1-2 tablespoons of the  sauce. Lay on the sauce 3 lasagna noodles, then pour over a generous amount of sauce and sprinkle over that the feta and parmesan. Lay another 3 lasagna noodles and repeat with sauce and cheese and on the final layer spread some more pasta sauce with a bit of parmesan if you want.
  • Bake for about 20-30 minutes covered and 5-10 minutes uncovered (pasta should be soft-but don't let pasta dry out). Serve with some sauce poured on top.
Nutrition Facts
Feta Cheese Vegetarian Lasagna
Amount per Serving
Calories
270
% Daily Value*
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Photo: Olive Tomato

Elena Paravantes, MS, RDN is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist by the U.S. Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). She is an expert on the Mediterranean Diet. She has been active as a clinician, consultant, author and lecturer for 20 years, both in the U.S. and Greece. An expert on the Greek Mediterranean Diet, her interviews and articles have been published in many publications including CNN, U.S. News and World Report, Prevention, NPR, and Shape. Elena has collaborated with a number of organizations including Loyola University, Yale University, University of Missouri, Louisiana State University, and the American College of Greece. Elena earned her Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and her Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds has a Master’s Degree of Science in Health Management.

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9 Comments

  1. I used to make that lasagna that required a recipe for every layer. It was my pride and joy! One day I bought a ready made frozen lasagna at Costco, just to see how it tasted. Well, it tasted just like my homemade one! My heart was broken!

    I make a batch of sauce like you describe here to braise my vegetable main dishes in. I have to restrict my salt as much as possible, so I have to make it as interesting as possible. I will try it with your lasagna recipe.

    Reply

  2. Elena, I’ve been making something like this, but went with tour recipe, never a disappiintment!! I used a combination of crumbled feta and shredded kefaloryri (what I had most of) and parmesan on tip. Had tons of vegetables just waiting to be used, so after I spooned on the sauce I added layers of grilled eggplant and zucchini, more sauce, the the cheese, noodles, etc. What a delicious vegetarian lasagna/moussaka combination I threw together. You are an inspiration!!!!!5 stars

    Reply

  3. Excellent core idea, Greek-style lasagne. Used aubergine as main veg as what we had in fridge. And dried Ondine pasta sheets, a lockdown panic purchase, but they worked really really well keeping the layers apart. A great accidental find to enhance a great recipe.5 stars

    Reply

  5. My cousin Betty Flevaris and daughter Dina (Konstantina) George-Khoury mentioned
    this page and I thought I would try it. I downloaded your vegetable lasagna to try. Thanks for your info.

    Reply