This vegetarian lentil lasagne is the easiest lasagne you will ever make. Throw it together on a weeknight with some ready-made soup, pesto and canned lentils! No pre-cooking at all. Just layer it up and bake. This is easily made vegan using vegan soup and pesto, and replacing the cheese layer with crispy breadcrumbs or vegan parmesan!
I used to be such a food purist when I had a lot more time on my hands.
I would shun recipes that were naturally easy, always seeking a big fun challenge.My first food blog was born during this phase and this lentil lasagne would have taken 3 hours to make.
But it wasn’t, and it doesn’t, because noawadays I have zero qualms about taking shortcuts and that’s good news if you’re looking for an easy lasagne recipe.
Even though I will always love cooking from scratch, I try to be much more open minded now. I have to be, because life keeps getting busier and sometimes it’s just too much effort to tackle a 2 hour recipe on a Monday night.
I realize I’m stating the obvious here.
So finding a way to surprise your family with lasagne at the end of a busy weekday is just as exciting to me now. Is there any household that doesn’t consider lasagne a treat?
How to make the easiest lentil lasagne ever
So here it is. This lasagne is made from some convenience foods but not the predictable jarred bechamel / bolognese combo.
A fresh tomato soup and some jarred or deli pesto are much nicer, and no less convenient.
And if you’re using ready made lentils, pre shredded cheese and lasagne noodles that don’t require pre cooking, you won’t have to prep anything at all.
You are just going to open up your packages and layer stuff up.
Best Ingredients to Make This Lentil Lasagne
I like to use Covent Garden soups (tomato and mascarpone or tomato and basil flavors both work very nicely) and ideally a fresh made pesto from the supermarket, but if using jarred, I like Sacla basil pesto.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can experiment with different soups and pesto varieties to shake things up. Try mushroom soup, wild garlic pesto, or anything else you can find that sounds good.
You can easily make it vegan by selecting a dairy free pesto and soup with no cheese on the top.
Experiment away!
Please note that this recipe serves 2-4. Double the ingredients for a larger batch!
5 Ingredient Easy Lentil Lasagne
Ingredients
- Package of no-pre cook lasagne sheets
- 600 ml (2.5 cups) Carton of creamy tomato soup
- 1 cup Pre cooked lentils from a can or pouch
- 190 g (7 oz) jar of green pesto
- A couple handfuls of cheese
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 180C / 350F
- You don’t need to pre cook or pre mix anything. Just layer it all up cold.
- Pour a bit of the soup on the bottom of the pan and add the first layer of pasta sheets. My layers went like this: tomato soup topped with lentils / pesto / REPEAT / a topping made with the rest of the tomato soup, a sprinkling of cheese and the last dollops of pesto
- Cover the pan, and bake in the oven for about 50 minutes.
Notes
Oh my word this looks incredible! Love how simple it is! Plus that crispy cheese topping looks AMAZING.
This looks absolutely delicious! I love how simple it is too, I think I'm going to be making this!
I love your pictures and recipes, they are mouth watering. Would love for you to share them with us at foodieportal.com. Over at foodieportal.com we are not photography expert snobs, we are just foodies.
Your food photos are amazing. You can share your mouth watering photos with us at foodienewz.com. foodienewz.com is a new food sharing site and we actually try our best to promote your food photos. At foodienewz.com all your food photos will be published without any editorial review so I really hope you come and join us.
Wow thanks for saving my week with this fabulous recipe! We have just gone vegetarian/ vegan and I find it a nightmare to find something quick, easy BUT healthy for the kids on a busy weekday, until now that is! Gonna make this lasagna tonight! 🙂
Ah this comment makes me so happy! I hope it that worked out for you and that your transition is going smoothly. For quick easy vegetarian dinners, pasta can be a lifesaver. Fresh veggie ramen bowls, big filling salads and some tacos can be really quick and easy too. You just inspired me to make a 30 minute dinner category for my recipes archives. It made me realize I don’t have enough of these. Time to get brainstorming!
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This recipe turned out awesome, I didn’t miss the meat at all! I added some kale in mine too. I can’t wait to try out some of your other recipes!
That is wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for the feedback 🙂
Hi Christine
So happy to have found this blog. I became vegetarian two years ago and sometimes its such a mission for me to cook. I absolutely love pasta – I’ll be making this lasagne tonight and will definitely try out some other recipes as well. Thanks!
Thanks so much for your lovely comment! I’m also really happy that you found my blog 🙂 I hope you enjoy the lasagne and definitely check out the archives if you’re a fellow pasta addict. Pasta really is the best starting point for an easy vegetarian dinner!
I’ve tried loads of veggie lasagne recipes and this is easily one of my top three ☺
I’ve tried loads of veggie lasagne recipes and this is easily one of my top three ☺
I’ve tried loads of veggie lasagne recipes and this is easily one of my top three ☺
This is a wonderfully simple recipe &
Very tasty! We are looking forward to making this a staple on our busy work week schedule. 🙂
Hi, sorry to be a pain but this lasagne as detailed isn’t actually vegetarian due to the Grano Padano and Pecorino Romano cheeses that are traditionally used in pesto (just as Parmesan isn’t vegi either). Obviously it’s now much easier to get vegi and vegan pesto and Sacla do both in their most popular flavours. Dont think they do a vegi garlic one however. Its difficult, cheese can be a stumbling block for people. I mean, how many restaurants do you see offering dishes labelled as vegi containing Parmesan? If restaurants don’t know then it just shows how difficult it is to know.
Jonny, thank you, you’re absolutely right. Frankly I was a lot more slack in the time this recipe was posted 7 years ago, but I take my role as a vegetarian publisher a lot more seriously now and always use disclaimers when using recipes with parmesan cheese (as I personally use veggie alternatives). I will edit this recipe as soon as I get a chance with the recommendation to seek out a rennet-free vegetarian pesto and make some recommendations.
Great recipe everyone had 2 helpings! I did add tiny bits of cream cheese on each layer which seemed to work well.