Vegan Enchilada Lasagna with Creamy Cilantro Sauce

This Vegan Enchilada Lasagna with a Creamy Cilantro Sauce is hearty, comforting and highly addictive. It’s packed with layers upon layers of different textures and flavours that all come together deliciously with each bite! Perfect for meal prepping, weeknight dinners or to feed a large party. Dairy, gluten & oil free.

I promise I’m not exaggerating when I say this dish is delicious. It might honestly be one of the tastiest things I have ever made. My family can testify for this. My mom (that usually doesn’t like super spiced foods) basically ate half straight out of the lasagna dish. There are so many layers, textures and flavours going on, but all work cohesively to punch your tastebuds away with each bite. You’d think this is a special occasion food but because we’re using all wholesome plant based ingredients, it’s actually very healthy! We got the vegetables for vitamins and minerals, cashews and avocado for healthy fats, tofu for protein, and gluten free pasta for carbs.

I know reading the ingredients and methods, it looks like a lot. But trust me, it’s easy to make and so worth it.

I have to give credit to my boyfriend for this recipe. His christmas present to me was a dish he made, completely vegan! He first looked at a couple recipes for enchiladas for inspiration. I think because we wanted to make lasagna together (which didn’t happen) he combined the two, threw some ingredients together and whipped this bad boy up. In his, he used my cream cheese recipe but I opted to make a ricotta instead to make it more lasagna like. It was absolutely delicious and despite him completely burning the top layer cause he left it in the oven for too long, I gave it a solid 10/10. What can I say, I’ve taught him well 😉.

I really hope you try this recipe and love it as much as we do! It’s:

so hearty
comforting
satisfying
flavour packed
healthy and high in protein
dairy, gluten and oil free
meal prep friendly
& so incredibly divine

Tips and Tricks to making Vegan Enchilada Lasagna with Creamy Cilantro Sauce

When cooking your lasagna noodles, I recommend under-cooking them slightly as they will finish off cooking in the oven. Over cooking your noodles might cause it to become mushy and blend into the rest of the ingredients.
Reserve some of the cilantro sauce to use when serving for extra goodness.
For freezing: assemble the lasagna and then freeze as is. When cooking, place into the oven for given time PLUS an additional 40 minutes covered or until cooked throughly.
It will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days if baked and meal prepped.
If desired, you can melt vegan cheese before adding on the ricotta on the top layer. As well, crushing corn chips on top adds an additional delicious crunch!

If you recreate this Vegan Enchilada Lasagna with Creamy Cilantro Sauce please share it and let me know what you think by tagging me on Instagram @lisakitahara, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!

Ingredients

Vegan Ricotta:

1 package of extra firm tofu, pressed (375-400g)

1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp miso paste
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 garlic clove, minced finely
salt and pepper to taste

Creamy Jalapeño Sauce:

1/2 small onion, sliced (90g)
2 garlic cloves, minced (10g)
2 tsp cumin
1 Jalapeno, chopped (40g)
1/2 soft tofu (180g)
1/2 c cilantro, packed (50g)
1 c soy milk
1/4 c soaked cashews
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp corn starch
1 tbsp miso paste

Sautéed Vegetables:

1/2 large onion (150g)
1 bell pepper, chopped (165g)
1/2 can of corn (150g)
1 Jalapeno, chopped (40g)
5 mushrooms (150g)
1.5 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli powder

Enchilada Lasagna

1/2 c cilantro, chopped (45g)
1 can refried beans (430g)
1 bottle of enchilada sauce (250-300 ml)
1/2 can of black beans (150g)
1/2 pack of gluten free lasagna noodles

Method

For the vegan ricotta, first dissolve the miso paste into the lemon juice until a paste-y consistency
Using your hands, crumble the tofu and then add in the lemon miso mixture, nutritional yeast and garlic, and mix with your hands until everything is evenly coated and seasoned
To prepare the sauce, sauté the onions, garlic, Jalapeño and cumin on medium heat until browned (around 5 minutes) and set aside
Using the same pan, sauté the vegetables until lightly browned and set aside
Boil some water for the lasagna noodles and cook according to instructions on the back subtracting around 5 minutes to keep them slightly undercooked. Strain them from the boiling water and place into cold water
In the mean time, blend the cooked vegetables for the sauce along with the rest of the ingredients into a high speed blender until nice and creamy
Have your ricotta ready, and add in some chopped cilantro using your hands
Once you have all the layering components ready, pre-heat your oven to 375F
TO LAYER: start with a layer of enchilada sauce (1/2 the bottle) at the very bottom, followed by lasagna noodles, 1/2 of the refried beans spread on the noodles, 1/2 of the sautéed vegetables, 1/2 of the black beans, 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/3 of the Jalapeño cream sauce, lasagna noodles, 1/2 of the refried beans, 1/2 of the vegetables, 1/2 of the black beans, 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/2 of enchilada sauce, lasagna noodles to cover, 1/3 of the Jalapeño sauce and finally the remaining ricotta
Place it into the oven for 25 minutes covered and 10 minutes un covered
Serve with avocado, fresh cilantro, fresh tomatoes and the remaining Jalapeño sauce!