Vegetarian Lasagna inspired by Indian flavors! This Vegetable & Paneer Lasagna combines Indian spices and paneer (Indian cottage cheese) with lasagna noodles and cheese.

The best of both worlds and one of my favorite fusion recipes!

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It has been on my mind for quite a while to make a vegetable lasagna inspired by Indian flavors.

This recipe is of course not for the purists, this is just my fun Indian take on the Italian lasagna.

This recipes combines the best of both worlds for me. The Indian spices and flavors and the Italian noodles and cheese come together beautifully in this flavorful Vegetarian Lasagna.

There’s paneer, vegetables, a spiced tomato sauce, a white sauce (béchamel sauce), noodles and of course cheese. It is hard to go wrong with this combination, isn’t it?

According to my husband, this was one of the best lasagnas he has ever had. Of course, his Indian taste buds will be biased but hoenstly guys this was very good.

It was an experiment (even though not a very risky one since you can hardly go wrong with cheese, noodles and paneer) that I am very pleased with. This is sure to be on my dinner table for special occassions.

The recipe might look long however it is quite easy to put together. I have tried to break down the recipe with pictures of each step (and hence the post seems long) but it’s actually pretty simple.

This Indian style Lasagna

✔ is packed with so much flavor.

✔ combines Indian flavors with lasagna noodles and cheese.

✔ makes a comforting and hearty dish.

✔ will be a show-stopper vegetarian meal at your party!

There are four parts to this dish and the recipe breaks down each part in detail making it easy for you to put together this lasagna.

The Tomato Sauce: the base sauce of the lasagna is the tomato sauce, however I wanted it to have some Indian flavors obviously because the lasagna was going to Indian style.

So, I took a shortcut and used store bought marinara sauce here and infused it with some Indian spices.

I used Rao’s Marinana Sauce (I used the one with basil but use any) and added garam masala, red chili powder, cardamom powder, kasuri methi, butter and cream to it. That made it taste similar to Indian makhani sauce and made the perfect base sauce for this lasagna.

The Vegetables: for the vegetable layer, I have used onions, peppers, carrots, jalapeño and spinach. Again, I flavored the veggies lightly with garam masala and cumin.

You can use other vegetables too here like mushrooms would be really nice. Or zucchini will be good too.

Béchamel sauce & Paneer: I wanted the vegetables to be coated with some creamy sauce for that extra flavor and this quick white sauce does just that.

It has some Italian seasoning, garlic, milk and butter. It’s a small amount of sauce but really adds to the flavor.

Once done, I mixed it with grated paneer and prepared vegetables.

Layering the Lasagna: and of course the final part of the dish is layering the lasagna and baking it. There are 3 layers of noodles, 2 layers of veggies, 3 layers of cheese and 3 layers of sauce (I skip the tomato sauce in the middle layer).

I have used no-boil lasagna noodles here, if you use regular lasagna noodles you will need to boil them first.

For the cheese, I have used grated mozzarella cheese. You can use a cheese of choice and also use less or more as per your preference.

The pan that I have used here is a baking dish measuring approximately 11 x 8 inches. You can use a square dish or a bigger dish too. I had to snap off some of the noodles in order for them to fit into the dish.

Hope you guys give this Paneer Lasagna a try when you want to eat something different. It’s hearty, packed with flavors and makes a comforting meal.

So let’s see how make this Indian style Lasagna!

Method

Make the tomato sauce

1- To a pan on medium heat, add 2.5 cups (20 oz) of store bought marinara sauce. Let it heat up a bit, around 2 minutes.

2- Then add red chili powder, garam masala, cardamom powder, kasuri methi and sugar.

3- Add the butter and heavy cream.

4- Mix until the butter melts and dissolves and everything is well combined and the sauce is heated through. Set aside.

Cook the veggies

5- To a skillet on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic, onion, carrot, red pepper and jalapeño.

6- Mix and cook the veggies for around 6 minutes until soften and then add 1/4 teaspoon each of garam masala, cumin powder, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. You may use more of the spices here as per preference.

7- Add in the spinach leaves.

8- Stir and cook until the spinach leaves wilt, around 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

Make the béchamel sauce and prepare the veggie & paneer layer

9- On a skillet on medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter along 1/2 tablespoon oil. Once hot, add the garlic and saute for 1 minute until garlic starts changing color.

10- Then add the flour and stir and cook for few seconds, you don’t want to brown the flour.

11- Add in 1/2 cup milk and mix.

12- Add Italian seasoning, pinch of salt and mix.

13- Cook the sauce for a minute, it will thicken immediately. Remove pan from heat.

14- Let the béchamel sauce cool down a bit and then transfer it to a large bowl along with grated paneer.

15- Add the prepared veggies and add salt and pepper to taste.

16- Mix until everything is well combined. The veggies and paneer layer is now ready and now it’s time to assemble the lasagna.

Layer the lasagna

Pre-heat the oven at 425 F degrees.

17- Start by adding 1/2 cup of tomato sauce at the bottom of your dish (1st layer of sauce).

18- Followed by 3 no-boil lasagna noodles (1st layer of noodles). I had to snap of the ends of the noodles to fit them into the pan.

19- Add 1/2 of the veggies & paneer mixture on top (1st layer of veggies).

20- Followed by 3/4 cup sauce (2nd layer of sauce) and 1/2 cup cheese (1st layer of cheese).

21- Then place 3 more lasagna noodles on top (2nd layer of noodles).

22- Followed by remaining half of the veggies and paneer mixture (2nd & final layer of veggies).

23- Topped with 1/2 cup cheese (2nd layer of cheese). I skipped the sauce in this layer.

24- And again topped with 3 lasagna noodles (3rd & final layer of noodles).

25- Followed by 3/4 to 1 cup sauce as needed to cover the entire top (3rd & final layer of sauce). I was left with around 1/3 cup of the sauce.

26- And finally add 3/4 to 1 cup of grated cheese on top (3rd & final layer of cheese). Use more or less of cheese as per preference.

27- Cover the pan with a sheet of aluminum foil. Make sure the foil doesn’t touch the top of the cheese.

28- Bake at 425 F degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Then carefully take the pan out of the oven and remove the aluminium foil.

Place the pan back into the oven and bake at 425 F for another 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese on top is browned (don’t burn it) and bubbly.

Remove pan from heat and let it cool for around 20 minutes. Then slice and serve this Vegetable & Paneer Lasagna warm!

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