This easy to make Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagne is a lighter and low calorie version, as it only contains some fat free cottage cheese on the top layer. It also contains baked beans and LOTS of healthy vegetables
In all the years that I have owned a slow cooker, I have never made a lasagne in one. I guess I have not understood the point in having to pre cook the meat part before adding to the slow cooker and layering with the pasta and white sauce, you can pop it in an oven and cook it quicker.
However, the other day I had an abundance of veggies in my fridge and I thought I would try making a Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagne in the slow cooker instead, as this would not require any pre cooking on the hob before hand. Less fuss and less washing up. I like the sound of that!
I had also been chatting to my hairdresser and she was telling me how she makes a slimming world lasagne, a meat version, where she adds baked beans to the layers instead of a white sauce, which is a syn free option. I thought I would adopt this method, and then just add some fat free cottage cheese on the final top layer. So this is what I did. My slow cooker was filled to the brim as I added so many vegetables!
I then cooked it on high for 4 hours and then it was cooked.
It was a little wet, but tasted lovely and was so much lighter than the meaty, white sauce version I normally make. I am not saying it was nicer than a meat lasagne, which I really love, BUT it was so nice to have a lasagne packed full of so many veggies that was so easy to cook. And very nutritious and full of flavour.
I admit that it does not look that attractive – but it was very tasty.
Here is how I made it:
- 2 onions, diced
- 8 mushrooms, quartered
- 2 peppers, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 courgettes, spiralized or diced
- 1 small butternut squash, diced
- 1½ tins of baked beans
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tsp garlic puree
- lasagne sheets
- 1½ pots of fat free cottage cheese
- pepper and salt for seasoning
- Mix the tinned tomatoes, garlic, herbs and tomato puree in a bowl (add salt and pepper if required got your own taste)
- Lightly grease the bowl of your slow cooker (I used Frylight)
- Start layering your ingredients : so add layer of the veg, then add some tomato sauce, then some lasagne sheets (you will need to break these up to fit), and then some baked beans. Repeat this layering and then on there final layer of lasagne, add the cottage cheese.
- Place the lid on your slow cooker, plug it in and cook on high for 4 hours
- Serve when ready
- The second day, it holds its shape much better so could be reheated in a microwave easily.
The next day, the lasagne holds its shape much better and could be reheated in the microwave quite easily. It took me a few day to eat, but this would easily serve 6 – 8 people if served alongside some salad, crusty bread or chips. I just had salad with mine and I ben ate it as it is, seeing as though it had so many veggies inside it.
I have made this recipe into a short video
This was a cheap dish to make and went a long way. Next time I will try making a meat one, just to see if it too much of a faff in comparison.
Linking up to:
Hosted by Lucy
What a great way to get all your veggies! I like the idea of using baked beans for the sauce, I bet that bulks it out a bit too and makes it even more filling with the pasta sheets and all those lovely vegetables. Thanks so much Jenny for sending your dish over to the Slow Cooked Challenge!
thank you Lucy x