Delicious vegan lasagna with layers of pulled jackfruit coated with a rich BBQ sauce, creamy bechamel sauce, and pasta! This plant-based lasagna is meaty, easy, and perfect for a weeknight family dinner!
⭐️ Why You Will Love This Vegan Lasagna
- It’s easy to make: it takes about 20 minutes of prep time + 30 minutes of baking.
- It’s delicious: smoky pulled jackfruit, buttery bechamel sauce, and tender lasagna pasta. What else could we ask for?! Plus, it has the perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness!
- It reheats well: leftovers keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, so you can easily reheat it on a weeknight evening if you are in a hurry.
🥣 How to Make Pulled Jackfruit Lasagna
BBQ Jackfruit
It all starts with the jackfruit, which is the main component of this lasagna. It brings a smoky flavor and a super meaty texture! Here is what you will need:
- Young green jackfruit – I went with two 14-ounce cans. Use young green jackfruit, not the sweet and yellow kind.
- Ketchup – Regular tomato ketchup.
- Mustard – I personally went with Dijon mustard for more spiciness, but you can use regular yellow mustard.
- Worcestershire sauce – Regular Worcestershire sauce is not vegan as it contains anchovies. Make sure you are using a vegan Worcestershire sauce.
- Soy sauce – For extra umami and for saltiness.
- Coconut sugar – Coconut sugar helps balance the spicy mustard and the saltiness of the sauce. You can substitute the coconut sugar with maple syrup, agave, or regular sugar. Feel free to omit it if you want less sweetness.
- Spices – Smoked paprika for that smoky barbecue flavor, ground cumin, and ground black pepper.
First, start by sautéing garlic in some oil until fragrant.
In the meantime, rinse and drain the jackfruit and cut off the hardcore part. Using your hands, or a fork, shred the jackfruit. Personally, I like to leave some larger pieces for more texture.
Next, add the jackfruit to the skillet and the remaining ingredients: ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, soy sauce, sugar, and spices. Add the water and let the jackfruit simmer in the sauce for about 5 minutes. This step will allow the jackfruit to soak up the flavors of the sauce!
Bechamel
Then comes the bechamel sauce that brings richness and creaminess to the lasagna.
Simply combine unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk), nutritional yeast, salt, nutmeg, potato starch, and vegan butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly until it thickens.
Making the Lasagna
It’s now time to assemble! Here is how to arrange the layers:
- Spread half of the BBQ jackfruit in a baking dish. The jackfruit will be quite saucy, so make sure you are adding the sauce as well.
- Top with sheets of lasagna.
- Spread half of the bechamel sauce over the lasagna sheets.
- Repeat once.
Finally, bake for 25-30 minutes in the oven, top with fresh cilantro or parsley, and serve!
📔 Tips
- Soak the lasagna sheets in warm water for 5-10 minutes. It will soften them and will allow them to cook more evenly in the oven.
- Do not shred all of the jackfruit. This is optional, but I recommend shredding half of the jackfruit and only roughly shredding the rest. It will give your lasagna a meatier texture with larger chunks of juicy jackfruit!
- If reheating the lasagna, cover the baking dish with aluminum foil to prevent the lasagna from drying.
- For even more texture, feel free to add 1 cup of sliced mushrooms to the jackfruit filling! Cook the mushrooms right after adding the garlic for 2-3 minutes before adding the jackfruit.
This vegan jackfruit lasagna is a crowd-pleaser! It is super creamy, meaty, sweet, and salty, and very easy to prepare!
📔 More Vegan Pasta Recipes
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Lasagna
Ingredients
BBQ Pulled Jackfruit
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 14-oz cans young green jackfruit drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tsp vegan worcestershire
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup water
Bechamel Sauce
- 3 cups unsweetened almond milk or your favorite plant-based milk
- 6 tbsp potato starch
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 and 1/8 tsp salt
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 cup vegan butter
- 6 sheets of lasagna noodles soaked in warm water for 5 minutes
Instructions
BBQ Pulled Jackfruit
- Heat the oil in a large non-stick skillet. Once hot, add the garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes.
- In the meantime, cut off the hard-core part of the jackfruit chunks and discard them. Shred the jackfruit by squeezing it with your hands or with a fork.
- Add the shredded jackfruit to the skillet and sauté for 1 more minute.
- Add the ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, coconut sugar, smoked paprika, cumin, and ground black pepper. Stir to coat the jackfruit with the sauce.
- Pour in the water and bring to a simmer. Let simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Bechamel Sauce
- Add the almond milk, potato starch, nutritional yeast, salt, and nutmeg to a medium saucepan. Whisk to dissolve the potato starch.
- Add the butter and heat over medium heat, constantly whisking until it comes to a boil and thickens for about 5 minutes. Once the milk has thickened, remove from heat.
To Assemble
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease a 9×7-inch baking dish.
- Spread half of the BBQ jackfruit into an even layer in the baking dish.
- Top with one layer of lasagna sheets, followed by half of the bechamel sauce. Spread the bechamel sauce into an even layer over the lasagna sheets.
- Top with the remaining BBQ jackfruit, another layer of lasagna sheets, and finally, spread the remaining bechamel sauce on top of the lasagna.
- Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Next, put under the broiler for a few minutes or until the top of the lasagna is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving. Top with chopped parsley or cilantro, and enjoy! This lasagna will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
Cant wait to make this soon for me for your vegan butter can i use cashew milk as some of the ingredients are difficult to find in Singapore i never had bbq pulled jackfruit lasagna before perfect for my after office meals love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
I would recommend following the recipe and making your own cashew cream. I doubt commercial cashew milk will ferment the same way.
Will follow the recipe for vegan butter and will let you know how it goes
Vegan BBQ lasagna sound amazing. Will try it soon.
Thank you for sharing Thomas.
Let me know when you do!