How about a couple of cupcakes for dinner?
I haven’t made lasagna in ages but after seeing the oh-so-cute Petite Lasagnas at Can You Stay For Dinner?, I just had to make a vegan version. Super easy to make using wonton wrappers, the mini lasagnas bake in about ten minutes or so.
I didn’t bother to replace the meat in the sauce called for in the original recipe, I just went with vegetables – fresh shiitake mushrooms and baby zucchini from the farmers market. Baby veggies fit in easily without having to chop them into smaller pieces.
Once cool enough to handle, you can actually pick one up and eat it without a fork. Fun for a party or an easy dinner. Highly customizable too, just use your favorite sauce and fillings.
I only wish the Daiya cheese was a little more melted (I would have left it in the oven for a bit longer but the tips of the wontons were getting to be pretty brown and I have a very touchy smoke detector).
Vegetable Lasagna Cupcakes
Makes 12
24 wonton wrappers
1 cup pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup of your favorite cheese
Vegetable Filling
2 ounces shiitake mushrooms, washed and thinly sliced
2-3 baby zucchini, peeled, washed and sliced crosswise
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
Tofu Ricotta
8 ounces firm tofu with water squeezed out and crumbled
10 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
To make the vegetable filling, heat a wok or sauté pan to hot. Add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the garlic and sauté for a few seconds, add the zucchini and cook for a minute or so then add the mushrooms and cook for another minute until the vegetables are tender. Place in a bowl and set aside.
Next, make the tofu ricotta. Crumble about 3/4 of the tofu in a bowl, add the basil, olive oil, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until smooth but still slightly lumpy. Crumble in the remaining 1/4 tofu, mix to combine and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly coat a 12 cup muffin pan with oil. Layer a wonton wrapper in each cup, gently pressing down on the bottom and up the sides of the cup.
Divide the tofu ricotta in half. Using the first half, distribute evenly on top of each wrapper. Layer the vegetables next using the same distribution method. Top with the tomato sauce then cheese.
Place a wonton wrapper on top but going in the opposite direction. Repeat the layers of the ricotta, vegetables, sauce and finally the cheese on the very top.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until the wonton wrappers are golden. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before serving.
Ha! Brilliant! Not particularly complicated, and still gorgeous. I love it.
These look wonderful!! Thanks for sharing!
I like the thought of petite lasagnas. These sound delightfully simple to put together and look quite nice, too. :)
super cute!
these look so appetising and such a clever idea. Your photography is very good too. Is that paprika sprinkled on top?
Fantastic! I’m not really one to whip up a full lasagna, but individual portions? That has my name all over it. Cute, easy and personalized! I’m thinking over whipping up a whole batch and freezing them for later. Thanks for this idea. :)
What beautiful presentation! I almost want to have a party just for an excuse to make these.
These look gorgeous! And I bet they taste great too.
Great idea! Lasagna always seems so complicated, but you make it look easy and do-able.
Super cute!
I like Daiya cheese but I don’t find it melts very well. If anyone has a sure fire way to get it to really melt, please let me know. Until then, I guess I just have to take it or leave it..
Wow- that looks a lot lighter without the pasta, and so creatively cute! Want to eat it now!!
Thanks everyone for your comments!
India-leigh – There wasn’t any paprika in the lasagna. Perhaps you were thinking about my last post about the lentil loaf. The mashed potatoes on top of that did have paprika. :-)
Diane – That’s been my problem too. I can’t seem to get Daiya to really melt during cooking. The only time it seems to be really melted is when I’m reheating in the microwave.
Love this! Will be great for parties and pot luck!
What a fun way to serve lasagna! I can’t wait to make these for a party! Thanks so much for sharing these.
Oh and we went to New Frontiers in SLO last week. It’s totally like a Whole Foods.
SO cute! My kids would love it if I made them!!
These are beautiful! They’d make a great party appetizer/ cocktail party food.
Just beautiful!! Really great job. I hope I can make you proud, and will try these soon. Thanks so much for posting.
Cheers,
Kathleen
these look amazing!! stunning photos and what a great recipe!! thank you
Genius. I am totally in love with this recipe.
Fantastic!!
I am a vegetarian always looking for new things to cook. I like this cupcake version..never saw this before.
Just made these last night and we ate two entire pans of them! I didn’t have enough room in each cup to double layer like you had, but we just ended up making 24 lasagnas instead. The tofu ricotta is to die for!
These are soooo cute! Yum!
I used a mini muffin tin, and carrots in place of the zuchini… Wow!! I ate about five of these in one meal. They are so amazing! Such a clever recipe. I never would have dreamed that they could have been that delicious. Thanks for the lovely photos!
Oh my goodness, SO awesome! All over this one!!
These look amazing!! I have to try my hand at making them. What brand of wonton wrappers did you use? The last time I picked some up, they sadly had egg in them but luckily I read the ingredients before using them. I was just conjuring up some sort of pizza ‘cupcake’ in my brain. This looks much better. Vegan rocks :) Thanks so much for sharing~
Tone – Thanks! So far I’ve found two brands without eggs, Dynasty and Myojo. Both were at the Asian supermarket, hopefully you can find one of the brands near you. :-)
These are incredibly delicious! Wow! Thanks :-)
Just saw this way after the fact, but hot dog I think there are some lasagna cupcakes in my not too distant future. Thinking mushroom and spinach instead of mushroom and zucchini. All the kids would be jealous of these lunchbox gems!
I bought everything to make these and just realized the wonton wrappers have egg in them! :(
Megan – That’s a bummer. There’s a couple of brands without eggs in them but so far I’ve only found them at an Asian supermarket.
Any thoughts as to the calories for each mini lasagna??
Alicia – Looks like it’s about 105 calories for each one. You can google calorie or recipe calculator to find websites where it’s pretty easy to figure out the calories by just plugging in the ingredients. Hope that helps. :-)
Daiya cheese melts amazing in the broiler for 2-3 minutes. If these had to cool down anyway in the pan, I would have just put it on broil. I make cheese fries all the time this way and it’s awesome.
If you put a bit of soy milk in a pan with the daiya until it melts it works awesome! Just put a little milk to make a cheese topping, or a lot to make a cheese sauce.
What a great and creative idea! I’ll have to try this!
Supersoygrrrl, Kelby – Thanks for the tips on melting Daiya! I’ll have to give those options a try. :-)
Hello! One idea on the Daiya – use the edge version of whatever cheese you are using. It’ll be soft so make sure it’s fresh from the fridge or the freezer (for a quick chill) and shred it with a cheese grater. I find that the wedge melts a lot better than the shreds! The shreds just dry out :(
I have also found that faux cheese melts better when placed under a lower temp for a longer amount of time.
Hope this helps! I would LOVE to try tho recipe. But seems too time consuming for a potluck :/
Veg.aholic6 – That’s a great idea! I actually like the wedges better than the shreds, the Jalapeno Garlic Havarti Style is my favorite. I’ll have to give the low temp, longer time a try. The recipe doesn’t take too long, it’s basically just assembly. :-)
Crumbled tofu note: I have found that, if you freeze the tofu (drained, and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap) and then defrost and squeeze out the liquid, it is a pretty tasty way to get very close to a meat texture. However that might not be what you are seeking in the ricotta-substituting mode. Just thought I would share, though ;)
Love these! They’d be perfect for Christmas parties – or, you know, any other day of the year ;)
How many is one serving, is it one or two cups?
One serving is one cup, but I usually eat two at a time. :-)
Mmmm looks amazing!
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