Sweet potatoes, kale, and gooey “cheeses” make up a comforting lasagna with none of the gluten or dairy!
Meaty lasagna gets a Paleo makeover in this hearty recipe. Sweet potatoes stand in for traditional lasagna noodles while spices like fennel add a savory Italian flavor. When baked, the noodles create a sturdy base to house layers of ground beef, marinara, and Paleo cheeses. Serve it as your next dinner entrée to satisfy both kids and adults alike!
Every good lasagna deserves a melty, ooey-gooey cheese to sprinkle on top. This recipe is no exception! Using a dairy-free mozzarella alternative, it’s made using raw cashews, nutritional yeast, and gelatin. Make sure to prep four hours ahead of time to refrigerate the cheese until solid. This will make the cheese easy to grate and perfect for topping lasagnas, pizzas, or even grilled cheese sandwiches. Tip: Be careful when cooking with this cheese, as it can burn easily.
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To recreate the creaminess of traditional lasagna, you’ll need to sub in a ricotta cheese alternative made with cashews and herbs. Easy to make, you can pulse the drained cashews with dried basil and a little sea salt to achieve a cheese-like texture. Best part is, you can use this cheese with other Paleo pasta recipes (like our favorite eggplant lasagna roll-ups).
To make the lasagna, set a skillet on medium heat and cook the beef, fennel, garlic powder, sea salt, and chili flakes for eight minutes. Add in the kale last and remove the pan from the stove. It’s okay if the beef hasn’t cooked all the way through yet, as it will finish cooking in the oven.
For the layering process, spread one cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish. This will help to prevent the sweet potatoes from burning or sticking to the bottom. Arrange two cups of sliced sweet potatoes over the marinara in a single layer, overlapping slightly. Top the sweet potatoes with a layer of cashew ricotta, followed by half of the ground beef. Continue layering with the remaining sweet potatoes, ground beef, and marinara (in that order).
Then, sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 50 minutes, covered. When finished, remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Slice into squares and garnish with freshly chopped basil. Serve hot and enjoy!
Tip: Use large, uniformly shaped potatoes for best results.
Pasta-Less Sweet Potato Kale Lasagne
15 mins
Pasta-Less Sweet Potato Kale Lasagne
Jennafer Ashley- Small saucepan
- Food processor
- Grater
- Medium skillet
- 8x11” Casserole dish
For the Mozzarella Cheese:
- 1 cup water
- 1 t nutritional yeast
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 1 T gelatin
- ¼ t sea salt
For the Ricotta Cheese:
- 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight and drained
- 3 T water
- ½ t dried basil
- ¼ t sea salt
For the Lasagna:
- 1lb ground beef
- 1 t ground fennel seed
- ½ t sea salt
- ¼ t chili flakes
- 1 cup chopped kale
- 2 cups marinara sauce, divided
- 4 cups sliced sweet potatoes, peeled and cut to ¼-inch pieces, divided
- ¼ t garlic powder
- 1 handful fresh basil, chopped
- To Make the Mozzarella Cheese: Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin into the water while stirring. Combine all ingredients for the cheese in a food processor and pulse until smooth.
- Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Once solid, grate the cheese and set aside.
- To Make the Ricotta Cheese: Combine the drained cashews, water, dried basil, and sea salt in a food processor. Pulse until creamy and set aside.
- To Make the Lasagna: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add all of the ground beef, fennel, sea salt, and chili flakes. Cook for 8 minutes, using a spatula to break up the meat. Stir in the kale and remove from heat.
- Spread 1 cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish in a single layer. Arrange 2 cups of sliced sweet potatoes on top, overlapping slightly.
- Spread a layer of cashew ricotta over the sweet potatoes and layer half of the cooked ground beef on top. Continue layering with the remaining sweet potatoes, ground beef, and marinara sauce, in that order.
- Sprinkle the top with shredded mozzarella, then cover and bake for 50 minutes.
- When ready, remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Slice into squares and garnish with chopped basil. Serve hot and enjoy!
Looking for Paleo ingredients? Here are a few we’d recommend:
Nutritional yeast (NOW Foods)
Raw cashews (Terrasoul Superfoods)
Unflavored gelatin (Great Lakes)
Coarse sea salt (AztecSeaSalt)
Garlic powder (Frontier)
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