These Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups are such a cute individual serving size version of everyone’s favourite comfort food, lightened up!
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Ingredients in Mini Lasagnas
Move over Mini Chicken Pot Pies, there’s a new favourite comfort food in town.
These Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups cook super-fast because they’re a smaller serving size, and you don’t need to do anything ahead of time if you don’t feel like it. Chop up your veggies, layer in your sauce and cheeses, bake and boom! Comfort food in a cup!
I mean who doesn’t love lasagna?! I think it’s one of those foods I’m always in the mood for. Here's what you need to make these cute little cups!
- ricotta cheese
- lasagna noodles
- red and yellow pepper
- mushrooms
- broccoli
- zucchini
- jarred tomato sauce
- mozzarella cheese, grated
How to make mini lasagna cups
These Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups are a much faster version of lasagna with the perfect serving sizes for everyone! No more guessing the calorie count as you lift a giant slice out of the pan – these mini lasagnas are here to save your waistline!
And how cute are they by the way?! You can make them ahead of time to bake later on. They are so delicious when you’re craving lasagna but don’t have the time and energy to devote to making one from scratch, or worse yet, waiting an hour or more for a frozen one to bake in the oven.
Here's how to make them:
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease 4 ramekins. In a medium-sized bowl, mix tomato sauce with salt and pepper, then set aside.
- Divide remaining ingredients evenly among ramekins, starting with ricotta cheese, then lasagna noodles, veggies and more ricotta.
- Top with lasagna sheets and pour a bit of tomato sauce over top. Add grated mozzarella cheese to top of each ramekin.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until lasagna noodles are al dente and cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven, top with fresh basil, then serve and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions
Let’s dive into these Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups a little bit more. For one, they are vegetarian, and I kept them this way because I find prepping a meat sauce is what takes the most time in making traditional lasagna.
So here we are, a meatless lasagna with only 5 to 10 minutes prep time and 20 minutes bake time. Yes, you heard me right: homemade lasagna in half an hour or less!
You can switch up the ingredients, however, so here are some suggestions and notes.
Meat – There's no meat in this recipe, but you can saute some ground beef, ground chicken or chicken breast to add to these mini lasagnas.
Cheese – I use ricotta cheese in the filling as that is traditional for lasagna and adds protein, but you can just add the mozzarella on top or use it in the layers, leaving out the ricotta altogether.
Sauce – I used my favorite jarred spaghetti sauce for this recipe to keep things easy; I suggest you do the same.
Veggies – I used mushrooms, broccoli, bell peppers and zucchini as my veggies. You can use any of these or leave any of them out. Other veggies you can add are carrots, celery, cauliflower and red onions.
What type of ramekins to use
I used a Corningware set I had kicking around the kitchen, but you can use just about any brand. The ramekins should be 10-12oz in size, and you should absolutely make sure that they are oven-safe so that they don't crack in the oven. Ramekins are typically safer than any other type of glassware so just make sure to read the labels of what you buy. Grab some oven-safe ramekins here.
What if you don't have ramekins?
That's ok! You can totally use regular muffin tins – just make sure to grease them very well with cooking spray and make sure to divide the filling by the entire 12 muffin cups. The serving sizes will be smaller, but the bake time should be about the same (aim for the lower end of 15 minutes). You will likely be able to eat 2-3 as a serving as opposed to the one ramekin if you choose to use muffin tins.
What type of lasagna noodles?
I always use oven ready lasagna noodles because you aren't cooking your lasagna as long as you would a full tray of lasagna. This way you can ensure you'll have al dente noodles in the end as you are only baking for 15-20 minutes and a full tray of lasagna typically takes 45 minutes or more.
More comfort food recipes
Here are some more delicious dishes of mine that are perfect for winter!
Storing and reheating
You can store these mini lasagna cups in the fridge up to 5 days – sprinkle a bit of water overtop before reheating, then reheat on high in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, gently stirring halfway through to encourage even heating. These lasagnas make the perfect leftovers, and you can reheat right in the ramekins!
Freezing mini lasagna
On busy nights, lasagna is seriously my go-to. I need something I can pull out of the freezer, or I at least need to have a plan in place to make dinner quick and easy. Sometimes if I have a little extra time on a Sunday I’ll prep some of my meals ahead of time so that they’re ready to pop in the oven. These Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagna Cups do the trick!
You can freeze them right in the ramekins covered with foil or plastic wrap up to 3 months. You can reheat in the oven right from frozen at 375 F for 30-40 minutes. You can also defrost in the fridge overnight then reheat the same way you would the leftovers as stated above.
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some oven-safe ramekins here
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
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Super Easy Mini Vegetable Lasagnas
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup oven ready lasagna noodles, broken up
- 1/2 each red and yellow pepper, diced
- 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 cup broccoli, chopped
- 1/2 cup zucchini, chopped
- 1/2 tsp each Salt & pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
- 1-2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease 4 ramekins with olive oil. In a medium-sized bowl, mix tomato sauce with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Divide remaining ingredients evenly among ramekins, starting with ricotta cheese, then lasagna noodles, veggies and more ricotta. Top with lasagna sheets and pour a bit of tomato sauce over top (you can also add in a bit of tomato sauce before AND after you put on the top layer of lasagna noodles) Add grated mozzarella cheese to top of each ramekin.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until lasagna noodles are al dente and cheese is melted. Remove from oven, top with fresh basil and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Sarah says
This might be a silly question, but is the cooking temp and time the same in a regular oven?
Taylor Stinson says
I haven’t tested it so I couldn’t exactly say, but you could try it!
tracey says
Was thinking that myself. Let me know how it turns out
Ariadne says
If I wanted to freeze this, would I do it before or after baking? And then how long would I cook it from the freezer?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Ariadne! You would freeze it after baking and then pop back into a 350F oven for about 20-30 minutes. Hope that helps 🙂
Angela says
What size are your ramekins?
Taylor Stinson says
They are 4oz 🙂
Wilma says
Hi Taylor
These look amazing and I love that I can custom make them.
I cook for some meat eaters, some 90% plant based eaters ( me) and for extended family that are gluten free, and allergic to all things COW plus one with a nut allergy – oh and don’t forget the fussy grandsons.
Sooooooooooooo I will give thes a try today during Covid and customize them and I will come back and review again.
xo W
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you’ll be able to tweak them to your needs, Wilma! Hope you enjoy!
Wilma says
I made them !!!! – and used my muffin tin.s. They are amazing Taylor. Thank you !
I customized them to meet everyone’s special “feed needs” and LOVED them.
I served them with a green salad and some garlic bread. Small portions allowed us to eat -MORE – or LESS.
I wanted to freeze some – BUT there were non left – delicious.
Thanks again
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed them, Wilma! Using muffin tins was a great idea to change it up 🙂
Megan says
If I use regular lasagna noodles can I boil them first then assemble?
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Megan! I totally think you should be able to do that here. Let me know if you try it!