Recipe for Vegan Taco Lasagna

Can a piping hot tray of vegan lasagna get any better? It just did. Cookbook author Natalie Slater’s Mexican twist on the comfort-food classic features black beans, salsa, corn, avocado, and a homemade nacho sauce. And in Slater’s easy-breezy style, this delicious lasagna makes the perfect weeknight meal.

What You Need:

For the filling:
2 teaspoons olive oil
12 ounces button mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

For the Nacho Chee-Zee Sauce:
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup raw cashews
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, diced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1½ 15-ounce cans corn, or 3¼ cups frozen corn

For the toppings:
1 12-ounce jar of your favorite chunky salsa
8 soft flour tortillas
Sliced black olives
1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
Juice from 1 lime

What You Do:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For the filling, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the mushrooms, and cook, stirring often, for about 7 minutes or until browned. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.

2. For the Nacho Chee-Zee Sauce, dissolve the salt in warm water. Add the cashews to the water and soak for 1 hour. Place the cashews and soaking water, nutritional yeast, chipotle pepper, cornstarch, lemon juice, onion powder, and garlic powder into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a medium-sized bowl. Mix in the beans, corn, and mushrooms.

3. To assemble, pour one-third of the salsa into the bottom of a 10-inch round or 9 x 13-inch oven-safe dish. Top with a layer of overlapping tortillas, similar to layering lasagna noodles. Top with one-third of the Nacho Chee-Zee Sauce, then one-quarter of the remaining salsa, and another layer of overlapping tortillas. Repeat with another third of the Nacho Chee-Zee Sauce and more salsa, and top with more tortillas. Finally, add the last third of the Nacho Chee-Zee Sauce and half of the remaining salsa, and top with tortillas.