Food

Photo by Karolina Kołodziejczak on Unsplash

Lasagne – it’s one of those dishes that so many of us absolutely adore. However, it’s also a pretty allergen-laden recipe generally, with numerous ingredients that could potentially flare up allergies. Don’t fret, though; if you’ve been craving a rich, hearty, and oozy lasagne but can’t because of dairy and allergens, today’s dairy and allergen-free recipe might just give you an exciting new option.

How to Make a Dairy and Allergen-Free Lasagne

Lasagne might be delicious, but it contains several ingredients that are also common allergens – namely, dairy and gluten being the two most common types of allergens found in lasagne. Fortunately, the following recipe is tweaked to remove dairy, wheat, and gluten, so it may be a safer bet. 

Allergy Disclaimer

As a disclaimer, before we start: if you suffer from other allergies, feel free to switch out the ingredients to avoid your own allergies. For example, this recipe does include tomatoes and tomato puree, but if you have a tomato allergy, you could switch this out for herbs, spices, and a different chopped vegetable to make up for the lack of tomato flavour. Moreover, you should always check the ingredients you use very carefully to ensure they don’t contain or have the risk of contamination from any allergens you may be intolerant to.

Ingredients

– Plenty of gluten-free and allergen-free lasagne sheets*

– 1kg minced beef (this could be substituted for other types of mince or a mince alternative)

– Herbs and spices, to taste

– A splash of Worcester sauce or Barbecue sauce, to taste

– 30g brown sugar

– 400g of chopped tomatoes 

– 50g tomato puree or paste

– 75g margarine (or any suitable allergen-free butter alternative)

– 50g of gluten-free or allergen-free flour (as appropriate)

– 225g of allergen-free cheese alternative (as appropriate)

– 600ml coconut milk (or any suitable allergen-free alternative)

As an alternative, if you can’t find gluten-free lasagne sheets, you can potentially experiment with allergen-free wraps, although they won’t give quite the same texture in the end.

Photo by Kristine Tumanyan on Unsplash

Recipe

Making an allergen-free lasagne really isn’t so dissimilar to any regular lasagne recipe – it just requires slightly more creativity with ingredients!

Cooking the Bolognese 

Depending on your allergens, the exact ingredients you choose to include in your bolognese may vary. Onions, garlic, and oregano are classic choices, but you could choose any herbs and spices you like that don’t trigger allergies – or even just leave it as a simple, herb-free bolognese if you’re catering to multiple people.

1. Brown the minced beef over a medium heat until thoroughly cooked, taking care not to let it burn or catch.

2. Add the brown sugar, tomato puree, and chopped tomatoes to the minced beef, stirring continually over a gentle heat.

3. Add herbs, spices, and Worcester sauce to taste, then allow the bolognese to simmer to reduce in consistency and create a rich, hearty filling. Feel free to taste the bolognese and add additional herbs and spices as it cooks.

Making the White Sauce

1. Melt your butter alternative or margarine over a gentle heat and add in the flour gradually to form a smooth paste. 

2. Slowly add your milk alternative, stirring thoroughly with each addition to ensure the sauce incorporates all of the milk and doesn’t split. Whisking may help if you find you still have lumps at the end.

3. Add any extra ingredients – such as herbs or mustard – to taste before allowing the sauce to simmer and thicken.

N.b. If you’d prefer to skip this step, you could always buy a can of allergy-free white sauce from the store instead!

Preparing the Lasagne

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius or 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Grease or line a deep oven-proof baking dish. The deeper your dish, the deeper the lasagne will be. Avoid using a thin dish, as this will likely cause the lasagne to dry out too much.

3. Prepare your lasagne sheets (or, if you’re using wraps, cut these to size). If you are using dried allergen-free lasagne sheets, you may want to cook them first, although this isn’t strictly necessary.

4. Add a layer of bolognese sauce to the base of your dish, then place a layer of lasagne or wrap on top. Add a thick layer of white sauce to the lasagne sheet, then add more bolognese on top. Repeat as many times as necessary to create the desired depth for your lasagne dish.

5. Add the final layer of lasagne or wrap, then smother with a thin layer of white sauce and sprinkle with your choice of cheese alternative. You could also add more herbs and spices to the top of the dish at this stage, if desired.

6. Bake until cooked all the way through and bubbling. Allow to stand before serving, as it will be very hot! 

Photo by Emanuel Ekström on Unsplash

Final Thoughts

Making a traditional lasagne without dairy or some of the most common allergens definitely requires a little creativity. However, it’s certainly not impossible, and today’s hearty recipe should still hit the spot – but, of course, always double check every ingredient you put in before cooking to make sure it doesn’t contain any allergens you may have. Yum!