Summary:
This is an easy recipe for low carb lasagna with ground meat, where noodles are replaced by thin zucchini slices. Since most of the flavor resides in the rich meaty sauce, the lack of noodles doesn't detract. This recipe prevents a watery lasagna by simply making the sauce extra thick, avoiding extra steps like pre-salting or grilling the zucchini slices.
Zucchini Lasagna
Prep: 20 mins
Cook: 1 hr 5 mins
Cool: 15 mins
Yield: 4 servings
Calories: 470
Net Carbs: 8.5g
INGREDIENTS
- 20 ounces zucchini (Note 1)
- 1 pound ground beef (Note 2)
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce (Note 3)
- 1 cup finely chopped onion (Note 4)
- 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (Note 5)
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (Note 6)
- 1 tablespoon dried
oregano - 1.5 teaspoons table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground
cayenne (Note 7)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Brown Beef: Add ground beef to high-sided pan (Note 8) over medium-high heat. Crumbling beef with stiff utensil, cook until browned and released water has evaporated, 7 to 8 minutes. Optionally, drain off grease in pan, especially if using less than 90% lean beef.
- Make Tomato Sauce: Add onions to pan with ground beef over medium-high heat. Cook until onions are softened and translucent, stirring occasionally, a few minutes. Reduce to medium heat, and stir in tomato sauce. Simmer until sauce is thick and clings to meat and onions (important for liquid control; Note 9), stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Stir in oregano, salt, and cayenne until well-mixed, about 1 minute. Turn off heat.
- Prep Oven & Cut Zucchini: Position oven rack in lower half of oven, and preheat to 375 F. For each zucchini, slice off and discard both ends. Stand zucchini vertically on a stable flat end, and carefully slice into 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick strips along the length (Note 10).
- Assemble Lasagna: Arrange one-third of zucchini slices along bottom of
8×8 inch baking dish , slightly overlapping each other. Evenly spread half of meat sauce over zucchini slices. Distribute 1/2 cup of mozzarella over meat sauce. Repeat with another zucchini layer, meat sauce layer, and mozzarella layer. Top with remaining zucchini slices. Add another 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup parmesan over zucchini slices. Give baking dish a quick shake so that cheeses spread out and settle into cracks. (See Note 11 for make-ahead option.)
NUTRITION
| Makes 4 Servings |
| (Notes 15-16) |
| Amount Per Serving (1.5 cups): |
| Calories 470 (48% from fat) | |
| Total Fat 25g | 39% |
| Saturated Fat 12g | 62% |
| Cholesterol 128mg | 43% |
| Sodium 1260mg | 52% |
| Net Carb 8.5g | |
| Total Carb 12.5g | 4% |
| Dietary Fiber 4g | 16% |
| Sugars 7.5g | |
| Protein 46g |
PHOTOS
Julia, this is AWESOME! I’m not a big fan of regular lasagna bcz it’s heavy. This is light and flavorful. I adapted a few things I’d like to share. COSTCO sells a fantastic Paleo smoked chicken sausage by Sabatino’s. It has 1gm carb per link, so it’s super Keto friendly and great for people who prefer to skip beef. It’s garlicky and salty and full of basil, so I eliminated the salt and oregano at the end of your recipe. Just grind it in your food processor, and sauté as you would the ground beef. The flavor is out of this world! Thank you for your outstanding recipes. Every one I’ve tried so far has been delicious and easy to produce. Especially the baked goods! The pecan sandies are a staple around here now.
10/10!!! I’m not a great cook, like…at all!! I always seem to overcook or burn my food, I was worried I would do the same with this recipe, but since we are trying to do the low carb thing before our Hawaii trip, wanted to try this. I was so surprised how this came out, couldn’t even tell I was eating zucchini! This was amazing!!! Husband went back 3 times tonight to refill his plate 🤣🤣 can’t wait to have my leftovers tomorrow, this will definitely be on our repeat menu, thanks so much!! (Oh, I also added ricotta to the recipe, nice touch!)
Really good and easy recipe! I’d do 1/4 of the salt though – the Parmesan already has so much. Mine came out a bit too salty.
I made this a couple of weeks ago. I froze half of it and am thrilled to say it is still so VERY delicious. I added some mushrooms but that’s it. Your suggestions about making the sauce thicker was spot on. Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
This lasagna was seriously amazing! I’m not going to lie… I am not much of a cook but my husband and I recently joined the keto bandwagon and have been making all of our meals. My kids have only ever tried lasagna from the frozen food section at the grocery store and none are a fan of that but when I made this the other day, they ate the entire thing. I expected there to be left overs for my husband and I for lunch the next day but they ate it all lol. The kids had two helpings (I doubled the recipe for it to be a bigger family meal since there 6 of us). I made extra of the meat mixture and used it for stuffed pepper filling the next evening and threw mozzarella on top for those and they were great too. Thank you for your great recipes… yours have all been my favorites so far!
I have made this several times … delicious! I change it up with some fresh herbs now and then (basil, thyme, rosemary) along with the oregano. I’ve also added spinach and/or kale (finely chopped). All were good! I froze individual portions and the re-heated portions were just as tasty! Thanks for this great recipe!
This was delicious! Even my husband who isn’t much for vegetables ate it (plus 3rds!). It did come out a little runny, but I think I didn’t simmer the sauce enough. I doubled the recipe and realized as I was cooking that I was short in beef. So I made one half with beef, one half woth italian sausage just to try it. I think I prefer sausage, but both were great! Thank you!
I made a half recipe, and it was delicious! No issues with being watery, and the flavor was perfect.
Love, love, love this stuff!
We made one tweak: cut salt to 1/2 tsp.
My whole family loved it! Will definitely be a staple at our house! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I made this recipe for dinner last week and it was so much of a hit that I almost got shared out. I added a layer of kale, yummy. I used my euro slicer to thinly slice the zucchini and roughly chopped the kale. My layers went like this: ground turkey, zucchini, cheese, kale, cheese, zucchini, cheese. Baked it for 45 minutes covered with foil and 8 minutes without. It was sooo good.
I made it and ate it, while everyone else had their spaghetti and pasta, they all were envious of my meal. Of course I shared and now it is on our list for Italian dinner night!
Could you add spinach to this lasagna?
Yes, that would be a nice addition. I would add spinach while you’re preparing the meat sauce, stirring it in until wilted and its moisture has evaporated. One (5- to 6-ounce) package of fresh baby spinach leaves would work well. For more direction, you can check out this similar eggplant lasagna that uses spinach.
I loved this recipe!! This will be replace the classic lasagna from now on. Mine did end up being more watery but I conclude that to my own cooking skills lol the taste can’t be beat. I’m writing a review it’s that good
this is great ! i made it except with a couple of variations. i forgot about the parmesan cheese, oops. i used cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella and leftover spaghetti sauce (which had onions and ground beef,etc.)i also sprinkled broiled bread crumbs (with garlic and sriracha mustard drizzed over them.) i would recommend using a mandolin for slicing the zucchini though. i had very thick and very thin z. slices,lol.
thx for the zucchini lasagna idea !
So glad I found your site! I am diet controlled diabetic with an abundance of zucchini. Always looking for great food ideas. I also appreciate the helpful comments from others.
I froze half of mine a couple of weeks ago and just thawed it out yesterday. I let it naturally dethaw in the fridge and then microwaved it for dinner. It was still DELICIOUS!
Incredible! I added some extra basil, thyme and garlic powder to the sauce, and used a mix of aged white cheddar and monterey instead of mozza. I had to use a 9X13 pan, which was fun finding that out mid-construction! Turned out great, and not a whole lot of excess water, even though I didn’t salt the zukes.
Julia, I’m so happy I found your site! Thanks for what you do!
Lise
I used Prego sugar free sauce. It was awesome.
I used a batch of homemade meat ragu I had stored in the freezer and had to substitute half the cheese with sharp cheddar (which worked very nicely). The recipe is divine. I ate a whoooollllleee lot of it. Half the pan. My kids said, “It’s not disgusting,” which is high praise for anything with zucchini. This is the third amazing recipe of yours I have made; now I look here first if I have something specific in mind.
I’ve found its best to freeze before baking and just refrigerate after it’s been baked.
I made this. But didnt add any salt, I used fresh garlic and added mushrooms in my sauce. Also I grilled the zucchini on my BBQ, came out delicious. I’m going to try yellow crookneck squash next time
I just finished making this, exactly as posted. The finely grated Parmesan is the perfect topping! SO Delicious and satisfying. I am looking forward to eating my leftovers within the next few days.
Will be making this again, without added salt, so my husband can enjoy with his sodium restricted diet.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Oh my goodness! I had my doubts, but this recipe was AMAZING! Thank you!
Made this tonight and it was great! I sprinkled the zucchini with a tiny bit of salt and layered between layers of paper towels with a bowl on top to absorb excess liquid. I also subbed ground turkey instead of ground beef. I also couldn’t find oregano but I used an Italian seasoning blend. Turned out delicious and I didn’t miss the noodles at all.