When you’re watching your carb intake and are craving some homemade, savory lasagna, this is your answer! You can sub out a few of the regular ingredients lasagna has and get that lasagna fix you’ve been craving. I also make this as meal prep so it lasts throughout the week. It’s definitely one of the dishes that you can have over and over again throughout the week and not get sick of. So, keep in mind that this recipe yields a large amount of zucchini lasagna but that’s because I prefer it as leftovers than freshly made. If you’d like to make a smaller quantity, you can half or quarter the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

-8 medium sized zucchinis (sliced to 1/8″ thick using a mandolin)

– 2-3 cans of 8 oz Tomato Sauce (you can also use pasta sauce if that’s what you have on hand.)

-1 large onion (sauteed)

-2 teaspoons minced garlic (sauteed)

-2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

-3.5 cups Ricotta or cottage cheese (I use part skim ricotta)

-1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

-1 egg

-6 cups shredded Mozzarella

-2 teaspoons salt

-Black Pepper to taste

 

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.) Wash and scrub zucchinis in hot water. Cut off both ends and slice using a mandolin or sharp knife into thin 1/8″ slices. Spread out slices onto a paper towel or tea towel lined tray, and sprinkle a generous amount of salt then cover with more paper towels. This will soak up all the excess moisture of the zucchini.

2.) Sautw a chopped onion and minced garlic in a drizzle of oil.

3.) Add Italian seasoning to tomato sauce and mix well.
NOTE: You can skip the seasoning step if you are using a seasoned pasta sauce that already has plenty of herbs and spices. Place this sauce mixture off to the side. It is now ready for when you will layer the lasagna. If you’d like this lasagna to be with beef, sauté some beef and add it onto this tomatoey mixture.

4.) Now, onto the cheese mixture! First, mix 1 egg in a bowl with salt and pepper. The egg will help bind the cheese mixture together in the lasagna.

5.) Leave about 1/4 cup of the mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese off to the side to top the lasagna with. They can be together in a bowl.

6.) Add the mixed egg in a bowl with the ricotta cheese and the remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheese (minus the 1/4 of the mozzarella and parmesan mentioned in step 5.)

7.) Add a bit of black pepper and Italian seasoning to this cheese mixture. Now, place this cheese and egg mixture in the fridge until ready to use.

8.) Spread out the zucchini slices on a tray lined with paper towels. Drizzle a bit of salt onto the zucchini slices so the extra water can drain out of them. Let sit with salt on them on the paper towels for about 20-25 minutes.

9.) Spray an aluminum rectangular tray with your choice of spray. You can also oil it up if you have no spray.

10.) The layering can now begin! Brush a bit of the tomato sauce to the bottom of the tray. You can now begin with the zucchini slices. Spread them out making sure to cover the entire bottom of the tray. This will be your base so it should be strong.

11.) You can now add more of the sauce mixture on top of the zucchini slices. Then, the cheese mixture. Alternate between the layers. Zucchini, tomato sauce, cheese mixture until you have gotten to a little more than 3/4 fill of the tray. You do not want to fill the tray all the way as it will make a mess when scooping out the lasagna.

12.) Leave the last layer to be a drizzling of the shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese you put off to the side (step 5.)

13.) Bake the zucchini lasagna for 20 minutes while covered in foil. Then, uncover for another 25 so that some of the water evaporates.

 

NOTES:

*You can add a layer of sauteed ground beef if you’d like to add protein to this dish.
I have also added sauteed veggies such as mushrooms to this and it came out absolutely delicious.