This zucchini lasagna is layers of thinly sliced zucchini with three types of cheese and a hearty meat sauce, all baked to golden brown perfection. A hearty low carb meal option that’s perfect for feeding a crowd!
Zucchini is delicious prepared in so many different ways. Whether it’s grilled zucchini, stuffed zucchini boats, or baked into lasagna, it’s always a big hit!
I love a cheesy lasagna, but I don’t necessarily love the heavy carb count. This zucchini lasagna has all the flavors of the classic dish, but with less carbs, and an extra serving of veggies too! It’s super easy to make and is a great way to use up zucchini from the garden.
How do you make zucchini lasagna?
This recipe starts with the sauce, which is made with ground beef, garlic, onions and a jar of marinara. The sauce is layered in a baking dish along with thinly sliced zucchini, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. The finishing touch is a final layer of shredded cheese, then everything goes into the oven to bake. Add a sprinkling of parsley, then serve and enjoy!
Tips for zucchini lasagna
- Use a mandoline to slice zucchini into even noodle like strips.
- The zucchini is salted before it goes into the lasagna to draw out any excess water from the vegetables and prevent the finished dish from being watery.
- You can build the lasagna ahead of time and bake the lasagna when you are ready to serve it. The unbaked lasagna will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
- For softer lasagna “noodles” you can boil, grill or bake the zucchini strips for 5 minutes. I tend to enjoy the texture of the zucchini when it’s a little bit firmer, which is why this recipe does not require you to pre-cook the zucchini.
- I prefer to grate my own cheese for this recipe. Pre-shredded cheese often contains stabilizers and anti caking agents and doesn’t melt as well.
Zucchini lasagna variations
This zucchini lasagna is lower carb and packed with flavor, but you can still customize it to your palate with a variety of different ingredients.
- Vegetables: Try thinly sliced eggplant or summer squash instead of zucchini.
- Meat: Use ground turkey, sausage or grilled chicken instead of ground beef in the sauce.
- Sauce: Try a creamy Alfredo style sauce instead of marinara sauce.
- Add Ins: You can add other ingredients such as cooked mushrooms, spinach or artichoke hearts.
how to reheat lasagna
To reheat a whole lasagna from the refrigerator, heat it covered on a center rack in the oven at 375 degrees F for about 35-40 minutes.
To reheat a single slice of lasagna in the microwave, simply drizzle about 1/2 teaspoon of water over the lasagna and heat it on high for about 2minutes. Try slicing into the middle of the lasagna to see if it needs more heat. If it needs more heat, cook it a little longer in the microwave in 30 second increments.
Who needs carb laden noodles when you can use zucchini instead? No one will miss the pasta, I promise!
More low carb recipes
Zucchini Lasagna
Ingredients
- 3 large zucchini
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef I use 90% lean
- 1/2 cup onion finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 24 ounce jar marinara sauce
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Trim both ends off the zucchini.
- Use a mandoline to cut the zucchini into 1/8 inch slices. Sprinkle salt over the zucchini slices, then lay them out on a layer of paper towels to drain. Let sit for at least 10 minutes.
- Pat the tops of the zucchini slices with paper towels until dry.
- While the zucchini is resting, prepare the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
- Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook for 5-6 minutes, breaking the meat up with a spatula, until beef is browned and cooked through.
- Add the onion and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the marinara sauce and bring to a simmer; cook for 5 minutes.
- Place the ricotta cheese, Italian seasoning, egg, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix until well combined.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 2 or 3 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- Place 1/4 of the sauce in the bottom of the dish. Add 1/3 of the zucchini slices on top. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the zucchini then top with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers, ending with the mozzarella cheese.
- Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, then let stand for 5-7 minutes. Cut into slices, then serve.
This recipe is so tasty and feels really light! I added mushrooms to the beef and put salt on both sides of the zucchini to get the water out, but other than that followed the recipe and it turned out fantastic! My 2 year old had thirds! 😂 Absolutely making this a staple at our house.
Hi there. What size of a baking dish does this recipe need? Going to cook it this weekend!
2-3 quart or 9×13!
I have made traditional lasagna many times,i am wondering if this can be preassembled and refrigerated?
I would not preassemble it because the zucchini will likely release water into the dish as it sits in the fridge.
This recipe came out declicous! Thanks
Hey there – haven’t tried yet but can you suggest a substitution so there is no meat at all? Can I eliminate the meat and what should I replace it with?
You could try sauteeing chopped mushrooms to imitate the texture of meat?
This was so delicious!! My husband said he didn’t miss the pasta at all. The changes I made were: I subbed ground 93% lean turkey for the beef because it’s what I had on hand plus I added one Italian sausage (casing removed), and fresh herbs for the dried Italian seasoning.
This was amazing. Thank you for the tip about salting and dabbing the zucchini. This made the lasagna not watery at all. I was so happy to use up the zucchini from the garden.
Want to try this but am a bit confused. You divide the meat sauce in four (start wit 1/4 in bottom of pan) and the other elements into thirds (add 1/3 or the ricotta etc.). Continue layering, ending with mozzarella.
What happens to the last 1/4 of meat sauce?
Everything is divided into thirds except the sauce because there’s that extra layer of sauce at the bottom to keep everything from sticking to the pan. The last 1/4 of sauce goes on the final layer.
Every thing I love I put in here zucchini mushrooms Italian sausage ground and meat sauce & I love cheese so I used like 5 kinds it was so good . I’m going to ask my moma to come have lunch with me so we can have left overs . Thanks
It’s low carb for us to take off a few pounds so we inhaled this recipe! Cheesy goodness!
HOW WELL DOES THIS DISH FREEZE
You can freeze it but it may be a bit watery when reheated from the zucchini!
Do you recommend to cook it and then freeze it or freeze it before cooking?
I’d freeze it before cooking.
Great recipe!!! I added a single layer of spinach and it came out great..
I tried this recipe a while ago and loved it! I am a huge lasagna lover and this was amazing! I dont think I will ever go back to making it with noodles. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe❤❤
Delicious! First time making zucchini lasagna and husband said it is the best dish he has ever had. I made my own meat sauce using Italian mild sausage and tomatoes from our garden. I add chopped mushrooms and more garlic. I am defiantly making this again.
First time making zucchini lasagne and wow!!! It was delicious , thank you! I added black olives to each layer and topped with chives because I didn’t have parsley, also used a potato peeler for the zucchini because I don’t own a mandoline.
Hello! This is on my menu but can we use frozen zucchini slices?
You would want to thaw them and pat them dry otherwise the lasagna could end up watery!
We absolutely loved this! My family always turned their noses up to my regular lasagna. This one however, they actually asked if we could have the leftovers for dinner the next night. (I cook every night, this was a real treat) I did add mushrooms fo a little more bulk. I will be making this again very soon. It surely was a hit. (For my husband who needs more substance I made a side dish of rigatoni ala vodka for him to put the lasagna on top of. HUGE hit)
So happy to find this amazing recipe as my garden is full of zucchini! It was really delicious!
Amazing!! THANK YOU
My Family Loved it, I make it last night. They said it was a winner ! Thank you 😊