Easy Zucchini Lasagna Recipe (not just for low-carb eating) (2024)

Get the flavor of traditional lasagna and use up that surplus of summer zucchini with this easy zucchini lasagna recipe. Since this recipe substitutes zucchini for lasagna noodles, it’s also a great recipe for those who are gluten-free or on a low-card or keto diet. Zucchini lasagna will quickly become a family favorite!

Why Zucchini Lasagna?

For years, I would makevegetable lasagnaduring the summer when we had a glut of garden zucchini. I usually don’t put meat in this recipe, since lasagna is a meal that tends to be a little on the pricey side.

But my boys aren’t huge fans of vegetarian lasagna so I needed to figure out a way to reduce the cost so we could have meat in the recipe. That when we decided to substitute zucchini noodles for the traditional noodles. My family loved it!!

One of the great things about zucchini is that it has a very mild flavor of it’s own and easily takes on the flavor of the other ingredients. Plus, the texture is pretty much the same as classic lasagna.

Ingredients

• Zucchini– I like to use overgrown zucchini in this recipe, but you can use any size zucchini with good results.
• Salt– this will be fore sweating the zucchini so you don’t end up with watery zucchini lasagna
• Ricotta Cheese– We like ricotta in our lasagna. I know some people use cottage cheese and you can certainly make that substitution.
• Eggs
• Parmesan Cheese
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Marinara Sauce– just use your favorite pasta sauce whether it’s store bought or homemade.
• Canned Diced Tomatoes– I like to add extra tomatoes to our lasagna. You can use home canned or store bought canned tomatoes.
• Tomato Paste– To keep the zucchini lasagna from being too watery, I add a can of tomato paste to the sauce to make it really thick.
• Ground Meat– Use whatever ground meat your family likes, ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, or Italian sausage.
• Onion– I add sauteed onion to my meat mixture but it’s optional, so if you don’t have an onion, don’t worry about it.

How to Make Zucchini Lasagna

If you’ve made a regular lasagna with pasta before, you’ll be able to easily make a zucchini lasagna. The only real difference between the two using zucchini slices in place of pasta.

Prepare the Zucchini Noodles

This recipe will work best if the zucchini slices are less than 1/4-inch thick. You can use a mandoline slicer to to cut the zucchini into thin slices, if you have one. I’ve made it many times by using a large sharp knife and cutting board. I’ve also used a hand held vegetable peeler, and that works too. The point is, you don’t need any special equipment to make zucchini lasagna. Just use what you have, it will be delicious!

Once the strips are cut, lay them in a colander that is set inside a large bowl. Lightly salt the zucchini slices. The salt will cause the zucchini to sweat and release the excess moisture and will help keep you from having watery zucchini lasagna.

Let the strips rest for about 30 minutes, then remove them one by one and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels.

Make the Meat Sauce

While the zucchini strips are sweating, prepare the meat sauce. Dice the onion and cook it with the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once cooked, strain excess oil, if needed.

Add the marinara sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato poste to the cooked meat. To add a bit of heat, add a some crushed red peppers to the sauce.

The meat sauce will be very thick, this will help you from having watery lasagna.

If you don’t have spaghetti sauce, you can use tomato sauce and add Italian seasoning or fresh herbs, to make the meat sauce.

Make the Ricotta Filling

Next, make the ricotta mixture. Whisk eggs in medium bowl and then add ricotta cheese, parmesan and half the mozzarella.

Assemble the Lasagna

Now that everything is prepared, it’s time to start putting the lasagna together. You’ll want to use a deep 9×13 baking dish for this recipe since there are several layers.

• Put a small mount of sauce on the bottom casserole dish.
• Put slices of zucchini in a single layer covering the bottom of the casserole dish
• Spread about half of the ricotta mixture on the zucchini strips
• Ladle on about one-third of the meat sauce
• Top with another layer of zucchini noodles.
• Add the rest of the ricotta mixture and half of the remaining meat sauce.
• Top with a last layer of zucchini slices.
• Add the remaining meat sauce
• Top with grated mozzarella
• Bake at 350F for an hour, until the zucchini is soft.
• I like to put a baking sheet under the casserole dish to catch any overflow.
• Let the lasagna rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Get the full recipe and instructions in the printable recipe card below.

StoringLeftover Zucchini Lasagna

If there is any leftover zucchini lasagna you can store it by letting it completely cool off and then covering it in the casserole dish with plastic wrap. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Zucchini lasagna also freezes really great, so I don’t mind leftovers at all. I like to store it in the refrigerator overnight first to be sure it’s completely cooled down. It also makes it easier to slice if I’m freezing it in smaller portions. The next day, cut the lasagna and put the pieces in airtight containers that are freezer safe and put in the freezer. Use within 3 month.

Tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. We always appreciate your feedback. You can also save the recipe for later by pinning it or clicking on the heart in the lower right hand corner.

More Zucchini Recipes

There is so much you can do with zucchini and I’ve gathered the best zucchini recipes from around the internet to help you use up the zucchini surplus. Goodies such as chocolate zucchini bread, zucchini fries, zucchini cake, and even some canned recipes. You can find all of those and more inThe Best Zucchini Recipesarticle.