Thinly sliced summer zucchini replace the noodles for a low carb, gluten-free homemade zucchini lasagna with turkey, that still feels indulgent and seasonal.
Once I saw the zucchini in my fridge I immediately thought of the turkey lasagna I’ve made a few times before. The beauty of making a lasagna recipe is that you can add any vegetable or meat to the combo of pasta sauce, ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella and basil and it will still make a terrific lasagna.
Here is what you need to make this recipe
(scroll down for the recipe)
Ingredients
- ground turkey
- olive oil
- large onion, chopped
- cloves of garlic, minced
- can of your favorite tomato sauce
- chopped fresh basil
- zucchini, sliced 1/8″ thick
- part-skim or low-fat ricotta
- parmesan cheese
- egg
- shredded part-skim or low-fat mozzarella cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to Make your Zucchini Lasagna Vegetarian
To make a vegetarian lasagna skip the ground turkey meat for hearty medley of vegetables. You can add mushrooms, spinach onions or even eggplant can make a zucchini vegetarian lasagna.
To create a vegetable filling, simply saute the vegetables in olive oil with a little salt and pepper until tender and then drain, so that your vegetarian lasagna won’t be soggy.
For this recipe I use ground turkey meat. But you can certainly substitute for ground beef or even chicken.
How can you keep zucchini lasagna from being watery?
I’ve made this lasagna a few times and learned a few things the hard way. First, it’s really important to slice the zucchini thinly. You can use a Mandoline or even a veggie peeler.
Also, zucchini tends to be very watery, so I recommend sprinkling the sliced zucchini with salt and leaving it on paper towels to soak up extra water while you prep everything else. ( At least 15 minutes or so).
Another helpful tip would be to grill the zucchini slices for just a few minutes for a more crunchy “noodle” texture.
Other Recipes You May Like
Spinach & Butternut Squash Lasagna
Super Easy Turkey Meatloaf Recipe
Mediterranean Inspired Meatballs Recipe
Zucchini Lasagna Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped3
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 28 oz tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
- 4 large zucchini, sliced
- 1 1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 16 oz bag of shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice your zucchini into 1/8 " slivers and salt lightly. (They should resemble
pasta lasagna noodles, duh!) Set aside on a paper towel to "sweat." - In a medium saucepan sauté garlic and onion until translucent (about 2 minutes). Then add ground turkey. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat has browned.
- Add your tomato sauce to the meat mixture. Allow to simmer on low while you prep everything else, about 15-20 minutes.
- In a medium bowl mix ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and egg. Stir well.
- Remove the meat sauce from the pan with a strainer ladle, this way your sauce won't be too watery.
- Spray your casserole dish or rub with remaining olive oil. Start layering by first adding 1/2 cup of meat sauce on the bottom. Then add a layer of zucchini, followed by the cheese mixture, and then sprinkle the mozzarella cheese. Keep layering until you've used up all the things!
- Stop with the last layer with sauce and zucchini.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes covered.
- Uncover, add mozzarella cheese and cook for another 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Let stand about 5 minutes before serving. Top with fresh basil and parmesan cheese!
8 Comments
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[…] fun variation on a traditional lasagna is the zucchini lasagna. This version of the lasagna uses zucchini slices instead of noodles for a healthier spin on a […]
I love using veggies in place of pasta! This looks delicious:)
This looks delicious! I have been obsessed with ‘zoodles’, and can’t wait to try this out!
This looks really delicious! I’m definitely going to try this one!
Yum! This looks delicious and perfect for summer!
This sounds awesome! My husband is diabetic so we’re always looking for ways to reduce the carbs. We LOVE zucchini. BTW: I’m not sure eating too MANY fish tacos is a real problem, as they are delicious 🙂
Too many fish tacos is a good problem to have, you’re right! Yes, I love the zucchini substitution because you also don’t feel super bloated after!