Zucchini Lasagna

Are you looking for a gluten free or low carb dinner option? This Zucchini Lasagna is the perfect dinner to satisfy your lasagna cravings without the pasta.

I’m a big fan of vegetables and lasagna, so this Zucchini Lasagna has now become one of my favorite recipes. I initially made this for my family when carbs were being cut out of the diet plan. We love it so much that it’s found a way into our regular meal plan. I used my homemade Meat Sauce for Pasta in this recipe. It’s loaded with diced vegetables so once again, I’m ramping up our veggie intake and the flavor of an otherwise plain tomato sauce.

Zucchini is a very damp veggie so a word of caution, if you cut and assemble the lasagna and then bake it you will have quite a bit of water to drain away from the lasagna on day 1. You can use a turkey baster or spoon to remove excess water, or you can prep the zucchini before cooking it to help to remove a little of the excess water ahead of time.

I recommend one of two prep options, slice and then salt the zucchini for an hour ahead of assembly, or lay the zucchini slices on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cook them at a high temperature (500 degrees F) or under the broiler for 5 minutes on each side and then assemble the lasagna. Whichever method that you choose, be sure to dry up the extra liquid with a paper towel. For the Zucchini Lasagna pictured, I used the broiler method. If using the broiler method monitor your slices so that they don’t burn.

I used my new mandolin on a #3 setting which resulted in slices about 1/4 inch thick, but in the past before I had a mandolin, I cut the slices by hand lengthwise so that they were long pieces. I have also cut rounds and they work perfectly well too. Whether long strips or rounds are used, make sure to slice the pieces evenly so the Zucchini Lasagna cooks evenly.

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Ingredients:

• 4 – 5 Zucchini (medium size)
• 4 cups of Meat Sauce (recipe link above)
• 1 container of Small Curd Cottage Cheese 16 ounces
• 1 large egg
• 2 – 3 cups of Shredded Cheese
• 1/2 Tbsp. of Parsley Flakes
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of black pepper
• Cooking Spray

Directions:

Note – I used cottage cheese but if you prefer ricotta cheese substitute it.  Since the containers are smaller you will want to buy 2 containers of ricotta cheese.  I made two layers and used 4 medium size zucchini.

Wash and slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices or rounds.  To remove some of the excess moisture from the zucchini, I placed my zucchini on a parchment lined baking sheet under the broiler for 5 minutes on each side.  I didn’t brown them I just allowed them to sweat away some of the moisture.  When both sides were cooked, I patted the excess moisture away with a paper towel.  You could also try salting the zucchini for an hour, grilling them on an indoor grill, or baking them at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for the same amount of time prior to assembling the lasagna.

In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese with the egg, parsley flakes, salt and pepper.  I use a bagged blend of cheese that is already shredded and includes Mozzarella, Provolone, Parmesan and Romano.  If preferred shred your cheese now or use slices.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray a 9 x 13 glass casserole dish with cooking spray.  Ladle a thin layer of meat sauce (or a vegetarian Tomato Sauce if this will be a vegetarian dish) in the bottom of the pan.  Add a layer of the zucchini slices, and then spread a layer of the cottage cheese mixture across the surface of the zucchini slices.  Top everything with a layer of cheese.

Place another layer of pasta sauce, zucchini slices, cottage cheese, and shredded cheese, and then top it with a little more pasta sauce and cover everything in a layer of the mozzarella cheese mixture.  I only placed down two layers of zucchini slices because of the depth of my pan, but the number of layers is up to you.  If you add more layers you may need additional sauce and cheese.  I used almost 1 bag of shredded cheese (2 cups).

I didn’t cover the Zucchini Lasagna with aluminum foil while baking it so that some of the excess moisture would bake out of the dish.  Bake in the 375 degree oven for 40 – 45 minutes.  My zucchini wasn’t mushy or firm which is exactly how I wanted it to be once cooked through.  I didn’t have very much excess liquid the night this was baked, but if you do use a turkey baster or spoon to remove it from the pan.  On day two the leftovers had even less extra liquid.

Additional Photos: