If you have been following a Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) / Ketogenic (Keto) way of eating (WOE), then you have probably seen or made many recipes that substitute zucchini noodles (zoodles) in place of pasta. One recipe in particular that I think that zucchini works well in is lasagna, but I must admit it took me a couple of times until I figured out exactly how to prepare it the way that I liked it. At first there was something about the texture that I just could not get right, and the flat style zoodles were difficult to cut with a fork when eating. After two tries I figured it out that the simple trick was to peel the zucchini before slicing it on the mandolin slicer.
Leaving the peel on the zucchini would
make the zoodles difficult to cut with a fork, and you would pull out
the whole slice of zucchini when taking a bite. While this is not a
major catastrophe, it really bothered me for some reason. Anyway, to
solve this problem, I started to peel my zucchini with a standard
potato peeler before slicing them with the thin blade attachment on
my mandolin slicer.
Now there are several caveats to doing
it this way that you must keep in mind. First, because of it's high
water content, once the zucchini is peeled, it is slightly difficult
to control when using the slicer. So you must be very careful not to
cut yourself when using the mandolin. Second, a lot of the benefits
of the vegetable (vitamins and minerals) are often found in the
peeling. However, because I am such a texture eater, I choose to peel
my zucchini, which makes the meal a lot more pleasurable for me. The
bottom line is that you can leave the peel on if you like, but for
me, once the zucchini is peeled and sliced thin, it is a better
representation of a traditional lasagna noodle. Anyway, let's get on
to making a delicious LCHF / Keto lasagna that I am sure that both
you and your family will enjoy.
The Recipe
24 ounces pasta / marinara sauce (see
below)
1 pound hamburger (73/27), cooked and
drained
1 large zucchini, peeled
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 large egg
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon each salt and black pepper
Cook ground beef in a a medium sized
saucepan until no longer pink, drain and set aside. If you like you
may rinse with warm water to remove some of the grease, but this will
decrease the fat content.
Peel, and using the thin blade of your
mandolin slicer, slice the zucchini lengthwise.
Chef's Note: Care must be
taken when slicing peeled zucchini as it is very slippery and can be
hard to control and you can easily cut yourself if you are not
careful. You can leave the peel on the zucchini, but I think it acts
more like pasta if you feel the vegetable before slicing. This is
however my personal preference.
Next, combine the ricotta, egg, Italian
seasoning, salt and pepper in a small bowl and mix with a spoon until
will combined. Now you are ready to layer the ingredients to make the
lasagna.
Using a 9 ½ x 7 ¼-inch (11 cup) pan
layer the ingredients starting with a small amount of sauce, then
about one-third of the ground hamburger meat, a layer of zucchini,
then the ricotta mixture, then one-third cup of the mozzarella
cheese. Continue layering until you use all of the ingredients.
Usually for this recipe it is two layers of each, finishing with the
remaining sauce, ground hamburger and cheese as the top layer.
Sprinkle a little Italian seasoning on top if you wish and then it is
ready for the oven or the freezer. There is no right or wrong way to
layer your lasagna so you can do it in whatever order you prefer.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 90
minutes or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes after removing from the oven
before serving.
Chef's Note: One thing you
may notice is that lasagna made with zucchini is slightly more watery
than a traditional lasagna. Because zucchini contains a lot of water,
a fair amount will leech out into the sauce as it cooks. This is not
a problem for us, and it keeps the lasagna from drying out when
reheating leftovers.
The following nutritional information
for this recipe is as follows. When compared to a traditional lasagna
that you would buy at your local supermarket you can see how the
elimination of pasta really reduces the amount of carbohydrates in
the meal. The Keto lasagna has 75% less carbohydrates than the
Stouffers, and Great Value traditional frozen lasagnas with meat
sauce.
Keto Lasagna (about 59 ounces, 6
servings)
Total Recipe – Calories 2480, fat
186.3 grams, protein 139.9 grams, carbohydrates 48.7 grams
Per Serving – Calories 413, fat 31
grams, protein 23.3 grams, carbohydrates 8.1 grams
Stouffers Lasagna Family Size (57
ounces, 7 servings)
Total Recipe – Calories 2240, fat 84
grams, protein 140 grams, carbohydrates 224 grams
Per serving – Calories 320, fat 12
grams, protein 20 grams, carbohydrates 32 grams
Great Value Lasagna Party Size (90
ounces, 12 servings)
Total Recipe – Calories 3000, fat 108
grams, protein 156 grams, carbohydrates 360 grams
Per serving – Calories 250, fat 9
grams, protein 13 grams, carbohydrates 30 grams
The Sauce
There is one thing you cannot avoid
when making a lasagna and that is the fact that tomatoes have
carbohydrates, generally in the form of natural sugars. You can
choose to make your own marinara sauce for your lasagna, or simply
use plain tomato sauce. For this recipe, I grabbed a jar of
'Classico' pasta sauce from my pantry because I was in a hurry, but
most of the time I make my own. Putting aside the fact that pre-made
pasta sauces have some preservatives etc that many people may not
like, from a purely nutritional standpoint, the Classico has added
fat (10 grams), and the protein and carbohydrate counts are about the
same as regular tomato sauce.
Classico (24oz Jar)
Calories – 300, fat 10 grams, protein
10 grams, carbohydrates 30 grams
Tomato Sauce (8 ounces)
Calories 70, fat 0 grams, protein 3
grams, carbohydrates 10.5 grams
Tomato Sauce (24 ounces)
Calories 210, fat 0 grams, protein 9
grams, carbohydrates 31.5 grams
Having said all of that, making your
own marina sauce is usually cheaper (especially if you buy tomato
sauce on sale, and in bulk) and you can eliminate or reduce the
number of preservatives in your families meal buy making your own. If
you want to make your own pasta/marinara sauce, then check out my
article 'Mastering Marinara: One Sauce To Rule Them All' on our
blog.
Meatless Keto Lasagna
If you want you could go all vegetable
with this recipe by omitting the ground beef, using two cups of
ricotta, two eggs, and small container (10 ounces) of frozen spinach
(thawed). I may write another article on making my spinach lasagna
with fresh ingredients, but this is a quick way to make this recipe
meatless, just in case you need too. Thaw and rinse the frozen
spinach and squeeze with your hands to remove as much moisture as
possible. Then add the spinach to the ricotta mixture and follow the
directions as listed previously in this article.
Spinach Keto Lasagna (about 50 ounces,
6 servings)
Total Recipe – Calories 1740, fat
115.6 grams, protein 96 grams, carbohydrates 58 grams
Per Serving – Calories 290, fat 19.2
grams, protein 16 grams, carbohydrates 9.6 grams
This meatless lasagna actually contains
less good fat, protein, and more carbohydrates than the regular keto
lasagna made with ground beef, however the carbohydrate count is
still less than 10 grams per serving. It should be noted that the
extra carbohydrates come from the additional cup of ricotta cheese (8
grams of carbohydrates per cup), that is used to replace the ground
beef as a protein source.
Fresh Or Frozen
This recipe can be made fresh as in
this article, or you can make it in a foil pan and freeze it for
another day. If you wish to freeze the uncooked lasagna, make it in
a foil pan and place in the freezer overnight. Then, after 4 hours,
or the next day place a thin sheet of plastic wrap over the surface
of the lasagna and cover with foil.
To cook the frozen lasagna, pre-heat
your oven to 400 degrees, remove the plastic wrap and replace the
foil. Then place the frozen lasagna on baking sheet and bake for
approximately 2 hours or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese
is melted. Be careful when removing the foil to check the lasagna as
you can easily get burned by steam when removing the foil covering.
Conclusion
There you have it, a quick, easy, and
tasty lasagna made with zoodles (zucchini noodles) cut on a mandolin
slicer. This is an easy dish to make and either freeze for later and
or bake and serve right away. The leftovers freeze and reheat well
which is especially nice when you are on a budget. We freeze, then
vacuum seal leftovers for me to take to work and they always taste
fantastic.
So if you and you family are lasagna
fans and have missing one of your favorite dishes since you have
started the LCHF / Keto WOE, then I am sure you will enjoy this
recipe. As always we ask that if you find the information in this
article informative and enjoyable that you share it with your friends
family. Don't forget to send us a friend request on our Facebook page
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