Keto Lasagna
Keto Lasagna takes all the best parts of a traditional lasagna while nixing an overabundance of carbs, providing you with a recipe that achieves all the flavors of a crave worthy lasagna without the nuisance of a high carb dish.
This low carb lasagna has all the classic goodies like meat, marinara, and gooey mozzarella that you don’t even miss those unnecessary high carb noodles.
Serve with bacon wrapped asparagus, or roasted broccoli, for a complete low carb meal!
Trade out the classic high carb noodles for some healthier keto lasagna noodles and make this keto zucchini lasagna that feels and tastes just as guilt worthy good without any guilt. This Keto Lasagna recipe minimizes your carb intake with using zucchini noodles and homemade, easy to make Keto Marinara, making this dish a tasty low carb treasure.
Whoever thought carbs equaled flavor is sadly mistaken. After making this Keto Lasagna you will wonder why you ever wasted time on those pesky high carb noodles. Giving up carbs does not have to mean giving up flavor.
How To Keep Lasagna Low Carb
One of the main reasons lasagna is so high in carbs is because of those unnecessary lasagna noodles.
However if you really think about it, the lasagna noodles aren’t what makes lasagna great. It’s the combination of gooey cheese, flavorful sauce, and hearty meat. When all combined you get pure comfort food that is absolutely fantastic.
If I was playing the “Would You Rather” game and I was asked if I’d rather lose the lasagna noodles in a lasagna dish or the cheese, I wouldn’t even hesitate. I’d pick eliminating the noodles over any of the ingredients all day long.
After trying this recipe you will see why lasagna noodles aren’t crucial to the dish. I think I had been led astray all these years because the word lasagna isn’t just in the title it IS the title.
Lasagna noodles aren’t really the hero of the dish, not even a supporting actor really. Sorry lasagna.
How To Keep Lasagna Low Carb:
- Substitute Lasagna with a Low Carb Alternative. You still want something to break up the meaty, saucy, cheesy goodness. We still want layers. A lot of keto lasagnas are just meat, cheese, and marinara. I want something else. And I want those layers. There are other ways to layer a lasagna my friends. Hold tight I will talk about options in a minute.
- Avoid Store Bought Marinaras. While there are keto friendly store bought marinaras, most of your basic marinaras are not keto friendly with all the added sugars. Simply follow this recipe and make this Keto Marinara Sauce. It’a super easy and delicious.
Homemade doesn’t have to mean hard and making homemade sauce provides you with the advantage of you getting to control the ingredients.
Just be a little carb conscious and aware of those high carb no, no’s and you can have a great low carb lasagna. Most of the ingredients in lasagna are keto friendly already.
What You Need For Low Carb Lasagna:
For this recipe you can expect a lot of the usual suspects that are in a normal lasagna, like meat, and mozzarella, with a few low carb tweaks, like low carb noodles and a low carb marinara.
Ingredients For This Recipe:
Low Carb Noodles And Coating:
- Zucchini For Noodles
- Salt
- Crushed Pork Rinds Or Pork Panko
- Parmesan
- Egg
- Milk
- Oil Of Choice
Other Ingredients:
- Ground Beef
- Ground Pork Or Sausage
- Salt And Pepper
- Keto Marinara Sauce
- Ricotta Cheese
- Egg
- Seasonings: Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Italian Seasonings
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Add these ingredients to your shopping list and you will be all set to make a low carb dish that you will want to make again and again.
Low Carb Marinara:
Although marinara sauce seems like it should always be keto friendly, a lot of times it is not. Many marinaras have added sugar. Don’t worry. There is a great solution.
Enter homemade, yet easy to make Keto Marinara.
I use this Keto Marinara recipe because it is so easy to make, no cook, and tastes amazing. Plus, it has a really low net carb count.
The trick is getting the right tomatoes so you get tons of flavor.
This is a great and easy recipe that can be used for lasagna and other dishes as well. You are going to want to keep this recipe on hand.
What (Else) Can You Substitute For Lasagna Noodles?
There are many ways to create a yummy layer in lasagna without using lasagna noodles.
Low Carb Substitutions:
- Zucchini Noodles
- Fathead Dough “Noodles”
- Cheese Noodles (mozzarella, cream cheese, and egg, mixed, and baked)
- Ham (layer lasagna with slices of ham instead)
- Spaghetti Squash (more like spaghetti but can be used)
While all these options are great, I personally like to use zucchini and that is what I used in this recipe.
Why I Chose Zucchini Noodles:
- Better Nutritional Value
- More Flavor
- Low Cost
- Low Calorie
Zucchini noodles really are the best and used in this Keto Lasagna you almost don’t notice that you are eating a vegetable. It’s a great way to sneak in those veggies for those kiddos who fight you on eating their greens.
Zucchini Noodles!
If you are new to the whole idea of using zucchini in noodle form, this is going to be a major game changer for you.
Zucchini is easy to work with, easy to cut, and makes a great low carb, low calorie option.
How To Cut Zucchini Noodles:
- Peeler: You don’t have to go out and buy a new cutting instrument. You can use a simple, kitchen staple like a peeler.
A peeler will cut beautiful zucchini ribbons, kind of like zucchini fettuccine. Doesn’t that just roll right off your tongue? Love it. - Mandoline Slicer: Some may feel it is easier to use a Mandoline Slicer than a peeler. Once you see how great zucchini noodles are and that you are going to want to make these treasures often, you may want to invest in this slicer.
- Hand Sliced: You can also aways just hand slice the zucchini into thin strips for lasagna.
You may hear about people using a spiralizer. I’m not holding out on you.
Spiralizers are great when you want to make zucchini into a spaghetti noodle shape. However that is not the shape or texture we are going for in Keto Lasagna.
Do I Have To Coat The Zucchini Noodles?
No! If you don’t have the time, you can easily skip this step. No worries.
If you want to just skip the dredging and just thinly cut the noodles and use them, you can. If you choose to go this route, simply skip the dipping, breading, and baking the breaded zucchini part.
Proceed with browning the meat and making your ricotta mixture and just simply set aside the zucchini noodles until you are ready to layer.
However, I have to say we love “breading’ them. It adds a little texture and flavor.
Plus they bake in the oven while browning the meat, so the only extra time taken to do this step is preparing the dredge and dipping the zucchini.
If you have the time, do it. It add a little something extra to the dish.
If you don’t have the time, no guilt, no regrets. It will still be a fantastic, flavorful meal.
And that is the end of the whole to coat or not to coat discussion. The End.
Can I Prep This Low Carb Lasagna Ahead Of Time?
For the best results, I would hold off on cooking the zucchini ahead of time.
You could make the cheese mixture, sauce, ground beef, and cut the zucchini ahead of time and store in the fridge. Then when ready to layer and bake, all you would have to do is prep the zucchini if you are coating it and then when zucchini is ready, layer.
Can I Freeze Keto Lasagna?
Yes and no.
Regular lasagna is frozen all the time. However, I would be weary of freezing the zucchini. The texture and integrity of the veggie will most likely be compromised.
If you wanted to get a jump on things you could freeze the sauce and cheese mixture, but then you would have to defrost it in order to easily integrate it wth the zucchini.
Since you can’t freeze the Keto Lasagna assembled with the zucchini ready to go, I would opt not to freeze any of it and just make it when I want it.
Make Keto Lasagna Tonight!
A low carb wonder, this delicious Keto Lasagna gives you the mouthwatering, crave worthy flavors of a traditional lasagna without all the unnecessary carbs. It’s a must have dish!
Other Low Carb Favorites:
- Low Carb Beef Stroganoff
- Slow Cooker Zuppa Toscana
- Keto Meatloaf
- Keto Beef and Broccoli
- Keto Meatball Skillet
- Creamy Lemon Chicken with Asparagus
- Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Vegetables
Tutorial Video of Keto Lasagna
Keto Lasagna
Ingredients
Zucchini Noodles:
- 1 zucchini large (or 2-3 smaller zucchini)
- salt A generous amount
- 1 cup pork rinds crushed or pork panko
- ⅓ cup parmesan
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon milk
- 1 Tablespoon oil of choice
The Rest
- ½ pound ground beef
- ½ pound ground pork or sausage
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 cup Keto Marinara
- 10 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 4 oz mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with foil, and spray with cooking spray, set aside.
- Use a mandolin slicer or peeler to create strips of zucchini. If the zucchini is really large, cut in half and scrape out the seedy core before creating “lasagna noodles” out of it.
- Sprinkle a generous amount of salt over the zucchini noodles. and let sit for 15 minutes to remove excess liquid so your zucchini won’t be watery. After the 15 minutes, blot with paper towels, or rinse off and blot.
- While zucchini is in salt, prepare the dredge by mixing the crushed pork rind/pork panko and parmesan cheese together and placing in a shallow dish.
- Beat an egg with 1 Tablespoon of milk and place in a separate shallow dish.
- Working in batches, dip zucchini into egg mixture, and shake to remove any excess, then place in pork rind crumb mixture to coat. Transfer coated zucchini strips to the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake zucchini for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and turn oven down to 350 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, brown ground beef and ground pork in a pan and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Mix ricotta, 1 egg, garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- When zucchini is done baking, assemble lasagna in a 9x5 inch loaf pan or casserole dish, by layering marinara, zucchini, ricotta, meat, marinara, zucchini, ricotta, meat, mozzarella.
- Cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes, until warmed through and bubbly. Broil uncovered for 2-3 minutes to brown the top.
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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