Zucchini Lasagna
Zucchini Lasagna
By: Jenn Alberts
This is one of our family favorites! I love lasagna but the with all those carbs and cheese I usually don’t make it. This zucchini lasagna is SO good you won’t even miss the noodles. You get all the flavors and textures but in a much healthier veggie version. I usually grow zucchini’s in the garden and by the end of summer we have enough zucchini to feed the neighborhood. This is my favorite zucchini recipe, hands down!
I really enjoy homemade marinara with this dish, but you can also you jarred sauce. I often throw in other veggies or omit the spinach if I don’t have any on hand.
Preheat oven to 375°
Step 1
Slice zucchini lengthwise in even sized slices. Lay flat on a cookie sheet or cooling rack and sprinkle with salt to “sweat” the zucchini. This helps to pull water from the zucchini to help make your dish less soupy. Mine still usually ends up a little soupy but I often just drain some of the water after serving my first portion.
You want to let the zucchini sweat for about 10 min. Pat dry with paper towels or a clean cloth.
*For best results us a mandolin for slicing the zucchini, this will give you consistent thickness in your slices to ensure everything cooks the same. If you don’t have a mandolin you can always slice with a knife and keep in mind to try and slice evenly.
I love my mandolin/grater from OXO
*Note you can also slice the zucchini the other way and just layer with round zucchini slices, this is slightly less time consuming because you don’t have to do the rolls.
Step 2
Use a 7” x 11” glass baking dish or similar
Build your lasagna:
Roll up zucchini slices and place into the pan. Dollop the marinara and cottage cheese over the rolls then add parsley, mozzarella, and parmesan.
For round slices of zucchini: Spread a thin layer of marinara on the bottom of your pan then place round slices into a single layer. Alternate adding the cottage cheese, parsley, sauce, and zucchini. Be sure that your last layer on top is mozzarella. *Note I usually increase my marinara to 1 1/2 cups for this style of layering.
Step 3
Cover with foil and cook for 30min at 375°. Remove foil for the remaining 15 min
Zucchini Lasagna
Equipment
- 7x11" baking dish or similar
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium zucchinis
- 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
- 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese ricotta could be substituted
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
- 1-2 teaspoons salt for “sweating” the zucchini
Instructions
- Slice zucchini lengthwise in even sized slices. Lay flat on a cookie sheet or cooling rack and sprinkle with salt to “sweat” the zucchini. This helps to pull water from the zucchini to help make your dish less soupy. Mine still usually ends up a little soupy but I often just drain some of the water after serving my first portion.
- Let the zucchini sweat for about 10 min. Pat dry with paper towels or a clean cloth.
- *For best results us a mandolin for slicing the zucchini, this will give you consistent thickness in your slices to ensure everything cooks the same. If you don’t have a mandolin you can always slice with a knife and keep in mind to try and slice evenly.
- Use a 7” x 11” glass baking dish or similar
- Build your lasagna:Roll up zucchini slices and place into the pan. Dollop the marinara and cottage cheese over the rolls then add parsley, mozzarella, and parmesan.For round slices of zucchini: Spread a thin layer of marinara on the bottom of your pan then place round slices into a single layer. Alternate adding the cottage cheese, parsley, sauce, and zucchini. Be sure that your last layer on top is mozzarella. *Note I usually increase my marinara to 1 1/2 cups for this style of layering.
- Bake for 45 min. Cover with foil and cook for 30min. Remove foil for the remaining 15 min
Video
Snack Shelf
Super easy and healthy snacks ready any time of day! Helps you and your family make better snack choices. Feels like we are always searching for snacks so I decided to create a shelf in the fridge that had some quick and healthy choices. Working from home I often am...
Dried Herbs – Part II (Oven Dried)
Drying your garden herbs is so easy! I have perfected the method and I dry my herbs to enjoy for the entire year. Fresh herbs in your garden are wonderful for fresh flavors all growing season. When you have an abundance, need to trim back, or it's the end of the...
Dried Herbs -Part I (Make the most of store bought herbs)
Don't waste those herbs! If you have ever bought a little plastic container of fresh herbs from the store and throw out half of it, I have a great trick for you. If you have leftover fresh herbs from the store or herbs growing in your garden, I have a quick trick to...
How to cook tofu : Part 1 Pan Frying
I know a lot of people have trouble cooking tofu so I’ve put together some good tips here and created a blog post and video entirely about cooking tofu. If you buy the right kind of tofu, cook it in the right pan, and serve it with a flavorful sauce tofu can be...
Food Hacks: mini citrus ice cubes
This easy little trick will help you drink more water, use up citrus or juice that's going bad, and this is a natural flavor to add to plain or sparkling water! If you use a Sodastream at home to make your own carbonated water and don't like the flavors they have...