Best Zucchini Lasagna
Anyone else up to their ears in zucchini!?!?!
We have zucchini growing in our garden AND I received a big haul of zucchini in our CSA box this week.
So what better way to use a bunch than zucchini lasagna!! While I definitely enjoy regular lasagna, I love this veg forward zucchini version better!
It’s pretty simple, basically make lasagna how you usually make it but use thinly sliced zucchini instead of noodles. Bonus is that there’s no boiling needed!
Best Zucchini Lasagna
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
This simple lasagna replaces noodles with zucchini and is fresh, flavorful and a great way to use up those garden zucchini!
Ingredients
- 4–5 medium zucchini or summer squash, thinly sliced on a mandolin to 1/8 inch thickness
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.25lb organic lean ground beef
- 4–5 tomatoes, chopped (optional)*
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 24oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I love Rao’s), divided
- 15oz ricotta
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt, pepper and dried basil
- 1 1/2–2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- fresh basil and extra grated parmesan, for serving
Instructions
Zucchini
Thinly slice the zucchini on a mandolin to uniform thickness. Alternatively you can use a knife, but it is much easier with a mandolin. Place zucchini on a paper towel and cover with another paper towel, pressing down to extract some of the moisture from the zucchini. Set aside while you make the bolognese and ricotta mixture.
Bolognese
Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, sauting until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef to the pan and break apart, cooking until well-browned. Drain. Return to pan and add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Stir until fragrant and tomatoes begin to break down and release juices, about 2 minutes. Add all but 1/2 cup of the pasta sauce, stir, remove from heat.
Ricotta mixture
Stir together ricotta, egg, parmesan, salt, pepper and basil.
Assembly
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread the reserved 1/2 cup pasta sauce evenly on the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Cover bottom with zucchini slices, slightly overlapping if desired. Add 1/3 of the sauce, then 1/3 ricotta mixture and about 1/3 cup mozzarella. Add another layer of zucchini, 1/3 sauce, 1/3 ricotta mixture and 1/3 cup mozzarella. Repeat one more time. Finish with a layer of zucchini (there should be 4 total layers of zucchini) and top with the rest of the mozzarella and a sprinkle of parmesan. Bake for 45 minutes until bubbly and golden brown on top.
Let stand for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. Top with fresh basil and ENJOY!
Notes
The tomatoes are optional but if you also have a lot of garden tomatoes like me, throw them in there!
You could easily make this vegetarian by omitting the ground beef.
Thank you for this yummy looking recipe. I will make it soon.
Hooray! Can’t wait to hear what you think!
this is so yummy, the family did not miss regular noodles at all…love the meat sauce, very flavorful. Thanks for sharing
Hooray! I’m so glad you liked it!
This is amazing. We have been making it often since last year. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Told my family I was making this for dinner and all 3 of them turned their noses up at me and said no thank you – zucchini instead of noodles, perish the thought! I made it anyway for myself and by the end of dinner they were eating off of my plate and eventually making a plate for themselves ;). Haters turned to instant fans!
I’ve already shared the recipe with two friends who had an excess of zucchini to use up!