Easy Zucchini No Noodle Lasagna with Meat

This no noodle lasagna with meat is a low carb keto alternative with no pasta in it but you’d never know it! Using slices of zucchini, cheese and lots of flavorful hamburger. You’ll love this version of classic lasagna but without the carbs.

Have you ever made a no noodle lasagna with zucchini instead?? Well during the summertime our garden is PACKED with this proliferous vegetable and this is what we made. Since then it’s been a fun and unique way to make this classic dish with lower carbs but tons of flavor! (affiliate links present)

Zucchini Lasagna

You might be following the Weight Watchers diet where you are watching your carbs but still want your favorite dishes, there is a way y’all. Even if you aren’t looking for a keto or low carb lasagna you’ll still love it!  It’s one of our favorite zucchini dinner recipes now.

We started once by making air fryer zucchini noodles with pasta sauce. It tasted so much like spaghetti that I thought we’d keep going with the experimenting. That is when this arrived.

No Pasta Lasagna

Of course you can leave this without meat like we did with our vegetable lasagna with white sauce but you can’t go wrong with hamburger and cheese!! Actually this is even better if you use some spicy ground sausage with your beef to add a TON more flavor. That is totally up to you though.

Have you always made a version of our easy Crockpot lasagna the old fashioned way?? I mean, do you always boil the big floppy noodles in a pot on the stovetop and have a big mess when you’re done? That was the part I hated the most!

• I started making Instant Pot lasagna casserole years ago because I wanted to skip the boiling entirely. Problem solved at that point.

BUT we’re always thinking outside of the box too.  When we had 8 large zucchini’s sitting on the counter I just couldn’t waste them and went on a quest to cook zucchini EVERYTHING.

Zucchini Lasagna

You’ve probably made this dish with your Grandma or parents before right? The floppy scalding hot noodles right out of the water, trying to grab them and lay flat so you could layer all the other things. They were worried because of the heat and it was just a chore too right? Not anymore! Ingredients necessary to make this low carb lunch or dinner are:

1. Ground beef – or spicy ground Italian sausage is great
   • lower fat options would be ground turkey or chicken, I think the others offer more flavor
   • leave out entirely for a vegetarian option, you can find “meat” options to use like faux sausage to use for this too
2. Shredded mozzarella cheese or dairy free cheese option
3. Zucchini – sliced thick
4. Spaghetti sauce
5. Taco seasoning
   1. or make your own 
6. Onion
7. Salt and pepper to taste

This one was made in a square 8×8 baking dish, 9″ would work just as well. Now if you were feeding a larger crowd you could easily double this and use a 9×13 one. The smaller the pan the thicker your pieces will be of course. Below is what ours looked like. Slicing your veggies thick is key too so they don’t get too soft in the process.

No Pasta Lasagna Vegetarian

If you don’t want to use any animal or dairy products for you there are many alternatives that are plant based. I have found a great cheese from Daiya, cottage cheese that is lactose free too that is a great substitute for ricotta cheese if you want to add a layer of that too.

Tip for making the best no noodle lasagna – Slice your zucchini THICK! It will soften quite a bit while baking and as you know this veggie softens quite a bit. If you want it to resemble noodles it is best to slice it as you see here above. If you have more veggies left over, make a batch of zucchini taco boats next!

No Noodle Lasagna Weight Watchers

You can find sugar free sauces, cheeses without dairy products in them, alternatives to meat etc… at the store. Use any or all of them to alter this dish to fit your dietary needs but the steps should remain the same. For other options you might enjoy, or alternatives for your kids who may not be into this unique idea might be;

• Instant Pot lasagna soup is yummy and lower in calories than the original heavy version in the oven
• NO boil crockpot lasagna casserole is fabulous and doesn’t require a lot of prep on the front end. Just add pasta right out of the box!
• This is what we call beef enchilada lasagna

You can pretty much make any of these gluten free too. As far as the noodles go those don’t take as long to cook so you’d need to decrease boil or cook time in that regard. In the case of a 20 minutes dish for baking I might say 15 minutes would be enough. Other ingredients you need to just read the back to ensure it’s GF.

Lasagna with Zucchini Noodles

Ok so it is the same idea as any other lasagna recipe you would make the normal way with all the layering goes. I would say that this feeds 6 people with 1 piece each. If you wanted more double it with a larger casserole dish but very similar timing. For this one, spray a 9 inch square or 8×8 pan with non stick or olive oil spray and preheat oven to 375 degrees F first.

• On the stove cook ground beef and onions together in a skillet over medium high heat until ground beef is no longer pink.
• Drain grease, then add spaghetti sauce (or tomato sauce) and warm together.
• Stir in taco seasoning packet and mix until meat mixture is coated.
• Lay zucchini slices on bottom so it is covered, can slightly overlap.
• Spoon half of your meat sauce mixture on top of your zucchini slices, then top with half your cheese mixture (could use just mozzarella or a mix of both this and ricotta mixture together).
• Lay a second and final layer of zucchini down so meat is covered, followed by remaining meat and then cheese on the top.
• Can sprinkle green onions on top if desired.
• Put in oven for 35-40 minutes or until cheese is a light golden brown on top. (we put our 8×8 on a cookie sheet in case there was splatter)

If you want pieces to stay in tact when serving allow pan to cool on cooling rack to thicken up and then serve when just barely warm to the touch at the bottom of the pan. Enjoy!

How to save leftovers

If you do have some left over you should save it on a plate covered with foil and into your fridge. It can be saved for up to 3 days. Typically I think it is best to enjoy it within 24 hours ideally. This is how to reheat leftover lasagna really of any kind. This may take a bit less time depending on the thickness of your zucchini slices inside.

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