Thinly sliced zucchini stands in for the noodles in this easy lightened-up zucchini lasagna.
I first made this zucchini lasagna recipe a few months ago when my parents came to visit for the holidays. I wanted to make them a fancy comfort-food dish that was healthy at the same time, and so this healthy, low-carb zucchini lasagna was born.
For the record, my family is Italian, and we really love carbs—especially noodles. So I honestly wasn’t sure what we would think of a lasagna recipe with vegetables standing in for the noodles. But it turned out that we really enjoyed this dish! The lasagna gives you all the flavor of traditional lasagna without making you feel weighed down after finishing the meal.
When you’re a kid growing up, your parents always try to get you to eat more vegetables… and now it is the other way around!
For the zucchini lasagna, you start with a layer of tomato sauce, cover it with thinly sliced zucchini, then spread a layer of the filling on top. Repeat these steps until you’ve used up all of the filling and tomato sauce.
If you happen to have any leftover zucchini—or if you bought extra on purpose because you really love zucchini—here are a few of my favorite suggestions for using up the rest:
Zucchini Brownies (reader favorite)
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables to use in recipes, because its mild flavor and light texture work so well in both sweet and savory dishes, adding substance and moisture without the empty calories.
At less than 80 calories per serving, going back for seconds is strongly encouraged!
I haven’t tried this particular recipe with noodles subbed in for the zucchini, but I honestly don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Please feel free to experiment with replacing some or all of the zucchini “noodles” with pasta if you so desire.
And if you make this recipe, also please feel free to tag @Chocolatecoveredkatie on Instagram so I can see your results!
Zucchini Lasagna
Zucchini Lasagna–No Noodles!
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchini
- 2 1/2 cups tomato pasta sauce
- 14 oz firm tofu (or see soy-free option)
- 1 tsp salt, plus extra for the zucchini
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast or parmesan (such as vegan parma), optional
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella, such as daiya vegan
Instructions
Slice the zucchini so that you get six slices from each. (See photo above.) Spread out on a large plate and sprinkle liberally with salt – don’t worry, most of this will be wiped off later. Let sit for an hour, and you will be amazed at how much moisture this helps bring out of the zucchini. Meanwhile, mash the tofu with the onion, garlic, and optional yeast, then set aside. Wipe all moisture off the zucchini, place on a baking tray, and place on the center oven rack. Now turn on the heat to 450 F and let zucchini cook 15 minutes. Take out zucchini, turn the oven to 375 F, and layer 1/2 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of an 8-inch square pan. Cover the sauce with a layer of zucchini, then spread 1 1/3 cup of the tofu mixture over the zucchini layer. Now add 1 cup sauce, then another zucchini layer, then 1 1/3 cup more tofu. Cover with the final cup sauce, another zucchini layer, and finally cover everything with your cheese. Bake on the center rack 40 minutes, then turn oven off—but don’t open the oven door—and let sit in the oven an additional 20 minutes.
It’s important to not skip either the salting (called “sweating”) or baking stages for the zucchini so your lasagna is not watery.
Link of The Day:
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This lasagna looks delicious! Thank you for sharing!
I LOVE this idea! Was halfway to the fridge before I saw the filling has soy in it… any ideas for a soy-free filling? Long shot, I know…
Soy-free option is listed right there in the post 😉
Ground turkey, beef, non vegan cheese, mushrooms…
Erin, look up ricotta cheese made with soaked almonds. My family likes it better than the real cheese, and it’s delicious, and vegan.
I love zucchini, too. I am going to make this on the weekend. Thanks for the inspiration. Oh, and I love your photos.
How can this not be delicious!? Zucchini noodles all on their own are delicious so throw in some tofu and Daiya cheese? Yes, please!! I buy crumbled tempeh every now and again so I would cook it up in some sauce and add it to this, or a lentil bolognese ground into a sauce.
http://www.bitesforfoodies.com/recipes/lentil-bolognese-zucchini-pasta/
What type of cheese did you use? It looks so melts and amazing
Katie has a melty homemade vegan cheese recipe in her cookbook! https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2016/10/11/healthy-breakfast-cookbook-food-blog/
Hi, I just purchased that book but didn’t see that cheese recipe in there. Can you tell me where I can find it? Thank you.
I sent out an email with the bonus recipes. Let me know if you didn’t get it, and I can resend it easily!
I have made this using Eggplant! Just peel the eggplant, slice long slices, do the salt before as well to pull out moisture. I also loaded it with Mushrooms that were chopped up for that “meaty” feel.
I wish zucs were in season right now. That looks delish! I used spinach ravioli (just last night) in a lasagna and it turned out pretty well. I’ll have to save this recipe to try another twist on a dinner favorite.
Can you freeze this??
Probably not because zucchini is very watery.
Every time you post something with cheese in it, I look through it first to see if the cheese recipe is included lol. I’m just dying for your cheese recipe!!!
Cheese recipe is in her cookbook: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2016/10/11/healthy-breakfast-cookbook-food-blog/ 🙂
This looks perfect. I love lasagna, it’s the ultimate comfort food. I’m trying to lose weight at the moment so the fact that this is low carb and low calorie really makes my day. I ‘m going to make this for the family, I think it will keep everyone happy.
Dumb question– does the 1 teaspoon of salt in the ingredients go in with the mashed tofu, or is that for the zucchini? This looks delicious, by the way.
That is for the tofu.
Looks delicious! I make a similar version but with eggplant instead of zucchini, I will have to try with that too.
Thanks for sharing ;o)
Can definitely see myself eating 3-4 servings of this delicious lasagna! I’ll probably have to purchase lots and lots of tofu to make this recipe! YUM!
Yikes!! was all I could say when seeing the sodium content. I was all set to try this, until I saw that. I guess I can just skip the salt in the tofu (like I do with most recipes), or just add a sprinkle.
I wonder if I could rinse the salt off the zucchini, and pat dry, before baking, to help bring the sodium down a little more? Or is it needed to help draw out more moisture while baking?
I love your website, and have used (and shared) several of your recipes (black bean brownie….yummy!)
Absolutely, you can rinse the salt from the zucchini before baking. In fact, you should. The recipe says to pat dry, which means to remove all the extra moisture and salt that has been sweated out. Hope that helps!
Yes. Thank you.
I just purchased your wonderful breakfast cookbook but, but like others, I couldn’t find the melty cheese recipe:-( Could you please send it??? Thanks so much.
Sent!
I just made this and am so bummed. What did I do wrong? I rinsed the zuchinni off before baking,popped it into the oven and patiently waited. Took my first bite and am now trying to figure out what to eat because this is so salty. Like tastes like a salt lick salty. I didn’t salt the sauce, or anything else for that matter. Just the zuchinni. Rinsed it off because I was so worried it would be too salty, which despite my efforts, it was. I tried to suck it up and eat it anyways but it tastes like ocean water. Someone help 🙁
I’m not sure as I’ve never had that problem. If you pat the zucchini/wipe off the salt before baking, then there shouldn’t be any salt left so no idea where your salty flavor would have come from. Maybe bad zucchini somehow?
Youch! the sodium is waaay too high! What can be done to lower it to a maximum of 200 mg? Otherwise, it looks! delish
Well you could always just decrease the amount of salt called for in the recipe or use a no-sodium tomato sauce. It will change the taste, but if you’re used to already eating foods that are low-sodium then you might not mind the flavor. I personally would find it flavorless but I find all low-sodium recipes flavorless so that’s just me.
I made this using regular lasagna noodles (I need to practice my zoodle making skills) and it was absolutely delicious! My carnivore family ate it all up! I’m making it again for Easter dinner! Thanks for the awesome recipe, Katie!
Can this recipe be frozen?
Probably not. Zucchini doesn’t usually freeze well in general.
Is there a way to cut the lasagna noodles with an instrument other than knife?
Maybe a mandoline? https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/oxo-good-grips-reg-v-blade-mandoline-slicer/1014640630?skuId=14640630&mcid=PS_googlepla_nonbrand_kitchenfoodprep_online&product_id=14640630&adtype=pla&product_channel=online&adpos=1o9&creative=224484706035&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&mrkgadid=558377654&mrkgcl=609&rkg_id=h-25c32468fceaf5dcb7fddde83191dcd1_t-1529702693&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvLLZBRDrARIsADU6ojDSQwHTlHRna7slqvWfu6DAZzf2w85qfmobkN-zCt8leL1VYwGRUw0aApHkEALw_wcB
Mine has a knob so you can adjust for thicker slices.