Think lasagna might be the perfect food? You’re not alone! There is something pretty spectacular about how layers of gooey cheese, sauce, meat and pasta come together. But if you’re trying to live a low-carb lifestyle, you may think lasagna is no longer a meal you can indulge in.
Thankfully, many cooks who post recipes online are getting creative with how they build their lasagna so you can keep this delicious dish in your meal rotation even on a low-carb diet! These dishes have proven that you don’t need traditional pasta to make a great lasagna.
For instance, take a look at this delicious dish. Would you guess it had just 15 grams of carbohydrates and 368 calories per slice?
The genius cook behind this recipe, Joanna Cismaru from the Jo Cooks blog, switched out the high-carb lasagna noodles we’re all used to for slices of zucchini. This switch not only makes the dish low-carb but also low-calorie.
Cismaru warns that you’ll need to prepare the zucchini properly to make sure the zoodles don’t get too soggy. Zucchini is naturally filled with lots of water, so a little prep work is necessary but worth it for a great texture in the final dish. She provides detailed instructions on the blog showing how to slice the zucchini with a mandoline and offers a few options on how to soak up that extra moisture.
Here’s a look at how the dish will look once you’re ready to layer your zoodles into the baking dish and pile on your other ingredients.
As for those other ingredients, the list is pretty simple to put together.
It includes zucchini, olive oil, onion, garlic, lean ground beef, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, mushrooms, parmesan cheese, crushed tomatoes, oregano and a few other basics. Cismaru recommends making your own sauce for this dish, but she gives you the steps and it’s pretty simple to make.
Jo Cooks also recommends swapping out other ingredients in her step-by-step instructions, depending on what flavors you like. The possibilities are virtually endless with this recipe and, with a total prep and cook time of 90 minutes, this lasagna doesn’t have to be reserved for special occasions!
Have you experimented with zoodles in your own meals yet?