No-Noodle Zucchini Lasagna

By food contributor Whitney of Eat Sleep Cuddle. Read more about my talented group of contributors right here.

Lasagna was always a family favorite of ours growing up, and my husband & I both fell in love with this version of my Mom’s recipe that I made last week, using zucchini instead of lasagna noodles!

It is the perfect summer-to-fall transition meal, especially for those of you lucky enough to still have some fresh zucchini from your garden! P.S. Don’t forget to save some lasagna to have for leftovers…tastes even better with age.

Keep reading for the full recipe…

Zucchini (No-Noodle) Lasagna

Ingredients:
2-3 zucchinis, sliced lengthwise about 1/4-inch thick or less
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce*
fresh spinach, roughly chopped
16oz. container of cottage cheese
2-3 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 egg
about 1/2 tsp dried basil
ground pepper

Directions:
Mix together cottage cheese, egg, basil and pepper. Slice zucchini about 1/4-inch thick or less. Cover bottom of glass baking dish with sauce, and then layer the following: zucchini, spinach, sauce, cottage cheese mixture, mozzarella. Repeat. Top with fresh parm, sprinkle with dried basil. Cover with foil and bake at 350-degrees for 1 hour, removing foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.

Note: Don’t fill your baking dish too high with the layers. The zucchini adds a lot of moisture and causes the sauce to be pretty runny (which could spill over). To reduce the moisture you can try salting & draining the sliced zucchini, or baking the slices in the oven to dry them out a bit (425 degrees for 5-10 minutes) before assembling your lasagna. I actually added a third “layer” of zucchini & mozzarella cheese on the top, but would definitely leave this out next time to reduce the amount of extra liquid.

*I used Trader Joe’s Arrabiata sauce, and it was perfect for this.

Comments

Hey there,

I made this for dinner tonight. It turned out incredibly runny but delicious. I think I used too much sauce. Can’t wait to try again.

XO Jill

jillianturner.blogspot.com

If you make your own sauce you can cook it down until it has virtually no liquid. This will help control the amount of moisture in the lasagna. I have not made this yet, but I imagine that if you pre-roast the zucchini a bit before constructing the lasagna, that will also help reduce moisture.

This looks great! Do you think it would work with eggplant if you baked it first? Kind of like eggplant parm but without the frying/breading.

You definitely can make it with eggplant! Preslice the eggplant and grill it under the broiler on a cookie sheet, brushed with a little oil til browned. Then layer according to the recipe. You can also do Eggplant AND zucchini together and if you pre broil the zucchini, too, it will be much less moist.

I tried it yesterday , it was really yummy but more like a moussaka ( you know the greek meal ?)because I added meat but really good .
Thanks for this good idea

This looks amazing, and I don’t normally enjoy zucchini (Is it a texture thing? Who knows)

Great to see some gluten free recipes that look tasty! Keep em coming!

This is a favorite of mine… Definitely even better the next day.

This looks so yummy and it’s gluten free too (Liz, didn’t I read on instagram that you’re eating gluten free?)

This is perfect! I was just thinking today of all these wonderful, cheesy carb-loaded recipes I want to make now that it’s fall. This one has all the yumminess without the heaviness of the noodles. And it’s a reason to use my mandoline! YAY!

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