- March 26, 2018
- Gluten Free
Low Carb Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce
A classic white sauce lasagna, made with zucchini noodles and ricotta cheese. This delicious, heart warming, dish won’t make you miss the carbs (or the meat either).
WOW!
Let me repeat that for you…WOW! I have died and gone to keto low carb heaven with this Low Carb Vegetable Lasagna with White Sauce.
Now, I have made low carb lasagnas in the past. We’ve probably all given it a try. They tend to be a little watery and can still feel a little heavy with the all the tomato sauce and meat that is added to make up for the lack of real noodles.
This veggie lasagna puts every other keto lasagna I have made to shame. I am in complete foodie heaven with this recipe. I hope you fall head over heels and in love with this recipe as much as I did!
This soul warming (crap, did I hype it) lasagna may not have meat and it may not have carbs, but it has a LOT of flavor and you won’t regret it. The complete recipe is at the bottom of the page, read through the post for all the helpful tips and tricks for preparing this comfort food classic.
“School” Supplies:
- Y Peeler or Mandolin
- Sauce Pan
- Small Pot
- Knife & Cutting Board
- 9×13 inch Pan
- Whisk
“School” Supplies:
This isn’t a difficult recipe but does take a bit of time to make because of all the homemade layers. So be prepared! I highly suggest reading through the whole recipe before starting so you can plan and time everything out making this a lot easier and will minimize any potential chaos in the kitchen!
Here is a quick breakdown of each layer:
Zoodles:
The zoodles I made were created by using my “Y” peeler. The width of the peeler allows for creating wide and thing “noodles”. The trick to making a good zoodle base for your lasagna is to “sweat” the zucchini.
I lay each zoodle onto paper towels and salt the tops for about 20-30 minutes. Then wipe it all away with another paper towel and pat them dry to remove the excess water.
The Vegetable & Ricotta Filling:
I like to add different vegetables I have on hand but stick pretty close to the same standard four each time I make this. I use 1-2 bags of spinach (about 10 oz), about a cup of carrot, celery, and 1 small onion diced up small. You could throw in some asparagus, artichoke hearts, or maybe some mushrooms!
Feel free to play around with your veggies but make sure to calculate that all into your total net carb amount. Ricotta filling is your basic filling you find in most lasagna recipes. Full fat ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, salt, fresh parsley, and garlic.
The White Sauce:
The white sauce works best with heavy cream. I bring it to medium heat and then add Parmesan in until it thickens. Once thickened I season it with salt, pepper, and my Italian seasoning blend to punch up the flavor. If you find it is still very thin then add a little bit of xantham gum to help thicken the mixture.
The Topping:
Melt a little butter into a bowl, add some pork rinds (acts just like bread crumbs) and Italian seasonings until everything is well coated. Crumble the coating over the top of the lasagna. Add a little extra grated Parmesan or mozzarella as well.
Bon Appeteach,
-L
Low Carb Vegetable Lasagna With White Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 Medium-Large Zucchinis
- 8 oz. Spinach
- 1/2 cup Carrots diced small
- 1/2 cup Celery diced small
- 1/2 cup Onion diced small
- 1 tsp. Olive Oil
- 12 oz. Ricotta
- 3 cups Parmesan (divided)
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, minced
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. Italian Seasoning Blend
- 1 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- *Extra salt needed for the zucchini noodles
- 3/4 cup Crushed Pork Rinds or almond flour
- 1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Begin by using a "Y" peeler to create about 40 zucchini strips to create 4 total layers in a 9X13 inch pan.
- Lay the strips of zucchini out onto paper towels and sprinkle salt across the tops. Allow them to rest like this while you prepare the other layers.
- Dice the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. If using fresh spinach, roughly chop the spinach. Add the olive oil to a pan and heat to medium heat. Saute the carrots, celery and onion for 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the spinach in and move it around the pan until it begins to wilt. Set it aside to cool.
- In a bowl, combine the ricotta, 1 cup of the Parmesan, parsley, eggs and salt together. Set aside.
- Place the vegetable mixture you cooked into a thin mesh strainer or thick paper towel. Squeeze out as much of the liquid from the spinach as possible. Set it aside.
- In a small pot, add the heavy cream and heat to medium heat. Stir with a whisk to prevent burning on the bottom. Slowly add in the last 2 cups of shredded or grated Parmesan cheese. The sauce should be fairly thick and should coat the back of a spoon. You can check the thickness by drawing a line down the back of the spoon with your finger. If the line stays then the sauce is thick enough to use. If you feel you need to thicken it a bit, you can add more Parmesan cheese or a few tsp. of xanthan gum and whisk it in. Add additional salt to taste and 2 tsp of Italian Seasonings. Set the sauce aside.
- Next, use a paper towel and pat the zucchini dry and wipe away the excess salt.
- Place a small amount of the white sauce on the bottom of the pan. You want just enough sauce to coat the bottom of the pan.
- Add a layer of zucchini "noodles" (my pan used about 10 across and should slightly overlap one another:).
- Add a small, thin layer of ricotta over the zucchini noodles. Then a thin layer of veggies. Followed by another thin layer of white sauce and then topped with 1/4 of mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat this step 2 more times, and then finish with the top layer ending in zucchini noodles.
- If you have extra white sauce, use it to coat the top layer of zoodles.
- In a bowl, melt the butter. Mix in the almond flour and Italian seasonings until coated.
- Cover the top the whole top of the zucchini in the pork rind crumbs (or almond flour) mixture. Then sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella over the top as well. Cover with foil.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. The sides of the lasagna should be bubbling. Remove the foil and allow it to bake about 10 more minutes. If it you want to the top to brown a bit more then broil on high for a few minutes. Make sure to watch the lasagna so the top does not burn.
- Allow the lasagna to rest for 10 minutes. This is so important! The lasagna will be too runny otherwise and is harder to cut and serve. So be patient!
I can not find anywhere in your recipe where you use the almond flour or the “crushed pork rinds” I read it 3 times. Can you email me with the corrected ingredients and instructions. Looks like a great recipe but those things are missing?
Thanks
Denise,
This is a SUPER old (but delicious) recipe and I don’t think it converted well when my website migrated and needs some updating- I apologize for any confusion! In step 15 it does mention the almond flour mixture can go over the top before baking (but I can see these instructions are very confusing). It’s added in place of a bread crumb to add texture and is optional. I will definitely be adding this recipe to my list of updates. Let me know if you need any additional help.
Thanks!