Zucchini is my go-to for replacing pasta. It holds up and is so flavorful that you won’t even realize there aren’t actual noodles in this dish! So let’s keto this up and get ready for the yum!
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded chicken
2 large zucchinis
2 cups tomato sauce (recipe below)
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup ricotta cheese, whole milk
10 oz baby kale mix
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
1/4 cup shredded parm cheese
2 cups tomato puree, low carb/sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
To begin, slice your zucchini longways into wide strips. I use a vegetable peeler for this. There are also vegetable sheet peeler attachments available for stand mixers. These will create large, square shapes similar to lasagna pasta sheets. But since I don’t have one of those, a peeler still works great.
When using the peeler, I will peel one side until I reach the seeds, flip and peel the back, then each side so that you use as much of the zucchini as possible.
Zucchini holds a ton of water so this next step is important to help reduce the wateriness of the lasagna.
Take a sheet pan and layer the bottom with paper towels. Layer the zucchini strips into a singer layer. Sprinkle lightly with salt. The salt will help to draw out the moisture. Top with a layer of paper towels, layer the zucchini, sprinkle with salt and paper towels. Repeat until all of the zucchini is used. Be sure to top the last layer with paper towels as well. Set aside for at least 30 min. This can even be prepared the night before and refrigerated overnight.
Next, prepare the tomato sauce. You can use a pre-made jarred tomato sauce if you prefer to save some time. Just make sure it is low carb and sugar. I pretty much always use Rao’s marinara. But I decided to make my own sauce and whipped it up in about 10 min. I found a low carb/sugar can of San Marzano tomatoes which I love because I find it has more natural sweetness and less acidity.
Dump that tomato puree into a medium sized bowl and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add seasonings and mix well. Turn heat down to low and cook another 5 minutes, stirring contstantly. Remove from heat.
In a medium sized bowl, mix ricotta cheese with a pinch of salt and pepper.
For the chicken, I used a rotisserie chicken from a local market. You can, of course, cook your own chicken but this step made things so much easier and faster. Also, I included both white and dark meat for a nice variety. In a large bowl, remove the skin and pull the meat from the bones and loesely shred. I just pulled the meat apart with my hands but you can do this with two forks or those shredding claws if you have them. These pieces do not need to be super finely shredded, you kind of want some bigger pieces for texture.
Check your zucchini. You should see a large amount of moisture has come out of the veggie. Blot the remaining strips with paper towels to remove even more of the water. Don’t worry about the added salt, some will come off when you blot the strips and the rest we want to enhance the flavor of our lasagna. There should be enough zucchini for 2 layers.
Now we are going to layer this lasagna up! Make sure you are creating even layers with each ingredient to help it to cook evenly.
Take a 9×13 in casserole dish. Spoon 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce along the bottom of the pan and spread around.
Place one layer of half of the zucchini strips along the bottom of the pan in a single layer. Spoon 1/2 of the ricotta on top of the zucchini. It can be somewhat difficult to spread the ricotta around like you can with pasta noodles so I just plop spoonfulls all over. Layer with 1 cup of the shredded chicken. Spoon 1/2 cup of tomato sauce around the chicken. Top with one cup of shredded mozzarella. I like to sprinkle some oregano and red chili flakes over the mozzarella but this is totally optional. Layer with baby kale mix. Sprinkle kale with granulated garlic.
Now we just repeat the layers:
1/2 cup tomato sauce, then the remaining zucchini, ricotta, chicken, tomato sauce and finally mozarella. Again, I sprinkle oregano and chili flake over the cheese. Top the mozzarella with the shredded parm in an even layer.
Wrap lasagna dish tightly with tin foil.
Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove the tin foil, turn the oven to broil and cook for an additional 3-5 mintues or until the cheese gets all golden brown and awesome looking.
Take your lasagna out of the oven and allow it to sit for 20 minutes to let it set up.
Chicken Zucchini Lasagna
Ingredients
For the Lasagna
- 2 cups chicken shredded
- 2 large zucchinis
- 2 cups tomato sauce (optional recipe below) low carb/sugar
- 2 cups mozzarella shredded
- 1 cup ricotta whole milk
- 10 oz baby kale/spinach mix
- 1 tsp red chili flakes optional
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
For the Tomato Sauce
- 2 cups tomato puree low carb/sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp red chili flakes optional
Instructions
For the Lasagna
- Pre heat oven to 400 dregrees. Slice zucchini longways into wide strips with vegetable peeler. Line a sheet pan with paper towels and place zucchini strips in a single layer along the pan. Sprinkle with pink salt. Top with paper towels and repeat until all of the zucchini is used. Place a last layer of paper towels on top. Set aside. If you are making your own tomato sauce, follow the recipe below. Mix ricotta with a pinch of salt and pepper. Shred chicken. Take a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Spoon 1/2 cup tomato sauce in the bottom and spread around. Place a layer of zucchini along the dish, using half of the prepared strips. Layer 1/2 cup of the ricotta on top of the zucchini. Layer with 1 cup of the shredded chicken. Spoon 1/2 cup of tomato sauce around chicken. Top with one cup of mozzarella. Sprinkle 1 tsp of oregano and pinch of the red chili flakes around the cheese. Layer with baby kale mix. Sprinkle kale with granulated garlic. Top with 1/2 cup tomato sauce. Repeat layers: 1/2 cup tomato sauce, remaining zucchini, ricotta, chicken, tomato sauce and mozzarella. Top with shredded parm. Wrap dish tightly with tin foil. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Remove tin foil, turn oven to broil and cook an additional 3-5 min or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to set for 20 min.
For the Tomato Sauce
- Prepare the tomato sauce by pouring tomato puree into a medium pot and heating over medium heat for 5 min, stirring often. Add spices, turn heat down tot low and cook an additional 5 min, stirring constantly.
Notes
Calories 324
Total fat 15g
Carbohydrate 13g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Net Carbs 10g
Sugars 2g
Protein 37g
Potassium 234mg
Vitamin A 106%
Vitamin C 105%
Calcium 53%
Iron 20%
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