Noodle Free Zucchini Lasagna

I’ve seen a handful of recipes out there for lasagna using zucchini instead of noodles that I’ve been dying to try. The recipe below was inspired by a few different recipes mixed together with some short cuts of my own. This is not dairy free but I did use Daiya dairy-free Mozzarella shreds to cut down on some of the lactose (plus I love the stuff). I am kicking myself for not taking a picture! It looked and tasted DELICIOUS and received two hearty thumbs up from the husband. Try it and let me know your thoughts. 🙂

Ingredients

• 2 large zucchini
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pkg (10 oz.) fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• Crushed red pepper, to taste
• 1 (25 oz.) jar of your favorite marinara (To make this truly gluten free, double check that your marinara is GF.)
• 1 egg
• 1 (15 oz.) container low-fat ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 5 oz. fresh spinach, chopped
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used Daiya Dairy Free Mozzarella shreds)
• 8 oz. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut zucchini in half then slice lengthwise into very thin slices. Sprinkle lightly with salt; set aside to drain in a colander.
3. To prepare the sauce, cook and stir ground turkey and black pepper in a large skillet over medium high heat for 5 minutes. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Stir in marinara sauce, basil and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer sauce for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Meanwhile, mix the egg, ricotta, chopped spinach and parsley together in a bowl until well combined.
5. Dry the excess water off zucchini with a paper towel
6. To assemble your lasagna:

• Spread a layer of the meat sauce into the bottom of the pan.
• Layer ½ the zucchini slices, ½ the ricotta mixture, ½ the mozzarella cheese.
• Repeat by layering the remaining meat sauce, zucchini slices, ricotta mixture, and mozzarella.
• Top with the balance of your sauce and sprinkle Parmesan cheese evenly over the top; cover with foil.

7. Bake for 45 minutes.

8. Remove foil; and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

 

Note: You can easily make this dish meat free by deleting the ground turkey.