6-8 Servings depending on how big a slice you want 🙂
You will need:
3 medium Zucchini shredded.
1 pound of ground Protein (Bison, Beef, Pork, Chicken or Turkey).
1 Jar of Rao’s marinara sauce.
1 pound block of Mozzarella shredded or 16oz bag shredded.
Ricotta cheese 1 1/2 cups.
2 eggs.
1 TBS of Italian seasoning.
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese shredded.
Butter or ghee to grease pan.
9×13 pan.
A large flat baking sheet to spread zucchini out to dry.
A large skillet for browning your protein of choice.
Paper towels.
A small mixing bowl.
A spatula.
Aluminum foil to cover your pan to keep the cheese from browning on top.
Cook and brown ground meat of your choice in a skillet and set to the side to cool.
Lay out your shredded zucchini on a baking sheet, layered in paper towels. Take your salt shaker and salt well over the entire baking sheet of zucchini. The salt is going to start drawing out the moisture in the zucchini and it will start sweating out the water. Let it set for at least 10 minutes minimum. Layer a couple more paper towels on top of the shredded zucchini and press firmly to soak up all the water and moisture you can. You want to repeat, laying another layer of paper towels on top of the zucchini and pressing firmly to get rid of any excess water. If you don’t do this you will have very runny lasagna. After pressing the paper towels slowly roll the paper towels from one side to the other and this should remove them from the zucchini pretty cleanly. If a few stick to the paper towels, just pull them off and put them back in the pan.
The Ricotta Mixture
Combine and mix well in a small bowl.
1 1/2 cups of ricotta cheese, organic is best.
2 Eggs.
1/2 Cup a shredded Parmesan cheese.
1 Tablespoon of Italian seasoning (Optional).
Let’s put this Lasagna together folks!
Preheat your oven to 375°.
Grease your 9 x 13 pan with either Ghee or butter.
Take 1/2 Cup of the Rao’s marinara sauce and pour in the bottom of the greased 9 x 13 pan. Spread the sauce evenly along the bottom. Rao’s is great for people who work long hours long days and they don’t have time to make a homemade sauce, but you absolutely can make a homemade marinara. If you look at Rao’s label, it only has four natural sugars in it and it does have 2 g of protein per serving. It only has six carbs and 1 g of fiber so five net carbs. One of the great things about this brand is they actually peel their tomato skins off to not only reduce carbs but toxins as well, another reason why we love it. It’s just marinara with awesome ingredients.
Add half of the ground protein over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle it as evenly as you can across the bottom.
Lay one more layer of paper towels over your zucchini and press firmly getting the rest of the moisture out. Slowly row all over the paper towels even the bottom, removing them from the pan just leaving your zucchini. If some sticks to the paper towel, just lightly shake or pull off.
Separate your zucchini on the pan into two halves and layer one half on top of your ground meat in the pan spreading evenly.
Now take 1/2 cup of your ricotta mixture and drizzle over the shredded zucchini in the pan. Take a spatula and try to spread it out as evenly as you can.
Watch our YouTube video on this page for tips and tricks on making this recipe and getting more of a visual of how it’s put together.
Sprinkle one cup of mozzarella cheese over the ricotta layer and spread evenly.
Now repeat the process for the second layer.
1/2 Cup of Rao’s marinara sauce, the rest of your ground protein, the rest of your shredded zucchini, then use up the rest of the ricotta mixture and spread it out evenly.
For the final top layer, add 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese across the top. If you love cheese, you can always add another cup on the top. It won’t hurt anything. It just makes it cheesier. Yum!
Mozzarella has a great protein and fat ratio.
Cover your pan with aluminum foil. This will keep the cheese from browning too quickly as the rest of the layers meld together to make a medley of delicious lasagna.
Place the pan in the center of your oven and bake at 375° for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, pull out the rack and remove the layer of aluminum foil from the top of the pan. If a little bit of cheese sticks to it, no big deal, just be careful It will be hot. Do not burn your fingers.
Now slide the rack back in and let the lasagna cook for another 20 minutes uncovered.
After 20 minutes if the cheese is not brown enough for you then turn on broil and watch closely till it browns to your liking. Don’t walk away from it on broil. It only takes a minute or so to go from yummy delicious to burnt.
Pull your lasagna out of the oven when ready and place on hot pads or a thick towel to cool for 10 minutes and all the juices that might’ve been floating on top will be drawn back into the lasagna and it will be cool enough to cut.
This lasagna will last in the fridge for up to five days or you can cut it into smaller squares and store in air tight containers in the freezer for up to six months. This makes a great meal prep for on-the-go lunches. You can freeze this in slices and just take the slice frozen out of its container, put it on a pan at 200° in your oven or a skillet with a lid on your cooktop on low, heat till it is heated all the way through and the cheese is melted. We always like to add a little extra fresh mozzarella cheese to the top just as the frozen slices are almost heated thoroughly for a little extra cheesy goodness.
