Eggplant Lasagna

Eggplant Lasagna is a delicious low-carb way to enjoy the classic comfort food dish! You won’t even miss the noodles.

You may also like these Lasagna Roll Ups, The BEST Lasagna Ever!, or Lasagna Soup.

Eggplant Lasagna

So, this low carb eggplant lasagna is a fun change whether you’re on a low-carb/keto diet or just want to try something a little different.

Eggplant Lasagna Ingredients:

• Eggplants: I used two medium ones for this recipe
• Olive oil: to brush the eggplant slices with
• Italian Sausage: Italian sausage adds such amazing flavor to this dish.
• Homemade meat sauce: Making your own meat sauce gives you total control, you can adjust this sauce to be more spicy or sweet, depending on your preference.
• Ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella: this cheesy blend makes up the ricotta layer and is crucial in any lasagna!
• Parmesan and Mozzarella: makes for a perfectly cheesy top!

How to Make Homemade Eggplant Lasagna:

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 375F. Slice the eggplant into 1/2″ slices lengthwise. Place the slices on a large baking sheet and generously season both sides with salt. Let them sit for 20 minutes (the bitter juices will release for better taste and a less watery lasagna).
2. Roast the eggplant: Once the eggplant is done sweating, pat it dry with paper towels. Brush each piece with olive oil on both sides. Roast for 20 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit.This helps ensure the eggplant will be nice and tender.
3. Get the meat sauce started: Meanwhile, start prepping the other ingredients. Add the Italian sausage and onion to a skillet over medium-high heat and cook until browned (about 8 minutes).
4. Finish the meat sauce: Add in the rest of the ingredients for the sauce and saute together for a few minutes to let the flavors mingle.
5. Make the cheese mixture: Add the egg , ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella to a bowl and whisk until smooth.
6. Assembly : Add a layer of the meat sauce to the bottom of the 9×13 baking dish, followed by a layer of eggplant (it’s ok if it overlaps a little). Then, add the ricotta cheese layer, a layer of meat sauce, eggplant, ricotta, meat sauce and finish it off with the mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
7. Bake: Bake the lasagna at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes.

Tips on Layering Eggplant Lasagna:

The size of eggplants vary, and some may have more slices than others (especially if you slice them a bit thinner), so feel free to build another layer if two layers of eggplant don’t seem like they will be enough. You really can’t go wrong here.

Pro Tips:

• If you want this to be spicy, add some red pepper flakes into the marinara/beef mixture.
• Feel free to swap the ground beef with sausage meat or even ground turkey. If you want to make this vegetarian, just use marinara sauce as-is, or sauté some mushrooms and spinach and add it in instead of the meat.
• You can definitely experiment a bit with the filling! For example, I kept it really simple, but you could sauté some onions and extra garlic with the meat if you wish.

Other Delicious Low-Carb Recipes:

• Keto Pizza
• Turkey Taco Stuffed Avocados
• Easy Keto Pancakes

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Eggplant Lasagna

3 from 1 vote

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients 

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• ▢ 2 large eggplants
• ▢ 2 teaspoons salt
• ▢ 3 tablespoons olive oil

Meat sauce

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 small onion, minced
• ▢ 1 pound Italian sausage
• ▢ 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 ounces
• ▢ 1 can tomato sauce, 6.5 ounces
• ▢ 1 can tomato paste, 6 ounces
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 2 tablespoons italian seasoning
• ▢ 1 tablespoon sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• ▢ Salt and pepper to taste

Ricotta layer

• ▢ 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ ⅔ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• ▢ ⅔ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Cheese topping

• ▢ 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• ▢ 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• ▢ Fresh basil and parsley for garnish

Instructions 

Prepare eggplant

• Wash eggplants and slice them, lengthwise, into ½ inch slices. To sweat out extra moisture from the eggplant, generously rub each side of the eggplant with salt and place all the eggplant on two baking sheets.
• Let the eggplant rest for about 20 minutes to sweat out excess moisture. While the eggplant is sweating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Use a paper towel to soak up the moisture from the eggplants and brush away any excess salt.
• Brush the eggplant with olive oil and bake until they are tender and browned, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Make the meat sauce

• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Cook onions and Italian sausage, until the sausage is cooked through.
• To the skillet add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, Italian seasoning, sugar, basil, and salt and pepper.
• Saute everything together until it comes to a gentle boil and remove from heat.

Make the ricotta layer

• In a bowl, whisk together the ricotta cheese, egg, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Assemble

• Spray a 9×15 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread about ⅓ cup of the meat sauce on the bottom of the pan. Lay the eggplant in an even layer on the meat sauce.
• Spread half of the ricotta mixture on the eggplant, pour half the meat sauce on the ricotta. Repeat these steps one more time and top it off with the shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
• Bake the lasagna for 25-30 minutes, the cheese should be bubbly and brown on the top.
• Remove from the oven and let rest at least 5 minutes before garnishing and serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 532kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 28gFat: 43gSaturated Fat: 19gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 0.003gCholesterol: 125mgSodium: 1.534mgPotassium: 289mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 640IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 521mgIron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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