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This delicious vegetarian eggplant lasagna is a great meat-free and low carb dinner that the whole family will love. Perfectly cheesy, with a rich tomato and ricotta filling, it’s hearty and filling, and perfect for those following a keto lifestyle.
Ingredients & substitutions
- Eggplant: Eggplants are sliced lengthways to replicate sheets of lasagna noodles. Salt the eggplant to remove excess water and soften them. Here’s a quick guide on how best to cut eggplant.
- Vegetables: Onion and garlic.
- Seasonings: Italian seasoning, black pepper and fresh basil.
- Marinara sauce: You can make your own marinara sauce for this recipe, or buy your favorite brand from the store.
- Egg: Egg is used to bind together the ricotta cheese and help it to solidify so that the filling doesn’t ooze out when you serve it.
- Cheese: We use three different cheeses for this eggplant lasagna recipe; whole milk ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella. Ricotta adds a creamy texture, mozzarella gives those great cheese pulls and parm adds the cheesy flavor. If vegetarian, use a rennet free parmesan.
RECIPE VIDEO TUTORIAL
How to make eggplant lasagna
prepare the eggplant
- Slice the eggplant, place on a rack and sprinkle with salt.
- Let sit and then pat off the excess moisture. Repeat on the other side.
make the marinara & ricotta mixture
- Soften the garlic and onion with the seasonings.
- Add the marinara sauce and fresh basil and combine.
- Whisk the egg and add the ricotta, parmesan, basil and garlic.
- Stir to combine.
layer the ingredients & bake
- Spread some of the marinara in the bottom of a baking dish.
- Top with eggplant slices, some overlap is totally fine.
- Top with the ricotta mixture.
- Add the shredded mozzarella.
- Repeat the layers so there are three total layers.
- Bake until golden brown and bubbling.
Tips for making lasagna with eggplant
- Buy a large eggplant. This allows for the slices to be wide and long to mimic the size of lasagna sheets.
- Don’t skip the salting process. Eggplant has a lot of water content and will release a lot of moisture when cooked. Salting the eggplant before laying in the lasagna draws out that moisture so that the lasagna is not soggy after cooked.
- Cover the lasagna with foil when you bake it. If you bake it uncovered, the cheese on the top of the lasagna will burn. Bake it covered, then move under the broiler to brown the top after cooking.
- Make it meaty. You can easily make this with ground beef, chicken or turkey if you prefer. Brown the meat with the onions and then mix it in with the marinara sauce.
Frequently asked questions
This eggplant lasagna is a great make ahead meal. This recipe makes enough for 8 servings, so you can easily enjoy it later in the week. Once cooled, cover the lasagna and keep refrigerated for up to 5 days. Reheat it, covered with foil at 360F for around 20 minutes to warm through.
Yes! This baked lasagna freezes really well and will keep well for up to 6 months. Reheat it straight from frozen at 360F for around 30 minutes, covered with foil for the first 20 minutes.
This low carb lasagna is great to serve with a side of salad or veggies. Try it with:
Classic Greek Salad
Mediterranean Chopped Salad
Cauliflower Au Gratin
Green Beans with Almonds
This delicious eggplant lasagna is a great low carb dinner option that the whole family will enjoy. It’s perfect for weekly meal prep and freezer meals to keep you on track with your lifestyle goals!
More low carb recipes :
- Cauliflower Waffles
- Eggplant Tomato Stew
- Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
- Cauliflower Fried Rice
- Broccoli Pizza Crust
- Eggplant Moussaka
More Lasagna Recipes
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Eggplant Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants ends trimmed and sliced into ⅛ -inch planks
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ yellow onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 25 ounce jar marinara sauce
- ½ cup fresh basil chopped and divided, plus more for garnish
- 1 large egg
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese whole milk
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese divided
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and place one rack in the middle of the oven and one rack in the upper third. Line two baking sheets with a cooling rack. Place eggplant slices on racks and season generously with salt. Let sit 15 minutes, then dab excess moisture with a paper towel. Flip eggplant slices and repeat.
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened and translucent, 5 minutes. Add garlic and Italian seasoning, cooking until fragrant, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add marinara sauce and ¼ cup fresh basil, stirring to combine. Simmer until warmed through, 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk egg, then mix in ricotta, ¾ cup Parmesan, remaining ¼ cup basil, and freshly ground black pepper.
- In a 13×9 baking dish, pour ⅓ marinara on bottom of pan. Top with ⅓ eggplant slices, then ⅓ ricotta mixture, and 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. Repeat this sequence an additional 2 times, finishing off the final sprinkling of mozzarella cheese with remaining ¼ cup Parmesan and black pepper. Lightly grease a sheet of foil and cover lasagna, greased side down, with foil. Bake on middle rack until eggplant is softened and cheese is melted, 30 minutes. Remove foil.
- Preheat broiler to high and transfer lasagna to top rack. Broil until cheese is slightly brown and bubbling, 2-3 minutes. Remove and let cool at least 10 minutes before slicing. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
This recipe was absolutely wonderful. It was so easy and so flavorful. My vegetarian daughter and husband love it. Thank you so much for your recipe I hope to find more from you.
Sign: a very happy wife & mom
Thanks so much, I am so glad!
Thanks for the yummy recipe (just like so many of your recipes!)
Would it work to assemble this the night before so that it can be ready to pop in the oven the next day?
You’re so welcome! Yes, this eggplant lasagna is a great make ahead meal. This recipe makes enough for 8 servings, so you can easily enjoy it later in the week. Once cooled, cover the lasagna and keep refrigerated for up to 5 days. Reheat it, covered with foil at 360F for around 20 minutes to warm through.
Hi, what can I substitute the egg with…we don’t have egg on vegetarian days.
Thanks
I haven’t tried this with an egg substitute yet, but you could try using a flax egg!
I’m so upset the eggplant was so tough. I think roasting it before doing this should be apart of this recipe.
That really shouldn’t have been the case, but I think that could help too!
I agree, the eggplant needs to be roasted first as mine was tough and hard to cut as well. Or possibly a longer cook time would help.
The flavors were excellent though. I’ll definitely try it again.
I’ll have to try that! Glad you enjoyed nonetheless!
I’ve always use cottage cheese, which we prefer, rather than ricotta in my veggie lasagna recipes and it works very well. I have yet to try this recipe, which looks yummy, and will use cottage as a sub for ricotta with no worries.
Let me know how cottage cheese works in this recipe once you’ve given it a try!
Hi Yumna,
Can I swap the ricotta for cottage cheese , do you think? I often use cottage cheese as a low fat alternative for mozzarella in my lasagna (the mouth feel is appr the same and no-one tastes the difference when it is hot and in the middle of a lasagna), and I was wondering if I can do this instead of ricotta as well. Thanks for letting me know!
I have yet to try that, but let me know if you do!
If you don’t want to do ricotta do farmers cheese, way better than cottage cheese imo