Zucchini Lasagna

If you planted a vegetable garden this spring and included zucchini plants, then you are picking lots of these delicious green beauties like the rest of us. Zucchini Lasagna is a great recipe for using your fresh zucchini in a tasty way. Simply layer the noodles and beefy pasta sauce with thinly sliced zucchini and a blend of Italian cheeses. Even your picky-eaters will love this lasagna!

Many people add vegetables to lasagna, but have you ever thought to include zucchini. It’s a great choice to include in pasta dishes. Just like the pasta, the zucchini will absorb the Italian flavors in the dish and make it hearty and delicious. Make this spin on classic lasagna and it is sure to become a recipe that you return to time and time again.

How to pick zucchini?

Zucchini should be picked from the garden when it is dark green in color and is about 8 inches in length. If you let it grow, it will get enormous. It is still usable when bigger, but it will be full of seeds and not as tender as it is when picked smaller. The plant will also produce more zucchinis, as the plant has time to regenerate itself in between harvests.

Zucchini Lasagna Recipe

What’s needed?

• 1  1/2 pounds ground beef
• 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
• 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 2 24-ounce jars pasta sauce
• 48 thin slices of zucchini, about an 1/8 of an inch thick
• garlic salt and ground black pepper
• 1 12-ounce box of no-boil (oven ready) lasagna noodles
• 2 cups of shredded cheese, Italian Blend (or mozzarella)

How to make Zucchini Lasagna?

• Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain the fat and add 1 tbsp. of flour. Add the onions and mushrooms and saute until softened. Add the Italian seasoning.
• While the ground beef is cooking, spray the bottom of a 13×11 baking dish. Spread about 1/2 cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of the dish.
• Add one layer of no-boil lasagna noodles over the sauce, four noodles side by side.
• Add the the rest of the pasta sauce to the ground beef mixture. Cover the noodles with a layer of the ground beef and sauce mixture. Then, cover each noodle with 4 thin slices of zucchini. Sprinkle zucchini with garlic salt and ground pepper.
• Sprinkle 1/2 cup of shredded cheese over the zucchini.

• Repeat these layers (noodles, beef and sauce mixture, zucchini slices and cheese) two more times. Then, finish the lasagna by placing one last layer of lasagna noodles on top and cover with the remaining beef and pasta sauce mixture. Top with the remaining shredded cheese.

• Cover the baking dish tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Remove the baking dish from the oven and allow it to stand for 10 minutes before removing the foil.

Cut the lasagna into large pieces and serve it with crusty bread and a side salad. I made a cucumber and pea salad with a creamy dressing. Your family will love this recipe and your zucchini will disappear as quick as you can pick it.