This was my first go round cooking with eggplant. It is a really popular low carb vegetable, but one I have never really used in my own personal kitchen. It was one of those foods that I always said I didn’t like, when in actuality I had never tried it. I had seen a lot of low carb eggplant recipes floating around and would always say NOPE. I don’t like it. So basically I was acting like a 5 year old. 🙂 Boy, was I wrong. It is delicious. Especially when made into a low carb lasagna recipe.
So what better way to try it out for the first time than covered in cheesy, saucy low carb goodness. If you are not a fan of eggplant but are really missing lasagna since switching to a low carb lifestyle, then I have some amazing options for you as well. How about Low Carb Lasagna Stuffed Peppers? Or maybe my “Just Like the Real Thing” Low Carb Lasagna. Those have both been real crowd pleasers. They come kid and husband approved! Or better yet, try my Low Carb Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna. The ham, chicken and swiss cheese come together in perfect harmony to make a delicious spin on low carb lasagna.
For this recipe I left the skin on the lasagna, but you can certainly peel it before cooking. I left it on to help the eggplant stand up to the sauce and the cheese and to prevent it from turning to mush. It really seemed to help.
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Eggplant Lasagna with Meat Sauce – Low Carb, Gluten Free
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: Makes 8 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 6 cups Hearty Tomato Meat Sauce (get recipe here)
- 2 cups full fat ricotta cheese
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- 8 small fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Cut ends off eggplants and slice lengthwise in ¼ inch slices. You should end up with about 10 slices total.
- Brush each slice of eggplant with olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Bake about 7 minutes each side.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan and basil. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Pour 2 cups of sauce into the bottom of an 8×13 baking dish. Spread into an even layer. On top of the sauce, layer half of the eggplant slices.
- Layer on half of the ricotta mixture, spreading evenly across the entire dish. Sprinkle ½ cup mozzarella cheese on top of the ricotta mixture.
- Pour 2 cups of meat sauce on top of the cheese and spread in an even layer across the entire dish. Layer the remaining eggplant on top of the sauce.
- Layer second half of the ricotta mixture, spreading evenly across the entire dish. Sprinkle ½ cup mozzarella cheese on top of the ricotta mixture.
- Pour remaining 2 cups of meat sauce on top of the cheese and spread in an even layer across the entire dish.
- Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese evenly across the entire dish. Sprinkle oregano on top of cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and broil on high 5-8 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.
Notes
Per Serving – Calories: 330 | Fat: 20g | Protein: 29g | Net Carbs: 9g
Anonymous says
November 14, 2013 at 8:39 pmI made this recipe and it was delicious! I added a little spicy Italian sausage to my meat sauce to give it a kick. Next time I make it, I will remove all the eggplant skin because it can be a little harder to cut through. Also be sure to cut your eggplant slices thin enough that they get cooked fully. I might also consider adding some slices of zucchini in addition!
Julia says
April 17, 2019 at 6:52 amI LOVE this recipe and have made it 3 times already. I’ve started adding sliced zucchini also and that gives the dish more structure IMHO. I also sometimes dice mushrooms and peppers into the meat sauce. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
★★★★★
Anonymous says
December 26, 2013 at 4:25 pmHow much Fiber would you say this recipe has? With and without the meat sauce?
Kyndra Holley says
December 26, 2013 at 5:15 pmI’m sorry but fiber is not something I track in my recipes. Do you use Myfitnesspal? If you added the ingredients into there, you could come up with the fiber content fairly easily. Hope this helps. Thanks
Jennifer says
January 27, 2014 at 11:38 amI made this tonight for dinner. I left the meat out and made it vegetarian. It was delicious! Thank you for your recipes!!
Astrid says
January 27, 2014 at 3:30 pmbake for 30 min at 400 as well? thanks!!
Margie says
March 15, 2014 at 4:16 pmI made this today and it was fantastic. The eggplant required a longer cooking time for my personal taste. I used organice grass fed beef for the first time and I was impressed. No nasty gristle that typically makes me never want to eat ground beef again…I will make it again and it will be an awesome recipe to play with.
Keryn says
June 8, 2014 at 9:24 pmOMG!!! this was delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Michele says
September 7, 2014 at 8:14 amI made this last night and it was AWESOME!! The whole family loved it! Thank you so much for your awesome recipes!!
Alyssa says
September 16, 2014 at 3:11 amI made this last night- and wow. Everyone enjoyed it (even my 2 year old…who was excited we were having “pizza”…lol) I didn’t make the meat sauce- I made my own sauce, with no meat (as it was meatless monday). This will probably go into our rotation of dinners for once every month or so. Thanks for posting!
Peace Love and Low Carb says
September 16, 2014 at 11:19 amI love it when a recipes works out for the whole family. It makes for a much more harmonious meal. So happy you enjoyed it.
Suzie says
October 27, 2014 at 11:43 ami added mushrooms! was so good!!
Sarah says
November 13, 2014 at 9:25 amThis was fantastic! Rarely do I make a recipe exactly as written, but with this, I did. The sauce is great, the balance of flavors is great. I will make this again and again. Thank you so much for putting lasagna back on the menu in my house!
Peace Love and Low Carb says
November 14, 2014 at 7:03 amI am so happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know. 🙂
Hanna says
March 19, 2015 at 1:45 amI don’t normally leave comments on blog posts but I found this through google and just had to leave some feedback. I’ve made this on Monday, to take to work for lunch and it’s SO good I’ve been taking it every day since, every single lunch this week. Makes me look forward to lunch even. Thank you for this amazing recipe 🙂
Peace Love and Low Carb says
March 27, 2015 at 9:59 amThanks so much for the kind words and for coming back to the site to tell me. So happy you enjoyed it!
Aimee says
August 23, 2015 at 6:23 pmBetter than lobster….words I never thought I would hear my husband say about anything. But he did in fact say that after 3 bites of this lasagna. And we just had lobster last weekend for a low carb diet treat. We live in Maine and the man knows his way around a lobster, so believe me, high praise indeed! He’s normally not much of one for vegetables, so the comfort food cookbook has been a lifesaver as we try to back away from a pre-diabetic lifestyle. Thanks so much!
Peace Love and Low Carb says
August 23, 2015 at 6:31 pmBest compliment ever! 😉
Duane says
April 4, 2017 at 6:56 pmFunny….100 + years ago in New England they used to consider lobsters garbage…
At one point in the 1800s local prisoners were fed only lobster and they sued for inhumane treatment….
(they probably went into ketosis…)…
Paloma says
June 9, 2016 at 10:55 amSo delicious!!! Will definitely keep this recipe handy!! thanks so much for sharing!!
Laurie says
June 19, 2016 at 3:55 pmI’ve just made this but doubled the ingredients. I peeled the eggplant before cutting it into thin slices and pre baking it. Yummy! Thanks for a great recipe!
Pascale Dabit says
August 2, 2016 at 6:08 pmThank you so so much for this recipe. I am actually eating it at the moment. It’s the bomb. I adjusted the seasoning in the sauce to my liking. Other than that, it’s perfect !!! Thank you so much for sharing.
Shay says
August 2, 2016 at 7:00 pmCan you freeze this?
Peace Love and Low Carb says
August 3, 2016 at 8:36 amWe have never had any leftovers 🙂 If you do freeze it, be sure to let us know how it re-heats.
sue says
October 20, 2016 at 5:46 amoh. my. gosh. this was honestly one of the THE MOST delicious things to ever be made in my kitchen! i followed the recipe as written and it was phenomenal! i highly recommend giving this a try. i cannot wait to have leftovers for dinner tonight! thanks for posting such a great recipe! <3
Peace Love and Low Carb says
October 20, 2016 at 12:52 pmYay! So happy you enjoyed it. Thanks for the rave review
Billie says
November 5, 2016 at 2:16 pmMaking this tomorrow!! Have two eggplants in the fridge screaming at me!!!
Lauren says
March 28, 2017 at 11:07 amI found this recipe on Google and I’ve never left a comment on a recipe before so here we go.. I’m following a keto diet but was dying for anything that resembled pasta so I decided to give eggplant lasagna a try. I followed the recipe exactly, including the meat sauce, and oh my word it is SO GOOD! Kicked my pasta craving out the window and definitely left me satisfied. I would say though that I wish I used 2 eggplants because one didn’t seem to cover the layers enough.. maybe my eggplant just wasn’t big enough, I don’t know. I would also peel the eggplants to make them easier to cut, especially when ready to serve. I sort of struggled keeping the eggplants from sliding out of their layers. Other than that, it’s absolute perfection!
Jennifer A says
March 18, 2019 at 9:04 amwould you happen to know the carb count?
Sarah says
January 3, 2018 at 8:12 pmThe favor if this dish is fantastic ! One issue I encountered was that the eggplant was so tough’.. I had to use a steak knife to cut thru it… the only thing I forgot to do was add foil on top while baking .. could that be the reason? Has anyone else encountered this? I have put it back in the oven now to try to get it to soften up, any suggestions welcome!! Thanks
Ivanna says
June 25, 2018 at 9:23 pmYou probably cut it too thick.
lisa stevenson says
January 6, 2018 at 1:04 pmIm making this tonight
Cheers
Lisa
Lara says
May 20, 2018 at 8:46 pmI love lasagna and eggplant, and since going keto I haven’t had either. So glad I found this recipe. I can’t wait to try it!
Michelle says
July 4, 2018 at 4:43 pmMade this tonight and I can’t believe how amazing this is!! The tomato meat sauce recipe is superb! I am a fan for life.
★★★★★
Sarah Burns says
August 29, 2018 at 4:04 amI made this tonight and added garlic powder to the cheese mixture. This was a fabulous recipe! The eggplant was incredible. My husband who normally doesn’t go for Italian food absolutely loved this -he was amazed at how good it was. Thanks!
★★★★★
Karen says
September 2, 2018 at 6:59 pmI made this tonight and it came out delicious! Very easy to follow and to make!
Thank you
★★★★★
Leah says
November 18, 2018 at 12:54 pmHelp! i cut the eggplant the short way- will the recipe still work?
Nishu Chauhan says
November 30, 2018 at 3:44 amOh my! Hubby would love this! Pinning now! Thanks for sharing!!
★★★★★
Michael says
February 21, 2019 at 8:30 amThe flavors here are outstanding. The eggplant takes on the flavor of the dish and is nearly indistinguishable from “real” pasta, except perhaps for a bit of the mouthfeel/texture. This dish refrigerates extremely well and tastes just as good or even better the next day.
★★★★★
Jennifer A Gutierrez says
March 18, 2019 at 9:05 amhi, I made this without meat and it was great, but my eggplant was so tough 🙁