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"Just Like the Real Thing" Keto Lasagna

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Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe·5 from 309 reviews

The original low carb lasagna recipe! This "Just Like the Real Thing" keto lasagna is rich and delicious, with layers of low carb noodles topped with savory meat sauce, creamy ricotta cheese, and melty mozzarella cheese. It is the ultimate in low carb comfort food.

A close up photo of a low carb lasagna. Melty cheese, sauce, beef, garnished with basil
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The best low carb lasagna recipe

This keto lasagna recipe is easy to make and tastes just like the real thing. In fact, over the years, I have been told many times that it should be called "Better Than the Real Thing" lasagna. It is so much better than zucchini lasagna. The keto lasagna noodles are so good that you can hardly tell you are eating a low carb, gluten free swap. If you have been wondering how to make keto lasagna, look no further.

Ingredients in the Best Keto Lasagna Recipe

The thing that makes this lasagna so close to the real thing is the noodles. You would never know that they are made up of just cheese, egg, and a little seasoning. Once you top them with the seasoned ground beef, homemade low carb marinara sauce, ricotta and parmesan, that is when they really shine.

For the Keto Lasagna Noodles

  • Cream Cheese: It is best to use a full fat cream cheese as it is lower in carbs than the low-fat or reduced fat varieties. Full fat cream cheese also has a richer flavor and a creamier texture.
  • Mozzarella Cheese: For these low carb lasagna noodles, you will want to use a pre-shredded, low moisture, part skin mozzarella cheese.
  • Parmesan Cheese: Finely grated parmesan cheese works best in this recipe, although you can also use a shredded parmesan. While fresh is always best, the green can/lid variety will also work.
  • Eggs: You will need 2 large room temperature eggs. I don't recommend making this recipe with egg substitutes as the noodles will not have the right texture.
  • Seasonings: The seasonings in these keto lasagna noodles are really optional, but they do add a lot of flavor.

For the Low Carb Lasagna Filling

  • Ground Beef: If you are using a fattier ground beef, be sure to drain any excess grease before adding the marinara to the pan. It is also delicious with half ground beef and half Italian sausage. For a lighter version, you can even make it with ground turkey.
  • Seasonings: While the marinara has a lot of flavor, I like to also make sure that the ground beef is well seasoning. I cook it with dried minced onion, dried basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
  • Marinara Sauce: I like to make my own homemade low carb marinara sauce, but you can also use store-bought. My favorite is the Roasted Garlic Barilla. If you want to make your own, I have a couple of delicious recipes for you: Pesto Marinara Sauce and Three Cheese Garlic Marinara Sauce
  • Mozzarella Cheese: Again, you will want to use a shredded, low moisture, part skim mozzarella. I know this probably seems like a lot of cheese, but I promise it doesn't have an overly cheesy flavor.
  • Ricotta Cheese: Just like the cream cheese, I recommend using a full-fat ricotta cheese. Cottage cheese is a delicious substitution also.
A close up picture of a low carb lasagna with melty cheese, marinara and ground beef

More Low Carb Lasagna Recipe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make the low carb lasagna "noodles" in advance?

Yes, you can. In fact, it will speed up the prep time considerably when you are ready to assemble and bake the lasagna. If you want to go a step further, you can even swap out the low carb marinara sauce and ground beef in this recipe for my Hearty Tomato Meat Sauce and make that in advance also.

Should you freeze a whole lasagna before or after you cook it?

With this particular recipe, you could do either. You can do all of the assembly steps ahead of time, freeze it, and then bake it when you are ready to eat it. Alternately, you could fully cook it, freeze it, and then reheat it in the oven later.

How can I make this gluten free lasagna in a larger pan?

To make a larger keto lasagna, simply double the recipe and instead of cutting each "noodle" into three equal parts, cut the noodles to fit the pan you are using.

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"Just Like the Real Thing" Low Carb Keto Lasagna - Peace Love and Low Carb

"Just Like The Real Thing" Keto Lasagna

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 309 reviews

  • Author: Kyndra Holley
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Yield: 6 Servings 1x
  • Diet: Gluten Free
Print Recipe

Description

This "Just Like the Real Thing" keto lasagna is rich and delicious, with layers of low carb noodles topped with savory meat sauce, creamy ricotta cheese, and melty mozzarella cheese. This low carb lasagna recipe is the ultimate in low carb comfort food.

Ingredients

Units Scale

(Order the Groceries to Make this HERE)

For the “Noodles”

  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened
  • ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 ¼ cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • ¼ tsp Italian seasoning
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp onion powder

For the Filling

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 tablespoon dried minced onion (I use this brand)
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 ½ cups Marinara Sauce, divided (get the recipe here)
  • ¾ cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • fresh basil, for garnish

Instructions

For the “Noodles”

  1. Preheat oven to 375° Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and eggs.
  3. Next, add Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. Mix until all ingredients are well combined.
  4. Using a rubber spatula, fold in mozzarella cheese and mix until well incorporated.
  5. Spread the mixture into the baking dish, forming a nice even layer.
  6. Bake on the middle rack for 20 to 25 minutes.
  7. When the "noodles" are done baking, cool in the fridge for about 20 minutes and then cut into thirds. This makes three perfectly sized "noodle" layers for an 8.5 X 4.5 X 2.5 loaf pan.

For the Filling:

  1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, combine the ground beef, onion, oregano, garlic powder, dried basil and a pinch of salt. Cook until the meat is browned.
  2. Drain excess fat from pan and add 1 cup marinara sauce to meat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Putting it all together:

  1. Pour ¼ cup marinara sauce into bottom of loaf pan. Top with the first “noodle” layer
  2. Layer a third of the ground beef mixture. Top with ¼ cup mozzarella cheese and 3 tablespoon ricotta cheese, and cover with another “noodle” layer. Repeat these steps.
  3. Cover the top “noodle” layer with remaining meat sauce, marinara and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Italian seasoning over top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Notes

  • Be sure that you are using parchment paper and not wax paper -- They are not interchangeable. The noodles will stick to wax paper, and you will not be able to get them off. It is also a good idea to grease your parchment paper. 
  • net carbs per serving: 5.6g
 
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Category: Dinner Recipes
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: Italian

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 serving
  • Calories: 399
  • Fat: 27g
  • Carbohydrates: 6.3g
  • Fiber: 0.7g
  • Protein: 33.5g

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Reader Interactions

Comments

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  1. Jennifer says

    Found your website via Pinterest (just started Keto). This was AMAZING! I’m going to try freezing it for busy nights, and I’m also going to try turning your noodles into some other noodle needing dishes.

    Reply

    • Jennifer says

      Used it for a pizza base too. Cooked the 25 minutes, put the toppings on, and then another 10. I could pick it up and my husband said it was the best non pizza crust he’d ever had. Next up- noodles for beef stroganoff

      Reply

  2. KIRSTIE BINGHAM says

    This was soooooo good! I made my own sauce from scratch (basically meat, onions, red pepper, garlic, celery, can of tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste) and let it simmer down. But I even screwed up the noodles slightly, in that I used a slightly too small pan, and it still was a hit with my non-keto/low-carb boyfriend, who grew up in Chicago and is a total pasta/pizza snob. The "noodles" were perfect...they were the right texture to mimic real noodles so you didn't feel like you were just eating a glob of cheese and meat, but they also were neutral enough in flavor so you didn't feel like you were eating eggs. Zucchini noodles didn't have the right texture, but this was perfect. I'm SOOOO impressed and am going to keep experimenting with the noodle recipe to see if I can't come up with some other variations to use in different recipes. Thank you!

    Reply

  3. Breanna says

    Has anyone tried this in a crock pot or slow cooker? I've done regular lasagna in it for years, but I'm not sure how this one would do!

    Reply

  4. Shawnna says

    This was absolutely delicious. The 'noodle' is genius. My husband agrees, this is better than a real noodle lasagna. I doubled the recipe, put it all together and froze it for a few days, took it out to thaw overnight and baked it. It was so dang good. THANK YOU for this ingenious recipe and all the others on your site. You are amazing and your efforts are appreciated so very much!

    Reply

  5. Laura says

    My granddaughter and I made this last night and it was amazing!!! Thank you for all the excellent recipes — it’s given me the jump start to a new lifestyle. Live it and my husband did too.

    Reply

  6. Christopher Ditto says

    I have professionally cooked for thirty five years and that is one of the best lasagnas that I have ever made.

    Reply

  7. Chartreusalicious says

    I have made this quite a few times because it is SO darn popular with the fam!! Thanks, Kyndra, for putting together such a fabulous website as well as all these yummy recipes!! I do have one question for you: the recipe says four servings. Is that correct? I used the pan size recommended and have found that unless I have teenage boys eating (which I don't!), that pan usually results in 6-8 servings. Because the lasagna is so rich and filling, eating 1/4 of that pan would be waaaaay too much. Just curious if anyone else has found that. If not, maybe it's just me!

    Reply

    • Nita says

      I felt 4 servings would be too big and I was wanting it to be less carbs so I divided it into 6 servings & both me & my husband thought that was plenty.

      Reply

  8. Deborah Alexander says

    The best lasagna I’ve ever had! Thank you so much. Followed the recipe exactly and it was unbelievable good. My whole family devoured it.

    Reply

  9. TJ says

    Delicious! You’d never know this was a low carb dish. I prefer this over regular lasagna noodles. Husband approved!

    Reply

  10. Mary Shears says

    LOVE the recipe but the only question I have for ANYONE who's made the dish is, how do you avoid the "boodle
    from sticking to the parchment paper? Thanks in Advance!!

    Reply

    • Peace Love and Low Carb says

      Did you accidentally use wax paper instead. Wax paper and parchment paper are not the same.

      Reply