This recipe uses eggplant instead of lasagna noodles for a delicious, low carbohydrate main dish.
Contributed by: Rose Anne Stauder, Clinical Dietician and Diabetes Educator | Community Nutrition
One way to reduce the amount of carbohydrate in your meals is to replace starchy foods with low-carb vegetables. This recipe uses sliced eggplant instead of lasagna noodles for a delicious and hearty main dish with only 7 grams carbohydrate per serving.
Other examples include using a lettuce wrap instead of sandwich bread, or replacing rice with riced cauliflower, or subbing in zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash for pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant (small to medium, about 12 ounces) *
- 1-pound lean ground turkey or turkey Italian sausage
- 1 ¼ cups pasta sauce (about half a 24 oz jar), divided
- 1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
- Pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Get out an 8×8 inch deep square casserole dish.**
- Peel the eggplant and trim the ends. Slice lengthwise into thin (about 1/8- ¼ inch) slices. Set aside.
- Brown the ground turkey over medium-high heat, breaking up into smaller pieces as it cooks. Once the turkey is no longer pink, drain off any excess liquid add 1 cup of pasta sauce (keeping back ¼ cup). Stir to combine turkey and sauce, then remove from the heat.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, ¾ cup mozzarella, egg, Italian seasoning and pepper. Mix together and set aside.
- Spread the reserved ¼ cup pasta sauce over the bottom of your 8×8 inch baking dish. Layer eggplant slices over the sauce. It is fine if they overlap a bit.
- Top the eggplant slices with half the meat sauce and spread evenly across the pan. Then add half the cheese mixture and spread that over the meat sauce. Then, top with another layer of eggplant slices. Repeat these layers one more time.
- Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of mozzarella on top of the final eggplant layer. Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the lasagna is bubbly and the eggplant soft.
- Let sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Makes 6 servings. Enjoy!
Cook’s Notes
*Can use 2 large zucchinis instead.
**This recipe can be easily doubled for leftovers; double everything but the egg and use a 9×13 inch dish.
