If you are craving lasagna on a low carb or gluten free diet, this healthy keto lasagna is the recipe for you. It doesn’t use zucchini noodles or even keto pasta but it’s rich, savory and super delicious! So it’s a gluten free, low carb and high protein dinner with only 6.1g net carbs and 24.2g protein per serving.
You might also like this recipe for low carb sausage and egg noodles.
The other day I was craving lasagna. My mother used to make the best traditional lasagna (truly) and I have the recipe here, but it takes a bit of time and I wanted to stick to a keto diet so I had a crazy idea to make it with an egg crepe instead of traditional lasagna noodles.
You might remember I made “egg noodles” along time ago buy making a crepe using just eggs and cutting it into noodles. I had loved that dish and took that recipe one step further with adding the layers of cheeses, sauce and Italian flavors. I found it to be an excellent low carb alternative to pasta!
Now I have made veggie lasagna with zucchini slices and eggplant too. However I found that you end up excess liquid from the veggies and then you have a watery lasagna. But you definitely don’t have that problem with the egg crepes.
This keto lasagnawas fabulous! I wanted to eat the whole thing but I was good and froze the other 3 pieces for lunch next week. My husband hates eggs but even he had to admit it was good.
Using eggs as wraps and noodles.
If you’ve never made an egg wrap you should try it because it’s very versatile. You can wrap meat, cheese and veggies for a sandwich wrap. Below you can see my low carb herb turkey egg wrap sandwich.
If you’ve never made an egg wrap you should try it because it’s very versatile. You can wrap meat, cheese and veggies for a sandwich wrap. Below you can see my low carb herb turkey egg wrap sandwich.
You can also cut into egg crepe into noodles and top with bolognese sauce like that pictured to the left. That’s what gave me the idea for this lasagna.
These are a few of my favorite recipes because they are so simple but very tasty and healthy!
Recipe ingredients I used.
The simple ingredients I used for this recipe are eggs, sausage, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, garlic and parsley.
Eggs
I used 1 egg per crepe noodle and ended up using 2 crepes per layer for an 8×8 inch casserole dish. I also used an egg for the ricotta layer so that’s a total of 7 eggs.
Italian Sausage
I used this for the savory meat sauce. It adds lots of flavor with fewer ingredients. You can use hot or sweet Italian sausage if you want or even eliminate all meat. However I feel it adds extra flavor.
You can substitute with ground beef or ground turkey but I would add a few extra spices like Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and even a bit of fennel if you have it.
Marinara Sauce
I use Rao’s marinara sauce because it is rather low carb and tastes great to me. I also sometimes use Aldi Specialty Selects marinara sauce. You can use whatever low carb marinara sauce you want.
Ricotta Cheese and Mozzarella Cheese
Try to use whole milk ricotta cheese as it usually has one or two less carbs but it’s not much if you only have low fat ricotta. Mozzarella cheese is pretty standard in regular lasagna and I wouldn’t substitute it with another cheese.
Garlic and Parsley
I use fresh parsley in the ricotta layer. It adds color and it’s pretty nutritious. Another option is baby spinach leaves or ever fresh basil leaves. The fresh garlic is used in the sauce and just adds another layer of flavor.
Other low carb options you can add to this keto friendly lasagna that won’t change the carb count much are grated parmesan cheese or hot pepper flakes.
Note: I recently remade this recipe so you could make it in a casserole dish instead of a spring form pan. In the original recipe I used spinach instead of parsley and that’s a great way to add veggies to the dish but I didn’t have any today. So you can use it if you want.
How to make keto lasagna.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Step 2: Make the meat sauce by heating a medium size pan up to medium high heat. You can use some cooking spray or even a teaspoon of olive oil but I used a nonstick pan so I can just break up the sausage link and brown it without any extra oil.
Add sausage to the hot pan and turn down to medium heat.Once the sausage has been broken into bite sized pieces add the sauce and crushed garlic. Simmer for a few minutes so the flavors meld then take off the heat and let cool down.
Step 3: Make the egg crepes. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Get out a small omelet skillet and spray with non stick spray. Heat to medium heat and pour 1 beaten egg into the pan. Swirl so that the egg covers the whole bottom of the small pan. If you want you can season with salt and black pepper but you don’t really need to.
Cover the skillet with a lid and cook for 1-2 minutes until the thin crepe is complete cooked through. I used to flip them but I find with the cover it cooks the top and there is no need.
Carefully take the crepe out of the pan and lay on the covered baking tray to cool. Continue doing this to make 6 crepes. Make sure to spray the pan with nonstick spray each time you make a new crepe.
Note above that my crepes are white and yellow because I quickly beat by hand but if you want more of one color just beat them better or use a blender.
Step 4: In a medium mixing bowl, mix 1 beaten egg with the creamy ricotta cheese and chopped parsley (or spinach) and set aside.
Step 5: To assemble the keto lasagna first cut all of the crepes in half. Then make a single layer by laying 4 halves in the pan so that the straight edge is against the side of the dish like that pictured below.
Then start making your layers in this order:
layer 1: egg wrap -> sauce -> ricotta mixture -> mozzarella ->
layer 2: egg wrap -> sauce -> ricotta mixture -> mozzarella ->
layer 3: egg wrap -> sauce -> mozzarella
You don’t need to add ricotta on the last layer. So when you are making this you need 6 crepes to make 3 layers. You divide the ricotta in half for 2 layers, the meat sauce and mozzarella in 3 for 3 layers.
Step 6: Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. If you want the cheese more browned on top you can place it under the broiler for a few minutes. Watch that it doesn’t burn. Let lasagna cool for 10 minutes until serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container. You can also freeze portions for a low carb lunch or dinner. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.
To make this more of a complete meal you can add a simple salad and you are set!
As you can see I originally made this in a small springform cake pan that I use in my Instant Pot sometimes.. The wraps were close in size to this pan so it worked well.
This is a small lasagna and makes about 4 good size servings. However it’s very filling in my opinion. As I mentioned above I froze the other pieces for a quick low carb lunch.
If you are on a low carb diet, I hope you give this low carb lasagna recipe a try. It’s keto Italian comfort food to me and was very tasty. This is a freezer friendly dish that you can use meal prep. Enjoy!
The nutritional information for 1 piece of this low carb lasagna is: 319 cals / 21.5g fat / 6.7g carbs / 0.6g fiber / 24.2g protein = 6.1g net carbs
Healthy Keto Lasagna Recipe (gluten free)
Yield: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
If you are craving lasagna on a low carb or gluten free diet, this low carb lasagna recipe is the recipe for you. It's rich and savory and super delicious at only 6.0g net carbs per serving.
Ingredients
- 7 eggs
- 1 link Italian sausage
- 1 cup marinara sauce (I use Rao's marinara)
- ½ cup whole milk ricotta
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (can sub with fresh spinach)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- To make the crepes, cover a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Get out a small omelet pan, spray with nonstick spray and heat to medium heat. Beat 1 egg and pour into the pan. Swirl around so the egg covers the bottom of the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for 1-2 minutes until the egg is cooked through to make a crepe. When done carefully lift out of the pan and place on the parment paper. Continue doing this with 6 eggs to make 6 crepes. Make sure to spray nonstick spray before each egg.
- Heat up a medium sauce pan to medium high heat. Add the sausage (no casing) and break up in pieces and turn the heat down to medium. When the sausage starts to brown, add in garlic and then marina sauce. Let cook through for a few minutes and then take off stove.
- In a bowl add the creamy ricotta cheese, 1 beaten egg and parsely. Mix well and set aside.
- Spray cooking spray all over a 8 x 8-inch baking dish. Cut crepes in half and add 4 halves for the first layer. Make sure to put the straight edgles along the sides of the dish.
- Next add ⅓ of the sauce mixture, then top with ½ of the ricotta mixture and ⅓ of the mozzarella cheese in that order. Continue with the next layer -> crepes -> sauce -> ricotta -> cheese. For the finaly layer it will be crepes -> sauce -> cheese. You only use ricotta in the middle layers.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes then let sit for 10 minutes before cutting. If you want the top to be more brown you can set it under the broiler for a few minutes but make sure it doesn't burn. Store leftovers in an airtight container or freeze portions.
Notes
You can substitute the Italian sausage with ground beef or ground turkey but I would add a few extra spices like Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper and even a bit of fennel if you have it.
Also you can add grated parmesan cheese or hot pepper flakes if you wish and not change the carb count much at all.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 319Unsaturated Fat: 0g
