These Zucchini Lasagna Cups are a fun gluten free dish that has all the taste of traditional lasagna using zucchini instead of pasta.
I have a fondness for eating out of cups as I may have mentioned before. I have since I was a child and I never out grew it (sorry mom.) So you can see why I would want to make and eat these Zucchini Lasagna Cups. You make them in a muffin pan or ramekin to get the cup shape. This recipe is a continuation of my zucchini cooking frenzy but don’t worry … I only have a handful of recipes left to post in case you are sick of zucchini. But this one is yummy and you can’t really taste the zucchini. I even made extra so that I could freeze it and eat it when I’m in the mood for lasagna.
So the first thing to do with this recipe is to cut your zucchini two ways: Long thin strips and thin rounds. I used a mandolin for uniform thickness but if you are good with a knife, go for it. You use the rounds to line the bottom of the muffin tins and the strips to wrap the sides as seen below. Make sure to spray your pan first so nothing sticks.
Next you add shredded cheese first so when it melts it will seal the bottom up for you. Then you add your layers of ricotta egg mixture, meat sauce, zucchini rounds …until your reach the top and you add a big bunch of shredded mozzarella.
Bake until bubbly and alas you have a delicious though messy pan of lasagna cups! Note: Let these set for about 10 minutes once they come out of the oven. They can be watery but once they set they are easier to get out of the pan.
And here is what they look like out of the pan. Yum, yum, yum.
Zucchini Lasagna Cups
I also scooped one out and put it in a small ramekin like this….because I like to eat out of cups and it fit perfectly. Next time I will try to make them all in ramekins and freeze individually for my lunches. Actually I will probably do this soon with my garden zucchini so I can have these healthy, lowish carb lasagna cups for my lunch in the fall. Well that is all I have for you today. This was truly a tasty dish. You won’t miss the noodles at all, I promise you.
Zucchini Lasagna Cups (gluten free)
Ingredients
- 1/4 lb ground beef
- 1/4 lb sweet Italian sausage
- 1 25 oz jar pasta sauce
- 2 zucchinis
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh spinach
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees
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Brown your ground beef and Italian sausage. If the sausage is in links, take off the casings to brown.
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Add your pasta sauces and simmer for 10 minutes and let cool.
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In the meantime slice one zucchini lengthwise using a mandolin. And slice the other zucchini to make thin round circles.
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In a mixing bowl add your ricotta, spinach and egg yolk and mix well.
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Spray a large muffin tin with cooking spray.
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Place a circle slice of zucchini in each cup. Then add one or two long slices around the sides of the muffin cups.
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Add a pinch of mozzarella cheese in each zucchini cup.
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Next a spoonful ricotta mixture and then a spoon of meat sauce.
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Add another round slice of zucchini.
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Add layers of ricotta and sauce and then top with a large spoonful of shredded mozzarella.
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Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly.
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Let set for 10 minutes and serve.
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More great zucchini recipes!
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- Greek Zucchini Salad
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- Easy Zucchini Lasagna Soup
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- Zucchini & Carrot Waffles (Paleo, gf)
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- Za’atar Zucchini Chips (1WW pt)
ryan hollister
Wanted to share that I found this recipe last night and made it. Came out excellent, wife and I both loved it. Added some mushrooms to the sauce. Thanks for the post.
Denise
Well thank you Ryan that made my day!
Linda Sue
I like eating out of cups, too. This recipe is a great way to use up garden squash. Thank you.
wildviolets@comcast.net
A fellow cup eater! Yay!
Ellie Piltz
Would love the carb count etc for the recipe, it looks really good!
wildviolets@comcast.net
Hi Ellie, that is a good question. It may differ depending on what type of pasta sauce you use (I used Trader Joe’s Marinara) and I believe I didn’t use all the zucchini so according to the app that I use the nutrition is: cals: 170 fat: 20.9g net carbs: 4.4g protein: 12g per lasagna cup.
I think that is a conservative estimate. I hope to be adding nutritional information to my recipes in the upcoming month or so. Thanks for visiting!
Carol
What a fantastic idea! And I have zucchini and summer squash galore from my garden. I can’t wait to try these.
Found you at Sunday’s Inspire, Be Inspired Link Party.
wildviolets@comcast.net
Thank you Carol! I hop eyou like them. We still have tons of squash from the garden and I think my family is done eating it. Time to start making things and freezing it!
Beverly
What a great alternative to pasta! I would never have thought of this. Thanks for sharing on Snickerdoodle Sunday! Pinned and tweeted.
wildviolets@comcast.net
I hope you get to try it Beverly! Thanks for stopping by.
Christine
These look so good. I made them tonight for dinner and am currently waiting for them to cool. Smells amazing. I am interested to know if they freeze well. I have a bumper crop of zucchini I am trying to eat my way through, but if these freeze well I will do that. Let me know!
wildviolets@comcast.net
Hi Christine. I did not freeze the lasagna cups but did freeze the lasagna rolls and they were fine. I think you might find that they get mushy but I think they will taste good. Hope you liked them!
Andrea
If u slice the zucchini and lay it out on paper towels and salt it u can get a lot of the excess moisture out of the zucchini.
Denise
Thanks for the tip Andrea!
Emily
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it. My husband is wanting to try Paleo! Love the ingredients, so I think this might be a good choice for us!
wildviolets@comcast.net
Great! Thanks for stopping by!
Becky at Cooking With Vinyl
Oh my, these look so good. I’m having lasagna leftovers today for lunch, and now I feel guilty because it’s not nearly this healthy. Thanks for sharing!