Zucchini Parmesan (low carb)

This low carb zucchini parmesan is a great way to use those large zucchini from your garden. With only 4 ingredients you can make this easy and delicious recipe and it’s full of cheeses, sauce and tender zucchini slices. Plus each serving has only 94 calories, 4.2 grams net carbs and 6.2 grams of protein.

You might also like this healthy vegetable lasagna recipe.

I thought I have made everything possible with zucchini from my husband’s garden, be it hummus, waffles, soup, bread, chips, pickles and more. However I was in the mood for something easy, cheesy and with Italian flavors so I made this sheet pan, low carb zucchini parmesan.

I love it because it’s easy, tasty and it’s low calorie, low carb, high in protein AND only needs 4 ingredients. So if you have a lot of zucchini lined up on your counter and don’t know what to do with it, try this deliciously easy veggie dish. It’s also gluten free as I didn’t use any seasoned breadcrumbs or breading mixture.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

There are just 4 simple ingredients I used in the recipe and they are 1 large zucchini, marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and you can season with a little salt and ground black pepper if you wish though I did not.

• Large Zucchini – This recipe was intended to as a way to use large zucchini. However you can use any size you want. I used roughly 5 cups of zucchini and I made it into large strips.
• Specialty Select Pasta Sauce – I used this brand of tomato sauce which I bought at Aldi because it’s pretty low in carbs. You can use any brand you want but if you are watching carbs, please read the label. I also like Rao’s marinara sauce which is lower carb.
• Parmesan Cheese – I like to use fresh parmesan and grate it myself. It melts better and has better flavor in my opinion. However if you want to use already grated parmesan cheese from a canister you can. I would probably use a bit less and a bet more mozzarella so that it combined two cheeses would melt better.
• Mozzarella Cheese – This is a good melty cheese but if you want to use cheddar, Monterey Jack or other melty cheese you can.

If you want to add a bit of heat you can sprinkle some hot pepper flakes before or after you cook this. We like to use my husband’s homemade hot pepper flakes on just about everything.

How to make zucchini parmesan (low carb).

I used one of our largest squashes for this recipe but if you could also use a few medium sized ones. You need enough to cover the bottom of a baking sheet completely. Also I used a baking sheet instead of a casserole dish as this is just one thin layer.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice the zucchini lengthwise to make thin, wide strips or slabs. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and then lay the strips on it. Keep it in a single layer and do not overlap. You may need 2 baking sheets.

Note you could also use some olive oil instead of the cooking spray. You could brush both the baking sheet and zucchini with the olive oil but I was trying to keep the calories down.

Step 2: Spray the top of the strips with more cooking spray or olive oil and then season with salt and black pepper. Bake for 10 minutes then flip them over and bake for another 5 minutes. Take them out of the oven but do not turn off. Roasting it first takes some of the moisture out of the squash.

If using two baking sheets, transfer all of the baked strips and place on just one baking sheet. Here you can overlap them if you want like the photo below.

Step 3: Take a few tablespoons of the parmesan cheese and sprinkle evenly over the strips. Then spread 1 cup of tomato sauce evenly over the cheese layer.

Step 4: Lastly add both the mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese and sprinkle evenly over the whole baking sheet. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until melted and golden brown on top and the edges.

Let cool for a few minutes then cut and serve. For me the is a nice vegetarian lunch or light dinner if you serve it with a green salad or even crusty bread if you are not on a low carb diet.

If you want you can garnish with fresh basil leaves or parsley as a garnish. It adds both color and taste.

If you want to add some protein to this dish.

If you want to make a meat sauce instead of using the marinara sauce, you can take the casings off 1 or 2 Italian sausages and brown them in a sauce pan then add the sauce. Mix to combine and let cook for a minute or two. Use this in place of the marinara.

You could also use ground beef, ground turkey or even ground chicken. I would add a few seasonings for more flavor. This homemade Italian sausage post will give you an idea of spices to use. Or try chopped cooked rotisserie chicken and place it over the sauce and before the cheese to give it a bit of a chicken parmesan flavor. 

Lastly ricotta cheese and cottage cheese also have a lot of protein and would go well too. You can add dollops of cottage cheese just before you add the mozzarella layer.

More easy low carb Italian food to try.

Here are a few more keto recipes with Italian flavors that you might like.

• zoodle pasta caprese or keto bolognese sauce
• garlic roasted tomatoes
• keto cabbage lasagna or egg noodle lasagna
• cabbage noodles with baked feta
• keto pizza eggs or air fryer tortilla pizza

Well for me this keto sheet pan zucchini parmesan was the perfect recipe to use those huge zucchinis that you get in your garden or farmers market every year. It’s super simple but flavorful. I hope you like it as much as we did.

One serving of this zucchini dish is 94 calories / 4.9g fat / 5.5 carbs / 1.3g fiber / 6.2g protein – 4.2g net carbs