Zucchini Lasagna
Homemade sauce with ground turkey, cottage cheese & mozzarella layered to perfection with zucchini as the noodle!
Hi, I am Wendy—I love to create easy to follow recipes that inspire you to create something new. Welcome to my kitchen, where I write weekly the why and the how to each creation. Glad you are here 💕!
What to create with a monstrous size zucchini?
If you have ever grown zucchini or summer squash in your garden, you know all too well how quickly zucchini grow during their peak season. One day you are looking at a small shiny zucchini eagerly anticipating for the right moment to pick—the next day you stare down at a green monster, grin.
Well, I wish that happened to me this year, for those of you who have been enjoying my 2024 Garden Journey, you know my zucchini plants became the home of a squash borer. Not my favorite kind of guest.
As luck would have it, and a bit of faith, I received some zucchini from a good friend. She asked, Wendy does it matter what size? I was like, no, I will take what you have, and figure it out. You know I can’t let anything go to waste, smile. Now I know why she was asking about the size—they are enormous! Not to worry—we enjoyed a very tasty zucchini lasagna for dinner.
Why Zucchini Lasagna
As I was studying recipes for pickles, which I did pickle 4 pints, I wasn’t quite settled on a recipe for these very healthy, monstrous size zucchinis.
It’s not that the larger size zucchinis will taste any different, it’s that the seeds tend to be extremely large, and the skin is very tough. This doesn’t make a good pickle, unless you can find a recipe that requires just the flesh. Which, I believe I found one that calls for cubed zucchini. You might just read about it soon too. I suppose I could have attempted a sourdough zucchini bread, but my heart was on pickles.
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After a day of pickling, and several very large zucchinis still in hand, I was hungry—and craving something rich, saucy and Italian. An hour later, we were enjoying this delicious meal. You can too.
How to make Zucchini Lasagna
Serves 6 (11x8, 2 quart casserole dish)
Ingredients
1/2 very large zucchini, slice crosswise, 1/4 inch thick slices
28oz can no-salt crushed tomatoes (I use Hunts)
1 pound of ground turkey (I used Aldi’s 93 by 7% of fat)
2 small onions, finely diced (I used red onions from garden)
10 small mushrooms, sliced (I used baby portobello), optional
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes, optional (I like spice, grin)
2 tablespoons of olive oil (I use extra virgin)
1 teaspoon oregano (I used my own dried from garden)
3 or 4 leaves of fresh basil torn (or 1-2 teaspoons of dried)
2 tablespoons of dried parsley (1 tablespoons for sauce, 1 tablespoons for filling)
2 cups of cottage cheese
16oz brick of mozzarella cheese (I used whole milk, grated my own)
1/4 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese, and more for layers
1 egg
Lots of Love
Directions (pre-heat oven to 400F)
Make the Tomato Sauce
Begin by making the tomato sauce. On medium high heat using a 10-inch skillet soften your diced onions in the olive oil, add your dried herbs to bloom them to the onion mixture, this takes about 2-3 minutes. Then add your ground turkey and brown. Add your crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, red pepper flakes, 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese and basil, stir to combine—simmer on low while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Salt & pepper to taste, remember your taste buds know best.
Filling
In a medium bowl, add your cottage cheese, 1 egg and the other tablespoon of dried parsley—stir to combine thoroughly.
Grate your mozzarella cheese, I used 2/3 of the 16oz brick of cheese—munched on the rest, wink.
Grate parmesan cheese at each layer, just to lightly dust each layer.
Assemble your Lasagna
In a 11x8, 2 quart casserole dish, add 1/4 of the sauce to the bottom of your dish. Add your zucchini rounds so they cover the bottom. I had 3 rows of 2 slices=6 slices. Then add 1/4 of tomatoes sauce to the top of the zucchini slices, dot with 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture—spread out to cover the zucchini, top with 1/3 of grated mozzarella and freshly grate some parmesan cheese to dust the top. Repeat: Add 2nd layer of zucchini, 1/3 of cottage cheese, 1/3 of mozzarella and dust with grated parmesan cheese. Top with the 3rd layer of zucchini, final 1/3 of tomato sauce, remaining 1/3 of mozzarella and finish with some freshly grated parmesan.
Bake at 400F for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. You might want to put dish on a baking sheet, just in case some bubble over. Enjoy! So good! My husband loved it so much—hope you do too.
P.S. you can easily make this with store bought zucchini.
God bless you and yours with lovingkindness. Try and let God take-care of your cares.
With all my heart, thanks for spending a few minutes of your day with me.
Wendy 💕
Hi Wendy! I made this and it was amazing! My husband Steve, who is not a big zucchini fan, went back for more - twice 😊 Thank you for this recipe!
Well, look at you! Making vegetables look yummy!