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This Keto Eggplant Lasagna has all the delicious lasagna flavors you love without the noodles. Turn this beloved dish into a low-carb version you can enjoy anytime without the guilt.

I freely admit that I love lasagna and could eat it all the time, if it wasn’t so packed with carbs and calories. But wait! This version isn’t. So, I really can eat it anytime.

Eggplant is such a great vegetable on a low-carb diet because it’s low in carbs and can easily take the place of noodles in various forms.

We use zucchini to replace the sheets of lasagna in this recipe. The texture is only slightly different when the layers are built up like a typical lasagna. Also try replacing noodles with cabbage like in this cabbage cake recipe.

The total carbohydrates per serving for this lasagna is just 5 net carbs. There are around 450 calories per slice. To cut down on the calories, you can use less cheese.

I always make my own ricotta. Here’s the recipe (from our sister blog). It’s very easy to make with just whole milk and some lemon juice.

How to Prepare the Eggpalnt

One of the most important steps in the making of this lasagna is preparing the eggplant.

There are a few steps required. One is slicing, and one is sweating. If you’ve never sweated a vegetable before, it’s done to remove some of the water content. Eggplant, and zucchini for that matter, are full of water. If you cook this recipe without sweating first, it will turn out very watery.

How to Slice Eggplant

The best way to slice the eggplant is with a mandolin. Using this tool will help you cut the slices evenly and easily. You can do it manually with a sharp knife, but it’s not incredibly easy to make even slices.

You want the slices to be about 1/4″ thick. Cut them lengthwise. Typically you can get around 12 slices out of a large eggplant. If your eggplants are smaller, you may need 2 to make enough slices.

In a pinch, I’ve even used baby eggplants, though I needed around 10 of them to cover the layers.

How to Sweat Eggplant

To sweat the eggplant once it’s sliced, place the slices on a thin, clean kitchen towel or paper towels. Sprinkle them evenly with salt on one side. Allow them to sweat for about 10 minutes. Then turn the eggplant over and sprinkle the other side with salt. Wait another 10 minutes.

By now, a lot of water droplets will have formed on the eggplant. You can pat the excess salt and water from the slices with the kitchen towel or extra paper towels.

Assembling the Low Carb Eggplant Lasagna

Using a 9″x13″ casserole dish, you’ll be able to make three full layers with these ingredients. You can also use an 8″x8″ dish, but you’ll need to use more of each ingredient per layer, and you won’t need quite as much eggplant.

Start by adding just a bit of sauce to the bottom of the pan, so the first layer of eggplant doesn’t stick to the bottom. Then add the first layer.

Use about 1/4 of the sauce and cheese for each layer and 1/3 of the ricotta. This is because the ricotta only goes in between the layers, while the sauce and cheese will also be placed on the very top of the dish.

Cover the dish to bake for 30 minutes. It’s important to do this, so the cheese on top doesn’t brown too quickly. You’ll remove the tin foil for the final 10 minutes, so the top cheese can get bubbly.

Substitutions

You can substitute the eggplant with zucchini, if you want. They act very similarly in this dish, so it’s a one for one swap.

Another substitution you can make is for the ricotta. Full fat cottage cheese is a good substitution. Or you can leave it out, if you don’t like it.

Leftovers and Freezing

We love having leftover eggplant lasagna because it tastes as good or better the next day for lunch.

If you have leftovers and want to freeze them, that’s definitely possible. However, you can expect it to be a bit more watery when you defrost it.

If you are looking for other pasta substitutes then you might want to try Easy Keto Gnocchi.