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The Easiest Low Carb Lasagna

It’s official, this low carb lasagna has earned an automatic top 3 ranking on my blog. It’s seriously amazing, and that doesn’t even take its nutrition facts into account.

When you add those into the equation, you could definitely make the case for a number one ranking. Each serving has a whopping 37 grams of protein with just 12 grams of carbs, 325 calories, and 6 SmartPoints.

And as a final gust of hot air, the meat sauce in this recipe could be used for all kinds of healthy pasta dishes. So let’s get to it.

Low Carb Lasagna Ingredients

This low carb lasagna recipe is seriously simple. You’ll spend most of your time making the meat sauce but other than that, you’ll only need four ingredients.

  • my best lasagna meat sauce
  • mozzarella
  • parmesan
  • fresh Italian parsley
  • Palmini lasagna noodles

For the meat sauce, you could always use your own lasagna meat sauce recipe or a ready-made meat sauce to shorten the steps. But I’d highly encourage you to try mine.

There’s beef, bacon, tons of veggies, and all kinds of flavor! More on this in a second.

how to make the best lasagna meat sauce

The Easiest Low Carb Lasagna Noodles: Palmini Pasta

If you’re unfamiliar with Palmini pasta, they make low carb pasta out of hearts of palm. I’ve used their linguine noodles for recipes like my Low Carb Pasta Carbonara.

This is my first time trying their new lasagna, and I’m pleased to say it’s fantastic. Similar to my review of their linguine, I’d put it somewhere between a zoodle and real pasta. It’s not as tender as the real deal, but the carbs you save are well worth it.

palmini lasagna noodles for low carb lasagna

If you’re not short on carbs, feel free to use real oven-ready lasagna sheets.

The BEST Lasagna Meat Sauce

What makes this low carb lasagna really special, in my opinion, is the bolognese. It was inspired by J. Kenji López-Alt’s ultimate bolognese in his cookbook, The Food Lab. He’s an absolute genius in the kitchen with a great YouTube channel as well.

For my spin, I made a thicker meat sauce, shortened up the ingredient list a bit, and used lower calorie ingredients where applicable. I also reduced the required cook time so you can get your low carb lasagna in the oven in about 25-30 minutes.

The finished product is a super flavorful and rich meat sauce that’s perfect for lasagna.

I always like to add that you can customize my recipes. But if you can, follow the meat sauce recipe as-is. You’ll thank me later!

baked low carb lasagna

If you’d like a quicker recipe, you could pair this bolognese with fresh pasta like my ground turkey bolognese or cauliflower gnocchi like I served with my healthy Instant Pot bolognese.

Final Recipe Notes for Low Carb Lasagna 

Other than the meat sauce and using different lasagna noodles, there aren’t a ton of customizations to be made here. You can play around with the amount or type of cheese used, or you could even made your own béchamel sauce for a creamier lasagna.

As you can see in the photos, I prefer a thicker sauce so you’re not scooping soupy sauce out of the bottom. If you’d like your low carb lasagna saucier, that’s an easy fix. Simply add an extra can of crushed tomatoes to the sauce and voila—extra saucy lasagna.

the lasagna meat sauce base layer

I’ve included the nutrition info for the meat sauce alone in the recipe card’s notes section below. That way, you can easily adjust your own nutrition facts should you choose to use a different type of lasagna noodle or cheese.

Okay, that should cover it. If you have a question I glossed over, drop a comment below. And I’d love it if you let me know what you think about this low carb lasagna. Let me know on Instagram or in my free Facebook group.

low carb lasagna recipe with palmini lasagna noodles

Low Carb Lasagna

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Palmini lasagna sheets layered with mozzarella, parmesan, fresh parsley, and an amazing bolognese.

Ingredients

For the Meat Sauce

  • 2 lbs Ground Beef, I used 96/4 from HEB
  • 6 slices Center Cut Bacon, cut into thin strips
  • 1 medium (200g) Sweet Onion, diced
  • 2 medium (150g) Carrots, peeled and finely grated
  • 4 cloves (20g) Garlic, peeled and minced
  • 2 Tbsp (30g) Red Wine Vinegar, or your choice of vinegar
  • 15 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
  • 1 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper, optional
  • 1 Tbsp (15g) Fish Sauce, optional
  • 2 Bay Leaves, optional

For the Lasagna

Instructions

To Make the Meat Sauce

  1. Add the ground beef to a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until no pink remains.
  2. While the beef cooks, prepare the vegetables and bacon.
  3. Add the bacon to a second skillet (stainless steel if possible) over medium-high heat and fully cook. Remove the bacon from the skillet, leaving the grease behind.
  4. Carefully add the vinegar to deglaze the pan (remove any stuck bits on the bottom) before adding the onions, carrots, and garlic. Stirring often, cook until the onions and carrots soften, about 5-7 minutes.
  5. Add the tomatoes and remaining meat sauce ingredients, stirring everything together. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the mixture begins to thicken before adding the cooked beef.
  6. Reduce to a medium-low heat and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes before assembling the lasagna.

Assembling the Lasagna

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Remove the bay leaves from the meat sauce and add about 1/5th of the meat sauce to the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish.
  3. Place the lasagna sheets on top of the meat sauce.
  4. Top the lasagna sheets with a second layer of meat sauce, about 1/2 cup mozzarella, a small amount of parmesan (reserve 1/4 cup of the 3/4 cup for the top layer), and a handful of chopped parsley. (I only added parsley in one layer and on top after baking.)
  5. Repeat this process until the baking dish is full. Top with remaining mozzarella and 1/4 cup of shredded parmesan.
  6. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top and sides of the lasagna are golden brown.
  7. Let the lasagna cool before cutting to preserve its structure. Top with fresh parsley, freshly cracked black pepper, and any other toppings you'd like.

Notes

*You can find Palmini pasta using their store finder, and I've also added it to my Amazon ingredients list. If you'd like a softer texture for the lasagna sheets, you can add them to boiling water for 5-10 minutes before assembling the lasagna.

Nutrition Facts Notes

  • Each serving has 6 Smart Points.
  • Nutrition info for meat sauce only: 1,652 calories, 219g protein, 65g carbs, 52g fat, and 24 SmartPoints. 
  • If you have the carbs to spare, this lasagna would go perfectly with some of my air fried cheese bread or garlic bread twists.
  • Nutrition Information:
    Yield: 8 Slices Serving Size: 1 Slice
    Amount Per Serving: Calories: 325Total Fat: 14gCarbohydrates: 12gProtein: 37g

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    More Low Carb Recipes You Might Like

    Jim Slaba

    Saturday 10th of October 2020

    We make this recipe as a family monthly and free half. Gets one one meal and another for leftovers, plus the frozen portion. So easy to make and kids love it. We make half the pan with extra vegs for parents and standard recipe in the other half. Recommend!!!

    LeighAnn

    Wednesday 17th of June 2020

    My dad doesn’t love lasagna. He says any dish without meat isn’t a meal. Also, he’s not a big fan of ricotta or cottage cheese. Made this for him and the rest of my family and it was a success! I even snuck carrots in there and he didn’t even know it. Love this recipe.

    Andrea Rekrut

    Wednesday 15th of April 2020

    This was an awesome replacement for lasagna - nice big portion and had all the flavors that you look for in a lasagna. I added 8 oz of food processor mushrooms to the ground beef and next time I might add ricotta, but I didn't miss it on the first round.

    Ronna

    Monday 10th of February 2020

    Where , when and how much ricotta cheese and when to add. I must have totally missed something

    Mason Woodruff

    Tuesday 11th of February 2020

    There's no ricotta in this recipe. Maybe you're thinking of my cannelloni?

    Annika

    Wednesday 27th of November 2019

    I was confused by the bacon in lasagna at first but now I will never go back! I cut the recipe in half to make 4 servings and it was really easy to do if you're feeding fewer mouths and don't want a lot left over (but you'll want the left overs because they are that good). The only difficulty I ran into is that I didn't do the right mental math and had some extra strips of Palmini lasagna that I ended up just tossing because I was out of meat sauce so next time I'll try that math written out so I don't waste noodles.

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