Name: Ermahgerd-worthy Low Carb Instant Pot Keto Lasagna
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 ½ pounds zucchini; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 small onion, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 1 pound ground beef; 2 large eggs; 12 oz ricotta cheese; ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese; 2 cups no sugar added tomato sauce; 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded; salt and black pepper to taste

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Keto lasagna has quickly turned into one of my weaknesses. Once it’s in front of me, I’m a goner! There’s something about the smell of it baking in the oven that just puts an instant smile on my face. If you love lasagna, or you’re looking for a low-carb meal that your family is sure to love, read on. This is going to be a treat.

Zucchini, A Keto Dieter’s Best Friend

While zucchini wasn’t my favorite vegetable growing up, I often encountered it in my mom’s cooking so I’ve become quite familiar with the different varieties of it. Now that I’m a mom myself, I find it easy to incorporate into a lot of my family’s meals because it’s mild in flavor and cooks pretty quickly.

In fact, I have a list of recipes that I like to make every once in a while when I’m looking for something quick and easy:

Shrimp Zucchini Pasta (Essential Keto)
Garlic Shrimp Alfredo Zoodles (Stay Snatched)
Zucchini Noodles with Pesto (Sweet as Honey)
Zucchini Pasta with Cheesy Avocado Sauce (Vegan Keto)
Keto Pasta Carbonara (Diet Doctor)

Of course, when it’s smothered in cheese and sauce, it’s hard not to love it. That’s exactly why this keto lasagna is such a hit. Zucchini as a pasta alternative is genius because it’s low in carbs, but high in volume. So if you’re looking for something to add bulk to your meal, it’s an excellent option.

Making this keto lasagna is fairly simple, too. You only need a little over half an hour to prepare and bake this recipe. It starts off with slicing the zucchini into relatively thick slices. to season the zucchini, sprinkle some salt over it and then pat dry with paper towels. You’ll then place the zucchini slices in between some pans to help absorb the moisture even more.

Once that’s soaking dry, you can prepare the other ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine your cheese, seasonings and eggs and set that aside. For the next part, you’re going to need your Instant Pot.

I love my Instant Pot for overnight cooking, but I also love it for quick bursts of pressure cooking. For this recipe, we’ll be using it to quickly make the meat sauce. For the meat sauce, you’ll be using ground beef, tomato sauce and of course, some seasonings. Make sure to taste your meat sauce at this stage because it will be more difficult to season your dish once you start layering it with the zucchini.

Once the meat sauce is done cooking, set it aside in a separate bowl and wash the Instant Pot insert. You’ll be using it to layer the lasagna. Start with a layer of meat sauce, some zucchini slices, some ricotta, and then finally some mozzarella. Keep repeating this until you’ve used up all the ingredients.

Seal your Instant Pot and leave it to pressure cook for 10-15 minutes. This will give your lasagna enough time to become gooey and melty–just the way it should be!

The Zucchini Layers Ended Up Too Mushy/Too Firm

For most Instant Pots, the standard 10-15 minutes on the pressure cook setting should be enough, however, don’t be afraid to play around with it. There is a limitation to the pressure cook setting in that it’s sealed shut, so you can’t keep raising the lid to check on the doneness of your zucchini.

One way you can monitor the doneness of the zucchini is to observe if the zucchini has gone translucent (mushy) or if it’s still fairly opaque (firm).

My Keto Lasagna Ended Up Being Too Watery

Zucchini has a high water content, so if you neglected to pat your zucchini slices dry after slicing, this could have contributed to a watery lasagna. Also, another reason why could be that you used chilled or frozen zucchini instead of room temperature zucchini.

Is There An Alternative to the Zucchini Sheets?

If you’re just not into using zucchini as a pasta alternative, not to worry because there’s actually another option you can use for this recipe. QueenKeto has a recipe for making lasagna sheets that have a similar texture to real pasta but without the excess carbs. Give it a try and let us know what you think of this version of keto pasta.

If you’d still like to keep it vegetable-based, I recommend trying spaghetti squash and slicing it a little thinner than ⅙ of an inch. You would have to use thinner slices of spaghetti squash because it’s firmer than zucchini, so it would require longer cooking time. However, spaghetti squash contains more carbs than zucchini, so in order to have this and still fit the keto guidelines, you would have to limit your servings.

Print Recipe

Ermahgerd-worthy Low Carb Instant Pot Keto Lasagna

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Author: Bree - KetoPots.com
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 1x

Scale

1 ½ pounds zucchini

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound ground beef

2 large eggs

12 oz ricotta cheese

½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups no sugar added tomato sauce

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

salt and black pepper to taste

Slice the zucchini into 1/6 inch thick slices.
Sprinkle the slices with salt.
Place the slices between paper towels.
Put a cutting board on top of the paper towels and then weigh it down with cast iron pan.
Let it sit for minimum one hour.
Line a 7 inch springform pan with parchment paper.
Wrap outside of the pan in a double layer of heavy-duty foil.
Set aside.
In a bowl place the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan, ¼ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper.
Mix to combine and set aside.
Press the SAUTE button on the Instant pot and let stand until screen reads “HOT”.
Add the olive oil.
Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up into small pieces, until no longer pink.
Add the tomato sauce and mix to combine.
Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Transfer the meat mixture into a bowl and set aside.
Wash and dry the pot insert.
Return the pot insert into the Instant Pot.
Add 1 cup of water to the Instant pot.
To assemble, spread small amount of meat sauce onto bottom of the prepared pan.
Arrange ¼ of zucchini slices over the meat sauce.
Spread a thin layer of meat sauce over the zucchini slices.
Top with thin layer of ricotta mixture.
Sprinkle with small amount of shredded mozzarella.
Carry on alternating the zucchini slices, meat sauce, ricotta sauce and shredder mozzarella until you get to the top of the dish.
Finish off your lasagne with a layer of meat sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.
Place the pan on top of the trivet.
Place the trivet in the Instant Pot.
Close and seal the Instant pot.
Turn the venting knob to SEALING.
Press the PRESSURE COOK button and check to make sure the pressure level shows as “High” on the display.
Adjust the timer to 10 minutes.
When finished cooking, let the pressure come down naturally.
Remove the lasagna from the Instant pot.
Let it rest on a cooling rack for about 10-15 minutes.
Release the lasagna from the springform pan.
Slice and serve.