Low Carb Eggplant Lasagna: All the Comfort, None of the Pasta
In short
Lasagna without the pasta. Brown an onion and about 1kg of beef mince, stir in a jar of bolognese sauce and a squeeze of tomato paste, and sauté 5mm eggplant slices in butter until they’re soft with a bit of colour. Then layer low carb béchamel, eggplant, mince and mozzarella a few times over and bake at about 160 to 170°C for 20 to 30 minutes, just until the cheese melts. It tastes exactly like lasagna.
Key points
- Eggplant replaces the pasta sheets. Pasta is well and truly off the menu on low carb, so sautéed eggplant slices do the job instead. I had them growing in the garden.
- Soften the eggplant first. Shallow fry the slices in butter until they’re tender with a little colour. You don’t want crunchy eggplant in your lasagna.
- Shortcut the sauce. A jar of bolognese sauce saves time. You can make your own, but I didn’t have time for that. A bit of water rinses out the jar, and a squeeze of tomato paste lifts the flavour.
- Low carb, not zero carb. The jar sauce and tomatoes carry a few grams of carbs, but once it’s divided into portions it’s very, very low.
- Keto béchamel. The white sauce is made with heavy cream, cream cheese, butter and a pinch of nutmeg, from my separate béchamel video.
- Layering is up to you. Béchamel, eggplant, mince, cheese, and repeat. How many layers depends on how much eggplant you’ve got, and the amount of cheese is personal preference.
- The oven only melts the cheese. Everything’s already cooked, so 20 minutes to half an hour at about 160 to 170°C just melts the cheese and gets the layers mingling.
- It’s the real deal. The texture feels exactly like lasagna and it tastes exactly like lasagna. Before this recipe I wouldn’t have looked twice at an eggplant.
Lasagna is one of those comfort meals people think they have to give up on low carb, because of the pasta sheets. In this video I swap them for eggplant sautéed in butter, layered with beef mince bolognese, a keto béchamel and a good amount of mozzarella. It’s hearty, filling and tastes exactly like the real thing.
Method in brief
You’ll need: about 1kg (2lb) of beef mince, 1 brown onion, a jar of bolognese sauce, a little tomato paste, low carb béchamel sauce, around half a dozen eggplants (depending on size) sliced into roughly 5mm rounds, about 500g of shredded mozzarella, butter, salt and pepper.
- Chop the onion and brown it, then add the beef mince and season with salt and pepper.
- Once the mince has some colour, stir in the bolognese sauce. Rinse the jar with a splash of water and add that too, then add a little tomato paste.
- Sauté the eggplant slices in butter until they’re tender with a bit of colour.
- In a baking dish, layer béchamel, then eggplant, then mince, then cheese. Repeat until you run out, and finish with a layer of cheese on top.
- Bake at about 160 to 170°C for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and golden.
Why it works
Everything is cooked before it goes in the oven, so the bake is just about melting the cheese and bringing the layers together. With no pasta, the carbs come only from a bit of sauce and veg, and the beef, butter, cream and cheese make it seriously filling.
The béchamel has its own video on my channel: low carb béchamel sauce. For more low carb comfort food, try my Philly cheese steak casserole, low carb pizza and low carb mashed potato. If you’re wondering why pasta is off the menu, read why I avoid bread, rice and pasta, and for the high-fat side of things, see what is LCHF and LCHF vs keto.
New to all this? Grab the free Carb Guide, or watch my story and how I lost 23kg in four months.
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Not medical advice. I'm not a doctor, dietitian or nutritionist, just a bloke telling the story of what worked for me. Check with your doctor before changing your diet or medication.
