Lasagna is a classic Italian dish that is usually associated with high calories, fats and carbs. But there are recipes that can be low-calorie and healthier for your body. So if you are watching your diet and want to enjoy your favorite dish without harming your figure, then this list of recipes is for you. Here we have collected only the best lasagna recipes for proper nutrition, which are easy to prepare at home and taste just as good as traditional options.
Table of contents:
- A pita lasagna with minced meat and béchamel
- Zucchini lasagna with chicken breast
- Lasagna with pumpkin and stuffed turkey
- Zucchini lasagna with stuffing and cream
- Pita lasagna with minced chicken
- Fish lasagna with zucchini and tuna
- Eggplant lasagna with mozzarella
- Cheese lasagna with vegetables without meat or dough
A pita lasagna with minced meat and béchamel
This lasagna is low in calories and rich in nutritional value due to the use of minced chicken, vegetables and light béchamel sauce. In addition, thin pita instead of the usual pasta allows you to reduce the number of carbohydrates in the dish.
Ingredients:
- Stuffed chicken – 17.6 oz.
- Onions – 3.1 oz.
- Carrots – 4.2 oz.
- Celery stalk – 2.8 oz.
- Garlic – 2 cloves.
- Tomatoes in their own juice – 8.8 oz.
- Armenian pita – 6.3 oz.
- Mozzarella – 2.4 oz.
- Salt, spices.
Béchamel sauce:
- Milk 2.5% – 6.7 fl oz.
- Butter – 0.5 oz.
- Oat flour – 0.5 oz.
- Nutmeg.
- Salt.
How to cook:
- In the vegetable oil, fry the onion. Then put diced carrots and celery stalk. After 2-3 minutes add minced meat to the pan. Stir and fry everything together.
- Here go tomatoes, canned in their own juice or pureed tomatoes. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste. Stew the stuffing with vegetables for 5-7 minutes more. Add dried or fresh basil.
- Prepare sauce. In a saucepan melt butter. Stir in oat flour, gently warm it. A thin trickle pour warm milk, stirring constantly with a spatula. When the sauce thickens, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of nutmeg. Remove from the fire.
- Cut lavash according to the size of the mold. Lay out as the first layer, smear sauce, put some of the stuffing. Put lasagna together, alternating layers. Coat the final layer of lavash with sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese.
- Cover the lasagna dish tightly with foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes, 356°F. Then remove the foil, let the cheese brown for 5 minutes.
Zucchini lasagna with chicken breast
Zucchini is a healthy alternative to traditional pasta sheets and replaces them perfectly. Zucchini lasagna is just as delicious, flavorful, but more dietary. You can substitute zucchini with young cabbage leaves if you wish.
Ingredients:
- Zucchini – 28.2 oz.
- Chicken filet – 15.8 oz.
- Carrots – 4.5 oz.
- Onions – 3.1 oz.
- Tomatoes – 12.3 oz.
- Garlic – 3 cloves.
- Tomato paste – 1 oz.
- Vegetable oil – ½ tbsp.
- 15% sour cream – 1.7 oz.
- Natural yogurt – 1.7 oz.
- Cheese – 2.1 oz.
- Parsley – 0.3 oz.
- Salt, spices.
How to cook:
- In a small amount of vegetable oil, fry the finely chopped onion and garlic. Place grated carrots, chopped chicken breast in small pieces. Add salt, ground pepper and dried basil.
- Cut tomatoes into small cubes, chop parsley herbs. Then put them in a frying pan. For flavor we put a little tomato paste. Braise chicken with vegetables for 5-7 minutes.
- Zucchini are cut in thin plates, put on the bottom of a baking dish. On top of zucchini spread a layer of chicken and vegetables. Brush with sauce from sour cream and yogurt. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
- Repeat layers: zucchini, meat filling, sauce, cheese, zucchini again. Sprinkle sauce and cheese on top of the zucchini layer.
- Place in an oven preheated to 356°F and bake for about 40 minutes. Let the ready lasagna stand for a while, divide into portions.
Lasagna with pumpkin and stuffed turkey
A beautiful dish, looks spectacular in the cut, and the taste of all the components perfectly feels and harmonizes. For this recipe, you will need sheets of lasagna made from durum wheat, which do not require pre-cooking. You can use any cheese you like.
Ingredients:
- Lasagna sheets – 8.8 oz.
- Pumpkin – 14.1 oz.
- Apple – 3.5 oz.
- Ground turkey – 12.3 oz.
- Onions – 3.5 oz.
- 30% hard cheese – 6.3 oz.
- Tomatoes – 17.6 oz.
- Garlic – 3 cloves.
- Apple cider vinegar – 1 tbsp.
- Salt, spices.
How to cook:
- Dice the pumpkin flesh and put it on a baking tray lined with parchment. Salt and sprinkle with spicy herbs. Bake for 15 minutes, 356°F. Peel the apple from skin and seeds, cut it, mix it with baked pumpkin.
- Chopped onion and garlic fry in a drop of oil until soft. Add minced turkey. When the stuffing is almost ready, add salt, crushed pepper mixture and paprika.
- Place chopped tomatoes in blender. Add the garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Grind until smooth. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and boil over low heat for 20 minutes.
- Pour 2-3 spoons of tomato sauce on the bottom of the form. Lay out the sheets of lasagna. Then we put half of the pumpkin and apple stuffing. Then pour the sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese. Then we put the sheets again, add stuffing and cheese. Cover with sheets of lasagna, repeat layers.
- Brush the top sheets of pasta generously with tomato sauce. Cover the form with foil and bake lasagna for 45 minutes, 356°F. After 45 minutes, remove the foil, sprinkle the dish with cheese, return it to the oven for 5 minutes.
Zucchini lasagna with stuffing and cream
Easy-to-make, hearty and very tasty dinner. For the filling you need cream with a fat content of 10-20% or sour cream with a fat content of 15%. You can also add mozzarella, suluguni or Parmesan to the layer.
Ingredients:
- Zucchini – 35.2 oz.
- Stuffed chicken – 28.2 oz.
- Onions – 2 pcs.
- Carrots – 1-2 pcs.
- Tomato paste – 2 tbsp.
- Garlic – 3 cloves.
- Salt, spices.
- Chicken eggs – 2 pcs.
- 10 % cream – 7 oz.
- Cheese – 3.5 oz.
How to cook:
- Heat a frying pan, add a little vegetable oil. Fry chopped onion and garlic until lightly browned. Add grated carrots, fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add minced chicken and fry until it turns light. Constantly stir to make the stuffing crumbly. Then add salt, pepper mixture, dry garlic, ground coriander and tomato paste.
- Wash and dry zucchini, cut lengthwise into slices no thicker than 0.2 inch. For the sauce, mix eggs, cream, salt and freshly ground pepper.
- On the bottom of the form we lay a layer of zucchini, spread the stuffing on top. Next zucchini and a little bit of filling. Repeat layers until all ingredients are done. Finish the casserole with a layer of zucchini, pour the rest of the sauce, rub cheese on top.
- Cover the lasagna form with foil. Bake in a preheated 356°F oven for about 40-45 minutes. 10 minutes before it is ready remove the foil so the cheese gets browned.
Pita lasagna with minced chicken
A great recipe for a lazy pita lasagna for lunch or early dinner. The pita is soaked, the stuffing is flavorful, and the melted cheese is soft and tender. The sour cream sauce is thick due to the flour and does not spread.
Ingredients:
- Ground chicken – 21.1 oz.
- Onion – 1 pc.
- Garlic – 3 cloves.
- pureed tomatoes – 5.6 oz.
- Armenian lavash – 1 piece.
- 30% cheese – 5.3 oz.
- Salt, spices.
Filling:
- Sour cream 15% – 7 oz.
- Boiling water – 1 fl oz.
- Nutmeg – ⅓ tsp.
- Wholemeal flour – 1 tbsp.
How to cook:
- Fry the onion in a heated frying pan with vegetable oil until soft. Then add minced meat and garlic squeezed through a press. Fry, stirring all the time and breaking up lumps.
- Add pureed tomatoes or tomato paste. Salt to taste, season with ground pepper and provan herbs. Braise until the liquid evaporates. Remove from the heat.
- Lavash cut into shapes, in which we will bake lasagne. Grease the baking dish with butter or vegetable oil.
- Lay a sheet of lavash on the bottom, generously grease it with sour cream sauce. Spread the prepared meat stuffing in an even layer. Pour the sauce on top, sprinkle with grated cheese. Assemble the entire lasagna in this way. The final layer of lavash grease with sour cream, sprinkle with dry herbs and cheese.
- Place in an oven preheated to 356°F. Bake for about 25 minutes until the crust browns.
Fish lasagna with zucchini and tuna
A healthy dish with lots of vegetables in the composition and high protein content. The crust of the lasagna is ruddy, lots of filling of fish, cheese and vegetables. Zucchini gives special tenderness and juicy texture.
Ingredients:
- Zucchini – 28.2 oz.
- Canned tuna – 14.1 oz.
- 30% hard cheese – 14.1 oz.
- Lemon juice – 1 tbsp.
- Dill – 1 bundle.
- Spices – to taste.
How to cook:
- Cut zucchini into thin circles or slices. Grate any hard cheese on a coarse grater.
- Open a can of canned tuna in its own juice. Drain all the liquid, mash the fish with a fork.
- Grease a baking dish with olive oil. Lay out an overlapping layer of zucchini on the bottom. Spread half of the fish, sprinkle with lemon juice.
- Spread a layer of greens and grated cheese on top. Zucchini layer again, remaining fish, a little lemon juice, greens, cheese. The final layer – zucchini and grated cheese.
- Bake the lasagna in the oven at 320°F for 60-70 minutes. Zucchini gives a lot of juice, so you need time for it to partially evaporate. If desired, the excess juice can be drained to shorten the cooking process.
Eggplant lasagna with mozzarella
This dish is suitable as a main dish or as an appetizer for a large holiday table. If the eggplants are no longer young, it is better to salt them after slicing and leave them for 10 minutes to get rid of the bitterness.
Ingredients:
- Eggplant – 2 pcs.
- Onion – 1 pc.
- Garlic – 2 cloves.
- Tomatoes – 10.5 oz.
- Stuffed chicken – 17.6 oz.
- Mozzarella – 5.3 oz.
- Olive oil – 1 tbsp.
- Salt, spices.
How to cook:
- Finely chop the onion and garlic. Grease a frying pan with olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour the minced chicken filet. Fry until golden brown, stirring all the time with a spatula to prevent lumps.
- Add salt, spices, chopped tomatoes and half of the grated cheese. Pour one cup of hot water. Braise under a lid for 15-20 minutes, the fire is minimal.
- Eggplant is cut into thin slices no thicker than one centimeter. Put a layer of eggplant in the form, then meat stuffing and grated cheese. Repeat the layers.
- Place lasagna in a preheated 356°F oven for 30 minutes. Let cool a little, cut into portions.
Cheese lasagna with vegetables without meat or dough
An easy and delicious cheesy lasagna with a vegetable base can be perfect for those who don’t eat meat or are on a keto diet. It uses young zucchini, tomatoes, and bell peppers as the base, while cheese and spinach add rich flavor and aroma.
Ingredients:
- Zucchini – 31.7 oz.
- Tomatoes – 3.5 oz.
- Bell peppers – 3.5 oz.
- Cottage cheese – 5.3 oz.
- Parmesan cheese – 1.7 oz.
- One chicken egg – 1 egg.
- Spinach – 3.5 oz.
- Garlic – 1 clove.
- Mozzarella – 5.3 oz.
- Salt, pepper.
How to cook:
- Cut the young zucchini into 0.2 inch thick slices. Spread them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 392°F oven for 20 minutes.
- Shred the tomatoes and bell peppers. Place in the bowl of a chopper and beat until smooth.
- For the sauce, combine spinach, Parmesan, egg, cottage cheese, garlic, salt and ground pepper mixture in a blender. Grind to a smooth consistency.
- Cover the bottom of a heatproof form with the tomato mixture. Spread generously cheese-spinach sauce over baked zucchini and make rolls. Spread the rolls on top of the tomato mixture. Sprinkle all over grated mozzarella.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 392°F for about 30 minutes. Serve hot, while the cheese appetizingly stretches.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is it OK to eat lasagna on a diet?
Whether or not lasagna is suitable for a diet depends on the specific diet plan and your individual dietary needs. Traditional lasagna made with pasta, cheese, and meat can be high in calories and carbohydrates. However, you can make healthier variations of lasagna by using whole wheat pasta, lean meats, and incorporating more vegetables. It’s important to consider portion sizes and overall calorie intake when including lasagna in a diet.
Is lasagna OK for diabetics?
Lasagna, particularly the traditional version, can be high in carbohydrates and may affect blood sugar levels in individuals with diabetes. However, you can make adjustments to the recipe to make it more diabetes-friendly. Opt for whole wheat or whole grain pasta, use lean proteins, reduce the amount of cheese and choose low-fat or skim varieties, and incorporate plenty of vegetables. It’s always advisable to consult with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian for personalized advice.
What does lasagna do to your body?
Lasagna is a dish that provides a combination of macronutrients and micronutrients. The specific effects on the body depend on the ingredients used and portion sizes consumed. Lasagna typically contains carbohydrates from pasta, protein from meat and cheese, and various nutrients from vegetables. It can be a source of energy, contribute to satiety, and provide essential nutrients. However, traditional lasagna can also be high in calories, fat, and sodium, so it’s important to consider portion sizes and choose healthier ingredient options for a balanced diet.
Is lasagna better with ricotta or cottage cheese?
The choice between ricotta cheese and cottage cheese in lasagna comes down to personal preference. Ricotta cheese tends to be smoother, creamier, and milder in flavor. Cottage cheese has a slightly grainy texture and a more pronounced flavor. From a nutritional standpoint, cottage cheese is typically lower in fat and calories compared to ricotta cheese. Ultimately, the decision between ricotta and cottage cheese depends on your taste preferences and dietary goals.
Can I substitute Greek yogurt for ricotta cheese in lasagna?
Yes, Greek yogurt can be used as a substitute for ricotta cheese in lasagna. Greek yogurt has a similar creamy texture and can provide a tangy flavor to the dish. When using Greek yogurt as a substitute, ensure that it is thick and has a consistency close to ricotta. You can also strain the Greek yogurt using cheesecloth to achieve a thicker consistency, similar to ricotta cheese.