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- Hi friends.
Welcome back to my channel.
If you're new here, my name is Alyssa.
Today, I have got a recipe video for you
that you are going to love.
We are making vegan zucchini lasagna,
and it is seriously so good.
Lasagna is obviously a
very classic comfort food.
It's full of carbs.
It's cheesy.
We have found a way to
not only make it vegan,
I eat dairy free,
but also lighten it up and
make it like this super light
and delicious summertime meal.
So we are gonna be using zucchini
instead of lasagna noodles,
which is one of the keys
for lightening it up.
And I also have a few tips and
tricks in today's blog post,
as well as this video for how to make sure
your zucchini slices do not get watery
because that is the downfall
of zucchini lasagna.
So we've got tips for making
non-watery zucchini lasagna,
and I know that you guys are
absolutely going to love it.
So if you do wanna try this
and you wanna follow along,
make sure to get the
recipe up on the blog.
I've linked it down in
the description box.
Now, before we dive in,
I always like to take a quick pause
and invite you to subscribe.
If you love recipes like this,
that are mostly focused
on plant based foods,
you will love all of
the recipes that we have
on our channel, as well as
the ones that are coming.
So don't forget to
subscribe before you go.
There's a red button
right below this video.
That says subscribe.
Otherwise let's go ahead and
get into today's new recipe.
All right.
So we are going to kick
things off with our zucchini.
We are going to use a mandoline slicer
to slice our zucchini
strips slash noodles.
If you don't have a mandoline slicer,
you can also use a knife.
It just takes a little bit longer
and you can't get them
quite as precise or as thin.
So I do recommend a mandoline slicer.
And I will link the one
that I have done below.
I love it.
But you're basically just going to slice
all of your zucchini into thin strips.
And once you have that,
we are going to move on and get the water
out of these bad boys.
So there are a few ways
that you can do this.
One way is that you can pre
grill or pre cook your zucchini.
I didn't wanna do that
slash I don't have a grill.
So I went with the salted method.
And the way that I did
that was I essentially
used a baking sheet.
I put down some paper towels,
and then I placed these zucchini strips
on top of the paper towels.
And I made sure not to
overlap them too much.
And then I just sprinkled the
zucchini with some sea salt
and the sea salt is going to,
or just salt in general is
going to draw out the water.
And you'll see that after
they've sat for about 10,
maybe 15 minutes,
they are basically covered in water.
From there, We are going to
basically just pat them dry.
So I used some more paper towels,
and you'll see how much water
just from this paper towel,
how soaked it gets,
how much water came out of the zucchini.
So if we don't do this step,
all of that zucchini as it
cooks is going to get watery
in the bottom of our pan.
And we want to avoid that.
So you've patted them dry.
You can set this aside and we're going to
prepare our lasagna.
And you're gonna be not
surprised how you do this.
because you've seen me make it before,
but you are going to start
with some tomato sauce
on the bottom.
I love Rao's Homemade Tomato Sauce.
It's so good.
And I spread that layer on the bottom.
Then I do a layer of
those zucchini noodles.
And again, these are the ones that
are already patted dry and
have the water reduced.
Once you've filled the bottom of your pan
with your zucchini noodles.
The next step is to use our ricotta.
For this recipe, I am using
a store bought ricotta
that I nixed with some Italian seasoning,
but I also have a tofu
ricotta recipe on the blog,
as well as on the channel
that you can use instead,
if you don't wanna use store bought.
So I will link that down below for you,
and it will work just
exactly the same as this.
Once you have your dollops of ricotta
on top of the zucchini noodles,
you can just spread them
out either with your hands
or with a spoon and just
spread them out evenly
until it basically covers the zucchini.
And then we are gonna do
another layer of tomato sauce.
And again, just use your spoon
to kind of spread out the tomato sauce.
And then we're basically just
going to repeat this process
until we have filled up the whole pan.
So the layers go,
tomato sauce, zucchini, ricotta,
tomato sauce, zucchini, ricotta,
tomato sauce, zucchini,
ricotta, et cetera,
until you filled up your pan.
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Once your pan is almost completely full
and you're ready to do your final layer,
you are going to have your zucchini.
And then you're gonna
do your tomato sauce.
And instead of doing the ricotta layer,
you're gonna add on some
vegan shredded cheese.
If you don't wanna do the
vegan shredded cheese,
you can skip this step and
just bake it right away
with the tomato sauce on top.
I think that it just adds
to like the classicalness
of the lasagna by having
a melted cheese on top.
But again, optional.
And then we are just going to bake this up
for about 30 to 35 minutes,
until everything is nice and hot.
And the zucchini has
had a chance to kind of
cook a little bit.
And that's pretty much all you gotta do.
I like to let this rest for
a good five to 10 minutes
to kind of let everything
settle a little bit.
But once it has rested,
you can go ahead and slice it up.
And you can see as I'm slicing it,
there is still a little
bit of crunch almost
to the zucchini noodles.
And I think that it still yields
this like perfect noodle-like consistency.
And they aren't watery or mushy.
And then basically you are ready
to just serve it up from there.
I love to garnish mine
with some vegan parm,
which is not vegan parm.
Its basically just cashews
that I grade on a micro planar.
But if you have access to vegan parm
or nutritional use
would also be delicious.
And then I love also doing
some freshly chopped basil.
Just adds to that nice Italian flavor.
And it adds a really
nice freshness on top.
And then just dig in and enjoy.
This is totally meal prep friendly.
You can make this ahead and reheat it.
It's also, I always have
it on the lighter side.
And we honestly ended up eating
the whole pan for dinner.
'Cause it was that good.
So just keep that in mind.
And I look forward to
seeing your creations.
And I can't wait to hear what you think.
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And there, you have it, my friends,
I hope you enjoyed
today's zucchini lasagna.
As you can see, this dish is so delicious.
I am sure you just wanna
like dive into your screen
and eat it because it is cozy.
It's comforting.
But like I said, it's
also light and refreshing.
It's great for summer.
If you grow zucchini in your garden,
which I know a lot of people do,
this is a great way to use it up.
And it's just a really delicious,
lightweight to enjoy this
classic comfort food.
So if you do wanna make it and
follow along with the recipe,
you can find that down
in the description box.
It's up on the blog and
ready for you and waiting.
Otherwise don't forget to
give this video a thumbs up
if you enjoyed it.
And if you are not yet part
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love for you to join us.
Like I said,
there's a red button
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you can tap that button and
that will subscribe you.
Otherwise, thank you
so much for being here.
I really appreciate you
taking time out of your day
to watch this video and
spend some time with me.
It means the world to me, you
guys are the absolute best.
I love making videos for you,
and I really appreciate you watching.
So I will see you in the next video.
Bye.
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