An On-Plan Lasagne That Doesn't Feel Like A Compromise

This one isn't just low-carb, it's low calorie too. It can even be made into an ultra low carb, keto-friendly dish, or a low-fat slimming meal! Here, we'll run through some basic principles when making the sauce as to how to make your lasagne suit almost any diet, so you can all enjoy this classic dish in all its glory. Each recipe uses 2 pieces of Lo-Dough, but provides 4 very substantial portions (or possibly 6 smaller portions) - try serving with a simple green salad! 

Low-Carb & Low-Cal Lasagne

We've made this one our 'base' recipe as it is the closest to the traditional recipe but still remains low-carb and low-calorie. Use beef mince (browned in spray oil), diced carrot, onion and mushrooms and a clove of garlic (softened in spray oil) and mix them with a tin of tomatoes and some beef stock. Season the mixture well, transfer to a baking dish and allow it to cook slowly in a low oven for a good couple of hours until the liquid had mostly evaporated and you are left with a rich beef mince ragu.

Other additions could be herbs, a little chilli and any other vegetables that you might fancy. Use a half-fat creme fraiche as your white sauce and mixture of 40-50g mozzarella and 20g of parmesan on top. The nutritional info for this lasagne is at the bottom of this page.

Keto Lasagne 

For a keto dish, dial back on the amount of onion and carrot you use - maybe just a half of each. Use a couple of cloves of garlic to keep that background flavour up. Brown your mince and veg in good quality olive oil (or avocado oil) - for some additional healthy fats. Don't add the tinned tomatoes - use a spoon or two of tomato puree and use beef stock as the predominant liquid in this recipe (this is actually closer to authentic Italian recipes anyway - ragu is, strictly speaking, a 'meat sauce'). Cook for a couple of hours and reduce down to a dryish sauce as above. Use full-fat creme fraiche as your white sauce and add plenty of cheese. This will yield an ultra low-carb lasagne, with more fat and more calories than our base recipe. 

Slimming Lasagne

For a slimming lasagne, make sure you use lean beef mince only (ideally 5% fat)  Supplement some of the bulk of the mince with lots and lots of finely chopped vegetables - think courgettes, mushrooms, carrots, peppers, maybe even some beans - or anything else you like. Once softened (in fry light!) mix with stock and tinned tomatoes and slowly cook down (on the hob, or in a medium-low oven) for a couple of hours until it reaches a dryish consistency. When it comes to layering up this lasagne - use fat-free yoghurt instead of the creme fraiche - and go easy on your cheese - or use a half fat cheese. This will give you a much lower fat dish, with slightly fewer calories than the base recipe, but a higher amount of carbs (albeit, mostly healthy green carbs from the vegetables!).

Vegetarian Lasagne

Swap out the mince for a veggie-mince replacement, or simply fill your sauce with loads and loads of chopped vegetables (This will result in a lower fat, lower calorie, but higher carb lasagne)!