Cheesy Baked Zucchini Pasta (Low Carb Baked Ziti)
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Baked Zucchini Pasta is the low-carb version of your favorite Italian dish! It still gives you that cheesy comfort food feeling of a pasta casserole without the heavy pasta. This zucchini pasta bake is a low-carb baked ziti!
I love, love, love baked ziti. It’s one of my favorite pasta dishes. I have been making classic baked ziti for years and order it almost every time I go to Olive Garden.
I knew I wanted to make a lighter version of my favorite baked pasta, so that’s how this recipe for baked zucchini pasta was born!
Another favorite low-carb casserole recipe is creamy pesto chicken. Make sure you check out our long list of Zucchini Recipes, too!
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❤️Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This casserole is comforting cheesy goodness. Yet it’s lighter than the average cheesy casserole. The zoodles come out surprisingly tender and absorb all of the marinara and cheese – making it hard to tell that they aren’t eating spaghetti.
This recipe is for you if: you’re looking to watch your carbs, have an abundance of zucchini in the summer months, or just want to add a little bit of extra veggies to your diet.
I include tips on making your zoodles from scratch and working with frozen spiralized zucchini.
If you find yourself with a garden full of zucchini, you can use up a nice large zucchini on this dish. But if you want to make this yummy casserole in the dead of winter, you can too!
If you want more flavorful recipe inspiration, try our recipes for Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana, Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas, or Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken.
📋Ingredients
Frozen Zucchini Spirals: See note below on using fresh zucchini
Ground Beef: Lean ground beef is best for this recipe. Look for 83% lean beef.
Marinara Sauce: Use a jar of your favorite sauce or make your own homemade instant pot spaghetti sauce.
Scroll to the bottom for the complete list of ingredient measurements and printable recipe card.
📖 Ingredient Swaps
Ground Turkey: The beef can be substituted for ground turkey in this recipe without much change to the overall flavor of the dish. Italian sausage (with the casings removed) can also be used.
Fresh Zucchini: Fresh zucchini can be used in place of the frozen. See my notes below under “expert cooking tips”.
Onion Powder: One tablespoon of onion powder can be used in place of the fresh onion.
Garlic Powder: One teaspoon of garlic powder can be used in place of the fresh minced garlic.
🔪Step-by-Step Instructions
👩🏻🍳Expert Cooking Tips
Making homemade zucchini noodles
If you haven’t cooked with zoodles (aka zucchini noodles or zucchini spirals) before, don’t be afraid! Zucchini noodles are incredibly easy to work with.
You can make your own using a handheld spiralizer, julienne peeler, or a spiralizer attachment on a stand mixer. You can even use a box grater if that’s what you have. A spiralizer will give you longer spaghetti-like curly noodles while the box grater will give you shorter pieces. Either way works fine for this recipe.
Once your zucchini is cut, it can be cooked the same way the frozen is cooked. However, you will want to cut approximately 2 minutes off the cooking time when cooking the zucchini noodles on the stove.
Either way, you are going to want to sauté them first and drain any extra liquid using a mesh sieve before adding them to the casserole dish.
💭Recipe FAQs
Salt the zucchini well and let it drain over a mesh sieve for 10 minutes. Dry it with a paper towel before roasting.
Unfortunately, zucchini is one of the only vegetables that don’t freeze well. I have not personally tried freezing this dish, but I would not recommend it. Zucchini has a high water content and it may make the overall texture watery when it freezes and then defrosts.
Use a handheld spiralizer to make zucchini pasta. You can also purchase a spiralizer attachment for some appliances like stand mixers and food processors.
Yes, zucchini makes a great pasta substitute because it has a similar texture to noodles and doesn’t have a strong flavor.
🥣 More Tasty Casserole Recipes
If you tried this Baked Zucchini Pasta Recipe or any other recipe on my website, I would love it if you could leave me a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below. ❤️
Baked Zucchini Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 12-ounce bags frozen zucchini spirals
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 28-ounce jar marinara sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish and set aside.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add frozen zucchini spirals.
- Cover and let cook, 6 minutes.
- Remove the lid and flip. Season with salt and pepper and cook an additional 3 minutes.
- Drain the zucchini in a mesh sieve.
- Meanwhile, heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add the onion and ground beef. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook until browned, about 6 minutes.
- Mix in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds.
- Drain the fat from the ground beef and mix in the marinara sauce.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Once the meat sauce is cooked, start building your baked ziti dish.
- Start with half of the cooked zucchini spirals in an even layer in the prepared casserole dish.
- Spread half of the sauce over the zucchini and sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.
- Repeat with remaining zucchini, sauce, and cheese.
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top.
- Place casserole in oven and bake, uncovered for 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling around the edges.
