Lasagna-Stuffed Zucchini Boats Recipe - Cooking Classy (2024)

FAQs

Why is my zucchini lasagna watery? ›

You may recall from my zucchini noodles post that zucchini is 95% water. That means when you cook it, it will naturally become watery. But if you're looking to have a little less juice in your lasagna, I do have a few tips: Slice your zucchini into thinner slices: Thinner slices mean fewer zucchini, thus less water.

How do you keep Veggie Lasagna from getting soggy? For this recipe, we help reduce excess moisture by using no-boil noodles, cooking the mushrooms, onion and bell peppers before adding them to the lasagna, and squeezing the liquid out of the cooked spinach with a kitchen towel.

The sauce however works really well on spaghetti squash or spirilized zucchini noodles. Place zucchini on the dryer racks of your dehydrator and dry for 3 hours (mine has a “vegetable” setting at 135F/58C, and I rotate the racks every 30 minutes or so) You want to remove most of the moisture so they are like leather.

Recently, I have been sprinkling a little Italian bread crumbs between the layers of ingredients. Just a little will do. It kind of gives the lasagna a meatball flavor. The bread crumbs add flavor and help offset a little moisture.

Salt and drain zucchini

Salting and draining ensures the zucchini doesn't turn into a soggy mess while frying. This method also works for roasted zucchini, grilled zucchini, or baked zucchini if you're looking to remove as much water as possible.

Slice and salt zucchini in advance of cooking to draw out some of the vegetable's excess moisture (while also seasoning it more thoroughly). To do this, cut up a pound of zucchini and toss it with ½ teaspoon of table salt. Let it drain in a colander for about 30 minutes before patting it dry and cooking it.

Use dry lasagne, and don't pre-cook it. Stick an egg yolk in the bechamel, it'll firm up without being too set. Make it, cook it, cool it, refrigerate it, reheat and eat the next day.

My Crockpot lasagna is too dry and doesn't have much flavor. Any way to fix it? You can add more tomato sauce or wet ingredients, and salt, and pepper to add moisture and flavor.

An unfortunate soupy texture in lasagna is caused by excess moisture in the ingredients. Thoroughly draining the ricotta cheese you'd use in a classic lasagna recipe or squeezing the cooked spinach you might add to a vegetarian version can definitely help.

Before Dehydrating Consider Blanching

Blanching is the simple process of boiling the squash whole for about one minute, and then, immediately plunging the hot vegetable into extremely cold water. Know that blanching is an optional step, and it doesn't impact the taste of the zucchini.

How do you sweat zucchini before baking? ›

How to Sweat Zucchini. Lay your zucchini slices over a double layer of paper towels and sprinkle both sides with salt. Allow the zucchini to rest for about 10 minutes. The salt will draw out the excess water and you'll see beads of moisture on the surface.

So, to achieve the perfect lasagna, the consistency of the sauce is absolutely essential. Both the ragù and béchamel sauce should be dense and creamy. Avoid sauces that are too liquid and slide to the bottom of the dish. A thicker consistency of the sauce will allow the pasta to be flavoured in the best possible way.

Begin Layering

Top the last layer of your lasagna with sauce and cheese. You can also alternate layers of sauce and ricotta cheese. Most lasagna recipes have two to three layers.

She also suggests raising your oven temperature a bit and using a thickening agent in your sauce. So either add more meat OR more tomato paste, if your lasagna is meatless. (And no, foregoing that first layer of sauce at the bottom isn't necessary.)

Raw Zucchini Noodles

Cooking is what really makes zucchini release moisture. However, sometimes even uncooked zucchini can get a little limp after it's cut. In this case, to reduce excess moisture, simply pat the spiralized noodles dry with paper towels or a thin kitchen rag.

Don't overcrowd the pan, which can cause the zucchini to steam instead of roast. Unless you have time to salt and drain the zucchini, wait to salt it until after they're cooked so the salt doesn't draw out the moisture in the oven—this can lead to sogginess.