Keto Ground Beef Cauliflower Lasagna Recipe

Name: Keto Ground Beef Cauliflower Lasagna Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 head Cauliflower ((cut into florets)); 1 tbsp Olive oil; 1 lb Ground beef; 1/2 large Onion ((chopped)); 2 cloves Garlic ((minced)); 1 cup Marinara sauce; 1 (14.5 oz) can Diced tomatoes; 1/2 cup Fresh basil ((chopped, divided)); 1 cup Mozzarella cheese ((shredded)); Sea salt; Black pepper

Jump to recipeSee how to make keto lasagna with cauliflower! This cauliflower lasagna recipe is made with cauliflower lasagna noodles, layers of ground beef marinara, and gooey cheese.

By Maya Krampf

33 Comments

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This cauliflower lasagna is the perfect blend of comfort food and nutrition! It’s brimming with layers of crisp-tender cauliflower lasagna noodles, rich ground beef and marinara, and gooey melted cheese. I told you this ground beef and cauliflower is comfort food at its finest! In the middle of the cold winter months, keto lasagna with cauliflower is a staple meal at our house.

And of course, even though traditional lasagnas take a lot of time to put together, this ground beef cauliflower casserole is easy to throw together. You can easily eyeball the quantities or be off on the timing, and it doesn’t matter if you estimate this or that. It will still turn out amazing. The ingredients are very simple and versatile, and you probably have most of them on hand. Just how I like it. 🙂

Cauliflower noodle lasagna is pretty flexible as well and you can make substitutions if you need to. Ground chicken or turkey works just fine instead of the beef. And if you have some other veggies on hand, they can stand in for the cauliflower. (For the record, in my opinion the cauliflower is the best, but you can swap it out if you must.)

This cauliflower lasagna recipe was originally published in February 2016 and was updated in October 2019.

What Is Keto Lasagna?

My keto lasagna takes all of the hearty and comforting flavors of traditional lasagna, but… it’s lasagna with cauliflower instead of noodles! Smart, right? Just like low carb keto chili, there’s no need to add additional starchy ingredients.

How To Make Cauliflower Lasagna

Roast cauliflower. In order for our cauliflower noodles to taste great, we roast them BEFORE we assemble the beef and cauliflower casserole.

TIP: If you’re picturing cauliflower lasagna noodles as actual sheets, you can make those using this cauliflower pizza crust recipe. However, I think it’s unnecessary and roasted cauliflower is just as delicious!

Make sauce. Cook some onions in a skillet, then add ground beef, garlic, marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, and half of the fresh basil. Season with salt and pepper and to taste.
Assemble the cauliflower lasagna keto layers. Layer the cauliflower lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking dish, top with tomato meat sauce and a layer of mozzarella cheese.
Bake the roasted cauliflower lasagna. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until cheese bubbles.
Garnish and serve. Top with thinly sliced basil ribbons and dig into your cauliflower beef casserole.

Is Lasagna Keto Friendly?

Most traditional lasagnas would NOT be considered keto-friendly as they are made with pasta noodles!

This version is made with cauliflower lasagna noodles, which means it’s grain-free, gluten-free, low carb, and keto. It still has all of the hearty and comfort of a traditional lasagna, but without the carbs.

How Many Carbs In Keto Lasagna with Cauliflower?

This keto lasagna with cauliflower has just 10 grams of net carbs per serving. Not bad for an entire meal!

Can You Make Ground Beef And Cauliflower Lasagna Noodles Ahead?

Yes, this ground beef and cauliflower lasagna can be made ahead of time! You can assemble the entire cauliflower noodle lasagna and bake right before serving, or prep some of the components separately so that the day-of, you can assemble and bake!

Roast the cauliflower pasta noodles and set aside and make the meat sauce. Refrigerate the components until you’re ready to assemble and then bake. It’s the perfect meal to make ahead!

How To Freeze Ground Beef Cauliflower Casserole

If you’re looking for low carb recipes with ground beef and cauliflower, AND a comfort meal that’s freezer friendly, you’ll want to save this low carb cauliflower casserole recipe. I’ve done it a few times and it works perfectly!

If you line the pan with foil before cooking, you can just freeze it right in the pan. Then, once it’s hardened, take it out by grabbing the foil edges. Wrap the top in more foil, and finish with plastic wrap.

The wrapping will avoid freezer burn, and the foil means you can throw it in the oven straight from the freezer – so convenient! Bake until it’s hot.

More Keto Lasagna Recipes

If you like cauliflower lasagna, check out how I use other veggies to make keto lasagna:

Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna – This uses thin strips of zucchini for the noodles and pesto sauce for the filling.
Keto Eggplant Lasagna – Similar to the zucchini one, but using eggplant instead and classic marinara.
Lasagna Stuffed Peppers – Stuff some lasagna layers inside bell peppers.
Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Boats – All the flavors of lasagna, in the form of keto pasta!

More Low Carb Keto Cauliflower Recipes

Whether you are low carb, keto, or just love to eat lots of veggies, cauliflower is an important part of any diet!

How To Make Cauliflower Rice – The must-have staple. So many ways to eat and enjoy this recipe!
Keto Mashed Potato Cauliflower – The creamiest and best mashed cauliflower! Top it with sauteed chicken, steak, or serve it as a side.
Cheesy Low Carb Cauliflower Tots – All of these cauliflower recipes are delicious, but this may be the most fun!
Cauliflower Hummus – This will fool anyone, tastes just like real hummus without the carbs.

Tools To Make Ground Beef Cauliflower Casserole

Tap the links below to see the items used to make this recipe.

Casserole Dish – These glass casserole dishes are a staple to have in your kitchen, but also this ground beef cauliflower casserole. 🙂
Skillet – These are my favorite skillets, and they are perfect for this delicious cauliflower ground beef recipe. These are nonstick and gives you two sizes to choose from.
Spatula – This silicone utensil set has the ideal spatula for this recipe. Plus, it won’t scratch your cookware.

Keto Cauliflower Lasagna Recipe

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33 Comments

Mary W
0 November 15, 2022Reply

Delicious 😊 tastes like lasagna 😋
Charlene
0 June 11, 2021Reply

At my daughter’s watching grandsons today and decided to make dinner for them. Based on ingredients on hand, it came out delicious. Would be even better with the fresh ingredients mentioned in the recipe though. Dry pan fried cauliflower rice just until it reached some color. Placed in a 9×13 greased pan. Next dry sauteed some cubed zucchini and seasoned. Placed on top of the cauliflower rice. Package wasn’t marked, but was either a 1 1/2-2 lb pkg ground beef. Fried, seasoned. Added garlic. Added almost 2 cups of a chunky marinara sauce, a sprinkling of Parmesan. Laid over vegetables in dish and topped with mozz. Baked as directed. Had to take a taste out of the corner – SO yummy. Comfort food, ah… Now going to have to make another for hubby at home:)
Reba D
0 December 13, 2020Reply

Very tasty. My people said not to announce it as lasagna, though. But, none left over! Quite delicious, thank you!!!!
Susana Garcia
0 May 19, 2020Reply

I made this the other day and it came out delicious! It’ll be one of my go-to recipes! I love lasagna and obviously can’t have the pasta so this was an excellent substitute. I did add way more garlic (because, why not??) and a bit more meat and cheese. Thank you!!
kit
0 May 4, 2020Reply

I am dying to try this lasagne recipe, but I have searched and searched and taped and started over several times. I cannot find the “image” to tap on to find out how to make the cauliflower noodles. I have found “tap image below” but there is nothing and I’ve found “tap the image above” but there is no image that takes you to the video.
Help appreciated!
- Wholesome Yum M
  0 May 5, 2020Reply
  
  Hi Kit, You have two options for your cauliflower noodles. Either layer roasted cauliflower in between layers of sauce and cheese, or you can make this recipe for cauliflower pizza crust and use it as your noodle layers. I hope you enjoy this recipe!
MICKI HERGENREDER
0 April 20, 2020Reply

Where is the video??
- Wholesome Yum M
  0 April 20, 2020Reply
  
  Hi Micki, The video is in the recipe card. If you cannot see the recipe card, then you may need to turn off your browser’s ‘Reader Mode’ to be able to view it.
Lucy
0 December 16, 2019Reply

I have multiple sclerosis and not able to do much anymore (such as cooking!), but my wonderful husband and I were both intrigued by this recipe. He happily worked in the kitchen as I read off the directions for him, though we had to halve the recipe as we didn’t have the full head of cauliflower, and it came out of the oven looking and smelling sooo good. I think next time we’ll add more Italian seasonings to the meat mixture (oregano, thyme, rosemary) and maybe even some cream cheese to that mix as well. But this recipe is definitely a keeper! 🙂
Patricia
0 October 20, 2019Reply

I am going to make this using very small cut-up cauliflower as my husband is not fond of it. But this looks so good. He is a good sport to let me try new recipes.
Sandy Hammond
0 August 20, 2019Reply

I’m going to try this today. The only change would be mashing the cauliflower and add some cream cheese to it. Then layer meat mixture and cheese on top! I’m making myself hungry!!
Lilly Hughes
0 July 24, 2018Reply

Made it today. Good flavor. I realize you can eyeball so I bought a small cauliflower. It never got tender. Roasted for 10 minutes, then 5 more minutes. Decided to make it a layer between meat sauce layers, thinking it would cook more if surrounded by more heat. Still not cooked enough. I like the idea that you can freeze. Most of these recipes are difficult to half, and the two of us can’t eat it all even two nights in a row. Love that it is low carb and gluten free. No health reasons for gluten-free, but I feel better when I don’t eat it. Thanks!
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 August 4, 2018Reply
  
  Hi Lilly,
  
  I’m glad you like the flavor!
  
  Regarding the cauliflower not getting tender, the culprit is likely crowding the pan too much. Cauliflower needs air flow to roast, so putting it between sauce layers will not really cook it very well inside. Next time, use a larger pan, spread it out more, and make sure the cauliflower is tender before making the casserole with it.
  
  I’m the same way as you with gluten-free recipes – I just feel much better without it!
Danielle
0 June 9, 2018Reply

Hi! Could you use riced cauliflower for this as well?
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 June 11, 2018Reply
  
  Hi Danielle, Yes, you can. I would probably pan fry it to cook it first, in place of roasting the florets.
Holly
0 May 16, 2018Reply

I just discovered your recipes, and I love them! This was delicious, but was pretty soupy when I cut into it. Is it supposed to be that way? Or did I do something wrong? Thank you!
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 May 21, 2018Reply
  
  Hi Holly, I’m glad you liked the taste! Mine isn’t usually soupy, I would guess that it might be differences in marinara sauce? Try a thicker kind if possible.
Rachel
0 February 8, 2018Reply

This was delicious! Thank you.
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 February 9, 2018Reply
  
  Thank you, Rachel!
Loren
0 January 5, 2018Reply

I never comment on posts but I made this last night and it was SO delicious. I didn’t have basil so I added some Italian seasoning and extra salt and pepper. I also used a whole jar of pasta sauce. It was so yummy! Everyone loved it.
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 January 5, 2018Reply
  
  Thank you, Loren! I’m so glad you liked it. I add Italian seasoning too sometimes.
Brendan
0 November 26, 2017Reply

Where’s the print button? I just printed this recipe and it cost me 12 pages of nothing to get the recipe. Put a print button on there!
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 November 27, 2017Reply
  
  Hi Brendan, the print button is at the top right of the recipe card, you’ll see a printer icon. I just tested it and it only printed two pages for me. There may be something in your printer settings that needs to be changed. Sorry that happened!
Nancy
0 March 27, 2017Reply

Do you drain the diced tomatoes?
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 March 27, 2017Reply
  
  Hi Nancy, No, there’s no need to drain them. You can if you want to, but in this recipe it doesn’t make too much difference one way or the other.
Kayla
0 February 13, 2017Reply

So the diced tomatoes are the marinara sauce?
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 February 14, 2017Reply
  
  Hi Kayla, No, they are separate. The recipe ingredients list both – 1 cup marinara sauce (I used Kirkland Signature Organic Marinara Sauce) and 1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes (found in the canned vegetables aisle). Hope that clears it up!
Kathryn Smith
0 January 22, 2017Reply

Could leftovers be frozen? Mainly the cauliflower without losing it’s flavor?
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 January 22, 2017Reply
  
  Yes! I’ve frozen this before and it worked great. Just reheat in the oven at 350 degrees until heated through.
Susan C Huth
0 January 22, 2017Reply

I usually use frozen cauliflower in dishes like this. Would you say one 16 oz bag would do it?
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 January 22, 2017Reply
  
  Hi Susan, That sounds like a good time saver! Yes, a 16 oz bag of frozen florets should be enough. (Note that a fresh head of cauliflower weighs about 2 pounds, but the weight is different for just florets that are frozen.) You’ll need to roast the florets for longer from frozen in step 2 – just until they are crisp-tender. Otherwise the recipe will be the same.
Lauren
0 January 21, 2017Reply

How is the cauliflower prepared? Chopped, grated or whole?
- Maya | Wholesome Yum
  0 January 21, 2017Reply
  
  Hi Lauren, The cauliflower is cut into florets. (I noted this in parentheses next to the cauliflower on the ingredients list.) Hope you get to try the recipe!