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Keto Eggplant and Beef Casserole Recipe
Casseroles are the ultimate satisfying comfort food. Don’t let your keto diet prevent you from enjoying a good one. Make this keto eggplant and beef casserole recipe tonight!
How I Made This Casserole Keto
Most casseroles aren’t even remotely keto. They are, by nature, carbohydrate bombs covered in dairy.
Potatoes, noodles, cheese, butter, and sometimes cream for good measure can be found swimming in their gooey depths. Delicious, sure, but not in keeping with your low-carb keto diet.
While there are some people who eat dairy on the keto diet, I don’t recommend it. Dairy is highly processed, which gets rid of its good bacteria and enzymes.
It’s also easy to overeat, which will sabotage you if you’re on the ketogenic diet to lose weight.
Finally, there are a number of health issues related to casein intolerance. You can try eliminating dairy from your diet for two months and seeing how you feel. But enough about dairy.
In this recipe, I used thinly sliced eggplant to replace the noodles. Eggplant has a fairly bland taste that will soak up the flavors around it.
That makes it a good choice for this casserole. The eggplant will be surrounded by the delicious salty bacon, onions, and mushrooms and topped with tasty tomato sauce.
When you pick your sauce, make sure you choose a variety with as little sugar as possible. Always check your labels on a keto diet!
Eggplant Selection
Since eggplant takes center stage in this dish, you want to make sure you get the pick of the litter. But how do you know a good eggplant from a poor specimen?
Your ideal candidate will be slightly firm, and heavy for its size. That means you have to be “that person” at the grocery store and pick up the produce to compare. It’s OK.
Aim for small eggplant, as they will be less bitter. The skin should be shiny and smooth, the stem green.
As with any produce, avoid pieces that are discolored. The skin should be uniform in color.
Taking the time to pick a good one can make or break your meal!
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Ingredients
- 2 eggplants
- 4 Tablespoons (60 ml) of avocado oil, to cook with, divided
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 slices of bacon, diced
- 10 white button mushrooms, diced
- 1 lb (450 g) ground beef
- 1/2 400-g-can of tomato sauce
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Freshly chopped parsley, to garnish
- Sesame seeds, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
- Slice the eggplants lengthways as thinly as you can. Use a mandolin if it’s easier. You should have at least 15-16 slices. Scatter both sides with salt and set aside in a colander.
- In a frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of avocado oil cook the onions, bacon, and mushrooms until the bacon is cooked.
- Add the ground beef and cook until the beef is browned slightly, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Add the other 2 tablespoons of avocado oil into the frying pan. Pat the eggplant slices dry on both sides and place into the pan, cooking them on both sides until they are soft. Do this in batches until all your slices are done.
- Grease a small baking dish and tip in all the sauce.
- Lay a soft eggplant slice out in front of you on a chopping board and spoon a small amount on the end closest to you. Carefully roll the slice up and place into the baking dish, nestled in the sauce. Continue to do so until all the slices are filled and rolled. If there’s extra space of in the dish, then add in any leftover meat mixture.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
- Serve scattered with chopped parsley and sesame seeds.
Notes
All nutritional data are estimated and based on per serving amounts.
Net Carbs: 8 g
Nutrition
- Calories: 425
- Sugar: 7 g
- Fat: 34 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 18 g
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