Crockpot Lasagna

No oven, no boiling noodles, and no stovetop standing for 90 minutes. With crockpot lasagna, you set the timer for lunchtime, and dinner is ready! It has layered noodles, meat sauce, and a cream cheese mixture with gooey mozzarella. All these ingredients are cooked together for 4 hours while you take care of other things.

Why I Make Lasagna in the Crockpot Now

I used to avoid cooking lasagna on weeknights because it took too long. I would have to boil the noodles, cook the meat, prepare the filling, layer the ingredients, and let it bake for 45 minutes. By the time I would set the dinner on the table, I would have already spent close to two hours cooking. That is not a recipe for a Tuesday.

This fixed that issue. I now make this every couple weeks. I start it at noon and dinner is done by 6.

There is no change in taste to the children. My husband, who is very picky about lasagna, actually likes this better because, in his opinion, the noodles are better when they're cooked on the stovetop instead of the oven.

Every Italian American family has the cottage cheese vs ricotta debate. We grew up with cottage cheese and that's what I use. If you grew up with ricotta, feel free to switch it out – the lasagna is good regardless.

The noodles that work best are regular dried lasagna noodles (no no-boil) which you will snap in half to fit in the pan. The noodles will absorb the sauce and broth as the lasagna cooks and will soften without having to be boiled.

What to Serve Alongside It

When it comes to sides, nothing can beat garlic bread. It's easy to make; just get a baguette, slather some butter and minced garlic, sprinkle Italian seasoning, and broil it for 3-4 minutes. The crispy bread is great for soaking up any sauce left on the plate.

An easy Caesar salad, or a green salad, rounds out the meal. Its brightness cuts through the richness of the lasagna.

Top each serving with additional grated Parmesan cheese, fresh basil leaves, and a few cracks of black pepper. For those who want heat, add red pepper flakes.

How Far Ahead You Can Make This

Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to four days. The lasagna tastes even better on day two. It holds up beautifully to time in the fridge.

For reheating, please cover individual portions with a paper towel, and warm in the microwave for 90 seconds, or place in the oven covered with foil at 325°F for 20 minutes.

To save time, you can brown the meat and combine the filling with cottage cheese the night before and store them in the fridge. On the morning of cooking, just layer everything in the crockpot and turn it on. You'll be able to avoid about 15 minutes of active prep work on dinner day.

This lasagna can be frozen for 2 months. To reheat, thaw it in the fridge overnight. For meal prep, portions reheat easily and fit well into containers. Lasagna can be cooked on Sunday, and lunches are sorted for the week.

Crockpot Lasagna FAQ

Can I use no-boil lasagna noodles? Don't. No-boil noodles are formulated to soak up sauce in a hot oven for over 45 minutes — not in a slow cooker for over 4 hours. The moisture absorption is completely different, and they go mushy. What makes this work is regular, dried, noodles, broken in half.

Can I substitute cottage cheese with ricotta cheese? Yes! The substitute would be 20 ounces of ricotta cheese instead of the cottage cheese. The result will be creamier with less of a curdy texture. I grew up eating cottage cheese, while ricotta is a different result, it is still just as good.

Can I make this on high? Nope. High heat draws moisture out from the sauce far too quickly, causing the noodles on the bottom to overcook, and the top noodles to remain firm. Cooking low and slow is the way to go for even cooking across all layers, and running this for four hours on low is the way to go.

What size crockpot do I need? A 6-quart crockpot is just right — big enough to hold all the layers, and has enough depth for the lasagna to cook evenly. A 4-quart is truly too small; you won't be able to fit all the layers. An 8-quart will work, but the lasagna will spread thinner and may cook faster, so start checking at 3.5 hours.

Can I make this vegetarian? Yes. Omit the meat and use a substantial marinara along with 2 cups of sautéed mushrooms and 1 cup of spinach (make sure to squeeze it dry). If you do not remove enough moisture from the spinach, the lasagna will be watery.

Why is my lasagna watery? The sauce may have been too thin or the cottage cheese could've contained some liquid on top that went in unmixed. Use full-fat cottage cheese, and if there's liquid amassed on top when you open the container, pour it off before mixing. When you combine a thick sauce and a well-drained cheese filling, you're left with clean layers.

Five Ways to Change It Up

If you would like to make an all-beef version, leave out the Italian sausage. Substitute with 1 pound of ground beef and add 1 teaspoon of fennel seed and 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning to make up for the missing sausage flavor.

Vegetarian. Omit the meat altogether. For the sauce, add sautéed mushrooms (2 cups) and chopped spinach (1 cup, squeezed dry). To add more flavor, use a robust marinara.

For more cheesiness, put one cup of mozzarella cheese in with the cottage cheese. Use two cups of mozzarella for topping instead of one.

For a spicier variation, use hot Italian sausage instead of sweet. Also, add 1 tsp red pepper flakes to the meat sauce.

White lasagna. Instead of doing the usual spaghetti sauce, put 45 ounces of jarred Alfredo sauce. As for the meat, use cooked chicken instead of beef and sausage, and add 1 cup of chopped spinach. Same crockpot method, completley different dish.

Four Ways to Eat Leftover Crockpot Lasagna

Lasagna grilled cheese. Take leftover lasagna and slice a square of it in half. Place this on some toasted Italian bread with added mozzarella, and grill in a buttered skillet until the cheese melts. It really is surprisingly good.

Stuffed bell peppers are easy to make. First, cut your bell peppers in half and scrape out the seeds. Then, fill the picked halves with pieces of leftover lasagna and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake your stuffed bell peppers in the oven for 25 minutes at 375°F.

Crispy fry-up. Take the leftovers and cut the squares in half. Then, sear them in a hot skillet with olive oil for about 2 minutes on each side. The crunchy edges make the lasagna feel different from day one.

**Lasagna Soup** Take leftover lasagna, cube it, and stir it into a pot of marinara that you've thinned out with chicken broth. Top it with more shredded mozzarella and some Parmesan. It will seem like a different dinner.

Other Slow Cooker Dinners for the Same Kind of Night

• Crockpot Ravioli Casserole — layered ravioli with meat sauce and mozzarella, same hands-off approach
• Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Pasta — creamy ranch chicken with bacon and cheese tossed with pasta
• Philly Cheese Steak Crock Pot — sliced beef with peppers, onions, and provolone, pile onto hoagie rolls
• Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches — chuck roast with au jus, one of the best slow cooker sandwich dinners