Slow Cooker Lasagna is the same classic lasagna recipe you love, but made entirely in the crockpot. It's easy to make and delicious!
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The Best Crock Pot Lasagna Recipe
Do you ever want to avoid using your oven? Sometimes it's too hot outside or the thought of assembling lasagna and waiting around while it cooks for hours seems daunting when you're trying to feed your kids and family.
If you want to spend more time with your family and less time waiting around the oven, this Crockpot Lasagna will help you do just that.
The lasagna is assembled in the crockpot without having to precook noodles. You layer it in, set it and come back to a fully cooked lasagna in your slow cooker just like it would have been in the oven.
Instead of planning your schedule to be there to put the lasagna in the oven, it'll already be cooking away while you run your errands or spend time with your family.
Crock-pot Lasagna Ingredients
- Italian sausage (or ground beef)
- spaghetti sauce
- cottage cheese
- grated parmesan cheese
- egg
- Italian seasoning
- mozzarella cheese
- lasagna noodles
Is lasagna better with ricotta or cottage cheese?
I recommend using cottage cheese. Ricotta cheese tends to dry out when cooking crockpot lasagna. I find that cottage cheese does not have the same drying effect.
Crockpot Lasagna Recipe Substitutions
- Italian Sausage - I like to use turkey Italian sausage, but pork Italian sausage and ground beef both work well. If you use ground beef, be sure to season it well.
- Cottage Cheese - While you could technically substitute the cottage cheese with ricotta cheese, there's a high likelihood that it will dry out before it's done cooking. Because of this, I recommend only using cottage cheese.
How to make Crockpot Lasagna
Detailed instructions and measurements to make Crockpot Lasagna are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
- Add the Italian sausage to a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook until browned. If using pork sausage, you'll need to drain it once it's finished cooking. If you're using turkey Italian sausage, it won't need to be drained.
- Add the spaghetti sauce to the cooked sausage and stir to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning. Mix to combine.
- Spray the slow cooker liner insert with nonstick spray.
- Start by placing ⅓ of the meat and sauce mix on the bottom of the slow cooker. Spread it evenly.
- Layer 3 lasagna noodles, breaking as needed to cover the sauce.
- Layer half of the cottage cheese mix on top of the lasagna noodles.
- Layer half of the mozzarella cheese.
- Put the next layer of meat sauce mix (⅓ of original amount) and spread evenly. Repeat steps 5, 6, and 7. Reserving a small amount of mozzarella for the top.
- Top with remaining 3 noodles (breaking as needed to evenly cover).
- Pour the remaining ⅓ of sauce on top. Topping with the reserved mozzarella.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and set it on low. Cook for 5-6 hours or until the pasta is tender.
- Allow it to cool about 10 minutes before serving.
Crock Pot Lasagna Recipe Tips
If you want to prepare the lasagna in advance, you can prepare it in the crock pot and before cooking place it in the refrigerator up to 24 hours in advance. Take it out of the refrigerator an hour before putting it in the crockpot to cook.
If you like the top to be cheesy, you can sprinkle extra cheese on top while cooking.
How to serve Easy Crockpot Lasagna
Lasagna goes excellent with a side salad and easy garlic bread.
Crockpot Lasagna FAQs
I recommend NOT using no-boil noodles in any recipe. Especially with this recipe, you don't need to boil them anyway so you aren't saving any time. No boil lasagna noodles often result in a rubbery, sticky pasta.
No, the noodles will cook right in the crockpot with the sauce. There is no need to cook the noodles in advance.
To prevent your lasagna from becoming dry, it's important to use a good ratio of sauce to noodles along with the right cheese. I recommend cottage cheese in this recipe to avoid the dryness that can come from using ricotta cheese.
While there is no specific number a layers a lasagna should have, it is often 3 to 4 layers of noodles.
I do not recommend making lasagna without cooking the meat first. In order to guarantee the best results and flavor, you should cook the meat first.
For this recipe, you should have 3 layers of noodles.
You should start with the meat sauce, followed by noodles, then cheese. You'll want to repeat these layers in that order.
Lasagna can become runny if the sauce isn't thick enough or if you pre-boil your pasta and don't drain in properly.
The bottom layer of lasagna should be a thin layer of sauce. This will help prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom.
how to store leftover lasagna
Leftover lasagna stores really well. Once cooled, place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
When you're ready to reheat, place it on a microwave safe dish and cover the lasagna with a damp paper towel before heating.
Can you reheat lasagna in a slow cooker?
You can reheat lasagna in a slow cooker. Place it back in the slow cooker and set it to low.
other lasagna recipes you might like
Crockpot Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 pound turkey Italian sausage
- 4½ cups spaghetti sauce
- 16 ounces cottage cheese
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
- 9 whole lasagna noodles
Instructions
- Add Italian sausage to a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Cook until browned. If using pork sausage, you'll need to drain it once it's finished cooking. If you're using turkey Italian sausage, it won't need to be drained.
- Add the spaghetti sauce to the cooked sausage and stir to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning. Mix to combine.
- Spray the slow cooker insert with nonstick spray.
- Start by placing ⅓ of the meat and sauce mix on the bottom of the slow cooker. Spread it evenly.
- Layer 3 lasagna noodles, breaking as needed to cover the sauce.
- Layer half of the cottage cheese mix on top of the lasagna noodles.
- Lay half of the mozzarella cheese.
- Put the next layer of meat sauce mix (⅓ of original amount) and spread evenly.
- Repeat steps 5, 6, and 7. Reserving a small amount of mozzarella for the top.
- Top with remaining 3 noodles (breaking as needed to evenly cover).
- Pour the remaining ⅓ of sauce on top. Topping with the reserved mozzarella.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and set it on low. Cook for 5-6 hours or until the pasta is tender.
- Allow it to cool about 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It should only be used for estimation purposes and is not a guarantee of any kind. Nutritional information varies widely between brands and types of ingredients used. It is recommended that you calculate the nutritional information based on your own ingredients and brands used. Sweetly Splendid, LLC makes no guarantees as to the exact nutrition information.
Beth
Excellent! Layered beautifully. My new go to lasagna recipe. Thanks. P.s. It cooked in 3 hours in my crockpot.
kara
Wonderful!! I'm so glad you liked it!
Jacob Myers
This was surprisingly amazing. We were skeptical on how it would turn out but honestly it’s better than baking in the oven. 10/10