Summer officially began just a few weeks ago and already we've had more 100+ degree days than I can count. Days like this I just want to order dinner in! However, for the sake of not massacring our budget, I instead have been looking for some oven-less meals that feed the family healthy food.
I've seen several recipes for crockpot lasagna, but to be honest, most had mixed reviews. Not only that, but I wanted an Alfredo lasagna where I could add in some veggies from the garden. So after reading a ton of different recipes and comments, I came up with this easy recipe and oh my heavens~ it's a winner!! It's so delicious and the noodles and vegetables were cooked perfectly. It's not dry and has wonderful flavor. It came together really quickly and I have a meal's worth of leftovers, which is a bonus! My kids and husband were all raving about it, so it will certainly go into our normal rotation of meals.
Crock Pot Chicken & Vegetable Alfredo Lasagna
Serves 10-12 people
Recipe is made up of 3 parts, which you layer inside your crockpot:
Noodles & Veggies-
- 1 9-oz box No Boil Lasagna Noodles {I used Barilla Flat Lasagna Noodles}
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms
- 1 zucchini, sliced thin
- 1 yellow squash, sliced thin
- 1 tomato, diced
Cheese Mixture-
- 1 16-oz container cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella, divided in half {half goes on top of the lasagna}
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, divided in half {half goes on top of the lasagna}
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- salt & pepper
Sauce mixture-
- 1 15-oz jar Alfredo sauce {I used Bertolli}
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp dried sage
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 2 tsp onion powder {I opted for powder over real onion because I worried the onion wouldn't have enough time in the crockpot to sufficiently cook/ soften and give off flavor.}
- 2 cups diced, cooked chicken {I used 1/2 a rotisserie chicken}
Slice vegetables and dice chicken. Combine ingredients for both the sauce mixture and cheese mixture. Arrange everything close to your crock pot much like I have in the picture below.
To layer your lasagna, the noodles will be divided into 3 portions. You can set them into 3 groups now to make it easier when putting it all together. The sauce mixture will also be divided into thirds. The cheese mixture will just be divided in half, as will your vegetables. It's okay to overlap the noodles- just try and cover as much as the crockpot as you can. I usually layed out a few, then broke others into pieces to fill in the gaps.
Here is how I layered my lasagna: {start at the bottom, since that's what will go in first!}
TOP
Remaining 1/3 of sauce mixture
remaining 1/3 noodles
remaining 1/2 of cheese mixture
remaining 1/2 of vegetables
1/3 sauce mixture
1/3 noodles
1/2 vegetables
1/2 cheese mixture
1/3 noodles
1/3 Sauce mixture
BOTTOM
Once you have everything layered in your crockpot, turn the heat onto low, put the lid on and cook it for 3 hours.
Once 3 hours have passed, take a fork and make sure the top layer of noodles are all submerged in the dish and they aren't drying out. {Push it down a little if you need to.} Add the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses to the top of the lasagna. Replace lid and continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
Turn crockpot off and let sit for about 20 minutes or so before serving. {This allows the lasagna to soak up more liquid and helps the pieces hold together better. You can see also that I was able to cut and serve the portions we needed for dinner and the rest of the lasagna held together really well inside the crockpot!
Cut and serve- ENJOY!
I was prepared for a not-so-pretty lasagna, but was actually amazed at how well it held together. Here are 2 large pieces leftover that I plan to serve for another meal.
