Crockpot lasagna gives you all the cheesy layers and rich flavor of classic lasagna without boiling the noodles or turning on the oven. Regular uncooked lasagna noodles, an amazing homemade meat sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan are layered right in the slow cooker for an easy, comforting family dinner.
Crockpot lasagna gives you all the cheesy layers and rich flavor of classic lasagna without boiling the noodles or turning on the oven. Regular uncooked lasagna noodles, a homemade meat sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan are layered right in the slow cooker for an easy, comforting family dinner.
This slow cooker lasagna is everything you love about a traditional lasagna without boiling noodles or the need to be home while it cooks. This recipe comes together while you are busy dealing with other things, and is perfect to come home to. Your family will love this amazing and delicious dinner.
Positively the best lasagna ive ever had! Easy Peasy!! Don’t have to worry about heating up the house with the oven in the summer time!
Why This Crockpot Lasagna Works
- No boiling the noodles:Â Regular lasagna noodles go into the slow cooker completely uncooked.
- Homemade meat sauce:Â The extra liquid cooks the noodles while giving the lasagna much more flavor than water would.
- Three cheeses:Â Ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan give you a creamy filling and cheesy top.
- Hands-off cooking:Â Once the lasagna is assembled, the slow cooker does the rest.
How to Make Crockpot Lasagna
- Make the sauce. On the stove-top brown ground beef, garlic, and onion. Next add tomato sauce, tomato paste, and seasonings.
- Make the filling. In a bowl mix together ricotta cheese, eggs, and Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.
- Put it all together. Add a small amount of sauce to a greased crockpot. Layer uncooked lasagna noodles (you may have to break them up to fit). Add a layer of the cheese and egg mixture. Repeat the layers until you’ve used all the ingredients.
- Add cheese to the top. Cover the last layer with more mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
- Cook on low for about 4-6 hours.
Skip Boiling the Noodles
One of the things we love about this recipe is that there is no need to cook the noodles before layering the lasagna. There is enough liquid in the tomato sauce mixture to cook the noodles thoroughly. A huge bonus is that they take on the flavor of the delicious sauce. Everything bakes up brown and bubbly right there in the crockpot.
What Size Crockpot to Use for Crockpot Lasagna
You’ll need at least a six-quart crockpot or larger for this recipe. You’ll notice that the lasagna fills the whole crockpot pictured here. If you have a smaller slow cooker, you can cut the recipe in half for a smaller batch.
How to Know When Crockpot Lasagna is Done
Your crockpot lasagna is done when the noodles are tender when pierced with a fork and the cheese is fully melted. Slow cookers can vary quite a bit, so start checking the lasagna at the four-hour mark. Mine is typically finished after about four hours on low.
Crockpot Lasagna Tips, Tricks, and Notes
- Make the sauce: While you might be tempted to use canned spaghetti or sauce store-bought marinara sauce, the sauce in this recipe is amazing. It is part of what makes this recipe so special and is absolutely worth your time.
- Shred your own cheese: Melty cheese is one of the stars of the show here, and freshly grated cheese (vs. pre-shredded cheese) melts significantly better.
- Taste the sauce before adding it: Be sure to taste the sauce at the end of making it and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Substitutions and Variations
- Change out the ricotta. I have so many readers who don’t like ricotta cheese. While I love ricotta, if you don’t, I’ve been told that cottage cheese makes a great replacement. You may consider blending it so it has the same consistency as ricotta.
- Make the recipe gluten free. One of my readers told me that they made it with no cook gluten free noodles and it turned out perfect.
- Change out the meat. If you don’t like ground beef, you can substitute it with ground turkey or ground chicken. You will likely need to add oil in step one to keep the meat from sticking. Alternatively, you could also make this with Italian sausage.
FAQ
This recipe was developed with regular lasagna noodles, and I’ve only tested it with those. I’ve had readers use no-boil lasagna noodles with great success.
The eggs are what help hold the layers of the lasagna together. They aren’t necessary for flavor, and can be left out, but you may notice some structural differences without them.
No, I wouldn’t recommend doubling this recipe as it won’t fit in your slow cooker.
Storing and Freezing Leftovers
Since first publishing this, I’ve been told two important things. First, so many readers have told me that this is even better when it is made the day before. Second, readers have told me that this freezes very well.
Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to four days in an airtight container. If you’d like to freeze the lasagna, cut it into individual portions and flash freeze it four eight hours before transferring it to an airtight container. Frozen lasagna can be stored for up to three months. Please use your best discretion when it comes to leftovers.
What to Serve with Crockpot Lasagna
- Garlic Bread is the perfect pairing with lasagna and can be made in a snap.
- Parmesan Roasted Broccoli is one of our family’s favorite sides and perfect for this recipe.
- Mediterranean Salad is a light side dish that comes together very fast.
- Caesar Salad if you are serving guests, this is a great option. It is upscale but so easy to make.
I can’t wait for you to enjoy this cozy crockpot lasagna with your family. Please leave a comment below with questions or comments on this or any of my other recipes. Enjoy!
Recipe Video
Crockpot Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (453.6 grams)
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 44 ounces tomato sauce 29 ounce and 15 ounce can of just tomato sauce, not spaghetti sauce with seasoning (1247 grams)
- 6 ounces tomato paste (170 grams)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (if you only have table salt, start with less)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 12 ounces lasagana noodles the regular kind, not the no boil kind (340 grams)
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese (425 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 16 ounces mozzarella shredded, read here why shredding your own cheese is so key (452 grams)
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese (100 grams)
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef. Cook until it begins to brown, breaking it up as you cook. Add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Drain the excess fat.
- Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, oregano, basil, and pepper to the meat mixture and set aside. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper to taste.
- Set aside 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. This will be for topping at the end.
- In a large bowl mix together the ricotta, eggs, and the remainder of the mozzarella and Parmesan.
- Spray your 6 to 8 quart crockpot with cooking spray. Add a ladle full of the sauce and meat mixture to the bottom. Add a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles. You will need to break them and rearrange them to fit. Top the noodles with some of the cheese mixture and then more sauce and meat. Repeat until you have used all the ingredients (save the set aside cheese). Top with the set aside cheese.
- Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Cooking times on crockpots vary greatly. It was finished in my crockpot after four hours.
Ramona says
How can I make the ricotta creamy
Ricotta is pretty creamy on its own. I love it just as it is for this recipe.
Donns says
I made this several times , I used marinara sauce instead of your recipe for a quicker dinner. I never have any any left overs everyone wants seconds. I made it often for company.
I’m so glad that this is a hit!
Maria says
I just made this recipe and it was delicious. I did use the oven ready lasagna noodles because that’s all I had and they worked perfect. I cooked it for 4 and a half hours.
I’m so glad you enjoyed this!
Karen says
Do you need to brown the ground beef on the stove, or can you just break it up raw in the Crockpot & move on with the rest of your Sauce ingredients?
It really needs to be browned.
Peggy H says
Hi! I started to panic when I made this for the first time. I made 2 batches last Sunday. I was worried that I didn’t layer enough noodles. I only used a total of 12 lasagna noodles per crockpot (3 layers of noodles). But it was perfect! Everybody loved this. It was done in 4 hours on low- even a bit burnt on edges which I loved!!
I’m so glad it was a hit!
Reva says
Could I assemble this the night before, leave in the fridge overnight and then pull it out and start it cooking the next day?
I can’t think of a reason this wouldn’t work except that the noodles might be soggy. If you try it, let me know what you think.
Kristen says
Wait. Which cheese is the topping? The one without the egg correct?
You are going to pull out 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and set it aside – that is to go on top. With the cheese you have left, you are going to make the filling and you will add the egg to that.
Tiffany says
Shredded or grated Parmesan cheese?
Either will work great. I always recommend using cheese that you shred/grate yourself as it will melt better than pre-shredded.
Maureen says
This came out really good. I did use Italian sausage bulk instead of ground beef though. But very good. Mine only took about 3.5 hours. Definitely a keeper
I’m so glad that you like this recipe as much as I do!
Dee says
My family doesn’t like ricotta or cottage cheese. Can I just use the mozzarella? Thank you!
I’m worried that you will be pretty disappointed with this recipe and the filling if you leave out ricotta.