Crock Pot Lasagna is an easy slow cooker dinner made with Italian sausage, cheesy filling, and rich sauce - just like in a traditional lasagna recipe!
Easy Crockpot Meal
Busy lives call for easy meals, and crock pot recipes like this lasagna are especially great!
- This recipe comes together quickly, and there's no need to cook the noodles before using.
- This dish is a great choice for days when you'll be busy for several hours and wouldn't be able to tend to lasagna in the oven.
- The lasagna is easy to change according to your tastes. Check out the ingredient section for ideas.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Ground Italian sausage - Ground beef can be substituted for the Italian sausage; however, you will lose some flavor when using ground beef in place of Italian sausage.
- Onion
- Garlic
- Crushed tomatoes
- Tomato sauce - Tomato sauce is canned pureed tomato.
- Italian seasoning
- Dried basil - Even though Italian seasoning has basil in it, I add extra basil to give the lasagna more flavor.
- Salt
- Mozzarella cheese
- Ricotta cheese - Whole milk or part-skim will work. I don't recommend using fat-free.
- Cottage cheese - I recommend using either full-fat or 2% cottage cheese. I don't recommend using fat-free.
- Parmesan cheese
- No boil lasagna noodles - It's important to use no boil noodles. The recipe was created with that type of noodle, so the lasagna may turn out soupy if using regular lasagna noodles.
How to make lasagna in the crock pot
Brown sausage in a skillet over medium-low heat. Drain, and return to pan.
Stir in onion and garlic. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, basil, and salt. Remove from heat, and set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir 1 cup mozzarella cheese together with the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses.
Lightly grease the slow cooker insert.
Place ¼ of the meat sauce into the bottom of a 6 quart slow cooker.
Place 3 noodles over sauce, breaking to fit as necessary.
Top noodles with half of the cheese mixture.
Layer ¼ of sauce and 3 more noodles. Place remaining half of cheese mixture over the noodles and top with ¼ sauce.
Top with last 3 noodles and the remaining ¼ sauce. Cover, and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.
Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Continue cooking until cheese melts.
Let the lasagna sit for 15-30 minutes to set up before serving.
How long does it take to make crock pot lasagna?
It takes about 30 minutes of prep to get the lasagna assembled and into the slow cooker. Once in the slow cooker, it will take about 4-6 hours for the lasagna to cook.
It's important to know your slow cooker. Some cook hot, some cook slow. I recommend checking the lasagna around the 3.5 hour mark and then gauging the cooking time from there.
Do you have to cook noodles before making lasagna?
Not with this recipe! This lasagna recipe uses uncooked lasagna noodles (no boil noodles), so pre-cooking the noodles is unnecessary.
I've had great luck with Barilla no-boil lasagna noodles, and those are the noodles that I use when they're available.
Serving suggestions
To round out the meal, I suggest serving the lasagna with a green salad and 30 minute garlic knots.
How long will this keep?
The lasagna keeps and reheats well. It will keep for up to 4 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
More easy crock pot recipes!
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Crock Pot Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- ½ cup chopped white or yellow onion
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 3-15 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 ounce shredded mozzarella cheese
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces cottage cheese
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 9 no boil lasagna noodles
Instructions
- Brown sausage in a skillet over medium-low heat.
- Drain, and return to pan.
- Stir in onion and garlic.
- Cook, stirring regularly, until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, basil, and salt.
- Remove from heat, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir 1 cup mozzarella cheese together with the ricotta, cottage cheese, and Parmesan cheese.
- Lightly grease the slow cooker insert.
- Place ¼ of the sauce into the bottom of a 6 quart slow cooker.
- Place 3 noodles over sauce, breaking to fit as necessary.
- Top noodles with half of the cheese mixture.
- Layer ¼ of sauce and 3 more noodles.
- Place remaining half of cheese mixture over the noodles and top with ¼ sauce.
- Top with last 3 noodles and the remaining ¼ sauce.
- Cover, and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. Since slow cooker cook differently, I recommend checking the lasagna around the 3.5 hour mark and then gauging the cooking time from there.
- Top with remaining 1 cup mozzarella.
- Continue cooking until cheese melts.
- Let the lasagna sit for 15-30 minutes to set up before serving.
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