No Boil Crock-Pot Lasagna
Slow Cooker Days
The first main dish I ever made was a lasagna. My friend Shuree came over when we were in high school one night to make a special dinner. That was about 20 years ago; I can’t believe I can say that it has been that long!
A few years ago we were having one of our big monthly ministry meetings where we needed to feed a lot of people, and my friend Jolie brought a crock-pot lasagna. It was an instant hit! I don’t think I had ever thought about making a lasagna in the crock-pot until then. She used cottage cheese, but my normal oven recipe uses ricotta cheese, so I used ricotta cheese the first time I tried it, and I’ve been making it with ricotta ever since.
Also, as a time and money saver, I make 2 lasagnas…ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS! Let’s face it. The whole lasagna process can be a bit time consuming, precooking the meat and noodles, layering, etc…so I crock-pot one lasagna and fill a 9×13 pan with another lasagna to bake. This helps save on the dining out bill since we are more likely to eat at home, and we have one big mess to clean up instead of two!! We eat the one out of the slow cooker first for ease of clean up. It is also easier to store the second lasagna in the baking pan.
For me the hardest part was boiling and working with the hot lasagna noodles, but no more. I don’t even buy the no-cook noodles. I just use uncooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
Making a lasagna is a great way to hide lots of different veggies. We have use different bell peppers, spinach, carrots, onions, or whatever is in season.
The Recipe: Crock-Pot Lasagna & Oven Lasagna Recipe (cut the recipe in half for one lasagna):
Crock-Pot Lasagna
Ingredients
Instructions
Serve with a salad and crock-pot bread!
What are your favorite ingredients in a lasagna? We would love to know. Have you taken the vegetable challenge?
Have you tried…?
Or have you made your own marinara sauce?? It’s so easy!
Hi, do you freeze the leftover lasagna after you cook it…if it’s not eaten later? If so, how do you prepare it out of the freezer when you are ready to eat it again? Thanks!
Hi Joi. I cook the lasagna and then freeze it. Our family eats the crock-pot version first. I just thaw it, and reheat in the microwave or oven. Hope that helps!
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’m keen to try it but can you tell me if you cook the meat first? I read through the recipe a few times but I can’t find anything to say if you do or not – but I might just be missing it. :o)
Hi Anne. Thanks for pointing that out. Pre-cook your meat. I’ll adjust the recipe. Thanks, and thanks for visiting!
What a great way to make a lasagna. We make our own spaghetti sauce here at the house,but lasagna is such a long process I rarely make it. I can try this anytime, as I have all the ingredients!
Hi Allyson. This technique is really SO easy! Hope you enjoy, and thanks for visiting!
I’m trying this recipe today and am pretty excited about it. One comment, one question. Comment: you don’t list where in the layering process I add the seasoned sauce. I could probably figure it out, but I noticed it was missing. Question: what size crockpot do you use? I have a double-pot crockpot unit. My pots are smaller, so I’m always trying to figure out how to reduce something to make sure it’ll fit into the smaller pots.
Hi Sheena, I just updated the recipe. Thank you for pointing that out! I used a 5.5 quart crock-pot here. I have also used a 7 quart for this recipe. My friend makes it in a 4.5 quart crock-pot, I believe. I hope that helps. Thanks for visiting!
Okay. I halved the recipe, and put half of it into my 2.5qt pot and the other half into an 8×8 dish to freeze and the proportions turned out fine. It was good, but I had a hard time layering the ricotta. I had to hand-smush it out into a layer. Have you ever mixed egg or anything with it to loosen it up? Thanks for posting! I love lasagne, and my slow cooker! Was very excited to see a marriage of the two.
Hi Sheena, I have used egg with the ricotta only in baking it. I am sure it would work in the crock-pot, too. Glad your proportions worked well! Thanks for the feedback.
I just found a recipe for a pinenut “ricotta” so I am going to try that this week! I’ll let you know how it turns out!
I TOTALLY want to know how it goes!!! Will you use noodles? If so, what kind??
This looks so yummy! I am still on a search for a soy-free dairy-free option!
Oh, good to know about the gluten free noodles! Sometime I will try making the lasagna with eggplant instead of noodles, another gluten free option. I saw it on Dr. Oz.
Sonja, We LOVE crock pot lasagna too. I make it with gluten free noodles and I don’t cook the noodles first. You do need to make sure to make it extra saucy though. Then 3 1/2 hours on low! So easy and an easy way to “hide” the gluten free noodles!