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Cooking a delicious, hearty Italian dinner just got easier with this Crockpot Lasagna! Put everything in the Crockpot – including uncooked noodles – and let it slow cook while you go about your day.
Table of Contents
Cheesy and perfectly seasoned, this easy Crockpot Lasagna recipe is easy and delicious. You don’t have to boil the lasagna noodles ahead of time and deal with wet, sticky noodles. They cook in the sauce and come out perfectly every time — not too crunchy and not too soft. Serve with a side salad and garlic bread and you have a perfect meal!
Ingredients in Crockpot Lasagna
- Ground Beef – you can also use ground turkey or Italian sausage.
- Onion
- Garlic
- Tomato Sauce or Marinara Sauce – use your favorite homemade spaghetti sauce or pasta sauce.
- Tomato Paste
- Kosher Salt and Black Pepper – to taste
- Oregano
- Cottage Cheese or Ricotta Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese – use fresh grated Parmesan when possible.
- Mozarella Cheese
- Uncooked Lasagna Noodles
- Optional: fresh parsley or fresh basil to sprinkle over the top
Tricks of the Trade
I have had several slow cookers through the years, and they all seem to have a “hot spot” where the food cooks faster and can burn. This tends to happen with dense dishes, like this crockpot lasagna or other casserole type dishes. It’s not the end of the world if this happens, but it can be prevented. I learned this trick from Karen at 365 Days of Slow Cooking. Layer and fold sheets of heavy-duty foil until you have a six-layer foil rectangle. Press the rectangle into the “hot spot” side of the slow cooker insert. The food will help hold the foil in place during cooking. To help with clean-up and to hold the foil rectangle in place, you can also line the entire slow cooker with foil. You can also spray the crock pot with non stick cooking spray.
Also, keep in mind when making this lasagna that all slow cookers don’t cook the same. This slow cooker lasagna cooked beautifully in 4 hours on low in my Crockpot, but it may take more or less time depending on your slow cooker.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope! You just put the raw noodles in the crockpot bowl with the other ingredients and let the slow cooker do the rest!
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave.
In this recipe you do not have to add an egg to the ricotta.
Read Next: 35+ Quick and Easy To Follow Dinner Ideas Your Family Will Surely Love
More Pasta Dishes To Try
For me, pasta is one of the ultimate comfort foods. One of the great things about it, is how diverse it is. You can make such a wide variety of pasta dishes with all kinds of flavors, like these:
- Easy Cheese Manicotti is tender pasta shells stuffed with cheese.
- Easy Shrimp Alfredo Pasta is creamy, rich and indulgent but ready in minutes!
- Pizza Pasta Salad will be a hit at your next get together. Summertime BBQ or anytime.
- Artichoke Chicken Pasta is so creamy and delicious, you won’t believe how simple it is to throw together.
- Pasta Sausage Bake is a quick meal your family will love.
- Summer Skillet Pasta has no heavy cream, no butter and loads of flavor. The perfect light, summery meal.
How to Make Crockpot Lasagna
Crockpot Lasagna
Equipment
- Crockpot Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic minced
- 30 ounces tomato sauce
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon oregano, dried
- 16 ounces Cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 12 ounces Mozzarella cheese
- 12 ounces lasagna noodles uncooked
Instructions
- Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large skillet. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and oregano. Cook long enough for the sauce to get warm.
- Spray slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon ⅓ of the meat sauce into the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a double layer of lasagna noodles, about ⅓ of the package. Break the noodles to fit the inside of the slow cooker and cover the meat sauce. Top noodles with ⅓ of the Cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, and Mozzarella cheese. Repeat with two more layers of sauce, noodles, and cheese mixture.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.
- Serve immediately. Makes 10 servings.
Video
Notes
- Layer and fold sheets of heavy-duty foil until you have a six-layer foil rectangle.
- Press the rectangle into the “hot spot” side of the slow cooker insert. The food will help hold the foil in place during cooking.
Cooked on low 4 hrs. Came out burnt on sides and bottom. Noodles were not tender. this one is a miss…..
Oh no! I am sorry this didn’t turn out for you. Crock pots can vary in how they heat and it sounds like you may not have had enough liquid in the pot.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE! It saved time and was delicious!
This was the easiest lasagna we’ve ever had. The house smelled amazing for the entire afternoon as it cooked. And I was a little intrigued making it with raw noodles – but they turned out perfectly cooked and with such delicious flavor and texture. Thanks for another winning recipe!
This looks so good! I love having more slow cooker meals. I’ll be trying this one soon.
Absolutely brilliant using the slow cooker! I will definitely make this again!
So easy using the slow cooker! This will be perfect on a busy weeknight!
What a great idea to use the slow cooker for a recipe like this! I will definitely put this on my list of things to try!
This looks amazing! Adding this to my dinner line up for the week!
Is the Parmesan block cheese that is hand grated, or from a shaker can? Thanks!
You can use either. I usually prefer the hand grated but you can use whatever you have on hand. Hope this helps!
This looks awesome-can’t wait to try it! I’m always looking for more slow cooker recipes. Now that they have gluten-free lasagna noodles, I’ll pass this recipe along to my daughter.
This sounds so good! I’ve added the ingredients to my grocery list and can hardly wait to try it.
One Question: In all the slow cooker recipes the size is never mentioned. I have a 6 or 6.5 oval quart. Does size and shape matter?
It shouldn’t matter. I have a 4qt (circle) and 6qt (oval) and I do the same times on both
You can use regular noodles dry when making lasagna in the oven. I NEVER boil my noodles and I hate the no boil noodles they are weird. Just be sure you have plenty of sauce covering the layers and it comes out perfectly!
So you use regular lasagna noodles and not the no boil noodles? I would really like that if you use regular ones! This looks so good…I will be trying this next weekend!