Crock Pot Lasagna
I’m always looking for new ways to use my Crock Pot (a.k.a. slow cooker.) It really is one of the most used items in my kitchen. I think one of the things I love most about it is it can be used year round.
Don’t want to heat up your kitchen in the summertime by turning on your oven? Use your Crock Pot. Want to save on your electric bill when you’ve had your electric heat cranking all winter? Use your Crock Pot.
Slow Cooker recipes
And not only that, foods still come out tasting great. It can take a tough, inexpensive cut of meat and turn it into a moist and juicy meal. Plus, you can make pasta dishes in it and they turn out perfect!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
1 (15 oz.) container small curd cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided use
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided use
1 egg
2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
4-6 lasagna noodles, uncooked
Directions:
Brown and crumble ground beef in a large skillet. You need a larger skillet for this because you’ll be adding the spaghetti sauce and water to it later. Then add in onion and garlic and cook for additional 1-2 minutes. I like to season my beef mixture with a little salt & pepper at this point too.
Drain excess grease from beef. And put back into skillet.
Pour in spaghetti sauce and water.
Give it all a good stir (you can turn the heat off at this point.) Give it a taste test, add additional salt if necessary. In a separate bowl, mix together cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese, egg, pepper and chopped parsley. Put your remaining cheeses back in the fridge, you’ll be using those as a topping later.
Spray crockpot with no-stick cooking spray. Scoop approximately 1 cup of meat sauce into bottom of slow cooker.
Top with one layer of uncooked lasagna noodles. Just do your best to break them up to fit into your crock pot.
Next top with a layer of cheese mixture.
Keep adding layers, ending with meat sauce. I was able to get 3 layers in my 5-quart slow cooker.
Put the lid on and cook on low for 4-6 hours. You want most of the liquid to be absorbed and noodles should be soft.
When it is finished cooking, add remaining cheeses and sprinkle with a bit of parsley.
Put the lid back on for about 10-15 more minutes until cheese is melted.
Slice and serve it up with a salad and some garlic bread.
Enjoy!
Crock Pot Lasagna
Crock Pot Lasagna is my new favorite way to make lasagna! No need for an oven! Lasagna noodles, meat sauce and lots of cheese made all in one pot!
Print Pin RatePrep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 6 hours 15 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 25 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 498kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 (26 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 (15 oz) container small curd cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided use
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided use
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
- 4-6 lasagna noodles, uncooked
Instructions
- Brown and crumble ground beef in a large skillet.
- Then add in onion and garlic and cook for additional 1-2 minutes.
- Drain excess grease from beef and put back into skillet.
- Pour in spaghetti sauce and water.
- Give it all a good stir.
- In a separate bowl, mix together cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese, egg, pepper and chopped parsley. (Put your remaining cheeses back in the fridge, you'll be using those as a topping later)
- Spray crock pot with no-stick cooking spray.
- Scoop approximately 1 cup of meat sauce into bottom of slow cooker.
- Top with one layer of uncooked lasagna noodles.
- Just do your best to break them up to fit into your crock pot.
- Next top with a layer of cheese mixture.
- Keep adding layers, ending with meat sauce. I was able to get 3 layers in my 5-quart slow cooker.
- Put the lid on and cook on low for 4-6 hours. You want most of the liquid to be absorbed and noodles should be soft.
- When it is finished cooking, add remaining cheeses and sprinkle with parsley.
- Put the lid back on for about 10-15 more minutes until cheese is melted.
Video
Notes
Slice and serve it up with a salad and some garlic bread.
Nutrition
Calories: 498kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 117mg | Sodium: 430mg | Potassium: 370mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 9.4% | Vitamin C: 4.2% | Calcium: 31.5% | Iron: 13.5%
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Easy Baked Spaghetti (a.k.a. Spasagna)
UPDATE: The original post had a giveaway. That giveaway has ended.
motherof5 says
January 22, 2014 at 2:35 amI made this tonight and my family loved it! I cooked on low for 4 hours, but it was probably done at 3.5 hours. I used a mix of ricotta cheese and cottage cheese and it turned out great!
Kim Honeycutt says
February 7, 2014 at 12:55 pmHi Brandie! Thanks for sharing this.
Tracey says
March 6, 2014 at 5:33 pmThis has become one of our FAVORITE dishes! We just made it again last night…so wonderful and so EASY!!! Anything I can cook in my Crock Pot is the BOMB as far as I'm concerned.
Jean says
August 9, 2014 at 5:29 pmI made this yesterday for my child care. I prepped it in the morning before kids started arriving…. It was AWESOME…. Big hit with the kids and myself… I even served some that night to my husband and he thought it was great… I honestly don't know if I would even make lasagna in a pan again after making this… Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe.
Jean
Melanie says
August 29, 2014 at 10:01 pmI made this lasagna and it was delicious. I only cooked mine for 4 hrs and the noodles were perfect.
Antonina Kisner says
October 22, 2014 at 3:02 pmThis was great! Thank you! Didn’t change any ingredients and made it to your recipe.
Denise says
December 17, 2014 at 3:08 amThis was delicious! Like the others, I made it exactly to your recipe. Don’t you hate when people completely change a recipe and tell you ALL of the changes they made? Just tell me how it turned out with THIS recipe! Grrr – that always frustrates me about recipe sites. Try it the way it is written first! Anyhow, this was perfect – thank you!!
Serena says
August 18, 2015 at 12:16 amI know everyone keeps asking about the ricotta so I will say this: I have made it both ways and the cottage cheese is WAY better. She is right when she says the ricotta can dry out over the longer cooking process so that is why the cottage cheese works better. It really is an awesome recipe!
Brandie (The Country Cook) says
August 20, 2015 at 12:41 amHey there…Ricotta will work fine in this recipe. It may dry out though so that is why I use cottage cheese.
Alice S. says
October 12, 2016 at 10:13 pmI have had this recipe for years and have made it for years. Originally I made spaghetti sauce from scratch to mix with my ground beef and then I switched to store bought sauce. Why go to the extra steps? I have had raves about my crock pot lasagna, even by people who didn’t like lasagna. Since making it in a crockpot, I have never made in the oven again.
Kristi says
October 30, 2016 at 5:18 pmDoes this equate to making one 9×13 pan of lasagna?
Brandie says
October 31, 2016 at 7:49 amHi Kristi! Yes, I would say so. This just comes out a little thicker.
Tammy Richardson says
November 24, 2016 at 8:00 pmThis is the most delicious lasagna I’ve ever made!!
Brandie says
November 24, 2016 at 9:55 pmSo glad you are enjoying it 🙂
Katherine says
January 17, 2017 at 1:35 pmDo you have a easy recipe for a peach cobbler?
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
January 17, 2017 at 2:13 pmHi Katherine! Here is a link to my favorite recipe. It is so easy and you can use any fruit with it: https://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/08/country-peach-cobbler.html
Angie Johnson says
April 30, 2017 at 12:57 pmStore was out of lasagna, Can I use bow tie pasta instead???
Irene McKee says
December 9, 2017 at 2:35 pmCan you make it a day ahead and put in the refrigerator?
Julie Pollitt says
December 10, 2017 at 10:14 pmI love lasagna! It looks delicious!
Elissa says
December 20, 2017 at 1:46 pmJust made this for a potluck at work, was a little worried about how it would turn out but it was perfect! I made the meat sauce and cheese mixture night before and left them in containers in my fridge. Assembled in the crockpot in the morning and it was ready for lunch. I broke all the noodles into 2″ pieces and arranged in layers to make serving out of the pot easier, seemed to work well and no cutting required.
Ann says
September 19, 2018 at 7:15 pmThis was absolutely delicious !!!!!! Tasted like lasagna on the second day which is always better . I added green peppers and additional spices to the sauce itself so it would taste more like the one my kids love. The noodles were perfection ! Not over or under done ! My only criticism would be a tad more sauce bringing it all together but will never make the sheet pan version again ! Delish 🤗🤗🤗👍
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
September 20, 2018 at 9:06 amYay Ann!! Thank you so much for coming back to comment. Loved reading your feedback!
Irene says
November 13, 2018 at 4:25 pmCan you prepare this a day before and bake the next day
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
November 14, 2018 at 7:44 pmDefinitely! It may just take a little longer to cook since it’ll be starting from a colder temperature.
Irene says
November 16, 2018 at 4:12 pmthank you
Stephanie says
March 31, 2019 at 2:21 pmThis was excellent! I make my own sauce and used a quart, which was a little watery, so I didn’t add extra water to the sauce, I just poured a little around the edges, it was done to perfection in 4.5 hours. I was worried about the noodles being chewy because that’s happened to me several times with other recipes where you don’t cook the pasta first but that was not the case here! Very good, will be a regular in my house!
Brandie @ The Country Cook says
April 2, 2019 at 9:26 amLove, love, love hearing that Stephanie!! Makes my day!!