This Slow Cooker Lasagna is one of the best easy crock pot recipes. It’s pure comfort food without the fuss.
Lasagna is one one of those dishes that I save for Sundays – when I have plenty of time to fuss over it and then spend an hour baking it. The sheer notion of making pasta in the slow cooker fascinated me. Lasagna is supposed to be a labor of love. A dish that is painstakingly assembled, prepared and baked to bubbly perfection on a lazy weekend. Not one of my easy crock pot recipes that I set and forget!
The past few weeks I have really been putting my slow cooker to the test. Why not? It’s such a time saving option for busy weeknights. When I stumbled on this Slow Cooker Lasagna recipe, I knew I had to give it a try!
I would have guessed that the noodles would get all mushy and the whole thing would fall apart. Boy, was I wrong! This recipe was amazing! The noodles turned out perfect. The layers didn’t dry out. The cheese was melty. Pure lasagna perfection! And, on a weekday nonetheless!
The next time I make this recipe, I’m going to assemble everything the night before and then stash the slow cooker crock in the fridge. Then, when I’m ready to make it, I just need to put the crock in the cooker and turn it on. No muss. No fuss. Just layers and layers of lasagna goodness.
Serve this up with my easy Rustic Garlic Bread and my Perfect Caesar Salad and you will have a perfect dinner! And, if you have leftovers, here’s the best way to reheat lasagna.
My Favorite Slow Cooker Items
- My favorite slow cooker
- My favorite casserole slow cooker
- Disposable slow cooker liners (I can’t live without these!)
- Slow cooker travel bag
- Slow Cooker Essentials
My Favorite Slow Cooker Cookbooks
- Slow Cooker Revolution
- Fix It and Forget It Big Cookbook
- The Magical Slow Cooker: Recipes for Busy Moms
More Easy Recipes You May Enjoy
Slow Cooker Lasagna
Slow Cooker Lasagna
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 23.5 oz jars jars pasta sauce
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 16 lasagna noodles, uncooked and broken in half length-wise
- 36 slices pepperoni
- Nonstick cooking spay
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet until shimmering.
- Add onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and ground beef, season with salt and pepper.
- Brown the ground beef until no longer pink.
- Add pasta sauce to pan and simmer for five minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups of mozzarella cheese, ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, Italian seasoning, parsley, salt and pepper (to taste) and mix well.
- Spray the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
- Spread a thin layer of the sauce mixture in the bottom of the slow cooker and top with one layer of lasagna noodles; You should be able to get 4 noodles broken in half across.
- Spread a layer of the cheese mixture across using a spatula or the back of a large spoon.
- Add a layer of the sauce mixture and 9 pieces of pepperoni.
- Top with four more noodles.
- Repeat until you have four layers, ending with pepperoni on top.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, sprinkle remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese on top.
- Leave uncovered and allow the cheese to melt.
- Once cheese has melted, turn off the slow cooker and allow the lasagna to set for about 10 minutes before serving.
Estimated Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided are estimates. To learn more about how I calculate this information go to www.itisakeeper.com/about-its-a-keeper/privacy-disclosure-policies/
Adapted from Rants from my Crazy Kitchen
Recipe calls to cook on low for 4 hrs – but total time is 8hrs 20 minutes, including prep. Do I cook on low for 4 hours or 8?
4 hours…my apologies. I’ll fix it.
Just now trying this recipe … still confused it only cooks for 4 hours ? Should I cook noodles ahead of I do not have the oven ready ??
Thanks
Theere is no need to cook the pasta first. It will cook in the slow cooker and be great. Enjoy!
Do the noodles have to be uncooked to make this? The kind I have you need to cook before baking in the oven
I used the uncooked variety.
I’m wondering if the noodles are regular or fresh or the ready- no bake noodles?
TIA
This looks like my kind of dinner! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
You’re very welcome! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hi Christina! I love making lasagna but you are so right, you need to the time to make it. I’ve never thought about making it in a slow cooker – so have to try this! Thank you so much for sharing at Best of the Weekend and pinning to our party board. Hope you have a happy week!
My oven’s not working ( we’re in the market for a new stove so not bothering to have it fixed ) so I asked my son to make me a lasagna last weekend – I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM TO FIND THIS RECIPE !!!!!!! ( Yes, I’m screaming with delight lol )
Pinning right away – and can’t thank you enough for sharing!!!!!
Hugs from Montreal
I hope you like it! 🙂
I always wanted to try this. Looks amazing thanks for sharing your lasagna with us on foodie friday.
This looks so Yummy! I love lasagna! I want it …like now:)
That looks wonderful – we love crockpot lasagna……and use the crockpot for SO much. Be careful of the fridge to crockpot idea – I have cracked 2 crockpots(not w/ the fridge idea, but w/ putting extra can of diced tomatoes in when food had already cooked for hours), which was so sad to me….they were from garage sales, thankfully………I use the crockpots (I used to have 3) very often and they save me so much time and work. Thank you for the recipe. Gentle Joy
I’ll definitely take note of that. Good point! 🙂
This looks AMAZING! Found your post on the Tutorial Tuesday link up! And anything in the crockpot is a winner in my book- especially lasagna! Thanks for sharing!
Alicia @ http://www.adventuresatnaptime.com
I love this lasagna from Rants from My Crazy Kitchen. Easy and super yummy! Thanks for sharing at Simple Supper Tuesday.
Looks great Christina! I’m so glad you liked it 🙂
It was really good, Bernadette! 🙂 Thanks for sharing it!
Sounds yummy and easy! I’m going to have to give this a try soon
Not sure about pre-filling and refrigerating the crock overnight though. Cooking times will definitely change because of the chilled crock and ingredients. I’d also be worried about cracks and crazing in a chilled crock that could damage it and cause leaks when heated in the cooking unit. I may just write the company and ask if that’s OK because preparing ahead would sure be nice.
Thanks, again Christina. Love this Site 🙂
It’s relatively easy and sounds great. My mom makes a killer lasagna, but I’ve managed to adopt my MIL’s lasagna over time. It’s not slow cooker lasagna, though…..