Crock Pot Lasagna
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This crock pot lasagna recipe features the delicious lasagna flavors you already know and love, but in an easier format thanks to the beloved slow cooker.
I am a HUGE lasagna fan. It was one of the first suppers I “cooked” as a kid, although I didn’t actually do anything. Mama would assemble a lasagna the night before and put it in the fridge, uncooked. Since lasagna takes so long to cook, my job was getting it in the oven when I got home from school so it would be ready in time for supper.
Whenever I make a lasagna today, I make mine in the crockpot. There is no need to cook the noodles ahead of time and I usually have pre-cooked ground beef in my freezer. So it’s just a matter of assembling it in the morning and turning the slow cooker on. Easy weeknight dinners like this are my favorite! My husband comes home to a delicious smelling house and all I have to do is serve it up. If you’ve never made crock pot lasagna, you may find yourself making it this way from here on out!
Featuring the pasta sauce of your choice, lasagne sheets, cooked ground beef, lots of mozzarella cheese, and cottage cheese, rest assured this simple crock pot lasagne recipe has those quintessential creamy cheesy and tomato-based lasagna flavors.
Recipe Ingredients
- Spaghetti sauce of your choice
- asagna noodles
- Cooked ground beef
- ozzarella cheese
- Cottage cheese
How to Make Crock Pot Lasagna
In a medium bowl, stir together both kinds of cheese.
If you haven’t browned your beef yet, now is the time to brown and drain any grease from it.
Now let’s assemble our lasagna!
Spread a layer of sauce in the bottom of your slow cooker (I use a 6-quart slow cooker for this recipe). Sprinkle about 1/3 of your ground beef over that followed by the cheese mixture. Then add more sauce. Break up the uncooked lasagna noodles to cover this (see photo) and then repeat until all of your ingredients are used.
I usually end up with three layers. For cooking, I end with sauce on top.
Cook this on low for 6-7 hours.
I like to top with more cheese right before serving, but if your brood isn’t as into cheese as mine, you don’t have to add any more.
My husband likes cheese so much that his beloved grandmother used to always accuse him of being part rat!
Put this crock pot lasagna recipe on the menu as soon as you can! You won’t regret it.
Storage
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Simply reheat in the microwave.
- You can also freeze lasagna leftovers for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- If you don’t want cottage cheese you can substitute it for ricotta cheese. Go with what makes you happy! Those are the only substitutions I’ve ever made myself to this recipe so I can’t recommend any others.
- You can also add half the shredded mozzarella cheese and half parmesan cheese, or serve your lasagna with parmesan cheese or your favorite .
- To help your lasagna come out prettier, alternate which direction each noodle layer goes. Trust me on this! You can see a demonstration of this in the photos above.
- If you’re cooking your ground beef, feel free to saute the beef with chopped onion (or green onion), , and 2 tablespoons of minced garlic to add some flavor.
- You can substitute the ground beef for ground chicken, ground pork, or ground turkey if you like. You could also use in this .
- While you can use gluten-free lasagna noodles, they can become mushier than traditional noodles.
- When I say use the pasta sauce of your choice, I mean it! Maybe you like marinara sauce, , or want to make homemade pasta sauce? The choice is yours.
- Want to add some vegetables to your ? You’re going to want to finely chop whatever you add and saute it with the beef until tender. Options include carrot, celery, zucchini, squash, eggplant, or sweet bell pepper.
Recipe FAQs
What do you serve with crockpot lasagna?
This slow cooker lasagna is the main dish as is. But if you like, serve it with some garlic bread, homemade dinner rolls, or a simple green salad or Caesar salad.
You may also enjoy these pasta recipes:
Low Carb Lasagna Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 box regular lasagna noodles
- 16 oz cottage cheese
- 2 lbs ground beef cooked and drained
- 2 cans spaghetti sauce 26 ounces each
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1-2 cups additional mozzarella cheese to top before serving optional but wonderful
Instructions
- First, cook the ground beef if needed. Then in a medium bowl, stir together the two kinds of cheese until well combined.16 oz cottage cheese, 2 lbs ground beef, 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- Spoon a layer of sauce into the bottom of the crockpot. Add about 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top. Sprinkle a small amount of ground beef over the top of the cheese. Top with a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles, breaking to make them fit. Be sure to alternate which way the noodles go with each layer. Top noodles with another layer of sauce. Repeat this process until all ingredients are used, ending with sauce.1 box regular lasagna noodles, 16 oz cottage cheese, 2 lbs ground beef, 2 cans spaghetti sauce, 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. You can also cook it on high for about 2.5 to 3 hours. It cuts better (prettier) if you turn off the slow cooker and let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving.
- If desired, top with another layer of mozzarella before serving.1-2 cups additional mozzarella cheese to top before serving
Nutrition
Love the leisurely lasagna recipe. I even have the “stuff”. Thanks for the inspiration you bring on so many levels.
One of my kitchen boo boos is storing extra soda crackers in my gas oven-the pilot light kept them crisp-and turning on the oven with the plastic bowl inside. What a mess. Took lots of time and elbow grease to get it useable.And the smell!, If that sweet little rent house is still standing I believe that smell still permeates the walls. Does this put me in a certain age bracket or what
Love your site
How many does this serve? I’ve looked and don’t see it. Thanks!
Depends on how hungry you are 🙂 It’s equivalent to a hearty 9×13 lasagna so that may give you a better reference. \
So four people haha…
I like how you think 😀
I’ve made this MANY times from your previous listing and it is hands down one of my family’s favorites! I like it because it’s easy and I can put it in the crock and do something else all afternoon.
Then, about 3 years ago I got one of the new 9×13 casserole crocks.
OH. MY. GOSH.
It’s great in the oval crock but in the casserole crock, it goes to a whole new level. It cooks perfectly every single time and looks fabulous as well. It’s just my opinion, but the purchasing the casserole crock just for THIS recipe is worth it, though I use it for other casseroles as well.
I am one that doesn’t cares for cottage or recarto cheese. Can you please recommend on what I can do and use instead of those two cheeses? Thanks
When my kids were young, they did not like cottage cheese either. Neither did my husband. So when I would make lasagna I always blended the cottage cheese in the blender so it was nice and creamy-no curds showing. They could not tell the difference and it was so yummy. Cottage cheese was so much cheaper than ricotta and I was on a tight budget. I still blend the cottage cheese 40 years later. And they’re still not the wiser.
One of my funny stories about cooking was when I was a teenager I was mixing cake batter on the kitchen table with a hand mixer and wearing a loose blouse. All of a sudden my blouse got caught in the blades and it started eating up my blouse! I was yelling and trying to find the off switch when my Dad pulled the plug. That thing had eaten up my blouse all the way up to my throat! I was so scared, I thought the mixer was going to choke me. My family thought it was so funny. Haha. I will definitely try your recipe this weekend. Thanks.
That is hilarious! This story wins!!! I laughed so hard I cried. I’m sure it was terrifying at the time though. My daughter had her hair get caught in a Kithen Aid mixer while making cookies with my little sister. It ripped out a huge patch of hair – ouch. I did “bald-spot-hiding” hairstyles on her for the next few years…
Oh Becky! That was truly terrifying. I’m so sorry for her. Bless you. I’m sure she learned to tie her hair back. I know I don’t wear loose clothing when I cook anymore.
Hey Kun! I’m afraid I have never made it with anything other than those two. IF there is a creamy cheese you like, I’d suggest stirring that together with a grated cheese you like and seeing how that works 🙂 It’s worth the trial and error!
Kun…
I don’t know if you like cream cheese, but since others have said that they blend up cottage cheese until it’s smooth for this recipe, I’m thinking blending up cream cheese would be okay here. If it’s a little stiff, maybe add in a little sour cream to thin it out, or milk.
When I was a young bride I made a pie and put it in the oven. Before it was done my husband came home from work and we decided to go into town to do laundry that evening. Much later I remembered the pie in the oven and called my mother-in-law and asked her to take the pie out on her way home from work….well, when we went into our place my husband said he thought it smell smokey, told him it must be from the neighbors burning something outside. The next morning my husband went to work and it was still very dark outside. When I went out later there was the pie that my mother-in-law had tossed in the front yard….we lived in the country and there were woods across from our drive so I heaved that pie, it hit a tree and bounced off not even breaking any of it. Needless to say he still does not to this day what happened….lol
I have been making lasagna in the crockpot for many years. I have a recipe that I use from a Cooking Light Superfast Suppers cookbook. It’s similar and I love lasagna from the crockpot. The flavors all meld so well together (as with so many crockpot recipes). At least with this crockpot, I cannot cook mine more than 3-4 hours without the edges getting too done. So be sure and keep an eye on it until you know how yours cooks with this recipe. As an aside, my recipe actually calls for ricotta, but I will generally substitute cottage cheese. I think it’s creamier and a nicer taste. And I’m the only one in my house that eats cottage cheese, but no one can tell in this dish, I promise!
I’d love to try this, but am wondering how the noodles turn out…
I have made other recipes and the pasta turned out gummy. Can anyone tell me why this happens ? Thank you. I love lasagna !!
I have been making my lasagna in the crockpot for a few years now. It always turns out yummy but you do have to keep an eye on how fast it is baking. Mine is usually perfect at two and a half hours, cooked on high. I make my cheese mixture from a combination of ricotta, shredded mozzarella, some Parmesan, an egg, and a few dashes of Italian seasoning to taste. I place two whole noodles across the pan and break two more, filling in on all sides with the halves. You get good coverage that way in a six quart crockpot. Also, I find it hard to get the cheese mixture to spread nicely so I “frost” my noodle pieces before placing them into the crockpot.
Way back in the nineteen hundreds when my husband and I were dating, I made an ice box lemon pie. My church had just published our cookbook and I wanted to impress him. Well this recipe had a blooper and I had no idea. The pie was beautiful but so sour it was bitter. He came over for dinner and I served him a big slice of beautiful pie. I was chatting 90 miles and hour and he got a big bite. He didn’t gag and he forced himself to swallow as I’m chatting on and on – encouraging him to “enjoy it cold and eat up!” At some point I took a bite and that pie was so awe full I forgot impressing him and nearly gagged!
Your lasagna recipe was a hit for my family. Thank you for another delicious recipe.