Simple & Easy Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna
I love eating lasagna, but I hate the work that goes into making it in the oven and then cleaning the baking dish. Cleaning up after oven-baked lasagna is like scrubbing rocks. By hand. Now, with our lazy crock pot lasagna recipe, you can enjoy every part of the lasagna process from making it (super easy) to eating it (it tastes divine) to clean up (couldn’t be easier).
It’s time to change the way you think about making lasagna. By adding in the slow cooker, your days of slaving over the stove just to layer everything up and then bake it are gone. Seriously, let your slow cooker do the work!
Move over traditional lasagna, this lazy crock pot lasagna recipe has you beat!
I personally love Italian food, and spaghetti and lasagna are right at the top of the favorites list. Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t eat cheese or tomato sauce – at all.
That means that we don’t tend to eat this meal very often. But when we do (usually when my husband is gone for dinner), the kids and I love it.
You’ll Never Make Lasagna in the Oven Again
As a mom of 3 very busy boys, I am always on the search for easy meals that I can make quickly or throw in my slow cooker so it can do the work while I’m doing other “Mom things”.
There are two things I love: easy weeknight meals and using my slow cooker. This easy Crock Pot Lasagna recipe is both, so it’s no wonder that it’s a favorite of mine!
In fact, once I started experimenting with it, I quickly made the decision that I would never make lasagna another way again!
Making Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna Cuts Out So Much Work!
One of the best parts of this recipe is that you don’t have to boil the noodles ahead of time! They cook as the lasagna cooks…in the slow cooker.
In fact, you don’t even have to buy special no-boil noodles! You can even use regular noodles, and I always try to use whole wheat noodles.
All you have to do is brown the meat before putting it into the slow cooker. And I tend to add the sauce to the meat to make it a meat sauce, but you don’t have to do it that way.
Oh, I love efficiency and saving time!
And the clean up is a snap! Yippee! No more scrubbing the baking dish trying to get off all the baked-on spaghetti sauce.
Prep pro tip: spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray before adding your ingredients – clean up will take a fraction of the time!
More Crock Pot Recipes:
Slow Cooker 3 Bean Chili
Crock Pot Spaghetti Squash
Slow Cooker Tangy BBQ Chicken
Crock Pot Peach Crisp
How to Make Lasagna in a Crock Pot
I do recommend using a 4 or 6-quart slow cooker for this meal – the more oval shaped crock pot, rather than a round 2 or 3 quart slow cooker.
This one is my favorite! I use it all the time and LOVE that the lid locks so I transport my crock pot when I need to (like for parent-teacher conference pot lucks):
This meal makes a lot of food! You can enjoy leftovers later in the week or freeze them for an easy, no prep meal at a later time.
So to recap, crock pot lasagna is awesome because:
- It reduces the amount of work needed to prepare lasagna
- Clean up is a breeze
- It saves time
- This recipe makes a lot of food, giving you an easy meal for another day!
So what are you waiting for? Add crock pot lasagna to your next meal plan – you’ll thank me!
Tell us in the comments below: have you ever heard of lazy crock pot lasagna before? Have you ever made one? If not, why not?
We are honored to be able to share this recipe on Sweet Little Bluebird 🙂
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| Servings | Prep Time |
| 10 Servings | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 4 hours |
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Take the work out of a family favorite classic dish by making it in the crock pot! It's easy to make and provides leftovers for an easy dinner another night!
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- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 24 oz jar spaghetti sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 whole egg
- 2 teaspoons Tablespoons fresh parsley or 2dried parsley
- 6 uncooked lasagna noodles preferably whole wheat
- In a large skillet brown beef and onion. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Drain.
- Add spaghetti sauce and water and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Mix ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tablespoons Parmesan, egg and parsley.
- Pour 1 cup of spaghetti meat sauce into a 4 to 6 quart sized slow cooker. Place half of the noodles and half of the ricotta mixture on top of the sauce. Cover with 2 cups meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles (If the noodles don't fit exactly break them to fit) and cheese mixture and meat sauce.
- Cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or until noodles are soft. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella and remaining parmesan. Cover with the lid to melt the cheese and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- Do not overcook and don't try to speed up the process by cooking it on high.
*I use ground turkey instead of beef.
*Works best with a 4 to 6-quart size slow cooker.