Name: Six-Ingredient Meaty Crock-Pot Lasagna
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 8 h
Total time: 8 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Half a 9-ounce package of no-boil lasagna noodles; ¾ of a pound Italian sausage; 1 15- ounce container ricotta cheese; 1 large egg, well-beaten; 2 cups shredded mozzarella; 1 28- ounce jar of pasta sauce; salt and pepper to taste; foil or slow-cooker liner; cooking spray

Slow cooker meaty lasagna is your answer to avoiding takeout or frozen dinners on busy days.

Remember that theme song from Grease?

Summer loving had me a blast
Summer loving happened so fast
I met a girl crazy for me
Met a boy cute as can be
Summer days drifting away
To, oh, oh, the summer nights

Well, you can't have a summer blast if you're slaving away in the kitchen so grab a slow cooker if you don't already have one.

6-Ingredient Meaty, Crock-Pot Lasagna takes just minutes to assemble and makes several delicious, filling, economical meals.

You might think lasagna is for fall or winter but you’d be wrong, especially when it comes to Slow Cooker Meaty Lasagna.

This slow cooker meal is for any time you’ve got a busy day and need dinner ready and waiting when you get home. For me, that’s often summer.

Directions

Cook and crumble into bite size pieces a pound of sausage or whatever protein you're using.

Beat egg and ricotta cheese in a medium bowl.

Fit your slow cooker with a liner for easier cleanup.

Start layering your slow cooker pasta.

Pour a cup of sauce in the slow cooker.

Place a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles over the sauce.

Fit the noodles as best you can, you'll have to break a few in half to fit into the oval of your slow cooker. It's fine to overlap the noodles.

Spoon a cup of ricotta cheese/egg mixture on top of the noodles.

Sprinkle a half cup of sausage over the ricotta.

Put another serving of sauce over the top.

Repeat until you've used all your ingredients.

Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for eight hours.

The Best Way to Make Lasagna

Have you ever made lasagna in a Crock-Pot before?

I don’t make lasagna any other way.

I use this Crock-Pot and love it.

If it ever dies, however, I'll buy one a wifi enabled slow cooker so I can adjust the settings from my phone, or heck, who am I kidding, the sofa.

I discovered how great this cooking method is for lasagna after making my recipe for Amazing Spinach Feta Crock-Pot Lasagna for the first time.

Cooking the pasta dish in a slow cooker means no more burnt or crispy edges.

No more cool, under-cooked spots in the middle of the pan. In a slow cooker, the lasagna is perfectly but gently cooked all the way through, every time.

Yield: 8

Six-Ingredient Meaty Crock-Pot Lasagna

Slow cooker meat lasagna is a great recipe any time of year.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

Half a 9-ounce package of no-boil lasagna noodles
¾ of a pound Italian sausage
1 15- ounce container ricotta cheese
1 large egg, well-beaten
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 28- ounce jar of pasta sauce
salt and pepper to taste
foil or slow-cooker liner
cooking spray

Instructions

Line the slow-cooker with foil or or a liner and spray with cooking spray to ease lasagna removal and cleanup.
Cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat until no longer pink in the middle. Chop into small pieces.
Dump ricotta cheese into a medium size bowl. Pour beaten egg over ricotta and mix with a spoon until well blended.
Open jar of sauce, grab mozzarella and noodles to begin layering in Crock-Pot.
It doesn't really matter in what order you layer the ingredients as long as you layer noodles first or second. I like to start with a thin layer of pasta sauce followed by the first layer of noodles. Note, I use a six-quart oval Crock-Pot. Depending on the size and shape of your slow-cooker, you may have to break up the noodles and piece them in place to fit. The noodle pieces will overlap each other a bit.
Place meat, ricotta, mozzarella and sauce on top of the noodles working in layers until all the ingredients have been used up. I like to finish with a layer of meat, sauce then shredded mozzarella. You'll have three layers of lasagna sheets interspersed with the meat, sauce and cheese.
Put lid on slow cooker and adjust setting to cook on low for eight hours.
Number of servings depends on how large your chunks of lasagna are. I served 8 with a green salad.

Nutrition Information

Yield 8 Serving Size 1 Servings
Amount Per Serving Calories 377Total Fat 23gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 80mgSodium 1066mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 2gSugar 7gProtein 23g

Tell me about your easy summer recipes. What's your go-to dish?

Jennifer

Comments

Sneha

June 05, 2015 at 9:21 am

Great recipe. nice to know about it..... 🙂
Mary Jo

June 05, 2015 at 11:33 pm

I am definitely making this recipe next week.
- Jennifer
  
  June 06, 2015 at 4:12 pm
  
  Let me know what you think Mary Jo. Thanks for stopping by.
karabayleaves

June 06, 2015 at 12:33 pm

Oh man, I wish my crockpot wasn't in storage. I really want to try this. I'm saving it to Paprika and I'm going to make it as soon as I can access my crockpot again. Looks delicious!
Jennifer

June 06, 2015 at 4:18 pm

Hi Kara,

Why in the world is your Crock-Pot in storage?? What do you think of the Paprika app? I haven't tried it yet but I'm continually searching for the best recipe app...

Thanks for stopping by,

Jennifer
- karabayleaves
  
  June 06, 2015 at 5:24 pm
  
  Hi Jennifer,
  
  We are traveling around the country, trying to decide where we might like to buy a condo. When we sold our house, we said if it doesn't fit in our Element, it doesn't go. But we did cheat a little bit by storing the crockpot, my kitchenaid mixer, and a few other goodies at my Mom's. But I don't want to retrieve them until we settle down someplace. Hopefully in 2016. By the way, I really want to try that spinach feta lasagna too!
  
  I love Paprika. I usually add recipes on my Mac, then sync to my iPad. Then I use my iPad as my cookbook in the kitchen. You can add recipes directly on your mobile device too, but I just tend to do most of my recipe hunting on my laptop. The main bummer is that I don't know enough people that have it to share recipes. My sister-in-law and I share sometimes and it is really easy. I did a review of it on my blog a while back. http://lavidafrugal.com/paprika-is-the-ultimate-recipe-app/
  
  Kara
  - Jennifer
    
    June 06, 2015 at 8:53 pm
    
    Wow, that sounds really exciting! There's a really great movie, I think from the 80's about a couple who did something similar--it's called Lost in America. Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerthy are in it.
    
    The spinach feta lasagna is really good, although the male members of the family balk at having a meatless meal 🙂
    
    I'll let you know if I sign up for Paprika. I use my iPhone for recipes quite a bit.
    
    Happy adventuring!
    
    Jennifer
Crystal Bissonnette

June 09, 2015 at 2:38 pm

I never have done it in the crock pot! I am really curious about the spinach feta Lasagna. That sounds amazing. I juts may have to try that!!!
- Jennifer
  
  June 09, 2015 at 8:08 pm
  
  You have to try it in the crockpot! Let me know if you try it. Thanks for stopping by Crystal.
  
  Jennifer
Karen

June 09, 2015 at 2:49 pm

i agree - summertime is a great time for the crockpot so I have more time to PLAY! 🙂
We love lasagna, but my version takes a bit longer - and waiting for the oven. This will be in my crockpot soon! Thanks for sharing.
- Jennifer
  
  June 09, 2015 at 8:07 pm
  
  Thanks for visiting busy lady! Let me know what you think if you try it in the Crock-Pot. I really prefer it this way although you might be able to make a larger batch in the oven. Or are you a multiple slow-cooker family?
Karen

June 09, 2015 at 8:47 pm

Well, yes we are! I'm down to only 2 now though. My big oval crock somehow got a hairline crack and stuff would leak out into the base. It took a few times to figure it out - just thought it must be my messy people. So, it had to go. I get along pretty well with two though and I could totally fill the both with this recipe! I'll let you know how it goes.