Hi doll!
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. But you need a plan because nothing but food will stop your family from yammering on about their hunger pains. So grab your Crock-Pot. I’m going to show you how to make 6-Ingredient Meaty Crock-Pot Lasagna. It will take just a few minutes to prepare and it cooks slowly all day while you play and frolic at the beach and imbibe frozen blender drinks. Sound good? Thought so.
6-Ingredient Meaty, Crock-Pot Lasagna takes just minutes to assemble and makes several delicious, filling, economical meals.
6-Ingredient Crock-Pot Meaty Lasagna Will Make Your Life Easier
You might think lasagna is for fall or winter but you’d be wrong, especially when it comes to 6-Ingredient Crock-Pot 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.
You Deserve Weekend Fun, Not Drudgery
The best summer Saturday or Sunday is one spent at the shore. Problem is, sun, water and wind take it out of me. Cooking dinner is the last thing I want to do when I’m tuckered out from playing. Meanwhile, when we get home, everyone is starving. Takeout gets expensive and our favorite place closes by 8 p.m. on Saturdays and isn’t open at all on Sundays. #smalltownlife
That’s where this slow-cooker lasagna will be your best friend. You’ll spend a few minutes cooking the sausage and assembling everything in the Crock-Pot before you leave for (hopefully) a day of sun and fun. Hours later you’ll crawl through the door, covered in sand and sunscreen, perhaps even a little unsteady on your feet if you were on the water. But never fear, you’ll inhale the sweet aroma of a tasty dinner just waiting to be dished out. Your family will be amazed that they’re eating a delicious, home-cooked meal, even though you were hanging with them all day.
Note: if you’re really going to take off to have a fun, carefree day, this is where you’re going to want a slow cooker that automatically turns the warming function on after the cook cycle.
If you really want to get ahead of the game, cook and crumble the sausage ahead of time so you’re truly just assembling the morning before you leave.
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 discovered how great this cooking method is for lasagna after making my recipe for Amazing Spinach Feta Crock-Pot Lasagna for the first time. Incidentally, that post is the third most viewed on Kitchen Serf after my about page and chocolate cinnamon fantasy cookies.
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 cooked all the way through, every time.
Six-Ingredient Meaty, Crock-Pot Lasagna can make your life easier so you can have more fun summer or winter.
Six-Ingredient Meaty Crock-Pot Lasagna
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 managed 12 to 15 servings.
Tell me about your easy summer recipes. What’s your go-to dish?
If you enjoyed this post, please copy and paste this link: http://wp.me/p4cLPl-1cr and send it to your bestie.
I hope you all have a great summer 🙂
Jennifer
Great recipe. nice to know about it….. 🙂
I am definitely making this recipe next week.
Let me know what you think Mary Jo. Thanks for stopping by.
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!
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
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
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
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!!!
You have to try it in the crockpot! Let me know if you try it. Thanks for stopping by Crystal.
Jennifer
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.
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?
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.