Holy Moly. How can something so simple be so good? Usually I make lasagna from scratch (my Mama’s recipe), but I wanted to try this one because it just seemed too easy to be true. The reviews were great, so I went for it. And I was blown away. This crock pot lasagna is AMAZING!
Even Annie, who hated noodles AND meat when I first came up with this recipe, ate her entire plate of this. I liked it because I was able to start it during the day and have dinner done later when things were busy. Nice. On the 8th Day, God invented Crock Pots. Amen.
We need meat (I used VENISON), some type of pasta sauce, lasagna noodles, parmesan cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, and water. Short, sweet and simple. You’re going to hug me later.
I used a 5 quart crock, but just use what you have. For easy clean up, you want to spray it with cooking spray. It really does help.
Brown the meat in a skillet. If it’s fatty, you will need to drain it. This was pretty lean, so I didn’t bother with draining it.
Cover the bottom of the crock with sauce……not a ton, but make sure the surface is covered.
Add the rest of the sauce to the meat. You’re also going to add a tad of water. I don’t know why, but I assume it’s to help with the cooking of the noodles.
Speaking of noodles, you’re going to put them in the bottom on top of the sauce. You’ll have to break them to fit. I was a little weirded out, putting hard noodles in there……but I went with it. I had faith – sometimes that faith gets me in trouble – like faith in rice cooked in a crock pot (epic failure).
Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Barry hates cottage cheese, but he’ll eat it if I put it in stuff. Men are so weird.
Sprinkle half the mozzarella over the cottage cheese. I love mozzarella cheese – I stole a handful and popped it into my mouth. Annie was napping, so I didn’t get caught.
Now, give a good shaking of Parmesan cheese over that. I think Parmesan smells like feet…..but it still tastes good. Strange how that works out.
Spread half the sauce on top of this cheese layer. Yum! This is going places. Use the rest of your stuff doing one more layer of everything.
Put the lid on and cook it on low for 4 hours. I liked this recipe best because I was able to do it while Annie was down for her nap and then at dinner time it was ready to go, so I got all my work done while she was sleeping. Miracles DO happen!
Holy Moly again. Look at that! My house smelled so good that Barry kissed me when he walked in the door – okay, so he does that every day, but it still smelled really good. It made my belly growl. I was shocked out of my chair when Annie cleaned her plate. Every other time I’ve tried to feed her noodles, she revolts. Thanks God, amen.
Crock Pot Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 6 whole lasagna noodles, regular, uncooked
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- In frying pan, brown ground beef and drain fat.
- Add water and pasta sauce, reserving a small amount of sauce to line bottom of crock pot. Stir until well blended.
- Line bottom of crock pot with very thin layer of sauce, then top with 2-3 uncooked lasagna noodles that are broken to fit shape (some overlap is fine).
- Cover noodles with half the cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese, then top cheeses with half of the meat mixture.
- Repeat layers with the other half of the ingredients.
- Cook on low for 4 hours.
Can I use ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese?
Sure!
for THM version, do the dreamfields noodles work in crock pot meals when cooked that long? I read on their website that lasagna noodles only work in a low glycemic way, in the body, if cooked one time the way the box instructions say: (which is to boil for 8 min., rinse in cold water, and bake only 45 min. ?? I wonder if the 4 hours of crock pot low cooking cancels out the normal dreamfields low glycemic goodness. ?? any thoughts?
I have no idea.
Just wondering – has anyone tried to put this together the night before, refrigerate the crock overnight, and then start it in the morning? I leave for work very early in the morning, so I don’t have time to prepare crockpot meals before I go to work. But, I’m worried that the lasagna noodles might get soggy by the time they sit in the fridge overnight. Any opinions? By the way, we’re having this today for Sunday dinner, and it looks like it’s going to be delicious!
I wouldn’t attempt that because of soggy noodles. I would go ahead and prep everything the night before instead…brown the meat, make the sauce, etc. That way all you have to do in the morning is assemble, which goes pretty quick. 🙂
Thanks, that’s what I figured. I’ll save this for a weekend meal, because I don’t have even 5-10 minutes to spare on work mornings to throw it all together. We had it for dinner today, and it was a big hit! I changed the recipe just a bit – I added 2 cans of drained sliced mushrooms, and a can of drained diced Italian tomatoes to the sauce, and I accidentally used the whole 24 oz container of cottage cheese instead of only 2 cups.
Now I am curious about your HM cottage cheese and spaghetti sauce (I know there are thousands of HM spag sauce recipes but curious about yours… 🙂 )
Here ya go! Cottage Cheese and Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce. If you want to search recipes, you can use the Search box in the upper right of the site…then you won’t have to wait on me. 🙂 There is also a food index. Hope that helps!
Stumbled on this recipe this morning and had all the ingredients already so I just turned it on. Easy cleanup and now a relaxing afternoon. Looking forward to it and really enjoyed your step-by-step commentary! 🙂
🙂 Hope you guys loved it as much as we do!
Stacy, My son has food sensitivities and this recipe is a favorite that is made by an aunt only one time a year. I am so super excited to have it I am going to surprise him this very afternoon!!! THANK YOU for this and all of your whole food wonderfulness 🙂
Lasagna all around! 🙂
I made this last night to bring to a work potluck today. We have “manly men” and vegetarians in our group, so I used the Boca meatless crumbles as a meat substitute and a red pepper pasta sauce. IT WAS FANTASTIC! You couldnt tell what-so-ever that it wasn’t real meat! Love it!
I love manly men! 🙂
I’m searching out good crock pot meals since I’m living in a camper for several months (with little counter space, few cooking tools and way too many things to do right now).
I will be making this!
PS – I love your commentary. It always makes me smile. “On the 8th day” LOL! Amen!
I like giving commentary when people have to listen. LOL
Stacy, you’re a hoot! I love the commentary, too. You always make me laugh!
🙂 Thanks!
Cooked this for my father on his last birthday before he died in sept. and he LOVED it..was so proud i cooked so good..didnt tell him how easy it was :)!! Thank you!!
🙂 It is very easy. And I’m so glad he enjoyed it!
I didn’t use the store bought sauce I used your crockpot spaghetti sauce and it turned out GREAT! My husband went back for seconds! We had this last night and plan on having it again on Sunday after church. I will put it together that morning and when we come home it will be done.Thanks for the recipe!
Well duh! I never thought to use that sauce! You’re a genius!
Hi Stacy!
I want to make this for a dinner party. I have a huge crockpot. How many servings is your recipe for? I am having 10 people over.
THank you!!!
Jenny
I would double it. I think there are 5-6 servings in there, so it would be safe to do it twice. I had two people over to dinner last night and we had about 2 1/2 servings left. I used a five quart crock, and it was about half full, so I think you could use a five or something bigger. Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
It was perfect! Everyone loved it and I had just enough since I had bread and bruschetta for a side. Perfect meal! I am going to do it again for another gathering I am having on the 14th! Thank you so much!
Did you just double the layers in the same crockpot? I’m interested in doing the same thing but curious if the cook time would increase. Can you tell me how you did yours?
My oven is out so I really needed this recipe. I was a little skeptical but I knew it was coming from a good source. It was delicious!! Thanks, I really appreciate the time and effort you put into your blog.
Thanks Donna! 🙂 Hope you get your oven back soon……if you don’t, try the Meatloaf. It’s AWESOME!
I made this last night!!! Huge hit! I did substitute Ricotta for cottage cheese. Worked just fine! New crock pot recipe to share!!
I am going to try this…I think I will substitute Ricotta for the cottage cheese.
Thanks Stacy! I had been thinking of making a crock pot lasagna but didn’t know how it would turn out, I was afraid it would be mushy. I am going to try it!
Can’t wait to try this version! Thanks again, Stacy!