White Chicken Lasagna recipe

a piece of white chicken lasagna being scooped out of pan.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 25

Cook Time: 1

Total Time: 1 25

Servings: servings

Calories: 480cal

Author: Ashley Fehr

White Chicken Lasagna is made with layers of shredded chicken, a creamy white sauce, ricotta cheese, spinach, and oven-ready lasagna noodles. It's make-ahead and freezer-friendly, so you can whip up a cozy dinner without the stress!

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Ingredients

White lasagna sauce:

¼ cup butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion (finely diced)
3-4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
⅓ cup flour
2 cups half and half or cream
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Ricotta mixture:

2 cups Ricotta cheese 450g
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry (100g)
¼ cup cream
1 egg
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Lasagna:

½ cup water (divided)
12 oven ready lasagna noodles
3 cups shredded chicken about 3 chicken breasts
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (if baking right away) and lightly grease a deep 9×13" pan.

White Lasagna Sauce

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and add the oil.
Add the onion and cook until completely tender. Stir in the garlic, salt, parsley and pepper and cook 1 minute.
Add the flour and stir until no white remains.
Whisk in the half and half and broth. Continue cooking and stirring over medium heat until thickened. Stir in the ½ cup Parmesan.

Ricotta Mixture

In a medium bowl, stir together Ricotta, spinach, cream, egg and Parmesan and 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese. Set aside.

Lasagna

Spread just enough white sauce in the bottom of the pan to create a thin layer and add 1/4 cup water (only if using oven-ready noodles! This helps to prevent the bottom sauce from burning)
1st layer: Place 3 lasagna noodles in the pan. Spread the noodles with ⅓ of the Ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the shredded chicken, and 1/4 of the white sauce.
2nd layer: Add 3 more lasagna noodles, spread with 1/3 Ricotta mixture, top with 1/3 shredded chicken and 1/4 of the white sauce.
3rd layer: Add 3 more lasagna noodles, spread with 1/3 Ricotta mixture, top with 1/3 shredded chicken and 1/4 of the white sauce.
Top layer: Add remaining 3 lasagna noodles. Spread with remaining white sauce (should be enough to cover).
Pour remaining 1/4 cup water around the edges of the pan and cover tightly with a greased piece of tin foil.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until noodles are tender (this can take up to 60 minutes, depending on your brand of pasta) — it may still be juicy at this point and that's okay.
Remove the foil and sprinkle with remaining 2 cups mozzarella cheese. Bake for 10 minutes until melted and broil for 2 minutes if desired to brown the cheese.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes — it may look a little saucy around the edges but will not have a lot of liquid remaining. Slice and serve.

Video

Notes

Ingredients and Substitutions:

Pre-boiled lasagna noodles: you can use this recipe for lasagna noodles that you have pre-cooked if you desire. Simply omit the 1/2 cup water and use the rest of the recipe as is.

Chicken: this is a great recipe if you have leftover Roast Chicken, Baked Chicken Breasts or Crockpot Shredded Chicken, but you can also cook 3 chicken breasts in a little bit of broth in a covered skillet and shred before using.

Ricotta: since we're already using a bechamel sauce in this recipe, there is a great swap for Ricotta aside from cottage cheese. If you don't like either, you can simply leave it out, although you may want to increase the amount of white sauce so it isn't dry.

Prep ahead:

You can prep this recipe ahead and refrigerate or freeze until you're ready to bake!

Simply prepare up until the point of adding cheese (I like to add the cheese after removing the foil) -- don't add the water, cover tightly and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months. I recommend thawing completely before baking for best results.

To bake, pour the water around the edges of the pan, cover tightly and bake. Check the tenderness of the lasagna noodles early, because they will have softened with sitting.

Nutrition