When it’s blistering hot outside, the last thing we want to do is heat up our kitchen. Still, cravings for our favorite foods never go away. Crock pots are great, but what if you’re craving lasagna? No problem and you don’t even need to cook the noodles ahead of time! Slow cooked lasagna is fantastic and I have a secret addition to the recipe to make it even more rich and creamy while it cooks all day long! Béchamel in between the layers of cheese, noodles and pasta sauce! Béchamel, a mixture of butter, flour and milk adds only a few extra minutes but it’s well worth the effort. I’ve given you a recipe for homemade pasta sauce, but you can certainly use your favorite store bought brand. (It’s Rao’s Tomato and Basil for me!) Prep the night before, turn it on in the morning and you’ll have homemade lasagna for dinnertime!
| Servings |
- 1 package lasagna noodles
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound Italian sausage
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium, sweet yellow onion, chopped (about 1/2 of a cup)
- 2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 2 can (15 ounces each) Italian style tomato sauce or diced tomatoes
- 1 small can tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped fine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, plus 1/2 cup for the top of the lasagna
- 1 container (15 ounces) whole ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 for the top of the lasagna
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 1/4 cups milk, warmed or at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Ingredients
For the Homemade Meat Sauce:
For the Filling:
For the Béchamel Sauce:
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- Heat olive oil in a skillet. Cook beef, sausage, onion and garlic over medium until onion has softened and meat is cooked through. Stir in tomato sauce and basil. Cook for 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off heat and add salt and pepper. Make Filling. Mix together mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and egg until thoroughly combined. Set aside. Make Béchamel Sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking constantly. (This is called a Roux.) Cook until the roux cooks and bubbles. Do not brown. Add the milk, continuing to whisk as the sauce thickens. Bring to a boil. Then lower heat to simmer, add salt and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Assemble Crock Pot Lasagna. Spoon 1 cup of meat sauce in the bottom of a small crock pot. Break raw lasagna noodles and lay them on top of the meat sauce, overlapping. Spoon a layer of cheese filling over noodles. Spoon a thin layer of béchamel sauce over cheese filling. Repeat layers until crock pot is filled (leaving about ½ inch of room at the top.) Sprinkle ½ cup mozzarella and ¼ cup parmesan on top. Cover and cook for about 5 hours or until noodles are cooked and tender.
