Easy Crockpot Lasagna with Spaghetti Sauce

This Easy Crockpot Lasagna with Spaghetti Sauce, made in the crockpot, combines three kinds of cheese, two types of meat, and a flavorful sauce.

It is one of our favorite easy dinner ideas – we simply love them because they are easy and yet, so good!

Easy Crockpot Lasagna with Spaghetti Sauce

I’m back with another weeknight favorite dinner idea! This lasagna is so, so good. I love to make this on weeknights, but I love it just as much on the weekends.

There are so many weekend days that we are busy running around with the kiddos and all of a sudden I look up to the clock staring at me saying 6:00 p.m. and I literally have no plans for dinner. Zero, nada, zilch. Because I am a planner at heart this is so, well, disheartening. And, maddening really. 🙂

When I make crockpot dinners like this lazy crockpot lasagna, I don’t have to worry about what’s for dinner because it’s already done for me when I walk in the door. {Smiles as I’m typing this}.

If you’re like me and love dinners that can be in the crock pot all afternoon and basically make themselves, then this is the dinner for you.

Here is what you need to make this Lazy Crock Pot Lasagna with Spaghetti Sauce:

• 1/2 lb. Italian sausage
• 1/2 lb. ground beef
• 45 ounces Spaghetti sauce (I use Prego)
• 20 ounces cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese (divided)
• 9 regular lasagna noodles broken in half

How to Make Crockpot Lasagna with Spaghetti:

Step 1:

Brown Italian sausage and ground beef in a pan together.

Step 2:

Add the browned meat to the spaghetti sauce.

Step 3:

Combine the cottage cheese, egg, parmesan cheese and Italian seasonings together, stirring well.

Step 4:

Spray the crockpot with nonstick spray.

Step 5:

Layer ingredients like this:

1/3 meat/sauce mixture

3 noodles broken in half

1/2 cottage cheese mixture

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/3 meat/sauce mixture

3 noodles broken in half

1/2 cottage cheese mixture

1 cup mozzarella cheese

3 noodles broken in half

1/3 meat/sauce mixture

Step 6:

I used my Ninja Slow Cooker on low for 4 hours. Depending on your slow cooker, you might need 4-6 hours. I would not cook on high with this recipe, and check it at 4 hours.

Serve with a green salad and garlic bread.

A Closer Look at the Ingredients

Italian sausage and ground beef

A half pound of each, browned together. The sausage brings the fennel and garlic flavor, and the beef keeps it from being too rich. All beef works if that is what you have.

Spaghetti sauce

Forty five ounces, which is one big jar or a jar and a half. It sounds like a lot, and it is on purpose. The uncooked noodles drink up a good share of it.

Cottage cheese, egg and parmesan

Twenty ounces of cottage cheese, one egg, a half cup of parmesan, and a tablespoon of Italian seasoning make the white layer. The egg is what sets it so the layers hold.

Ricotta works in the same amount if you prefer it. Cottage cheese is cheaper, lighter, and what I grew up with.

Mozzarella

Two cups shredded, one for each cheese layer. There is no cheese on the very top of this one, which keeps the edges from burning over four hours.

Lasagna noodles

Nine regular noodles, uncooked, each broken in half to fit the crock. They soften in the sauce as it cooks. No boiling, no draining.

Step by Step, With the Details

Brown the meat

Crumble the sausage and beef into a skillet over medium high and cook until no pink is left. Drain it well, then stir it into the spaghetti sauce in a big bowl.

Mix the cheese layer

In another bowl, stir the cottage cheese, egg, parmesan, and Italian seasoning until the egg disappears. Taste a bit and add a pinch of salt if it needs it.

Spray the crock pot

Coat the insert well with nonstick spray, up the sides. Lasagna sticks, and a slow cooker liner makes this a no scrub cleanup.

Layer one

A third of the meat sauce on the bottom, then three broken noodles laid flat, then half the cottage cheese mixture spread over them, then a cup of mozzarella.

Layer two

Another third of the sauce, three more broken noodles, the rest of the cottage cheese mixture, and the second cup of mozzarella.

Layer three

The last three noodles, then the last third of the sauce spread over everything so no noodle is showing. Dry noodle edges on top stay crunchy.

Low for four hours

Cover and cook on low for four hours. Check it then. Depending on the crock pot it can need up to six, and the noodles should be fully soft when a knife goes in.

Why Low and Never High

High heat scorches the sauce against the sides before the noodles in the middle have time to soften. Four hours on low is slow enough to cook the noodles through and still gentle on the edges.

If your crock pot runs hot, check it at three and a half hours. Dark, crusty edges mean it is done, even if the timer says otherwise.

Let It Set Before You Cut

Turn the crock pot off and leave the lid on for fifteen to twenty minutes. The layers firm up and the pieces come out in squares instead of a scoop.

A lasagna cut the minute it is done slides apart on the plate. It tastes the same, but it does not look like the photos.

Easy Variations

Spinach

A ten ounce box of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, stirred into the cottage cheese mixture. It is the easiest way to get a vegetable into this pan.

Vegetarian

Skip the meat and stir a pound of sliced mushrooms and a diced zucchini into the sauce. Cook them in the skillet first so they do not water down the layers.

Extra cheesy

A half cup of extra mozzarella scattered on top for the last fifteen minutes with the lid on. It melts without browning.

Leftovers, Reheating and Freezing

In the refrigerator

Leftovers keep covered for four days. Lasagna is one of the few dinners that is genuinely better the next day.

Reheating

A square in the microwave for two minutes, covered, with a spoonful of water on the plate so it steams instead of drying out.

Freezing

Freeze cooled squares in individual containers for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat the same way.

Questions I Get About This Lasagna

Can I use no boil noodles?

Yes, same amount, same time. Regular noodles work just as well here because the four hours in sauce softens them anyway.

Can I make it in a round crock pot?

Yes. Break the noodles into smaller pieces so they fit flat. The layers do not need to be neat, they just need to be covered in sauce.

Why was mine watery?

Usually a thin sauce or cottage cheese with a lot of liquid. Drain the cottage cheese in a strainer for ten minutes and use a thick jarred sauce.

Can I assemble it the night before?

Yes. Build it in the insert, cover it, and refrigerate. In the morning set it in the base on low and add thirty minutes because it is starting cold.

What size crock pot?

A six quart oval is ideal because the noodles lie flat. A four quart works with more breaking and an extra half hour.

More Pasta Dinners From the Crock Pot

• Crock Pot Baked Ziti
• Crock Pot Lazy Lasagna
• Crockpot Chicken Alfredo
• Crock Pot Goulash
• Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Print Pin

Crockpot Lasagna with Spaghetti Sauce

Servings 6 servings

Calories 684kcal

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. Italian sausage
• 1/2 lb. ground beef
• 45 ounces Spaghetti sauce I use Prego
• 20 ounces cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese divided
• 9 regular lasagna noodles broken in half

Instructions

How to Make Crockpot Lasagna with Spaghetti:

• Brown Italian sausage and ground beef in a pan together.
• Add the browned meat to the spaghetti sauce.
• Combine the cottage cheese, egg, parmesan cheese and Italian seasonings together, stirring well.
• Spray the crockpot with nonstick spray.
• Layer ingredients like this:1/3 meat/sauce mixture

  3 noodles broken in half

  1/2 cottage cheese mixture

  1 cup mozzarella cheese

  1/3 meat/sauce mixture

  3 noodles broken in half

  1/2 cottage cheese mixture

  1 cup mozzarella cheese

  3 noodles broken in half

  1/3 meat/sauce mixture
• I used my Ninja Slow Cooker on low for 4 hours. Depending on your slow cooker, you might need 4-6 hours. I would not cook on high with this recipe, and check it at 4 hours.
• Serve with a green salad and garlic bread.