This is our easy crockpot lasagna recipe with jar sauce and no boil noodles is a great pasta dinner your whole family will love. Dump it all in and it cooks in a few hours and so much easier than the old fashioned method.

Crockpot with cooked beef, shredded cheese, ricotta, lasagna noodles, and a jar of pasta sauce on a board—solid for an easy crockpot lasagna recipe.

Let us share our favorite easy crockpot lasagna recipe with you! Made the same way as the Old Fashioned one pan dish you love, but with a lot less work. This is definitely one of our favorite crock pot recipes.

This is almost as easy as our slow cooker lasagna casserole but with the same wide noodles you use in the old fashioned method. We will never make this dish in the oven again after this!

For us the tedious and frustrating part is cooking the noodles, you do NOT have to boil anything in this case though! Trying to take one out at a time while they're scalding hot and trying not to break them is the worst, that is why this is our go to way to make it now.

We LOVE our crockpot…..and not ashamed to admit it! It's not for stews and casseroles anymore, and what better dish to cook than a down home favorite!! Before we had made a version of lazy lasagna which is a sort of deconstructed version.

If you follow our blog at all you know we are all about EASY meals our whole family (of 5) will enjoy and takes little time to prepare. With 3 kids, a household to maintain, working full time, and taking care of myself we like easy meal ideas such as this one. With that said we are using a jar of Ragu (or Prego works) vs. homemade.

We use one for this recipe, one to make our muffin tin pizzas, and then have another for spaghetti during the month as well in one purchase.

It's super tasty and everything you need is all in the jar so it's a great for busy Moms! Next on the list are the other things listed in the recipe below….we will show you the steps and how easy to prepare this is in the next few pictures.

Crockpot Lasagna Ingredients

For the meat we are going to use and precook a roll of Ground beefItalian sausage or spicy Jimmy Dean ground sausage will give it some heat. Use half and half if you want a little bit of a kick cooked in a skillet over medium heat to begin with and drain.

For the layers we are going to use typically the traditional items you would normally like Ricotta cheese but we also add in there some Cottage cheese (yes really) for added protein, we think it melts well together.

In this case when we make Crock pot lasagna or spaghetti we will use jar of spaghetti saucemeat sauce or the one with fresh basil is a nice touch if you can find that version of pasta sauce. Italian seasoning or other seasons you normally add to your pasta can be mixed in there if desired.

Could you use alfredo sauce?

Yes, if you wanted to make Crockpot white lasagna instead you should swap out the same amount of that type. This is another fun version that we love that offers a whole new tweak. You still follow the same sauce, noodles and cheese combo with alfredo instead.

Lasagna noodles (NO need to boil before putting in your crockpot – Yes!) are used and we break them to fit in each layer. You could even break into thirds to serve up easier so they don't flop around.

Swaps

Okay so our husband is now lactose intolerant so things have had to change around here. Surprisingly enough we have found dairy free all the things at the store, look for it. Daiya has great shredded vegan cheeses, and Lactaid cottage cheese he says is quite good. Total comfort food we tell you.

Could you use frozen ravioli?

You could use these as another version of noodles too, like our baked frozen ravioli lasagna. throw them in frozen right out of the bag in the layer where the others would be. Do not overlap them so they can absorb the liquid and get tender.

We buy bags of already shredded mozzarella cheese to our life easier but it is a bit more expensive so go for a block and shred yourself if you'd rather.

How Long to Cook Lasagna in Crockpot

Put your slow cooker on low for about 4 hours, don't use high or it will get too done on the outside. If you want cheese on the top add some mozzarella. Then recover for about 10 minutes at the end. You can sit it for an additional 30 minutes or so but we wouldn't push it much longer or it will dry out.

Tips

You will need to precook your meat, you don't want to add it in there raw in this case. Same goes for making other dishes like our Instant Pot lasagna soupdeconstructed and simple to throw together for another night.

We would spray the inside with non stick cooking spray (will be easier to clean later). On your first layer, add tomato sauce so the noodles don't stick to the bottom of your slow cooker really. Break your lasagna noodles in half and lay them over the sauce mixture. It won't be solid but that is the beauty of lasagna, it doesn't have to be!

When you spoon the cheese mixture on top of your uncooked noodles you can seriously glob it on there and don't bother smoothing it out, it will be solid when it is done our friends.

Kitchen questions

Can you make lasagna without boiling the noodles first?

Yes!! If you slow cook in a Crockpot like we explain here with step by step directions the lasagna noodles don't need to be boiled first. You layer with the sauce mixture and there is enough liquid to make them perfectly al dente. NO boil lasagna in slow cooker is the easiest meal ever.

Can you make crockpot lasagna without ricotta?

Yes! You could substitute cottage cheese for ricotta which you can even find lactose free if you need a dairy free pasta choice. The end result is amazingly similar.

Once you've tried this you should give these other lasagna recipes a try our Crockpot lasagna soup which is always fun! Printable recipe with nutrition facts such as saturated fat and calories in recipe card.

Crockpot Lasagna Recipe

By Easy crockpot lasagna recipe with no boiling required. Great meal your whole family will love with a few ingredients and cooks quickly in your slow cooker. Prep: 15 minutes minsCook: 4 hours hrsTotal: 4 hours hrs 15 minutes minsServings: 10 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beefor ground sausage, cooked
1 jar spaghetti sauceRagu, 45 oz.
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups cottage cheese
3 cups mozzarella cheese
1 large egg
3/4 pkg lasagna noodles, broken to fit flat, overlapping least possible – added raw, not boiled

Instructions

Cook ground beef or sausage on stovetop and drain (can use ground turkey or beef too).
Add cooked meat and spaghetti sauce into a bowl and stir.
In a separate bowl combine shredded mozzarella cheese, ricotta, egg and cottage cheese.
Mix these 3 ingredients well and set aside. Pour spaghetti sauce mixture on the bottom of your crockpot to cover the bottom and so noodles won't stick.
Break lasagna noodles in half and line them up over the sauce so it creates a layer of noodles. Noodles should cover sauce overlapping as little as possible.
Scoop some of the cheese mixture on top of the uncooked noodles. Then put another layer of spaghetti sauce mixture over that.
Repeat these steps until there is no more spaghetti sauce mixture.
Cook on low for about 4 hours. Add additional mozzarella cheese about 10 min. before serving, recover until melted and then serve!