Slow Cooker Lasagna
Three layers of oven-ready pasta, beef marinara and an egg-free ricotta-Parmesan filling cook gently under a mozzarella top.
Ingredients
Pasta and Cheese
- 9 dry oven-ready lasagna noodles 9 sheets, broken to fit
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 16 oz mozzarella cheese shredded; 12 ounces in layers and 4 ounces on top
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated; all mixed with ricotta
Meat and Sauce
- 24 oz Marinara sauce
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 cup water for the dry noodles
Seasoning and Aromatics
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 medium Onion
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
Instructions
- In a skillet cook beef with diced onion for roughly 8–10 minutes over medium-high, crumbling until at least 160°F. Drain. Stir garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper for 30–60 seconds. Set aside 3/4 cup plain marinara; add the rest and 1/2 cup water to the cooked meat.
- Combine ricotta with all the Parmesan and divide into 3 equal portions. Reserve 4 ounces mozzarella for topping; split the other 12 ounces into 3 portions. Coat the base of a 5–6-quart oval slow cooker with the reserved plain marinara.
- Put 3 broken-to-fit dry oven-ready noodles over the base, followed by one portion ricotta mixture, 4 ounces mozzarella and a third of the beef sauce. Make two more matching layers. Cover every noodle edge with sauce, then sprinkle the final 4 ounces mozzarella on top.
- Cover and cook on LOW 4–6 hours, checking from about 4 hours. Finish when pasta is tender and the middle reaches 165°F. Switch off and stand 20 minutes before serving 6 portions. The listed cook time includes approximately 10 minutes in the skillet plus the upper 6-hour cooker estimate.
Notes
- Begin checking at 4 hours on LOW; the 6-hour estimate is an upper planning allowance, not a mandatory cooking duration.
- Keep all pasta edges covered by sauce. Rest 20 minutes before portioning.
- Refrigerate leftovers for 3–4 days and reheat to 165°F.