A delicious, cozy recipe for Rosemary Chicken Lasagna with mushrooms and spinach in a creamy Béchamel Sauce. A hearty meal perfect for special gatherings or Sunday supper. Vegetarian-adaptable. Video!
Walk around feeling like a leaf. Know you could tumble any second. Then decide what to do with your time.
Naomi Shihab Nye
I love Sundays…cozy, relaxing, and practically begging for comfort food. Here is one of my favorite recipes on cold chilly days like these-perfect for curling up on the couch with a good book or movie – Chicken lasagna! A staple in our catering business, this lasagna recipe was one of the most popular recipes during the colder months.
Instead of a traditional red sauce, this version is made with a creamy béchamel sauce infused with a hint of nutmeg. Layered with tender chicken breast, wilted spinach and savory mushrooms, it can easily be made vegetarian by adding more mushrooms and leaving out the chicken.
Why You’ll Love Chicken Lasagna!
- Delicious Flavor: This creamy rosemary Chicken Lasagna is bursting with delicious flavors. The combination of tender chicken breast, earthy mushrooms, wilted spinach, and aromatic rosemary creates a rich and savory taste that will leave your taste buds craving more. The creamy béchamel sauce with a hint of nutmeg elevates the dish.
- Versatile: This recipe is versatile and can be easily adapted to suit various dietary preferences. If you’re a vegetarian, you can simply omit the chicken and increase the amount of mushrooms for a flavorful vegetarian adaptation. You can also use plant-based milk, vegan ricotta and vegan cheese to make it dairy-free and vegan-friendly.
- Perfect Comfort Food: Chicken Lasagna is the ultimate comfort food, especially on cold, chilly days. The layers of lasagna noodles, chicken, mushrooms, and creamy sauce provide a hearty and satisfying meal perfect for special gatherings. It’s the kind of dish that warms you from the inside out!
Chicken Lasagna Ingredients
- Chicken breast: Boneless and skinless chicken breast adds savory protein to the lasagna. This can be left out to create a vegetarian version- just double or triple the mushrooms. A quick hack here is to use leftover rotisserie chicken!
- Mushrooms add an earthy, meaty, umami flavor to the lasagna. Play with different varieties ( wild or tame) mushrooms; button, cremini, portobello mushrooms, shitake, oyster, morels, or chanterelles!
- Onion and Garlic: add a sweet, pungent, savory flavor to the lasagna, giving depth
- Rosemary: the signature herb here, imparting a delightful aroma. Feel free to sub-fresh sage or thyme.
- Spinach: We love adding nutrient-rich leafy greens to the lasagna. Feel free to use other wilting greens.
- Milk: To create the bechamel sauce, we use milk (not cream) to keep it on the lighter side- but keep in mind, plant-based milks like soy milk or almond milk work great too!
- Cheeses: Mozzarella adds the melty element we all love in lasagna while parmesan cheese or pecorino romano adds the flavor! Ricotta cheese is used between the layers for a luscious creaminess. Feel free to use vegan cheeses- like our vegan ricotta.
- Spices: nutmeg adds a subtle hint of exotic sweetness and complexity to the lasagna and white pepper– a milder alternative to black pepper, provides a unique flavor. Feel free to use black pepper!
- Lasagna noodles: If you can track down fresh lasagna noodles, use these for the best texture. Par-boil dry lasagna noodles if using. For a fun, light twist, we’ve even made this with eggroll wrappers! (see notes)
- Lemon zest: adds an unexpected brightness to the dish, enhancing the overall taste experience.
Chicken Lasagna Instructions
There are three components to Chicken lasagna- the savory chicken filling, the ricotta mixture and the creamy white sauce, called Bechamel Sauce. All or any of these can be made ahead! You can make the chicken lasagna in stages, cutting down the workload on the day of your gathering.
Step one: Make the filling. In an extra large skillet saute chicken breast, mushrooms, onion and garlic with rosemary and chopped spinach. You could easily use leftover rotisserie chicken.
The filling is very adaptable as you will see from the recipe. I personally like adding mushrooms and spinach to the chicken. You could leave these out. Or, you could just as easily leave out the chicken and make this completely vegetarian by adding more mushrooms ( or other veggies) and spinach.
Step two: Make the Béchamel Sauce. In a medium pot, melt unsalted butter (or use olive oil) over med-low heat. Add all-purpose flour and stir for 2-3 minutes on med heat until flour is golden. Whisk in milk one cup at a time. Add rosemary and bring to a gentle simmer, do not leave it unattended, stirring constantly until thickened. Add salt, nutmeg and white pepper. Stir until incorporated, set aside.
Step 3: Make the ricotta mixture. Whisk ricotta cheese with an egg, lemon zest, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Set aside.
Step four: Assemble the Lasagna! Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish. Spread enough bechamel sauce to coat the bottom. Add the first layer of lasagna noodles, then top with half of the ricotta cheese mixture.
Add half of the chicken/mushroom/spinach filling. Top with mozzarella cheese, pecorino cheese and drizzle with bechamel sauce.
Repeat this one more time. Add noodles, remaining ricotta, remaining filling, mozzarella cheese, pecorino cheese, and a little bechamel sauce.
Top with the third and final layer of lasagna noodles. Pour the remaining bechamel sauce over the top. Add the remaining mozzarella and pecorino cheese. Sprinkle with a little more rosemary and place a layer of parchment paper over the lasagna, then cover tightly with foil, keeping the foil from touching the lasagna.
You can assemble it up to this point and refrigerate for 3 days, then bake (letting it come to room temp before baking) on the day of serving.
Step 4: Bake the Lasagna. Place in a 400 F oven, covered with parchment and foil, until heated through and bubbling, 30-40 minutes. Remove the foil and let bake uncovered until beautiful and golden, about 10 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Serving Suggestions
We love serving hearty main dishes like this creamy Chicken Lasagna with lighter, leafy green salads. Here are some that would pair well!
- Caesar Salad
- Pear Salad with Vanilla Fig Dressing
- Kale Salad
- Lemony Kale Slaw (Vegan)
- Kale Caesar Salad
- Garlic Bread
Storing Chicken Lasagna
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container or can be put in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Chicken Lasagna FAQS
- Can I make chicken lasagna ahead of time? Yes, you can make chicken lasagna ahead of time. You can prepare the filling, béchamel sauce, and ricotta mixture in advance and assemble the lasagna when you’re ready to bake it. You can also assemble the entire lasagna and refrigerate it for up to 3 days before baking.
- Can I freeze chicken lasagna? Yes, you can freeze chicken lasagna, either baked or unbaked. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, or transfer it to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before baking it according to the recipe instructions.
- Can I use a different type of cheese in chicken lasagna? Absolutely! While mozzarella, parmesan, and ricotta are commonly used in chicken lasagna, you can experiment with other types of cheese as well. Some options include cheddar, provolone, fontina, or even a blend of cheeses. Feel free to get creative and use your favorite cheeses.
- Can I make chicken lasagna vegetarian? Yes, you can easily adapt the chicken lasagna recipe to make it vegetarian. Simply omit the chicken and double or triple mushrooms or add other vegetables! To make this vegan, use vegan cheese and plant-based milk! Our vegan ricotta is good too!
- Can I substitute the lasagna noodles with something else? Yes, you can get creative with the noodles in chicken lasagna. If you’re looking for a lighter twist, you can use egg roll wrappers instead of traditional lasagna noodles. Or get gluten-free lasagna noodles.
More Lasagna recipes you may like!
Rosemary Chicken Lasagna Video
Chicken Lasagna Recipe
- Prep Time: 55 mins
- Cook Time: 55 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 mins
- Yield: 9
- Category: dinner, lasagna, chicken
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: italian
Description
A delicious recipe for creamy Chicken Lasagna with mushrooms, spinach and rosemary layered with a creamy bechamel sauce. Vegetarian-adaptable. See notes for making ahead.
Ingredients
Lasagna Filling:
- 1 1/4 lb chicken breast, cut into small bite-sized, 1/2-inch pieces ( see recipe notes for vegetarian) or use leftover rotisserie chicken.
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste
- 12 oz sliced mushrooms (optional- or replace with more chicken)
- 1 onion- diced
- 6 cloves garlic -chopped
- 1 tablespoons fresh rosemary- chopped ( or 2 teaspoons dried, or sub thyme or sage)
- 2–3 cups packed, chopped fresh spinach
Bechamel Sauce Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
- 3 cups whole milk (or use a plant-based milk)
- 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp white pepper or sub black pepper
Lasagna ingredients:
- Fresh lasagna noodles, 9 x par-boiled lasagna noodles (or try egg roll wrappers for an extra light version!)
- 12 oz fresh or grated mozzarella cheese
- 15 oz whole milk ricotta
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- Black pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/4 cup Parmesan, or Pecorino cheese grated
- Truffle oil– optional but amazing!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- If using dry pasta start your salted water to a boil, and par-cook the lasagna noodles to aldente.
- Make the Filling: (see notes for vegetarian) Cut chicken into 1/2 inch, bite-size pieces and season with 1 teaspoon salt and cracked pepper to taste. Saute in a skillet, on medium heat, with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil until golden brown, and cooked through. Place chicken in a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the pan and add a little more oil. Add mushrooms and onion and saute until tender, on med heat, about 7 min. Add garlic and rosemary, and saute 2 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper and lower heat to med-low, and saute until mushrooms release their liquid. Add chopped spinach, stir until wilted and add this to the chicken. Set aside.
- Make Bechamel Sauce: In a medium saucepan melt butter on medium-low heat. Add flour and stir for 2-3 minutes on med heat until flour is golden. Whisk in milk one cup at a time. Add rosemary and stir constantly ( do not walk away) until it just comes to a simmer- this will thicken it. Add salt, nutmeg and white pepper. Stir until incorporated, set aside.
- Make the ricotta mixture. Whisk ricotta cheese with an egg, lemon zest, pepper and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Assemble the Lasagna. Butter or grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Pour ¾ cup bechamel sauce in the bottom and spread out. Place one layer of lasagna noodles. Cover with half of the ricotta mixture, spreading it evenly. Top with half of the chicken/mushroom filling, sprinkle with one-third of the parmesan cheese, and one-third of the fresh mozzarella cheese. Drizzle with 1 cup of bechamel sauce, Repeat, adding another single layer of lasagna noodles, lightly pressing down. Spread out the remainder of the ricotta cheese mixture, top with the remainder of the chicken mushroom filling, another third of the mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese and drizzle with another cup of bechamel. (Optional: at this point, you could drizzle with a little truffle oil -it’s delicious). Top with the last layer of lasagna noodles and pour the remainder of the bechamel sauce, spreading evenly. Add the last of the cheeses, and sprinkle with a little rosemary.
- Bake covered tightly with parchment and foil in a 400F oven for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly. (Parchment prevents the foil from touching the lasagna which can leach aluminum. )Remove parchment and foil and bake uncovered until the top is golden, about 10-15 more minutes. Let rest from the oven 10-15 minutes before cutting, so it sets up.
- Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the fridge, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Make it ahead: An easy way to tackle this is to make it in stages. Make the filling ahead (and refrigerate for up to 3 days), and make the bechamel sauce ahead- that way, on the day of, you could simply mix the ricotta, boil the noodles, assemble and bake. You can also assemble the whole lasagna up to 3 days ahead. Let it come to room temp before baking.
Vegetarian: You can make this vegetarian by subbing mushrooms for the chicken. You will need 1 ½ -2 pounds total. You could also sub other sautéed veggies into the mix, or more spinach. Saute the mushrooms and onion, and when tender, add the garlic and rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Add chopped spinach and wilt.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/9th of a baking dish
- Calories: 461
- Sugar: 6.3 g
- Sodium: 936.9 mg
- Fat: 18.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.8 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 40.9 g
- Cholesterol: 101.8 mg
Your approach to lasagna idea is very special. Pictures are also beautiful. Rosemary chicken lasagna seems worth trying. Thanks for sharing.
This looks delicious and I love that pan!
Exactly what I was looking for and your blog looks lovely, can’t wait to poke around some more when I have the time 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Rachel
That looks absolutely amazing! Rosemary is definitely one of my favourite herbs. There are so many great flavours in here, but not none of them seem over-complicated or overpowered in any way! Fantastic photos and thanks for the recipe!
yes, but you could make a little extra filling so it doesn’t turn out so thin.
Just made this tonight, and it was amazing! I loved the idea of using egg roll wrappers, but unfortunately, I could not find them at the store, so I ended up using dry oven ready lasagna noodles instead. I was nervous about the dry noodles, but they actually worked really well! Also, I used the optional truffle oil, and the flavor combination with the rosemary and the mushrooms was to die for! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks Tyler- glad to hear dry pasta works well too. I love truffle oil in this as well!
This dinner was amazing! I used the wonton wrappers and really didn’t miss the pasta. My only substitution was that I used part-skim ricotta cheese and a mix of whole and 2% milk. My baking dish was a 9 x 13 so there was room around the lasagna before putting it in the oven but it will spread out a bit afterwards. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone looking for a different type of lasagna.
yay! glad you liked it. You could also make more filling if you like a thicker lasagna.
So I made this last night…AMAZING. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks…glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!!! My husband was sooooo impressed! I was too!!!!
I am so glad…thanks for letting me know!
Wow, where did you get that amazing lasagna pan? And also, what are the dimensions of it that works well for this dish?
I am making this tonight and can’t wait! Just out of curiosity, you list a pkg of egg roll wrappers…so how many sheets do you typically use for each layer?
Just one sheet …
I made this last night for my families Valentine’s dinner and it was OUTSTANDING! I didn’t use mushrooms (didn’t have any) but it was amazing!I do have 1 question for you though.Why is the sauce called béchamel when alfredo is made pretty much the same way?I’m very curious to what makes them different. :)Thank you for sharing! You posting this helped make my families Valentine’s even more wonderful!I’ll definitely will be making this recipe again!
Thanks for sharing. I used eggroll wrappers & it was absolutely delicious! Made for my family & they loved it! Can’t wait to make it for my extended family!
I made this last week and it was absolutely delicious! The step by step instructions were very clear to follow. It took me about 2 hours from start to finish including baking and cooling time. Also, my little grocery store sadly doesn’t carry egg roll wrappers so I used the dried flat lasagna pasta and that worked perfectly. Thank you for sharing this great recipe! Already can’t wait to make it again!
You had me at Rosemary Chicken but making it into a creamy cheesy lasagna….I cannot wait to try this one!
This looks absolutely amazing! Have to try it soon, thanks so much for the recipe!
What an amazing lasagna! Made it with homemade fresh pasta this weekend, and the results were spectacular! This one will go in my favorites box! Thanks! I also really love your blog, the photos are great, and the food just looks amazing. Will be trying some of your other recipes pretty soon!
Yay! thanks!
I made this recently as per the recipe above and loved it! I then made it again but did a few changesI added broccoli along with some mushrooms as I had a stack of broccoli. I then substituted basil for the rosemary as its my favourite herb. I also did it with spring roll wrappers instead of lasagne sheets. Everything else I left the same. It was so yum!
One more question! Do you know if I can make this then refrigerate for a few hours before I bake it? I just don’t want to mess up any of the deliciousness!
Yes, that would be fine!!
I may have commented twice… apologies if this is a repeat. I notice the bottom of the lasagna got a bit too crunchy with the eggroll wrappers. Any suggestions to avoid? Btw, was overall very tasty. I will have to try it with the pasta sheets. And the bechamel with the mozz was glorious.
Overall I thought the recipe was tasty but the bottom of my lasagna (egg roll wrappers) got a little too crunchy. Any advice on how to avoid? maybe put the rack higher in the oven? Thanks for sharing the recipe. i’ll have to try it with pasta sheets next time.
Hummm. I’m so sorry about that. I wonder why that happened. Perhaps a little more sauce on the bottom and turn your oven temp 25 degrees lower? I have been learning about ovens lately and how they differ so greatly, sometimes making it hard to gauge the right temp. Do you have an electric oven/ or gas? If electric, then yes, maybe a higher rack would help too. I use a gas oven, and I use an oven thermometer. It takes a minimum of 35 minutes of preheating to get the temp stable, otherwise it vacillates between 450 and 350, which could greatly affect a recipe. Anyways, let me know how it turns out if you try it again. Thanks!
Hello,Thank you for the suggestions. My oven is quite temperamental and I really do need an oven thermometer to hang inside. I will try to lower the degrees and maybe raise the rack. Will definitely make this again. Thank you again for sharing!
Hi! Making this Saturday for my hubby as a “welcome home” meal. Do you think I could substitute a regular onion instead of a red one? Or a shallot? I already have those, so I was just curious. But if a red onion gives it a specific flavor, I’m happy to use that!
Hi Jessica….any onion would work just fine. 🙂
Hi, I’m from the UK and was wondering if you might be able to explain what egg roll wrappers are. Are they the same as spring roll wrappers? This looks like a delicious recipe and I’m tempted by the apparent “lightness” of it (and would most likely eat more as a result too!) The photos are beautiful and tummy-rumble-inducing!
Hi there…and thanks for reading. Egg roll wrappers are very different than spring roll wrappers. Egg roll wrappers are found in the refrigerated section of a supermarket and are made with flour. Spring roll wrappers are made from rice and are dry, round disks, sometimes referred to as “rice paper”, and are unrefrigerated. Make sure to sure egg roll wrappers for this recipe. 🙂
Hi there,
Found this recipe on Pinterest and it sounds wonderful! I really like rice paper and it got me to wondering if I could use that in lieu of the egg roll wrappers. Hmmm…they might just disintegrate… Any thoughts on that?
What a fantastic idea….it’s worth a try! Maybe try with two layers? Or, if you are looking for a gluten free option, I have used thin slices of zucchini as the “pasta”. Good luck and let me know how it turns out if you do try it with rice paper.
Hi Sylvia! Found your blog recently through this pin on Pinterest. I made this lasagna last night for a dinner party, and it was a huge hit. I wrote about it on my blog (http://thirdandpatterson.blogspot.com/) today with a link back to yours. Thanks so much for your lovely recipes!
What a lovely post…thank you so much!