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
Units
Scale
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
