This White Chicken Lasagna consists of layers of hearty noodles, creamy white sauce, chunks of chicken, and loads of cheese. This easy dish is classic comfort food. It makes a great weeknight dinner, freezes well, and reheats wonderfully.
There are several steps involved to assemble this recipe, but to speed up your prep time, use rotisserie chicken or Instant Pot Chicken Breast for this dish and/or use leftover Alfredo Sauce.
On your meal prep days, make individual servings of this white chicken lasagna recipe, along with a batch of freezer chicken pot pie and stock up your freezer!
Enjoy this recipe as is or paired with Pull Apart Garlic Bread or Easy Italian Salad for a full meal!
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Why You’ll Love White Chicken Lasagna
- It is the ultimate comfort food for a midweek meal that can serve a large family or social gathering.
- This chicken lasagna consists of pantry-staple ingredients – perfect as a budget-friendly dish.
🧀 Ingredients:
- Traditional Lasagna noodles – or Gluten-free noodles could be used for dietary allergies. The lasagna noodles are cooked until al dente before adding to the rest of the ingredients.
- Butter – I’ve used salted butter but you could use unsalted butter to reduce the sodium in this dish.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is a good option to use, otherwise consider gluten-free or plant-based flour. The flour is used to thicken the roux or white sauce.
- Black pepper, sea salt, onion powder, and garlic powder – To season the white sauce.
- Whole milk – You could also use low-fat milk but whole milk does add better flavor to the white sauce. Heavy cream is another option. The fats in whole milk or cream help to hold the sauce together and provide an excellent base for melting the cheese. Lower-fat dairy can separate or curdle more easily.
- Cream cheese – Sliced to melt more evenly into the sauce. Use room-temperature cream cheese.
- Jack cheese and mozzarella cheese – Freshly shredded cheese will melt best. Manufacturers add a coating to pre-grated cheeses which prevents them from melting smoothly.
- Baby spinach leaves – Fresh spinach is best to use
- Ricotta
- Egg – Lightly beaten – the egg helps to bind the ricotta and cheeses together for the creamy layer.
- Parsley – Dried or fresh. This can be mixed into the roux for some color and flavor or you can garnish the finished lasagna with some fresh parsley after it has come out of the oven.
- Cooked chicken – Diced or shredded – I like to use a store-bought rotisserie chicken from Costco that has already been pulled from the bones and packaged. You can also cook fresh chicken breasts and once cooled, shred them yourself.
For a full list of ingredients and their measurements, 📋 please view my printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Substitutions and Variations
- Make this white chicken lasagna recipe gluten-free by using gluten-free noodles and gluten-free flour in white sauce.
- Use leftover cooked turkey instead of chicken. You can also make this lasagna with ground beef or Italian sausage but then you will need to brown them and drain excess grease.
- Use kale instead of fresh baby spinach leaves in the white sauce.
- I’ve used Jack cheese and mozzarella cheese in this dish but you can swap this out for parmesan cheese or your favorite cheese blends.
- Add other ingredients to this creamy chicken lasagna recipe such as mushrooms.
- Give this lasagna a kick of heat by adding red pepper flakes to the seasoning of the white sauce.
🔪 Instructions:
PREP: Boil lasagna noodles a large pot of water with salt until they reach al dente (follow the package directions to cook), drain, and set aside.
Step 1: In a saucepan or large skillet, melt butter together with the spices and flour for 1-2 minutes until browned and bubbly.
Step 2: Whisk the mixture while slowly pouring the milk into the pan on medium heat until the mixture reaches a low boil (about 6-8 minutes).
Step 3: Add the cream cheese and ½ cup of the shredded Jack cheese over medium heat and continue to cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is well combined.
Step 4: Remove from the heat. Stir in the baby spinach leaves into the sauce mixture and set aside.
Step 5: In a separate bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, parsley, and another ½ cup of shredded cheese.
Step 6: ASSEMBLE THE LASAGNA: Add a thin layer of the white sauce to the bottom of the glass casserole baking dish, followed by a layer of lasagna noodles. Add half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Next spread half of the chicken over the ricotta mixture. Spoon about ⅓ of the remaining white sauce over the chicken and cover with 1 cup each of mozzarella and Jack cheese. Continue with another layer of noodles, followed by the remaining ricotta cheese, the remaining chicken, and another cup of mozzarella and Jack cheese.
Step 7: Bake the assembled lasagna for 30-35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is browned. Remove from the oven and garnish with parsley.
GARNISH/SLICE/SERVE: Garnish with fresh parsley or basil on top just before serving.
Recipe Tips for White Lasagna Chicken
- The roux (which is cooking the flour and butter together) adds flavor and thickens the milk to make the white sauce. It’ll also provide a good base for the cheese to melt so that you don’t end up with a stringy gloppy texture and appearance.
- Since the heat from the cream sauce softens the spinach, there’s no need to further cook the spinach. In fact, overcooked spinach can develop a chalky taste which is the last thing you want. While 4-5 cups of spinach may seem like a lot, it does wilt down substantially.
- You do have the option of adding onions and garlic to the roux instead of the powder form. I prefer the powder form since it’s quick and easy, especially since there’s quite a bit to be done before the lasagna bakes. If you opt to use raw ingredients instead, sauté the onion (1 cup diced small) and garlic (2-3 cloves, minced) in the butter before adding the flour, salt, and pepper.
- You can use a different cheese like parmesan or add parmesan as an additional cheese for extra flavor.
Fun Fact
The term “lasagna” in Italian originally referred to a pot that cooked and carried the food and not the food itself. The earliest recorded lasagna recipes date as far back as the thirteenth century.
Recipe FAQs
This White Chicken Spinach Lasagna can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days once completely cooled from baking. This applies to leftovers or when baking it ahead of time to serve the following day.
To reheat, simply pop it back in the oven for 15 minutes or until heated throughout. Some people like to add 1-2 teaspoons of water on the top of the lasagna and cover it with aluminum foil as a way to prevent the lasagna from drying out when reheated.
There are quite a few differing opinions about freezing lasagna. It also depends on whether you intend freezing baked or unbaked lasagna.
My suggestion would be to freeze unbaked lasagna since it will hold up better during the freezing and thawing process than cooked pasta. Cooked pasta that’s been frozen for any length of time can become soggy after thawing and the texture just isn’t the same.
Whichever method you choose, you can store your lasagna in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator when ready to reheat or bake.
Yes, you can! You can fully assemble your Chicken Lasagna the night before or even up to 4 days prior to serving and then bake it when you intend to serve it.
Once your White Lasagna is assembled, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator (unbaked). You can assemble it with the grated cheese topping but I prefer to add the cheese just before baking since plastic wrap can lift a lot off and makes a mess. In addition to this, I prefer adding freshly grated cheese for the best taste.
If you tried this creamy White Chicken Lasagna or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you liked it in the 📝 comments below.
White Chicken Lasagna
Ingredients
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 tablespoons flour
- ¾ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 4 ½ cups whole milk
- 8 oz. block cream cheese sliced
- 4 cups shredded jack cheese divided
- 4-5 cups baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup ricotta
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- ½ teaspoon parsley dried or fresh
- 2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Cook the lasagna noodles in salted water until they reach al dente (follow the package instructions to cook). Drain and set aside.
- In a 4 quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the flour, pepper, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to the melted butter and cook for 1-2 minutes until mixture is browned and bubbly.
- Whisk the mixture while slowly pouring in milk until smooth and combined. Continue cooking over medium heat until mixture reaches a low boil and begins to thicken (6-8 minutes).
- Add cream cheese and ½ cup shredded jack cheese to the white sauce. Stir, still cooking over medium heat, until cheese is melted and sauce is thoroughly combined. Remove from heat.
- Stir the spinach leaves into the white sauce and set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, parsley, and another ½ cup of jack cheese.
- In a greased 9”x13” glass baking dish, spoon a bit of the sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Place three lasagna noodles side by side into the pan. Spread ½ of the ricotta mixture over the noodles and top with ½ of the chicken. Spoon ⅓ of the sauce over the chicken and ricotta and top with 1 cup each of mozzarella and jack cheese.
- Place another layer of noodles, the remaining ricotta, the remaining chicken, and another cup of both mozzarella and jack cheese.
- Top with the remaining noodles, the remaining sauce, and finally, with the remaining cheeses.
- Bake lasagna for 30-35 minutes or until sauce is bubbling up and cheese is melted and beginning to brown.
- Remove from oven and garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.
Notes
- The roux (which is cooking the flour and butter together) adds flavor and thickens the milk to make the white sauce. It’ll also provide a good base for the cheese to melt so that you don’t end up with a stringy gloppy texture and appearance.
- Since the heat from the cream sauce softens the spinach, there’s no need to further cook the spinach. In fact, overcooked spinach can develop a chalky taste which is the last thing you want. While 4-5 cups of spinach may seem like a lot, it does wilt down substantially.
- You do have the option of adding onions and garlic to the roux instead of the powder form. I prefer the powder form since it’s quick and easy, especially since there’s quite a bit to be done before the lasagna bakes. If you opt to use raw ingredients instead, sauté the onion (1 cup diced small) and garlic (2-3 cloves, minced) in the butter before adding the flour, salt, and pepper.
- You can use a different cheese like parmesan or add parmesan as an additional cheese for extra flavor.
Nutrition
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