This chicken sausage and mushroom lasagna has got to be one of the easiest, most delicious weeknight dinners you will ever make!! Holy flavor party going on in this dish! The secret ingredient that makes this recipe so simple is the no boil lasagna noodles. Have you ever used them before? If not, you have got to add them to your next grocery list because your life is about to change! Literally! I think people are usually afraid of lasagna because they fear that it’s too time consuming. Well, I promise you, this dish is not. I get asked to make it by friends and family all the time and I can’t say no because it’s just too easy! So, let me just take a few minutes to explain.
Another secret ingredient is the sweet Italian chicken sausage. Using sausage is a game changer in the flavor department but so are fresh herbs but we’ll get to that in a second. Start by removing the sausage from the casings and browning it up in a skillet then set it aside because it’s going to be added into the sauce. This is a time saving move.
In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, egg, oregano, fresh basil, flat leaf parsley, parmesan and salt and pepper. Stir it up and set it aside for the assembly process.
Then you can cook up the mushrooms, onion and garlic in a large saute pan. I say large because you are going to be adding the sauce and sausage into this pan to make a delicious meaty sauce. We don’t even use a homemade sauce for this recipe. We absolutely love homemade sauce but we don’t always have time for it. There are lots of delicious, clean marinara sauces available these days. Just pick your favorite.
Once the mushroom mixture is cooked, add the sausage and the sauce to your pan and stir to combine. Now you are ready for the layering process.
Spoon a little of the sauce onto the bottom of a 9×13 pan. This ensures that the pasta doesn’t stick to the pan and adds more flavor as well. Then put down a layer of the noodles followed by a layer of the ricotta mixture, then the sauce, then sprinkle the shredded cheese and repeat. Noodles, ricotta, sauce, cheese, etc. Your last layer will be noodles, sauce, then shredded cheese. No ricotta on the top layer.
Pop into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is deliciously bubbly and golden brown. You are gonna love the way your kitchen smells when this is baking. Oh yum!!!
Once it’s done, ring the dinner bell and the people will come running!! For an easy side, this would pair perfectly with our simple lemon kale salad
- 1 pound sweet Italian chicken sausage - casings removed
- ½ yellow onion- diced
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon good quality olive oil
- 1 large jar of marinara sauce (we use Victoria White Linen 40oz jar from Costco)
- 1 8oz. package sliced mushrooms - chopped
- 1 9oz. package oven ready lasagna noodles - no pre-boiling required
- 1 15oz. container ricotta cheese
- 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (or shredded mozarella)
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf italian parsley
- kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
- Heat a large stock pot or saute pan over medium-high heat and cook sausage until golden brown. Break sausage up into small pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula while cooking. Once cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
- Add olive oil to pan and allow to heat up. Add onions and saute for 2-3 minutes then add in the mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute another minute, add sauce and stir sausage back into mixture to combine. Remove from heat and set aside
- In a medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, egg, basil, parsley, oregano, parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.
- To Assemble Lasagna:
- In an 9x13 pan, cover bottom of pan with a thin layer of the sauce.
- Lay lasagna noodles in a single layer over sauce.
- Cover noodles with a layer of the ricotta mixture then spoon sauce mixture over ricotta layer.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese over sauce then add another layer of noodles, ricotta, sauce and cheese.