In the battle between white sauce lasagna and red sauce lasagna, I am a firm believer in calling it a tie. Why should anyone have to choose between two so incredible dishes that are sure to please almost anyone? One of my favorite menus for a casual dinner gathering is making one of each. There’s plenty of food to please a crowd, and everyone can have a bit of each. They’re both so wonderful in their own ways, but truth be told, I have a soft spot in my heart for this Spinach and Chicken White Lasagna. I have requested it for countless birthday meals, and now that I’m old and I make my own birthday meals, I still love it.
This version is inspired by a recipe from a school cookbook that my Mom had while I was growing up. Over the years I have made a few changes to suit my tastes and preferences, but overall it is still that familiar, creamy, rich white lasagna that tastes like home and made me enjoy spinach for the first time.
This is truly a from-scratch recipe (aside from the noodles, although I do love homemade pasta).
The sauce is from scratch, but is not difficult to prepare. If you’ve never made your own cream sauces before, please do give it a try. It is one of the best kitchen skills you can have for whipping up an easy meal on the fly, plus you get to control everything that goes into it…unlike the sauces from a jar.
The chicken stock is also homemade, but you can substitute good quality store-bought if you would like. Making your own homemade chicken stock is not at all difficult, and makes great use of the scraps when cooking the bone-in chicken breasts for this recipe. Bone-in chicken breasts are much tastier, juicier, and less expensive than the boneless skinless chicken breasts at the store. It’s a win-win.
I like to use small-curd cottage cheese in this recipe, but I prefer the texture after it is pulsed in a food processor so it is smooth. That is a completely optional step. You could also substitute ricotta instead of the cottage cheese, but I like the subtle tang that the cottage cheese brings.
Please do not use nonfat dairy products in this recipe. You’ll thank me later when your sauce is not weird, watery, and running all over the place. This is not the recipe to try and do a lightened-up version. The quality, texture, and flavor will suffer greatly.
To Make Your Own Chicken Stock for this recipe:
The day before (or morning of) serving the lasagna-
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, foil, or a Silpat baking liner.
Rub 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast in oven until cooked through (firm to the touch, no pink remains, and center reaches 165 degrees F.)
Let rest a few minutes until cool enough to handle. Remove and discard skin. Remove the meat from the bones. Cover and refrigerate the breast meat until ready to use in the lasagna.
Add all bones and scraps of meat to a large pot. Toss in an onion, a couple of carrots, a stalk or two of celery, a bay leaf, and some salt and pepper. Add about 6-8 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and continue simmering until liquid has reduced by nearly half. You will need about 2-3 cups of finished broth. Pour through a strainer and discard vegetables and bones.
Set stock aside to use in the sauce. (Leftover stock freezes really well. I make some every time I roast chicken breasts and then just freeze it for later use.)
PrintSpinach Chicken Lasagna
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- ½ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 2 cups milk (not skim)
- 2-3 cups homemade chicken stock (see above for recipe)
- 8 ounces low-moisture mozzarella, freshly grated (about 2 cups)
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 3-4 fresh Basil leaves, finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 package oven-ready lasagna noodles
- 2 cups small-curd cottage cheese (not nonfat), pulsed in food processor until smooth
- 4 cooked chicken breasts, shredded
- 2 large bunches fresh spinach, blanched and drained OR two 10-ounce packages frozen spinach thawed and drained
- Additional ½ cup Parmesan for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat butter in a large saucepan until melted. Add onion and saute until translucent, but not browned.
- Add flour, salt, and garlic. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until bubbling. Continue stirring while gradually pouring in the milk and chicken stock. Heat to boiling, stirring frequently.
- Let mixture boil for 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add mozzarella, ½ cup Parmesan, basil, oregano, pepper, and salt to taste. Continue cooking over low heat until cheese is melted. Remove from heat.
- Spread ¼ of cheese sauce into an ungreased 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Top with a layer of uncooked noodles. Spread ½ of the cottage cheese over the noodles, then repeat another ¼ of cheese sauce on top of cottage cheese.
- Repeat with a second layer of noodles, followed by remaining cottage cheese. Arrange chicken on top of cottage cheese, followed by spinach, and then another ¼ of the cheese sauce.
- Arrange a third and final layer of noodles, followed by remaining cheese sauce. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup Parmesan.
- Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes until bubbling and top is lightly browned.
- Let rest 10-15 minutes prior to serving. (Sauce will be much too runny and messy if not allowed to rest before slicing.)
Abbi
Sounds delicious. Pinning it now to try!
CakePants
As I was reading this, I realized that I've actually never had white lasagna - at least, not that I can remember! I'll have to try this - it looks truly fantastic!
Tina Sarber
Manders I think this (as with all of your delicious recipes) is worthy of Rosie! I think this will be dinner this weekend! Love love love your bog!! :)