What Is Bolognese?
There’s nothing more classic than a good lasagna alla bolognese. Bolognese sauce, which is also known as ragu, is simply an Italian meat-based sauce. That’s what I’ve done here, after all this lasagna is all about the meat sauce! While beef is traditionally used for bolognese, I decided to make it a bit healthier and use chicken. You could use ground turkey or even ground pork, it’s totally up to you. I also added some pancetta because we all know that bacon makes the world go round! Then of course, as any good meat sauce, it’s loaded with onion, celery, carrots, lots of garlic and basil. As you probably already know the secret to a good sauce is to let it simmer on low heat for a while. For the sake of speeding this recipe up a bit, I simmered it for 20 minutes and it was still delicious.
How to Make Chicken Bolognese Sauce
The sauce is about the hardest thing about this chicken lasagna recipe, and that’s saying a lot! First you’ll heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and pancetta, and cook until the onions soften. Now add the chicken, break it up into pieces, and cook until you can’t see any more pink. Mix in the oregano, chili flakes, tomato paste, then the wine and fresh basil. Let this cook for a few minutes so that the alcohol can burn off. Now you can pour the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes in and let all those amazing flavors simmer for 20 minutes!
How to Assemble Chicken Lasagna Alla Bolognese
The rest of this recipe is a piece of cake! Let the layering begin:
Sauce Noodles Sauce Cheese mixture Noodles Sauce Cheese mixture Noodles Sauce Cheese mixture Remaining mozarella
I actually use uncooked lasagna noodles for this recipe. I discovered this a while ago and let me tell you- it works! This is what I used to hate about making lasagna before is that I had to boil the noodles, making me extra dirty pots to clean. No thank you. You can use dry noodles straight out of the package! They will cook up with all that delicious sauce in your lasagna. After you layer your lasagna, all that’s left to do is bake it. If you use the dry noodles it will take about an hour to cook fully. If you use the fresh ones, it will take about 40 minutes. That’s all there is to this classic lasagna. Now it’s time to eat!
How to Store Chicken Lasagna Bolognese
Lasagna can be a messy job, so if you have more than half of this lasagna leftover, keep it right in the baking dish. Let the lasagna cool down to room temperature, then cover the dish well with plastic wrap or foil. It will last in the fridge for 3-5 days.
How to Freeze and Reheat Chicken Lasagna Alla Bolognese
This is such a great dinner to make ahead of time! You can freeze it cooked or uncooked. If you cook it first, make sure it has time to cool down to room temperature completely before storing it in the freezer. Cover it tightly with foil, and pop it in the freezer. It will last in there for 2-3 months. To reheat the lasagna, preheat your oven to 400F. Keep the foil over the baking dish and cook the lasagna for 1.5 hours. Remove the foil, and bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese begins to bubble and brown.
More Great Lasagna Recipes To Try
Taco LasagnaBuffalo Chicken LasagnaEasy Beef LasagnaSkillet LasagnaInstant Pot LasagnaZucchini LasagnaLasagna DipPastitsio (Greek Lasagna)Lasagna Roll-upsOne Pot Hamburger Helper LasagnaLasagna Soup
