- You have to try this chicken lasagna. It'll change the way
you make your lasagna. (upbeat music) Hey, everybody. It's Natasha from
NatashasKitchen.com, and today, I'm gonna show you how to make a creamy, white sauce chicken lasagna. It is so decadent, super cheesy, and it's just incredibly good. And to make it easy, we are using a rotisserie chicken. Oh, thank you. - You're welcome. - Using a rotisserie chicken is so easy. It's already pre-cooked chicken. You can cook your own chicken breast or even use drained, canned chicken. All of those work. So let's do this. Oh, so let's do this. (fingers drumming) (bell chimes) We're gonna start by shredding
four cups of cooked chicken. I am using a rotisserie chicken, which makes this process
so easy, but if you prefer, you can also cook two pounds
of chicken breast and shred it. Shred the meat into
small bite-sized pieces, so it can easily absorb the sauce. And if you want to cook
your own rotisserie chicken, I have a great recipe for one, and I will link to it in the notes. Set the chicken aside, and now we're gonna do some
quick prep of our spinach. We're using a five-ounce
package of baby spinach leaves, and this seems like a lot of spinach, but once it's softened, it
disappears into the sauce. Adding spinach is also a
great way to add some veggies, making this a chicken
and vegetable lasagna. And you can get creative. If you want to add even
more vegetables to this, feel free to add some cooked broccoli, carrots, or even zucchini. Now chop one onion, and you can use a white,
yellow, or a sweet onion, and it may seem like a lot of onion, but again, it disappears into the sauce. Also, mince three garlic cloves, because you can't have a
lasagna without garlic. You'll need to cook nine lasagna noodles. And I do add a couple extra,
just in case any of them break. Bring a large pot of
well-salted water to a boil and cook the noodles
until they're al dente according to the package instructions. Al dente means that the noodles
should be firm to the bite. You don't want to overcook your noodles. We are still baking the lasagna, and the noodles will continue to soak up some of that great sauce and soften up. Here's our best tip for
keeping lasagna noodles from sticking together. Once you've drained the noodles, add cold water right into the same pot. This will stop the cooking process and keep the noodles
from sticking together. Now we're going to make
the easy spinach sauce, which is also called bechamel sauce. Place a large pot or a
Dutch oven over medium heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil. Add the chopped onion and
saute for three to four minutes or until they're softened. Now we're going to create a
roux to thick in this mixture. Add four tablespoons of unsalted butter and stir in one-third cup of flour. Continue stirring that until
the flour is lightly golden, or about three minutes. Stir in two and a half
cups of chicken broth and one and a half cups of half and half. If you don't have half and half on hand, you can use equal parts
of heavy cream and milk. Season the sauce with
two teaspoons of sea salt and half a teaspoon of black
pepper, or season to taste. Stir until smooth, and
let it come to a simmer. You want to simmer it for a few minutes, or until it's thickened to
a light gravy consistency. Now stir in your three garlic cloves and your chopped fresh spinach. Stir to combine and take it off the heat as soon as the spinach is wilted. This happens fast. This is a great time to add
more salt to taste if needed, making sure that you have
a well-seasoned sauce. Set that aside to cool slightly, and we're gonna go on to make
our ricotta cheese sauce. In a medium bowl, combine
15 ounces of ricotta cheese, two cups of mozzarella cheese,
keeping one cup for the top. Then one fourth cup of Parmesan cheese. Crack in one large egg and add one-fourth cup
of chopped fresh parsley. There's no cooking
required with this sauce. Just stir it up until it's well combined. All right, we have every part of this
chicken lasagna prepped, and we're ready to assemble. I have my oven preheating
to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and I'm using a nine-by-13 casserole dish. Spread some of the spinach sauce
over the bottom of your pan to keep the noodles from sticking. Now add three drained lasagna noodles. Because we had the noodles
sitting in cold water, they're really easy to work with, and you shouldn't have any issues with them sticking together. Depending on the size and shape of your lasagna casserole dish, you may have to overlap
some of the noodles. Spread half of the ricotta
mixture over the noodles. We've found it's easier to spoon it on and then spread it over the noodles, since this cheese sauce is thicker. Top that with half of
your shredded chicken. Now, over that shredded chicken, we're gonna ladle one
third of the spinach sauce. It feels like a generous amount, but you really want the chicken
to absorb some of the sauce to become super tender and delicious. Now, we'll repeat the process. Add three more drained noodles. Now, spread on the remaining
one-half of ricotta sauce. Then sprinkle on the remaining
two cups of shredded chicken. Now, cover your chicken with
one-third of the spinach sauce. I like to make sure that sauce
goes all the way to the edges to ensure that the chicken is well-coated. Add your last three lasagna noodles and pour the remaining spinach
sauce evenly over the top. Make sure you get every last drop because this sauce is so good and ensures that this chicken
lasagna reheats really well. And last but not least, because every lasagna
needs a great cheese crust, sprinkle on the reserved one cup of shredded mozzarella cheese. We're gonna cover this with foil and bake. And to make sure that the cheese
doesn't stick to the foil, here's a quick tip. Poke about 10 to 12 toothpicks
into the top of your lasagna, and this will keep the
foil off the cheese. Cover the casserole with
a large sheet of foil, sealing tightly at the edges. I love having this extra wide foil, but if you have smaller sheets, you can seal two pieces of foil together to make one large sheet. Now, we're going to bake
this covered with foil at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Let's go in the oven. When you uncover, the lasagna
cheese should be melted, and you should see bubbling at the edges. Once it's uncovered, I like to broil on high heat
for two to three minutes, just to brown the cheese. This creates an irresistible crust. Oh ho ho, oh my goodness. I am so excited for this. But once it comes out of the oven, you do want to let it
rest about 30 minutes, so you don't burn your mouth, and it'll give that cheese
sauce a chance to set. So we'll be back. All right. I have been waiting very impatiently, and it is time for the taste test. Are you ready? Are you ready? I'm ready. But before we serve, I always love to garnish with
a little bit of fresh parsley. Oh, it just adds that great
pop of color and flavor. If you've been watching
my channel for very long, you know how much I love to garnish, and if you're reheating something, it's just a brilliant thing to do. Add a little bit of fresh garnish, and it makes it look fresh. Why not? Okay. We're gonna dive right into this. I'm gonna slice this up 'cause I'm hungry, and we're doing big portions. All right. Let's get this cheesy slice on my plate. If you serve when it's still warm, you get that gorgeous cheese pull. Look at this. Ho, ho, ho, ho! That's what I'm talking about. Cheesy, creamy, silky, delicious. This is so good. Okay. Here we go. My mouth is totally
watering for this right now. Okay. Let's do this. Okay. And I love how that chicken
becomes super tender because it's soaks up some
of that spinach sauce. Hoo, hoo, hoo. This is so good. Seriously, this probably will become your new favorite lasagna. It's such a treat. Okay, here we go. (laughs) Mmm. Mmm. Wow. This is the ultimate pasta casserole. It reheats really well. You can make it ahead. Everyone in our family loves
this, especially the kids. They just go crazy for this. I don't know if it's the
chicken or the cheese or what it is, but this is
definitely a family favorite. I can't wait to eat the rest of that. Because it reheats really well, it's perfect for to-go lunches, good for Sunday lunches,
if you can make it ahead. Seriously, you guys,
you can't not make this. Oh, I love that tender
chicken, plump noodles, silky, creamy sauce, and there's like three
cheeses in there, four? A lot of cheese. It's so good. You make this once and
you'll make it over and over. I'm gonna go eat this. I will see you in our next video. Bye.
