Easy Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna Recipe
This Broccoli and Chicken Lasagna recipe a delicious combination of flavors and textures. It has cheesy creaminess, savory chicken, earthy broccoli, and the comforting notes of Italian herbs coming together in each bite. This is a great option to make ahead for an easy weeknight family dinner!
Servings 6 servings
Ingredients
Chicken Mixture
- 1 lb Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless (cooked and shredded)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons Dried Oregano
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Italian Parsley (divided for filling and top of lasagna)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for roasting chicken)
- 6 ounces Cream cheese, softened
- 12 ounces Shredded Mozzarella (divided for filling and top of lasagna)
White Sauce
- ½ cup Butter salted or unsalted
- ½ cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 cups 1% milk skim 2% or whole will work
- 1 ½ cups Chicken Broth or stock
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Other Lasagna Ingredients
- 16-18 Lasagna Noodles, No-Boil
- 2-3 cups Broccoli florets
- ½ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
Instructions
Prep-Ahead Steps
- Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees. Cut the chicken breasts into 2-3 pieces each for quicker cooking. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and place on an oiled sheet pan. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until internal temperature reaches 165 F using a meat thermometer. Once cool enough to handle, shred the chicken.
- While the chicken is roasting, mince the garlic and chop the parsley.
- Add the shredded chicken to a large bowl with the softened cream cheese, minced garlic, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper. Mix to combine. Then, stir in half (6oz) of the mozzarella. Set aside off the heat until ready to the assemble.
- Prepare the broccoli by cutting florets into small bite-size pieces (see post for image references). You will need 2-3 cups depending on how much broccoli you like. NOTE: the smaller the broccoli pieces, the more they will easily cook and blend into the rest of the lasagna.
- Make the White Sauce. First, warm the milk slightly in the microwave or in a pot. Preheat a separate medium sauce pot on medium-low heat and add the butter. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the flour and let it cook for 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk until fully combined into a smooth thick mixture. Slowly whisk in the broth. Stir in the salt and remove from the heat.
Assemble and Cook the Lasagna
- Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees.
- Before you start to assemble, make sure that your lasagna noodles are ready. If they are no-boil noodles, you are set. Otherwise, you need to par-cook them in boiling water for just a few minutes so they are pliable.
- Layer 1 – Start by spooning a thin layer of the white sauce onto the bottom, just so the pasta sheets don’t stick to the bottom. Then add the first layer of lasagna noodles. Layer white sauce over the noodles and then top with HALF of the chicken mixture. Next, top with a layer of ⅓ of the broccoli florets, more white sauce, and sprinkle ⅓ of the parmesan cheese.
- Layer 2 – Repeat – Add a layer of noodles, white sauce, the remaining half of the chicken mixture, a layer of ⅓ of the broccoli florets, more white sauce, and another ⅓ of parmesan. Layer 3 - Add a final layer of lasagna noodles, the remaining sauce, the remaining broccoli, the remaining mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and parsley on top.
- Cover your lasagna with aluminum foil and then bake on the center rack for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, I turn the broiler on to get a nice browned top. Let rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
- You can substitute ground chicken or ground turkey in this recipe. You will cook the ground poultry in a large skillet with olive oil over high heat until completely cooked through and nicely browned. Then follow the instructions for mixing in the rest of the chicken filling ingredients.
- You can freeze your fully assembled lasagna either cooked or uncooked. If you freeze it uncooked, you will want to thaw it in the fridge for 24 hours before baking it. If it is fully thawed through to the center.
