Quick and Easy Creamy Chicken Pesto Lasagna

Indulge in a delicious twist on traditional lasagna with this easy and flavorful Chicken Pesto Lasagna recipe. Follow along with our step-by-step instructions and impress your family and friends with this tasty dish.

We layer lasagna noodles with a homemade creamy béchamel sauce, fresh pesto sauce, chunks of juicy rotisserie chicken and cheese, glorious cheese! It can be made in about an hour and it is a recipe perfect for spring!

Back when we lived in Utah County, there was a great little Italian restaurant (Màstra for the locals, SO GOOD!) with a delicious pesto lasagna. I have thought of how wonderful the lasagna was for over two years now, and while I couldn’t remember all the details about it, I knew I could create a simple lasagna recipe that our fans would fall in love with. I just had no idea it would actually become my favorite recipe thus far in 2024.

Tips for the Best Pesto Lasagna

It is so easy to make and so delicious! I think a few things make a difference… first, go ahead and use shredded chicken breast meat from a rotisserie chicken. I buy mine at Costco and divide it up into freezer bags using our food saver. It makes meals like this easy chicken lasagna a cinch and it’s far more tender and flavorful.

Second, I prefer to make my own béchamel sauce as it’s so darn easy, but if you really want to hurry you can just use Alfredo sauce. Rao’s makes a good one. In fact, did you know you could use evaporated milk and extra salt, pepper and Parmesan if you need to stretch it out even more? Half and half, milk, and heavy creamy would work as well.

Lastly, homemade pesto is always more fresh and vibrant but again, Costco or Harmons in Utah make fantastic pesto that pulls things together in a jiffy. While it’s not shown in the photo, I love to toast pine nuts to sprinkle on top and maybe a little Aleppo pepper flakes too. Totally up to you, but in less than an hour you’ve got dinner with such a small amount of work.

Ingredients Pesto Chicken Lasagna

The ingredients list includes a few pantry friendly ingredients to make the béchamel sauce and then a few more ingredients to assemble all the delicious lasagna layers. Here is what you will need:

For the Béchamel Sauce

• Unsalted Butter: if you only have salted butter, just omit the salt from the sauce
• Flour: just regular all purpose flour works the best
• Heavy Cream: makes the sauce extra rich and creamy
• Salt: adds flavor
• Pepper: adds flavor and a tiny bit of heat
• Nutmeg: adds flavor

My Favorite Lasagna Recipe

We have been long overdue for an update to this hearty meat lasagna recipe! I have been working on making it the BEST classic lasagna recipe ever, and this is finally it!

We layer this lasagna with our authentic bolognese meat sauce, a creamy bechamel sauce and 2 types of cheese all tucked between layers of lasagna noodles. You’re absolutely going to love this easy lasagna recipe!

It was 2009 when I first posted this recipe…2009…15 years! SO much has changed since then…we’ve expanded our family. We’ve moved (three times). We’ve progressed from toddlers and tantrums to teenagers and still tantrums 🤪. It seems natural that this lasagna recipe should change a little too. It’s now better and bolder and everything a homemade lasagna should be.

Ingredients for Hearty Meat Lasagna

I’m going to divide up the ingredients list between the three different parts of this recipe – the meat sauce, the bechamel sauce and the items needed to assemble the lasagna. Here is what you will need:

Meat Bolognese Sauce

• Butter and Olive Oil
• Vegetables: Carrots, Celery, Red Onion, Garlic
• Proteins: Ground Beef and Italian Sausage
• Tomatoes: Roasted Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Fire Roasted Tomatoes (canned)
• Milk and Heavy Cream
• Cooking Wine
• Lemon Zest and Juice
• Seasonings: Nutmeg, Bay Leaves, Salt and Pepper

Bechamel Sauce

• Butter
• Flour
• Whole Milk
• Nutmeg
• Kosher Salt
• Pepper

Lasagna Ingredients

• Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles
• Fresh Parmesan
• Mozzarella Cheese

Don’t be alarmed! You did not read ricotta cheese in that ingredients list. We actually found that we preferred the lasagna without it! Keep scrolling to the end of the post for the measurements for each ingredient.

How to Make Homemade Meat Lasagna

To Make the Meat Sauce

1. Prepare the bolognese sauce as instructed in that post and set aside.

For the Bechamel Sauce

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Sprinkle in the flour continuously whisking it in until a paste forms and it bubbles a little.
3. Add in the milk slowing still whisking constantly. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer until it thickens.
4. Whisk in the salt, pepper and nutmeg.

For the Lasagna

1. Prehea

Browned Butter Pork and Butternut Squash Lasagna

This isn’t your traditional lasagna, but oh good heavens, the flavors of pork, butternut squash, browned butter, sage, and cheese is pure comfort! Browned butter pork and butternut squash lasagna is about to be your new favorite lasagna recipe!

You won’t find tomatoes, ricotta cheese or tomato sauce in this lasagna, but it is bringing all the feelings of warm winter comfort food to our family! The flavors are the most amazing combination! I mean it’s got pork, one of my all time favorite meats, browned butter-pure heaven, carbs-who doesn’t love carbs, and melty, gooey, delicious cheese. BOO-YAH!

I love comfort food more than anything else. Sure smoked pulled pork is stinking delicious, and Hawaiian Pulled Pork is absolutely mouth watering, but make me choose between one of those recipes and a comfort food like Browned Butter Butternut and Pork Lasagna and hands down the lasagna wins.

Creating Butternut Squash Lasagna

As soon as I got the email from the National Pork Board to create a few recipes for them I knew I’d say yes to working with them, but then they wanted comfort recipes?! Heck yeah I’m on board with that. And this lasagna was born. And we loved it. And now you will too.

I was looking through the recipe section on the Pork Be Inspired site and man, everything looks so juicy and delicious! I’ve found many a wonderful recipe there, but I was actually trying to make sure that there wasn’t a recipe like this one, which there isn’t. Butternut squash actually smells comforting. It’s so warm, nutty, and creamy. I just knew that a combination of my favorite fall/winter flavor with pork was totally the way to go. Oh, and there’s a secret in the puree, Ginger Snap cookies. Trust me, it’s exactly what the puree needs.

Ingredients for Butternut Squash Lasagna

I’m going to divide this recipe into 3 different parts – the butternut squash, the browned butter sauce (béchamel sauce) and the lasagna layers.

For the Squash

• Butternut Squash: peeled and chopped, ready for roasting
• Olive Oil: helps roast and caramelize the squash
• Salt & Black Pepper: adds flavor
• Sage: you’ll want fresh sage and we will use it to add flavor to the butternut squash puree
• Ginger Snap Cookies: an unexcepted ingredient but the flavor it adds it crucial

For the Browned Butter Sauce

• Butter: browned for added flavor and creates the base for the béchamel
• Garlic: adds flavor and can be increased or decreased to your liking
• Flour: combined with the butter is creates the creamy base for the béchamel
• Low Fat Milk: helps thin out the sauce
• Half and Half: adds creaminess and richness
• Nutmeg: adds flavor and warmth
• Salt and Black Pepper: adds flavor

For the Lasag