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