Creamy Caesar Chicken Lasagna
Lasagna is such a wonderful invention. There are practically endless possibilities of what you can stuff between those delicious noodles, but one thing remains the same – CHEESE…. lots of cheese. I have tried a few white lasagnas and some have been okay, and some not impressive at all. When I stumbled across this recipe for chicken Caesar lasagna I had a lightbulb moment and knew it would be simply amazing with my homemade Caesar dressing.
Lasagna takes a bit of multi-tasking, so I highly recommend measuring out all your ingredients while the chicken is boiling. Be sure to bring the cream cheese to room temperature. I wrote the steps below in the order that I would complete them – but I would recommend reading through first.
Here is the chicken and sauce mixture - wow. I totally snuck a bite at this point.
To build you lasagna, layer 1/2 the noodles, then 1/2 the chicken mixture.
Then 1/2 the spinach and 1/2 the sun dried tomatoes, before adding more noodles and repeating.
End with the mozzarella cheese.
Fresh out of the oven!
And after I cut into it - look at those creamy layers!
If you're wondering if this was a hit with my family - the answer is most definitely YES. Mini-cook devoured it and the husband had seconds of course.
The Recipe
Adapted from Pinch of Yum
Creamy Chicken Caesar Lasagna
Ingredients
- ½ batch Light Greek Yogurt Caesar Dressing
- 1 – 1 ½ lbs. chicken breast
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 3 tbsp. flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature (regular or Neufchatel is recommended)
- 2 oz. grated or shredded parmesan cheese (about ½ cup)
- 4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
- 3 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
- Whole wheat lasagna noodles (quantity will vary based on your pan and preferences – I used 8)
Directions
- Fill a saucepan with water and submerge chicken breast. Bring to a boil and cook chicken until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, or about 30 minutes. Drain the chicken and set aside to cool off a bit.
- Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, and meanwhile:
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the flour and whisk until all the flour has absorbed the butter. Pour in the milk. Turn heat up to high and whisk constantly. Once the sauce starts to bubble slightly, turn heat down to low and continue to whisk until it is smooth and creamy.
- In another saucepan, bring water to a boil and cook lasagna noodles by package directions.
- Return to the sauce and add the cream cheese in small chunks and stir until melted. Add the parmesan cheese and stir until melted.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Return to the chicken breasts with two forks and shred, pulling apart the meat against the grain. Add chicken to the sauce mixture and stir well. Remove the sauce from heat. Fold in the Greek Yogurt Caesar dressing.
- Drain the lasagna noodles and spray a 9” x 13” pan with non-stick spray. Build you lasagna layers like this – ½ the noodles, ½ the chicken mixture, ½ the spinach and ½ the sun dried tomatoes. Then add one more layer of noodles, the remaining chicken mixture, spinach and sun dried tomatoes, and then sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is golden and the lasagna is bubbly. Serve with an extra dollop of Caesar dressing.
