Experience comfort food at its finest with creamy Chicken Lasagna. Delight in layers of tender chicken, velvety cheese, asparagus, lasagna noodles, and a white wine sauce. Crowned with homemade marinara sauce, this dish strikes the perfect balance between indulgence and sophistication. Whether it’s a special gathering or a cozy night in, savor the sumptuousness of white chicken lasagna.
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What Makes Chicken and Asparagus Lasagna So Good?
Besides Garfield, most people don’t tend to appreciate lasagna. Get the idea that it is just baked pasta out of your head. This creamy white chicken lasagna recipe with asparagus tastes much lighter and fresher than your average red meat lasagna.
It’s made with oven-roasted asparagus and chicken in a savory white cheese sauce and topped with fresh marinara and grated cheese. Indeed, a one-of-a-kind dish you and your family will love!
Why You Should Try This Recipe
There’s no getting around it; this creamy chicken lasagna recipe has a lot of steps and can seem pretty intimidating the first time you make it. Sure, it may not be a quick and easy chicken lasagna to prepare, but it’s very doable as long as you have the time to make each component.
Set aside a day to bake a Chicken and Asparagus Lasagna, and after that first bite, you’ll know it was all worth it.
White Chicken Lasagna Ingredients
For the white sauce, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- All-purpose flour
- Dry white wine, such as Chablis or Chardonnay
- Lemon
- Half & Half
- Whole milk
- Eggs
- Ricotta Cheese
Buy organic, unwaxed lemons for this recipe since the zest will remain in the sauce.
For the lasagna, you’ll need:
- Asparagus
- Olive oil
- Lasagna noodles
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped
- White Sauce (see above)
- Fresh Marinara sauce (see below)
- Shredded Mozzarella cheese
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
You can use chopped or shredded rotisserie chicken.
For the marinara sauce, you’ll need:
- White onion
- Carrot
- Whole butter
- Roma tomatoes
- Fresh basil
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- Sugar
- Chicken stock
You can substitute canned tomatoes if you prefer. You can also add 1 or 2 finely chopped garlic cloves if desired.
How to Make Chicken Lasagna With White Sauce
To prepare the white sauce:
- Clean the lemon with vegetable wash and dry well. Zest the skin of the lemon with a microplane and reserve the zest for later.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet set over medium heat.
- Once the butter stops foaming, whisk in the AP flour and cook until the flour turns a light tan color and smells like freshly baked bread.
- Add the dry white wine, lemon zest, whole milk, and half & half. Whisk until smooth.
- Continue whisking until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove the white sauce from the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes.
- While the white sauce is cooling, whisk together the eggs and ricotta cheese in a separate bowl.
- Whisk the eggs and cheese mixture into the white sauce. Cover the white sauce to keep warm.
To prepare the lasagna:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Rinse, dry, and trim the asparagus. Cut the trimmed asparagus into inch-long pieces and in olive oil. Spread the asparagus on a baking tray and cook in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, shaking the baking tray occasionally.
- While the asparagus is roasting, prepare the lasagna noodles to al dente according to the directions on the package. Drain and toss the noodles with the white sauce.
- Lightly grease a 9 X 13-inch baking dish.
- Spread a third of the noodles on the bottom of the baking dish. Place half of the chicken and oven-roasted asparagus over the noodles. Sprinkle a third of the Parmesan cheese on top. Top with another third of the noodles. Top with the remaining chicken, asparagus, and a third of the Parmesan cheese. Cover with the rest of the noodles. Spread any leftover white sauce and all the mozzarella cheese over the noodles.
- Bake the lasagna for 30 minutes in the preheated oven. While the lasagna is cooking, make the marinara sauce below.
- Top the cooked lasagna with the marinara sauce and the remaining Parmesan cheese. Serve hot.
To prepare the marinara sauce:
- Finely chop the white onions and grate the carrots. Set aside.
- Melt the unsalted butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir in the chopped white onions, grated carrots, tomatoes, basil, salt, ground black pepper, and sugar.
- Cover the saucepan and turn the heat to low. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Puree the sauce with an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, use a standard blender, but be careful not to overfill it.
- Add the chicken stock to the pureed sauce and warm through.
Recipe Variation – Chicken and Spinach Lasagna
If you’re not a fan of asparagus, you can substitute it with spinach. Use 2 10-ounce packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and drained (best to squeeze out the excess liquid).
What to Serve With White Chicken Lasagna
White chicken lasagna is a complete meal on its own, but feel free to add a few sides. Here are a few suggestions you may want to try:
- Salad. A small salad with a simple acid-forward dressing will help cut through the dairy and highlight the chicken.
- Garlic bread. This side serves double duty by bringing pungency to the dish and providing a great way to mop up any extra sauce.
- Sauteed mushrooms. When prepared in olive oil, garlic, and rosemary, the mushrooms lend earthiness with pops of freshness to the meal. Serve the sauteed mushrooms on their own or use them as a topping for toasted bread.
How to Store Chicken Lasagna
This chicken lasagna is the perfect make-ahead meal. You can keep it covered in the fridge for up to three days or in the freezer for up to a month!
How to Freeze Lasagna
If you are already making a chicken lasagna with white sauce, you can prepare another one and keep it in the freezer, so you’ll always have a delicious meal on hand. You can either precook the lasagna or prepare and freeze it without baking.
To save a precooked creamy chicken lasagna:
- Let the lasagna cool completely. Try portioning the lasagna into individual servings. It will cool faster, and you can reheat precisely how much you want to eat.
- Place the lasagna in an airtight container or wrap it in plastic and aluminum foil.
To freeze uncooked lasagna:
- Wrap the entire baking dish in plastic wrap and cover with aluminum foil.
- Place in the freezer. Bake as above after defrosting the lasagna overnight in the fridge.
How to Reheat Lasagna
To warm up lasagna without it drying it out:
- Unwrap the thawed lasagna and put it on the counter to come up to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Place the lasagna in a baking dish and sprinkle some water or marinara sauce over the top. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Warm the lasagna in the oven for 15 minutes for a single portion or 35 minutes for a whole lasagna.
Favorite Lasagna Recipes
Popular Pasta Recipes
Do you love asparagus? Try these recipes!
- Asparagus with Cream Sauce
- Asparagus Casserole
- Oven Roasted Asparagus
- Olive Garden Parmesan Roasted Asparagus
Check out more of my easy pasta recipes and the best chicken recipes on CopyKat!
Chicken and Asparagus Lasagna
Ingredients
Lasagna
- 4 pounds fresh asparagus chopped
- olive oil
- 1 pound butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups dry white wine Chablis or Chardonnay
- 4 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 cups milk
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese
- 8 eggs
- 16 ounces lasagna noodles
- 4 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked and chopped
- 1 pound mozzarella cheese shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 pound Parmesan cheese shredded Parmesan Cheese (not grated)
Marinara Sauce
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups chicken stock
Instructions
- Toss the asparagus with a small amount of olive oil and roast in a 400°F oven for 15 minutes.
- Make the white sauce with the next six ingredients. Mix the eggs and ricotta cheese together and add this to the white sauce.
- Cook the lasagna noodles as directed on the package.
- Coat the noodles with sauce and lay them in a 9×13-inch casserole dish that has been coated with oil or nonstick spray. Distribute half of the chicken and asparagus over the noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Add another layer of noodles, followed by the rest of the chicken and asparagus and another sprinkle of Parmesan. Add a final layer of noodles topped with white sauce and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake the lasagna at 400°F for 30 minutes.
- While the lasagna is baking, prepare the marinara sauce: In a quart saucepan, sauté the onions and carrots in butter. Stir in the tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Puree in blender until smooth. Return to the saucepan, add the chicken stock, and reheat.
- When the lasagna has finished baking, remove it from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes. Serve topped with marinara sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
This is a lot of work, but it taste wonderful. You will need to use a larger pan 2 1/2″ deep will work a lot better. The Marinara Sauce needs to be thicker, we used corn starch. You should split the chicken, cheese, and asparagus into thirds before you start to lay the layers out. We also but sauce on the bottom before the first layer of noodles. This is a very lite tasting Lasagna. We are going to try freezing the leftovers. This recipe will serve 12 large servings.
Enjoy!!
Thank you for your suggestion, I will see what I can do about modifying the recipe.