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The beauty of this recipe? Sometimes partially sponsored by leftover vegetables – if you have any veggies with no recipe home, use them all up in this Leftover Vegetable Italian Chicken Lasagna Recipe! Layers of sauce, cheese, seasoned ground chicken, and VEGGIES!
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Quick question for you all: Is lasagna considered a casserole? We all know I love casseroles. This is served in the same dish… just wondering. Either way, I had sort of forgotten my love of lasagna because I hadn’t eaten it in quite a while. Avoiding the store-made kinds because they just weren’t what I was looking for in a lasagna, you know? And, any premade lasagnas even slightly healthy enough to buy are a lot more expensive (the Amy’s ones DO look good though…).
Then. REVELATION. I can make my own.
Let’s do it.
Here’s why I like this recipe:
- Pre-seasoned ground chicken covers some of the seasoning bases for you (you can also SKIP the chicken and go veggie heavy).
- Use up your veggies. This lasagna would be excellent with just spinach, or FULL of your fridge’s veggie drawer.
- It reheats incredibly well, and doesn’t stink. Take it for lunch. Enjoy it for dinner for the rest of the week. Know you made it yourself and it didn’t come out of the freezer!
Leftover Vegetable Italian Chicken Lasagna Assembly:
Other dinner ideas from Project Meal Plan:
- Baked Chicken Fajita Noodle Casserole
- Cheesy Chicken Bacon Ranch Kale Casserole
- Veggie Loaded Rotisserie Chicken Casserole
Did you make this? I want to see how it turned out! Tag me in your social media post @projectmealplan and use #projectmealplan when you share!
Leftover Vegetable Italian Chicken Lasagna Recipe
Leftover Vegetable Italian Chicken Lasagna Recipe – Use up leftover veggies in my favorite deliciously layered ground chicken lasagna!
Ingredients
- 16 ounces italian seasoned ground chicken
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil (or EVOO), separated
- 1 head of broccoli, medium (about 12 ounces), stems removed, florets roughly cut
- 1 green bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, diced
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
- 1 teaspoon salt, separated
- 1 + 1/4 cups greek yogurt, 2%
- 15 ounce container ricotta cheese, part skim or whole milk
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, separated
- 1 large egg, whisked
- 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 jar (24 ounces) pasta sauce
- 12 no-boil oven ready lasagna noodles
Instructions
Cook the chicken and veggies:
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat in a large skillet or Dutch oven. When hot, add ground chicken. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break the chicken into small pieces. Cook until done and beginning to brown, 7-9 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the chicken from the pan and return the pan to heat.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the same pan. When hot, add your chopped/diced veggies (except spinach) and stir. To help all veggies cook around the same pace, try to cut them down to about the same size. Cook until veggies have softened and cooked down, about 6-7 minutes. Add spinach, garlic and salt. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Return the cooked ground chicken to the pan and stir for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and set aside.
Mix up the filling:
- In a medium bowl, mix greek yogurt, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, egg, thyme, onion powder, and 1/2 salt until well mixed. Set aside and prepare for lasagna assembly.
Assemble the lasagna and bake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- First, spread a few spoonfuls of sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish.
- Layer 3 lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of the dish.
- Layer with several spoonfuls of the chicken/veggie mixture, spreading over the noodles as evenly as possible. Use about a quarter of the chicken mixture in each layer.
- Cover with spoonfuls of ricotta yogurt mixture. Use about a quarter of the mixture in each layer.
- Drizzle a few spoonfuls of pasta sauce over the ricotta. Sprinkle with a small handful of mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat steps 3-6 and end with the remaining mozzarella cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days. Great as leftovers!
Notes
Leftover Veggies: You can use almost any leftover veggies you might have stowed in your fridge such as- cauliflower, onions, peppers, kale (leafy greens), broccoli, mushrooms (may cause extra liquid, drain!), corn, peas, or carrots. The recipe as written is my favorite way to make it, and is used to calculate the nutrition information.
Works excellent as leftovers and reheats well in the microwave! Adapted from Skinny Spinach Lasagna by Pinch of Yum. Nutrition information estimated with My Fitness Pal.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1/8 of casserole
- Calories: 380
- Sugar: 5g
- Fat: 14g
- Carbohydrates: 32g
- Protein: 30g
To make this recipe, I used:
Thank you so much for checking out the Leftover Vegetable Italian Chicken Lasagna Recipe (and making it to the bottom)! Be sure to use #projectmealplan on social media if you make this recipe! And follow me on Pinterest for meal inspiration every single day.
Megan says
Love the idea of using up left over veggies! I often buy too many at the start of the week and then dinner plans change and I don’t get to use all of them up! This is a perfect recipe to change that.
Danielle says
Hi Megan – Thanks for your comment! Of course I’m all for delicious dishes with a specifically chosen combo of veggies, but you’re so right! Sometimes I just need to dump what’s left in the veggie drawer into a yummy recipe. The lasagna reheats really well too! Thanks for stopping by!