Pesto Chicken Lasagna

2012-04-08

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If you’ve read my blog and recipes before, you know I’m a huge pesto fan.

As in, I put it in and on everything. Usually, I prefer pesto and olive oil based sauces to tomato sauces. And I love tomatoes..so I’m not sure what’s up with that…

So this weekend, I decided to try a Pesto Chicken Lasagna. I put mushrooms in mine, but you could leave them out if you’re not a mushroom fan. If you’re not a mushroom fan, I don’t understand you. I can eat them straight out of the pan, as can my daughter Kayla. When she’s home from college, we fight over the mushrooms.

Start out by cooking your lasagna noodles according to package directions, but cook them a couple of minutes less than the recommended time, because you’re going to bake them in lovely pesto/cream sauce and they’ll finish with a more al dente texture that way.

While those are cooking, take one for your favorite rotisserie chickens and pull all the meat off of it.

I guess you could bake your own, and if you want to, feel free, but I like the shortcut!

Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large skillet and also add in 2 tablespoons of butter. Dump in a large package of sliced mushrooms.

Saute these around for about 6 or 7 minutes, or until they get brown and juicey and soft.

Then dump them right into the bowl of chicken you just pulled off the bones.

Mix it all up evenly.

Then, in a separate bowl, dump in two cups of prepared pesto.

If you want to make your own pesto, click here for my pesto recipe. Otherwise, most places carry some brand of pesto now.

Add in one cup of heavy cream or half-and-half to your pesto.

Take a whisk or spoon and mix this all together until it’s smooth and creamy.

Now, let’s build our lasagna.

Spoon a little of the sauce over the bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish. This will keep the noodles from sticking to the bottom. You really don’t need to spray it due to the olive oil in the pesto, but you can if you wish.

Then layer on your noodles. My pan is just a tad too large for them to fit perfectly, so I just tear some pieces to make it fit.

Over top of that, spread some ricotta cheese. I used about half of a large container.

Next, spoon over about half of your chicken/mushroom mixture.

Spoon over half of the remaining pesto mixture.

And then, repeat all of these layers again.

Noodles.

Cheese.

Chicken and mushrooms.

Pesto and another layer of noodles

Then over top of the top layer of noodles, spread some more pesto over top of the noodles.

Sprinkle one cup cup of parmesan cheese over top.

And pop this into a 400º for about 45 minutes.

Remove it.

Slice a piece and put it on a plate.

Smile and enjoy.

I think next time that some chopped sun-dried tomatoes mixed in with the chicken and mushrooms would be fabulous.

If you’re a pesto lover like I am, you’ll love this version of lasagna.

Katie’s Printable Version – Pesto Chicken Lasagna

Katie's love of cooking and eating good food has led her down a path of fun filled friend and family gatherings around the kitchen. She is an Oklahoma Food blogger, TV food personality for Freedom43tv, author of Food Lovers's Guide to Oklahoma and lover of all all the good things of life!