This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This chicken and broccoli lasagna is comfort food at its best. It’s creamy, cheesy, and oh-so-delicious! This dish features layers of pasta, ricotta, chicken, broccoli, and gooey cheese, all smothered in a creamy white sauce.
You can make the bechamel sauce (Alfredo sauce) up to 5 days in advance or take a shortcut and purchase a couple of jars of white Alfredo sauce. It’s even easier if you use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken from last night’s dinner. This is a lasagna that you can make any night of the week.
Table of Contents
- Creamy Broccoli Lasagna with Chicken
- Here is Why This Lasagna Recipe Works
- Ingredients For Chicken Broccoli Lasagna
- How to Make Chicken Lasagna with White Sauce
- How many layers should a good lasagna have?
- Substitutions and Variations
- Tips for Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Lasagna
- Storage and Reheating
- More Recipes You Will Love:
- Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna Recipe
Creamy Broccoli Lasagna with Chicken
Broccoli lasagne is a delicious twist on the classic Italian lasagna recipe. It combines the creamy, cheesy goodness of lasagna with broccoli and chicken in an Alfredo sauce. Not only does this make for a tasty dinner, it also adds some extra nutrition to your meal!
This creamy chicken broccoli lasagna is a comforting meal that the whole family will love. Serve it with a tossed green salad or some Texas toast garlic bread, and you have an easy and delicious dinner.
Here is Why This Lasagna Recipe Works
- This lasagna is sure to be a crowd-pleaser! The layers of cheesy goodness mixed with the creamy white sauce and tender chicken make a delicious dish.
- It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken. You can use a rotisserie chicken, chicken breasts, or dark meat like chicken thighs.
- Perfect for meal preps! You can assemble the lasagna two days in advance and keep it in the fridge. If you double the batch and make two lasagnas, freeze one for an emergency dinner next month.
- You can use homemade noodles, no boil noodles, regular dry noodles, or the fresh noodles in the refrigerator section of the grocery store.
Ingredients For Chicken Broccoli Lasagna
Here is a list of the ingredients you will need for our white chicken broccoli lasagna. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the details.
- White sauce. We made a homemade Bechamel sauce, but you can purchase a couple of jars of Alfredo sauce if you prefer.
- Lasagna sheets. You can use fresh pasta, oven-ready pasta, or dry pasta that needs to be boiled.
- Sun dried tomatoes. We like the oil-packed tomatoes because they are more tender. If you purchase sun-dried tomatoes in a package, soak them in warm water for 5 minutes to soft.
- Ricotta cheese. You can substitute the ricotta with cottage cheese.
- Eggs.
- Cooked chicken. You can use leftover chicken or cook chicken breast in the Instant Pot.
- Cheese. Just about any type of cheese will work. We used shredded Mozzarella cheese and Havarti cheese. If you want to take a shortcut, then purchase a bag of pre-shredded Italian cheese blend.
- Broccoli. We used fresh broccoli. If you use frozen broccoli, then thaw it and press it between paper towels to get the liquid out.
Scroll down to see ideas for variations and different things that you can add to this lasagna.
If you have the time, it is worth making your own Bechamel sauce. And try to use freshly grated nutmeg, which gives it a vibrant, aromatic flavor.
You can use this Bechamel Parmesan sauce in recipes like eggplant lasagna, seafood mac and cheese, or our white seafood lasagna.
How to Make Chicken Lasagna with White Sauce
Here is a brief overview to get an idea of what to expect with our chicken broccoli lasagna recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for all the details.
Make the alfredo sauce: Melt the butter with the garlic. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Slowly whisk in the milk until smooth.
Whisk in the salt, nutmeg, pepper, and bay leaf. Simmer the mixture, then add the Parmesan cheese.
Cover the bottom of a lasagna dish with a thin layer of the alfredo sauce. Top with a layer of noodles.
Spread ⅓ of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Top the ricotta with ⅓ of the shredded chicken.
Add ⅓ of the broccoli then ⅓ of the sun-dried tomatoes.
Spread ⅓ of the Alfredo over the broccoli and top with ⅓ of the shredded cheese. Repeat the lasagna layers 2 more times.
How many layers should a good lasagna have?
A good lasagna should have at least three layers of pasta, but there are no firm rules on how many layers you need. The key is to make sure each layer has enough sauce and cheese to bind the dish together.
If you love this lasagna recipe, try our cheese stuffed shells which is a bit faster to make than a lasagna.
Substitutions and Variations
- Replace the Alfredo sauce with our red San Marzano sauce or add a green pesto.
- Add spinach. If you use more than 1 cup of fresh spinach, saute it first, then press it between paper towels to remove the liquid. If you use frozen spinach, thaw it and press the liquid out.
- Toss in some mushrooms. If you add mushrooms, saute them first so they don’t make the lasagna watery.
- Add olives and roasted red peppers between the lasagna layers.
- If you don’t have ricotta cheese, use cottage cheese instead (like we did in our meat lasagna with cottage cheese).
Tips for Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Lasagna
- You can make the Bechamel sauce 3 to 5 days in advance and store it in the fridge. It will get very thick in the fridge, but you can warm it up when it is time to use it.
If you want it thinner, add a splash of chicken broth. For another shortcut, purchase some creamy Alfredo sauce at the grocery store. - You can assemble the lasagna a day in advance and bake it the next day. If you bake it straight from the fridge, it will need to bake for an extra 5 to 10 minutes.
- Cook the pasta to al dente, and remember it will cook more in the oven.
Storage and Reheating
In the fridge: Store this creamy chicken lasagna in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.
In the freezer: You can also freeze the lasagna for up to 6 months. Let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
To reheat, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 300° F for 10 to 20 minutes, or until heated through. Optionally, you can zap it in the microwave turning frequently to make sure it heats evenly.
To cook chicken lasagna from frozen:
Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake it at 350°F for 90 minutes, then remove the cover and cook for an additional 20 to 30 minutes.
This chicken broccoli lasagna is a great way to use up leftover chicken and make a delicious dish for the whole family. Serve it with a kale Caesar salad for an easy weeknight meal that everyone will love!
More Recipes You Will Love:
Our Pasta with Morel Mushrooms is an elevated dish. We love the flavors of the mushroom with crisp pancetta, leeks, and creamy goat cheese that coats every bite.
Our chicken tortellini Alfredo is perfect for a weeknight dinner when you are craving quick comfort food.
Our vegetable lasagna is loaded with fresh garden veggies, cheese, and tender noodles. It makes a delicious meal that your whole family will love!
Pin this now to find it later!
Pin It
Chicken and Broccoli Lasagna
You can make the bechamel sauce up to 5 days in advance or take a shortcut and purchase a couple of jars of Alfredo sauce. It's even easier if you use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken from last night's dinner.
If you make this recipe, please leave a star rating and comment.
Ingredients
White Bechamel Sauce
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 5 cups whole milk
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Lasagna
- 12 ounces lasagna sheets, fresh or dried
- 1 cup oil packed sun dried tomatoes, 7-ounce jar
- 16 ounces ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 cups shredded Fontina cheese, or Havarti cheese
- 2 cups broccoli florets, chopped
Instructions
For the Bechamel
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes while stirring.
- Slowly pour in the milk while constantly whisking. When it gets lumpy, stop pouring the milk and whisk until smooth, then repeat until all the milk is added. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the salt, nutmeg, pepper, and bay leaf.
- Reduce the heat to low and bring it to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.
- Discard the bay leaf and stir in the Parmesan cheese. Remove the saucepan from the heat and press plastic wrap directly against the surface of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming.
For the Lasagna
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish.
- If you are using regular dried lasagna noodles, boil them according to the package directions then drain them and toss them with a bit of olive oil so they don’t stick to each other. If you are using no-boil oven ready lasagna noodles, soak them in warm water for 5 minutes (this gives them a better texture and bite). Skip this step if using fresh lasagna sheets.
- Drain the oil from the sun dried tomatoes and chop them.
- Combine the ricotta cheese, egg, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Combine the shredded cheese in another bowl.
- Cover the bottom of the baking dish with a thin layer of the white Bechamel sauce. Top with a layer of lasagna pasta sheets, overlapping them slightly.
- Spread ⅓ of the ricotta mixture over the noodles. Top the ricotta with ⅓ of the chicken, ⅓ of the broccoli, ⅓ of the sun dried tomatoes, ⅓ of the bechamel sauce, and ⅓ of the shredded cheese. Repeat the layers 2 more times.
- Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with non-stick cooking spray and cover the lasagna. Bake for 25 minutes then remove the foil and bake 10 to 15 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown on top.
Notes
- You can make the bechamel in advance and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The sauce will get thick when it chills in the fridge but you can zap it in the microwave to warm it up and make it more pourable.
- Just about any type of cheese will work in this recipe. Some other suggestions are Monterey Jack, Muenster, Provolone, Gouda, and Cheddar.
- If you want to use frozen broccoli, thaw the broccoli and press it between paper towels to squeeze out the extra liquid.
Shortcuts:
- Skip the homemade Bechamel sauce and use a jar of Alfredo sauce from the store.
- Use fresh lasagna noodles or oven-ready lasagna noodles instead of the kind you have to boil. Oven-ready noodles will have a better texture if you soak them in water, but this is an optional step.
- Use a package of pre-shredded cheese.
- Shred a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Love lasagna! And this one is a dandy — something a bit different. More than a bit different, actually. Really creative — thanks.
Hi, John….You will love this lasagna! Lots of flavor, creamy and delicious! Thanks for the comments 🙂
It’s nice to see a none tradional lasagne that looks and sounds delicious. The mixture if flavours you’ve used sound like a perfect combination. A good winter warmer dish.
Thank you, Helen…this is a great casserole with all our favorite flavors. Thanks for the comments..:)
You are right, there is nothing not to love about lasagna! We’ve made all kinds of lasagna but never chicken nor one with einkorn noodles. This looks delicious!
Thanks, Jolina….This is a nice blending of ingredients, hope you try this great-tasting lasagna soon. 🙂
An ultimate comfort food! Freshly made einkorn pasta, healthy lean protein..this is a perfect weekday dinner!
Thank you, Angie! 🙂