INGREDIENTS:
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 cups marinara sauce (or two bottles of pasta sauce with two added cups of water)
- 1 box lasagna noodles, don’t use the no-boil variety
- 8 ounces ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 6 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese
DIRECTIONS:
- In a large dutch oven or saucepan, brown the beef well on medium high heat, breaking it apart into small crumbles.
- Drain the fat from the pan.
- Add in the basil, oregano, fennel seeds, Kosher salt and crushed red pepper flakes and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
- Add in the marinara sauce and stir to combine.
- Add enough sauce to cover the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Into your slow cooker evenly layer in the following order (take care to make sure the layers are as flat as possible):
- Lasagna noodles broken to fit the shape of your slow cooker (a little overlap is totally fine here).
- Spoon a third of the meat sauce.
- Add a third of the ricotta in small spoonfuls along with a third of the mozzarella and Parmesan.
- You will likely have some noodles left over, using them all in the slow cooker would be difficult.
- If your liquids are not fully covering the noodles, add more water to just cover them.
- Cook on low heat for 5-6 hours or on high heat for 3-4 hours.
- If you want the slices to come out clean, as with any lasagna you would have to wait 15-20 minutes for it to cool a bit.