Chicken Lasagna with White Sauce
Tender shredded chicken in a flavor-filled white sauce, layered with lasagna sheets
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr
Course: Main Course
Keyword: chicken lasagna with white sauce, easy chicken lasagna, pasta recipes
Servings: 8
Chicken
- 1 kg chicken breasts
- 2 cups chicken broth/stock
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
White Sauce
- 6 tbsp butter
- 3 large cloves garlic minced
- 6 tbsp cake wheat or all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 3 cups milk
- salt
- pepper
- 2 cups cheddar cheese
Lasagna
- 19 lasagna sheets
- 1&1/2 cup mozarella cheese
Chicken
Place 2 cups chicken broth in a large pan. Add the chicken breasts and bring to a boil on high heat.
Reduce the heat to the lowest setting once it starts to boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and use two forks to shred the chicken. Discard the thyme stems but keep the leaves. Set aside. Do not discard the broth as it will be used for the white sauce
White Sauce
Heat the butter in a saucepan, on medium heat. Add the garlic and saute in the butter for 1 minute. Add the flour and stir for a minute
Slowly add the remaining poaching liquid, you should have 2 cups. Slowly add 3 cups of milk and stir with a whisk. Allow it to thicken on medium to low heat, stirring at regular intervals, should take about 3-4 minutes
Turn off the heat and add in the cheese. Mix until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Remove 2 & 1/2 cups of sauce, set aside. Mix the shredded chicken together with the remaining sauce, add the black pepper
Lasagna
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Add the lasagna sheets in some salted, boiling water and cook for 6 minutes. Remove immediately and place them on baking paper in a single layer or you can boil the sheets in 3 batches and layer the lasagna as they cook
Using a 24cmx30cm ovenproof dish or something similar in size spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of the dish
Place 4 lasagna sheets in a single layer. Spread one third of the saucy chicken on top. Repeat with another layer of lasagna, you may need an extra sheet, cut in half to cover the sides depending on the size of your dish. Top with another 1/3 of the chicken. Repeat with another layer of lasagna and chicken and the final layer will be lasagna sheets. Pour the remaining 2 cups of sauce on top. You should have 4 layers of lasagna and 3 layers of chicken. Sprinkle the mozarella cheese over and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
- You may require only 16 lasagna sheets depending on the size of your dish. The extra 3 is what I used to cover the sides as the sheets wasn't large enough to cover the whole surface
- If you choose not to cook the lasagna sheets I suggest you cover the lasagna with foil before baking it for at least 20 minutes and remove for the last 10 minutes so the cheese can brown a little
- If you prefer more mozarella cheese you welcome to increase the amount for the topping
- If the sauce is too thick you can add a bit more milk