Here is a fun alternative to your normal lasagna. I found this recipe at What’s for Dinner? It is so delicious and not that complicated to make. I love the chicken and ranch flavor to it. You can increase the cheese too it you like it extra cheesy. Yummy, nice comfort food. The Easy Parmesan Knots would go great with this dish, then add a tossed salad and dinner’s done.
The only problem I had with the recipe is there were too many noodles for the amount of chicken sauce mixture. I would recommend reducing the noodles to 8-12 oz.
Cheesy Chicken Lasagna
2 (12 oz) cans evaporated milk (not fat-free)
1 (1 oz) pkg. dry Ranch dressing mix
3 C. cubed, cooked, chicken
1/8 tsp pepper
1 (16oz) lasagna noodles, cooked (I recommend reducing it to 8 oz to 12 oz)
1 1/2 to 2 C cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 to 2 C mozzarella cheese, grated
Cook the chicken and noodles first at the same time. Once noodles are done–rinse in cold water and set aside (it keeps them from sticking together). Combine evaporated milk (don’t use fat-free version) and Ranch dressing in a 3 quart heavy saucepan. Heat over low heat, stirring frequently until dry ingredients are dissolved. Stir in chicken and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes (don’t do any less), stirring frequently. Layer half of lasagna noodles, poultry sauce, and cheese in well-buttered 9×13 pan. Repeat layers again. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.
Fabulous lasagna! I really enjoy my meal and I’ll do it again for sure. I use an homemade recipe for my Ranch mix. I’m giving it to you if you want to try next time:
For 1 oz:
4 tsp of dried parsley
0.5 tsp of dried thyme
2 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of onion powder
1.5 tsp of freshly grounded black pepper
1 tsp of kosher salt
Of course you can adjust any spices/herbs as you like.
Curdled milk….
I attempted to make this tonight but I overheated the evaporated milk and it curdled. Dang it. I’ll try again later this week and maybe add some spinach.
I made this last night it was so yummy…my whole family loved it! Only thing i did different was used penne noodles and it came out awesome. Thanks for sharing this recipe i plan on passing it on to my family and friends!
This was absolutely delicious. My “no-boil noodles” failed miserably, but aside from that – unbelievable flavor. DEFINITELY saving this one to use forever.
I have make this 2 times, and my entire family LOVES it!!!
How many servings does this recipe make? I have my parents and my husband (who can really put away some food) to feed and just wanted to make sure this will feed all of us.
I would like to throw the chicken in a crockpot instead for convenience sake. Would evaporated milk go bad in a crock? And if so, do you think maybe exchanging that for cream of chicken might work? Help
I have made this twice, tonight will be the third time…it comes out GREAT! It looks just like the picture and tastes every bit as good!!
My issue with this recipe (and the original) is the cheese…do you add it to the sauce or layer it with the lasagna? No where does it really say and it looks like it’s NOT added to the sauce, although people are making it that way. Using the ingredients to make a penne bake tonight instead…we’ll see how it turns out. Found on Pinterest.
I tried it again and it worked! Keeping the milk/powder mixture on med-low for at least 25 minutes was key, I think. After the 25 minutes, when it began to thicken up somewhat I also added about 3 oz of cream cheese, 1 cup of cottage cheese, and a 1/4 cup of cream of celery condensed soup for extra creaminess. We used Hidden Valley spicy Italian (a bit more kick than the regular flavor) and I added fresh mushrooms, diced green pepper, diced onion, garlic salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. It was really good! Thanks for the recipe!
I have a gastric band (Lapband) and cannot tolerate thick pasta such as lasagne, penne, etc. I make this with Bow Tie/Farfalle pasta & layer it like lasagne. It’s light & wonderful.
So i found this on pinterest and I wanted to make it for my husband but i’m a novice in the kitchen and I don’t understand how I’m supposed to cook the chicken? Boil it or how?
There are several ways you can do it. I would thaw 2 chicken breasts, cut the raw meat into small squares about 1/2 inch or so square, then cook it all in a frying pan on the stove. Good luck!
There are two ways I like to cook chicken. Sometimes I just use my Geoge Foreman grill. OR I poach it. To poach boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boil a large pan of water. Drop the chicken into the boiling water and leave the heat on just until the water returns to a boil. Then cover the pan, shut the heat off, and wait about 10 minutes, the time it will take for the chicken to no longer be pink in the middle. Remove pieces from water, cool, and cut into pieces. Sometimes I make extra pieces of cooked chicken and put it into freezer bags and freeze until I need it for a recipe. Hope this helps!
Andrea, I would bake it, but boiling would work just as well!
I have made this twice and it was a huge hit with family and guests. I use 9 lasagna noodles – I think the ozs. in the recipe could be confusing. I layer 3 noodles in a 9×13 pan, add sauce and cheese, then repeat 2 more times ending with sauce and cheese on top. Hope this might help.
I made this for dinner tonight. It looks just like the picture and tasted wonderful. My family loved it! Thanks for a great new idea!
Hmm… NOW I know why my dish didn’t turn out anything like the one pictured. The picture above is from allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Lasagna-II/Detail.aspx and the recipe isn’t the same, thus the discrepancy. Please show a genuine photo so the rest of us don’t wonder what is wrong with ours :-/
PS- The recipe at allrecipes has cottage cheese, cream of mushroom, and cream of chicken, as well as the evaporated milk and other ingredients here.
The allrecipes recipe does not have the ranch powder, however, which I think would be great along with the soups and cottage cheese.
Thanks for the comment, but I must let you know this is a genuine photo. I also didn’t get the recipe from allrecipes.com, it came from the blog I linked to above the recipe. I took the photo myself when I made this recipe. All photos, unless noted differently, on my blog are my own. The person on allrecipes used my photo for their post. Sorry it didn’t turn out the same for you.
THANKS!! Wish I had seen these reviews before I made the dish. I followed the receipe above and it looked NOTHING like the picture. Why would someone omit key pieces of the receipe i.e cottage cheese and cream of chicken!!??
I made this last night and while we liked the flavor, the texture of the sauce was really “off”. I followed the directions listed, but it was runny and mealy, never creaming or thickening. :-/ I will give this another shot b/c the taste was still good, but this time I’ll make the sauce as a roux. Did anyone else who made this have their sauce come out right? I hope adjusting the sauce will let the cheese melt properly with the milk & ranch, because I had high hopes for this dish.
My wife says she’s going to make this recipe so I took a look at it. I am a chef. I’m confused as to why you’d cook chicken, then simmer the cooked chicken for 25 minutes, then bake it for another 35 minutes. What did the chicken do to you?
Hilarious, I thought the same thing. I seasoned the breasts with salt, pepper, garlic and cooked at 350 for about 20 minutes, cooled and sliced. Didn’t add to the sauce but made it a layer in the lasagna.
Thanks James and wifeofachef for the suggestion. I just did it according to the recipe from the other blog,
Laura, my family and I loved the recipe! Simple and so yummy. Easy to follow as well; I love onions so i added some diced onions when I cooked the chicken in butter
it was amazing! My husband who does not like onions- ate ALL of it 
Thanks again
I also found this on Pinterest. I may try to do this with penne pasta as it would be easier for my littler kiddos to eat that way… eager to try it!
Just made this dish tonight…very tasty! However, my sauce did not thicken…not even after being in the oven. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Found on Pinterest and made it last night. It was yummy!
I just put this in the oven- the mix was creamy until right about 15 minutes into the 25 minute simmering process before it turned and looked almost slightly curdled; I followed the ingredient list but pulled the mix from the heat because I didn’t want the mix to turn anymore. I’m anxious to see how it comes out once it’s finished cooking.
It does turn into a more ricotta type sauce after cooked.
Mine did not, but I think it would if you put the heat up too high. I kept it very low. It’s in the oven now to bake and I can’t wait to taste!
When I cooked the chicken mixture it separated and looked kind of like ricotta cheese. Is that how it was supposed to turn out? It wasn’t creamy at all.
Mine did too. I’m wondering if that is normal.
This was an easy recipe. I boiled my chicken and shredded, then boiled the lasanga noodles in the chicken broth. I added more liquid to help with the dryness and it came out wonderfully. Yum!
I also found this recipe through the Pinterest world and I made it tonight!! I made two versions of it (my husband eats meat and I’m a vegetarian), so I had two dishes cooking in the over and I was in love with the final product! Definitely following your blog now
Here’s the picture of the Chicken version! http://instagr.am/p/YBa8J/
found this on Pinterest…making it for the second time tonight. Such a hit in my house. Delicious!
This was so easy to make and was really good!
I found this on Pinterest and I just made it and posted about it on my blog!
Just made this yesterday. It was delicious! I used fat free skim milk since I didn’t have any evaporated milk. I added a tablespoon of flour because I was nervous about how runny it was – just like milk, but it set up great! I probably didn’t need the flour. I also used no boil lasagna noodles. It worked great and was so easy. I baked covered for 40 minutes and uncovered for 20. I also added a diced red pepper for flavor and color. Delicious!
My husband and I just had this for supper tonight! It was delicious!! The sauce was still runny when we put it together as well, but it turned out perfect!! We will definitely make this again!
I’m ready to make this but only have fat free evaporated milk. Why won’t it work? It looks wonderful!
Looks delicous- do you think you can use no bake noodles with this or would it end up being too dry?
Looks delicous! Is it possible to use no-bake lasagna noodles with this? WIll it end up being too dry?
Mm, looks good. We’re making chicken enchiladas
This might be a dumb question, but it is 12 oz total of evaporated milk or 2 12oz cans? Looks yummy. I’m excited to try it!
I was wondering the same thing!! Wanted to make this for dinner tonight but I don’t want to screw it up!
I have made this 2 times. Fist time I made it for my hubby and myself. It was a little dry so when I made it again for my nephew and niece. ages 12 and 14. I added 3 cans of evaporated milk and 2 pks of the dry Ranch. They couldn’t get enough.
Will this freeze ok for like weekly meal plans or even monthly meal plans? thanks
I want to know the same thing! This looks really good and I’m wondering if I should double up and make a 2nd portion for the freezer!
Did you try to freeze this and did it work???
I have to say that this recipe is DELICIOUS!!! I’m a novice in the kitchen and even I can handle it! Thank you so much for sharing it!
I tried this recipe and everyone loved it. I was worried about how runny the sauce was so I added a few tablespoons of flour. I don’t think I’ll add it next time because it did thicken by itself in the oven. Thanks for sharing!
I make lasagna all the time without boiling my noodles, I wonder if it will work if I cover and bake it for 1 hour, and then remove the cover and let the cheese brown for 20 minutes?
I just found your site, and loved this recipe. We are gathering for Chrismtas, and I intend to try it. Thanks for the tip to lessen the noodles. There are a lot of others I intend to research!!
I’m just about to pop this in the oven, but I’m worried because the sauce is not thick at all (it’s just like milk). Was it supposed to thicken while simmering?
It still tastes delicious so far!
I’m thinking of serving this for Christmas Eve. Anyone have some good appetizer recipes to go with it?
Thanks!!
Keep the yummy recipes coming!
This looks delicious and so easy!
I made this last night for dinner and we all LOVED it! My husband and sister said it is even better than regular lasasgna! Thanks for the great recipe.
Ooo… that is making my stomach growl.
Meridee,
I don’t think it would thicken the same.
This recipe looks yummy. And by the way, awesome that you are the featured chef on Tasty Kitchen. It was so fun seeing you pop up on there! Way to go!
That sounds yummy. Why shouldn’t I fat free evaporated milk? What would happen?