The Best Chicken Lasagna You’ll Ever Make (With Fresh Pasta & Cheesy Perfection!)

Lasagna is usually either the frozen block of sadness from the grocery store, or it’s Nonna’s secret recipe that takes a decade and a half to make. This is the latter, but will only take you 3ish hours start to finish, including making your own pasta!! 

This chicken lasagna hits every mark: rich, deeply layered full flavors, homemade pasta that’s actually easy (despite the arm workout LOL), and a sauce that’ll have you licking the spoon like an absolute savage. It’s comfort food, but with intention. And let’s be real—once you make it this way, the store-bought stuff and even your favorite restaurant lasagna is dead to you.

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Step 1: Homemade Pasta (Just Do It.)

Pasta is simple: flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt. The dough should be firm but smooth, and after a little rest, it’ll roll out beautifully.

What You Need:

• 4 cups flour
• 10 egg yolks + 5 whole eggs
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp salt

What to Do:

1. Mix it up: Flour on the counter, make a well, toss everything in, and mix.
2. Knead for 10-15 min: It should feel tight but elastic.
3. Rest, covered, for at least 30 min: This is when the gluten chills out and lets the dough relax. Rest at room temp for at least 30min or if making ahead of time you can rest in the fridge for 8-12 hours. Easier to roll out if not chilled though. 
4. Roll it thin: Lasagna pasta should be thin but not see-through. Cut your dough ball into 4 and roll each quarter into a nice lasagna sheet! Measure/eyeball your dish and try and get your sheets that size! You can/will trim the edges up to make them fit perfectly though! If it's difficult to make a single sheet that fills your pan, use 2 sheets per layer, sized for half the dish each! 

⏳ Pro Tip: While the dough is resting, start your sauce. Efficiency. 

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Step 2: The Sauce—Where the Magic Happens

This sauce is deep, rich, thick—so thick that when you drag a spoon through it, the trail stays visible for a few seconds. That’s when you know it’s done! For real that's how much it needs to cook down. 

What You Need:

• 2 onions, fine dice
• 1 large carrot, fine dice
• 2 ribs celery, fine dice
• 10 cloves garlic, sliced paper-thin
• 1 lb ground chicken (or turkey)
• ½ lb mushrooms, sliced (the mushrooms bring deep meaty flavor to amplify the chicken and not feel/taste like you're missing beef.) 
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 680ml passata (or puréed tomatoes)
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp crushed chili flakes
• Parmesan rind (if you have it, trust me)
• 1 large bay leaf
• Salt & black pepper

What to Do:

1. Sweat the aromatics: In a solid hit of olive oil, cook the onions, carrots, and celery on low for 30 minutes. No browning, just melting them down. (This 30min is when I rolled my dough out! Just give the veggies a shake/stir after you roll each sheet to check on them.)
2. Add garlic and cook 5 minutes.
3. Add chicken: Break it up, but then let it sit to develop some golden crust before stirring! This is important for building even more flavor. 
4. Add mushrooms: Cook them down until soft.
5. Add dried herbs, chili, and more olive oil if needed.
6. Tomato paste goes in—cook it for a few minutes to deepen the flavor.
7. Add passata, fresh basil (tear it in), parmesan rind, bay leaf, and sugar.
8. Simmer until thick. Once the passata goes in it'll deglaze the pan and you want to make sure you scrape the bottom to get all that fond (free flavor) back into the sauce! You want it almost paste-like. Thin sauce = sloppy lasagna.

🔥 Pro Tip: Season at every step. Veggies, meat, sauce—don’t just dump salt in at the end.

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Step 3: The Ricotta Filling—A Bright, Savory Hit

This layer is where the creamy, tangy magic happens. It gives some structure to the lasagna and honestly it's just fricken delicious!! 

What You Need:

• 500g ricotta
• 2 large eggs
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp salt (but season to taste) 
• Black pepper (don’t be shy)
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of ⅛ lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup grated Pecorino Romano
• Dash of hot sauce

What to Do:

Mix it up, taste, adjust. You want this to taste amazing on it's own! Pleasseee grate the pecorino yourself - don't buy bagged stuff. The quality difference and flavor is hugely noticeable! (This goes for the other cheeses below too) 

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Step 4: The Cheese—Go Big or Go Home

A good lasagna should be borderline criminal in its cheese quantity.

What You Need:

• 2 fresh mozzarella balls (the kind in liquid)
• 3 cups good-quality mozzarella, shredded (Again, shred yourself please! Don't buy shredded cheese for this.) 
• Pecorino Romano (grate a ton right on top of the lasagna—you want it snowing on top)

🧀 Pro Tip: Fresh mozzarella melts beautifully, but shredded mozzarella gives that iconic stretchy pull. Use both.

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Step 5: Layering (The Fun Part)

Now we build. This is where everything comes together into glorious, layered perfection.

How to Layer:

1. Thin layer of sauce at the bottom. Prevents sticking.
2. First pasta layer. No overlapping—just cover the bottom.
3. Ricotta filling. Spread evenly.
4. Shredded mozzarella + torn fresh mozzarella.
5. More sauce.
6. Repeat until you’ve filled your dish! I ended with 3 layers of pasta. 
7. Top with sauce, shredded mozzarella, torn fresh mozzarella, and Pecorino Romano. (This is where you want it to look like it snowed 1cm on your lasagna with how much pecorino you grate on!)
8. Cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 30 min. Then, remove the foil and bake for another 35-40 min until super golden brown. 

🛑 DO NOT SKIP THIS: Let it rest 10 minutes before slicing. If you cut in too soon, it’ll be lava and collapse into a messy heap.

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Final Thoughts: The Best Lasagna You’ve Ever Made

This isn’t a “quick and easy” lasagna. It’s a real deal worth-it lasagna. The kind that ruins you for the basic stuff. The layers hold together, the sauce is rich and meaty, the ricotta brings brightness, and the cheese? Pure indulgence.

Make it once, and I guarantee you’ll never go back to frozen when you're craving real genuine lasagna. 

Now go forth and cook. And when you do—take a pic before diving in, because this beauty deserves it. 🔥

I made a video going through the whole process that is posted on Willow & Wisk social media (Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook) - feel free to check that out! I'd love a like or comment as your support is genuinely appreciated. 

If you need any tools to help you make your own lasagna - A sharp knife, mixing bowls, a microplane for grating garlic and pecorino, etc. please check out the shop section of the website!! Everything I used to make this you can find in the store!