It’s been a while since I made lasagna with chicken instead of ground beef, and when I was searching online for a recipe, I ran across several for buffalo chicken lasagna and knew I would have to give it a try. Brad and the kids love buffalo chicken wings, so I thought this would be a big hit with them. And it was! It’s hard to go wrong with lasagna to begin with, and adding the buffalo wing sauce and bleu cheese adds a great twist to this favorite classic. Plus the kids didn’t really notice the spinach since there are so many other goodies in this dish.

The only things I would do differently is to add more heat (either hotter wing sauce, more hot sauce or a combination of both) and more bleu cheese, just to get more buffalo chicken flavor. But other than that, this is a delicious alternative to your traditional lasagna.

Ingredients

• 9 lasagna noodles
• Salt (just enough to cook the noodles in)
• 2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (about 2 ½ cups or so)
• 32 oz. marina sauce (I make my own, but feel free to use the jarred stuff, especially to save time)
• 1 cup buffalo wing sauce (choose mild, medium or hot, depending on your taste buds)
• Hot sauce, to taste (not pictured)
• 1 bag (5 oz.) baby spinach, chopped small
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup sweet onion, diced small
• 1 cup celery, diced small (about 3 stalks or so)
• 4-5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 green pepper, diced small
• 1 container (15 oz.) ricotta cheese (I used part skim)
• 1 container (4 oz.) bleu cheese crumbles (I will double this next time)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 cups Italian-blend cheese (I used reduced-fat)
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese (I used reduced-fat)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9”x13” casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Boil the lasagna noodles in salted water until they are al dente (follow directions on package.) Remove from heat and strain in a colander. I add a little bit of vegetable oil to the water to keep the noodles from sticking.

Mix the chicken, spinach, marinara sauce, buffalo sauce and hot sauce in a large bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the onions, celery, green pepper and garlic for a few minutes.

Add the veggies to the chicken mixture.

In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, bleu cheese, egg and parsley until well blended.

Ladle about a third of the sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish and top with three of the lasagna noodles.

Spread about a third of the ricotta cheese mixture on the noodles.

Next, sprinkle about a third of the Italian and cheddar cheeses on top of that.

Repeat the layers twice, until you are out of noodles, etc.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes; remove the foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and starts turning a light brown.

Let the lasagna sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.

As with most tomato-based Italian food, this is awesome for leftovers the next day!

Bon appétit!

Eat, drink and be merry!

Follow Kel’s Café on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kelscafe