Forget pizza and spaghetti — lasagna is the best Italian food, and you can’t convince me otherwise! The layers of pasta, the different kinds of cheese, the savory meat. Every single bite is heaven! Unfortunately, fellow lasagna lovers know that this dish is intense to make. It takes forever to prep, assemble, and bake, which doesn’t always fit into your dinner schedule. And while frozen lasagnas you pop in the oven are a solid alternative, nothing quite beats homemade. Luckily, Ree Drummond (you know her as The Pioneer Woman) has the perfect solution: making lasagna in a slow cooker!

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With this new recipe, you can prep the lasagna during your free time, then simply let it cook on the counter, serving it up hours later to happy (and hungry!) guests.

“I’m making a slow-cooker lasagna that will knock their socks off,” Drummond says in a video recently shared to the Food Network YouTube channel.  

She starts with a big skillet on the stovetop, where she sautés onions and browns the two different meats in the recipe. She adds diced tomatoes, seasonings, and other ingredients to complete the hearty meat sauce.

Next, you’ll assemble the “mighty mighty cheesy” cheese mixture. It calls for fresh Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, seasonings, and other ingredients. She mixes it all in a bowl, then gets ready to put it all together in the slow cooker.

Drummond layers meat sauce, lasagna noodles, cheese sauce, and fresh mozzarella. Once you’ve completed the four layers, start again from the top. You’ll keep layering these four things for a total of three times, then finish with a fourth layer of meat and mozzarella sauce. Related story Martha Stewart's Slow-Cooker Bacon Jam Makes Summer Sandwiches Sing

About four-and-a-half hours later, the creamy, delicious lasagna is ready to serve. It takes a bit of prep work at the beginning, but it is so worth it for the mouth-watering finished meal. Serve with salad, breadsticks, and wine for a well-rounded dinner.

People were just as impressed with this recipe as we were. “Looks delicious! I’m absolutely going to try this,” one person wrote.

“I have done this and it comes out FANTASTIC !  Right on Ree !” someone else said.

“Yummy 😋.cant beat the slow cooker..easy peasy..🎉 ❤” another person wrote. We couldn’t agree more.

A dinner with this many steps being able to make ahead of time? It’s brilliant! This would be perfect for a Sunday night dinner this winter.

Get Drummond’s full Slow-Cooker Lasagna recipe online HERE.

Before you go, check out our slideshow below:

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