Gordon Ramsay’s chicken lasagne is creamy and savoury, with layers of poached shredded thigh meat, sautéed leeks and mushrooms in a crème fraîche sauce, topped with a golden Cheddar béchamel. No tomato, no red sauce. This is a white lasagne, ready in about 75 minutes.
The filling follows the same method Ramsay uses for his chicken and autumn vegetable pies in the Ultimate Cookery Course: leeks sautéed with thyme, chicken stock reduced with crème fraîche, and chunks of cooked thigh meat. He’s specific about the protein: “Use the meat from the chicken thigh and leg as it is less likely to dry out than the breast.”
Poaching the thighs directly in stock is what makes this work. You cook the chicken and build the sauce base at the same time, because the stock absorbs all the flavour from the bones and thyme as it simmers. Once you reduce that poaching liquid by half and stir in the crème fraîche, you’ve got a concentrated sauce with real depth, not just cream poured over chicken.
Gordon Ramsay Chicken Lasagne
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Intermediate4
servings15
minutes55
minutes540
kcal75
minutesA white chicken lasagne built from the Ultimate Cookery Course pie filling method: thigh meat poached in stock, shredded and folded with sautéed leeks, mushrooms and crème fraîche. Topped with a Cheddar and Dijon béchamel from Bread Street Kitchen.
Ingredients
- For the chicken filling:
4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
500ml (2 cups) chicken stock
3 thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
25g (1 oz) butter
1 leek, trimmed and sliced
150g (5 oz) chestnut mushrooms, sliced
100ml (3.5 fl oz) crème fraîche
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the cheese sauce:
25g (1 oz) butter
25g (1 oz) plain flour
300ml (1¼ cups) milk
½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 pinch ground nutmeg
60g (2 oz) Cheddar, grated
30g (1 oz) Parmesan, grated
- To assemble:
6 dried lasagne sheets (non pre-cook)
Extra Parmesan for topping
Directions
- Poach the chicken: Place the thighs in a saucepan with the stock, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes until the juices run clear. Remove the thighs and set aside. Strain and keep the poaching liquid.
- Shred the meat: Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones. Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces using two forks.
- Sauté the vegetables: Melt butter in a large frying pan. Add the leek and mushrooms, season and cook for 6-8 minutes until the leeks are soft and the mushrooms are well coloured.
- Build the filling sauce: Pour 250ml of the poaching liquid into the pan with the vegetables. Bring to the boil and reduce by half. Stir in the crème fraîche and cook for 3-4 minutes until slightly thickened. Fold in the shredded chicken. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Make the béchamel: Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in flour to make a paste. Add milk in thirds, whisking after each addition. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and Dijon mustard. Cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the Cheddar and Parmesan.
- Layer the lasagne: Preheat oven to 200C (400F/Gas 6). Spoon half the chicken filling into a baking dish. Lay lasagne sheets on top. Pour just under half the cheese sauce over the pasta. Spoon in the remaining filling. Add another layer of lasagne sheets. Pour the rest of the cheese sauce over the top.
- Bake: Scatter extra Parmesan over the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and bubbling. Rest 10 minutes before cutting.
FAQs
Why no tomato in this lasagne?
Because Ramsay’s chicken recipes don’t use it. His chicken pie filling in the Ultimate Cookery Course is built on leeks, thyme, stock and crème fraîche. No tomato at all. Following that same flavour profile gives you a white lasagne that actually tastes of chicken, not a red sauce with chicken lost in it.
Tomato works with beef because the acidity cuts through the fat in the mince. Chicken is leaner and more delicate, so it needs cream and herbs instead. The crème fraîche and thyme do the same balancing job without overpowering the meat.
Why poach the chicken instead of roasting it?
Poaching does two jobs at once. The thighs cook gently in the stock, staying tender and juicy, while the stock absorbs flavour from the bones, skin and thyme. That enriched liquid then becomes the sauce when you reduce it.
Roasting gives better colour on the meat, but you lose all that flavour into the roasting tin. For a lasagne where the chicken is buried under cheese sauce, the colour doesn’t matter. The concentrated poaching liquid matters more.
Why Dijon mustard in the cheese sauce?
In Bread Street Kitchen, Ramsay adds half a teaspoon of Dijon to his cannelloni cheese sauce. It doesn’t make the sauce taste of mustard. It adds a sharpness that cuts through the richness of the Cheddar and stops the béchamel tasting flat.
This is especially important in a white lasagne because there’s no tomato acidity to balance the cream. The mustard does that job instead, along with the nutmeg. Without them, the whole dish would taste one-note.
Why crème fraîche instead of double cream?
Ramsay uses crème fraîche in his chicken pie filling, not double cream. Crème fraîche has a natural tanginess that cream doesn’t, so it gives the sauce some brightness alongside the richness. It also holds up better when reduced because the higher protein content means it thickens without splitting.
If you swap in double cream, reduce it a minute or two longer because it’s thinner. The result will be richer but flatter. A squeeze of lemon juice at the end helps bring back some of that acidity you lose.
Does a white lasagne store as well as a red one?
Just as well. The crème fraîche sauce and béchamel both set firm in the fridge, so you get cleaner slices the next day. Fridge 3-4 days, freezer up to 3 months.
The one thing to watch is reheating: add a splash of milk over the top before covering with foil and reheating at 180C. White sauces dry out faster than tomato-based ones because there’s less liquid in the filling. The beef lasagne al forno is more forgiving on reheating because the tomato ragu holds moisture. The vegetable version sits somewhere in between.
