Chocolate Lasagna

Why You’ll Love This No-Bake Chocolate Lasagna

This easy chocolate lasagna layers crushed Oreos with fluffy no-bake cheesecake, creamy chocolate pudding, and whipped cream. It’s the most amazing combination of flavors! Here are all the reasons you’ll be just as obsessed with this chocolate dessert as I am:

• Super decadent. Simple ingredients like cream cheese, chocolate sandwich cookies, and instant chocolate pudding are all you need. This dessert lasagna melts in your mouth, with rich chocolate and tangy cheesecake flavors in every bite.
• Quick. This chocolate lasagna takes 15 minutes of hands-on prep before it can chill in the fridge. If you’re looking for a fast and easy dessert for a special occasion, this is it.
• No baking. One more thing that makes this one of the best lasagna recipes ever? You don’t even need to bake it. This is a great dessert to make in the summer months when the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven.
• Make-ahead. I love a make-ahead friendly dessert like my creamy no-bake marshmallow chocolate pie and classics like this cherry pretzel dessert. This chocolate lasagna is another favorite treat to make in advance and bring to potlucks and parties. Those sweet, silky layers are always a hit!

What Is a Chocolate Lasagna?

You might be thinking, “What on earth is a chocolate lasagna?” The obvious answer? Heaven. It’s heaven on earth. Jokes aside, it’s actually a dessert based on the Olive Garden’s famous chocolate lasagna. This chocolate dessert has all the chocolatey goodness of a chocolate cake, and the decadence of chocolate cheesecake, but you don’t need to bake it. 

Instead, all those irresistible no-bake ingredients are layered in a casserole dish (similar to how you’d layer a traditional lasagna) and chilled before serving.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here are the simple ingredients needed to make this creamy no-bake chocolate lasagna. I use a few store-bought shortcuts, like instant pudding and Cool Whip. Of course, there’s always the option to go 100% homemade, so I include some suggestions below. Check out my notes, and scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list of ingredients with amounts.

• Chocolate Sandwich Cookies – Like Oreos, or your favorite store-brand version. You can also use chocolate wafers, or replace the chocolate crust with a graham cracker crust instead.
• Butter – Melted before you start. You can use salted or unsalted butter.
• Cream Cheese – You’ll want to use the cream cheese that comes in bricks (not in a tub) and bring it to room temperature. This way it’s easier to mix with sugar for the filling.
• Whipped Topping – Pick up a tub of Cool Whip, or your preferred whipped topping. While frozen whipped toppings tend to be more stable, you can substitute Cool Whip with homemade whipped cream if you prefer.
• Chocolate Pudding – You’ll need a couple of boxes of instant chocolate pudding along with cold milk. Another option is to borrow the homemade pudding filling from my chocolate pudding pie.
• Chocolate Sauce – Optional, but recommended for an easy garnish! I also like to drizzle my chocolate lasagna with homemade fudge sauce or caramel sauce (let’s be honest, sometimes both).

How to Make a Chocolate Lasagna

Move over, Olive Garden (we still love you!), there’s a new chocolate lasagna in town. Follow this easy step-by-step on how to put this dreamy dessert together. Scroll to the recipe card for printable instructions.

• Make the crust. First, you’ll crush up most of your Oreos with melted butter. Press the cookie crust mixture into the bottom of a 9×13” pan.

• Make the cream cheese layer. Next, cream together the cream cheese and sugar, and fold in about 1 ½ cups of Cool Whip. Spread this cream cheese fluff all over your crust.

• Add the pudding layer. Next, you’ll whip up the chocolate pudding, and spread this over the cream cheese layer.

• Garnish and chill. Top your pudding layer with what’s left of the Cool Whip. Sprinkle over some extra crushed cookies, then cover and refrigerate your dessert lasagna for a few hours, or overnight. I give mine a drizzle with chocolate sauce right before serving.

Tips and Variations

• Stick to regular Oreos. If you’re using name-brand Oreos, stick to the regular kind and not Double Stuf Oreos (these have too much creme filling, and will make the crust greasy).
• Dollop the fillings. It’s much easier to spread the cream cheese and chocolate pudding layers if you dollop the mixtures over the pan, rather than adding everything to one place before spreading.
• Chill the dessert. This chocolate lasagna will need to chill for at least 4 hours, or ideally overnight before you serve it. Also, I recommend leaving it in the fridge right up until you’re ready to serve so that the fillings don’t soften too much at room temperature.
• Get clean slices. My go-to trick for slicing everything from ice box pie to no-bake cheesecake is to run my knife under warm water before slicing and wipe off the blade in between cuts. This way, you’ll have nice, clean slices.
• Swap the crust layer. If you don’t mind a little baking, make a chocolate brownie lasagna by trading out the Oreo crust for a layer of fudgy chocolate brownies. 
• Change up the pan size. I make this in a 9×13″ casserole dish. It makes this dessert perfect for sharing! You could just as easily assemble your chocolate lasagna layers in a trifle dish, or fill cups for individual servings. Totally up to you.
• Change up the flavors. If chocolate isn’t your thing (gasps in chocoholic), feel free to make this dessert with Golden Oreos and vanilla instant pudding. Or really, any flavor of pudding!

Add More Toppings

On top of a hefty drizzle of chocolate sauce before serving, I jazz up my chocolate lasagna with more delicious toppings any chance I get. Some of my favorites are chocolate chips or chocolate shavings, chopped candy bars, Reese’s cups, or crushed peppermint (great for the holidays!). Candied pecans are another idea. If you like to keep it simple, a generous dusting of cocoa does the trick. 

How to Store

• Store in the fridge. Refrigerate your chocolate lasagna for up to 5 days. Make sure to keep it covered airtight so that it doesn’t absorb any “fridge smells”.
• Can I freeze it? Yes! This chocolate lasagna freezes best when I make it with Cool Whip. Double wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store it frozen for up to 2 months. You can serve it while it’s still partially frozen and it tastes a bit like an ice cream cake! Otherwise, defrost the lasagna in the fridge before serving.

More No-Bake Dessert Recipes

• Brownie Cheesecake
• Butterfinger Pie
• Cannoli Dip
• Easy Chocolate Mousse
• Banana Pudding