This Lasagna Soup Recipe is sponsored by Swanson®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The same great flavors as classic lasagna, minus the tedious layering and extra dishes. Made with delicious garlic, onion, tomato, beef broth, your favorite ground meat, Italian herbs, and a melty cheesy ricotta mixture, this Easy One Pot Lasagna Soup is loved by the whole family and is ready in under 45 minutes.
Lasagna Soup
For as long as I could cook, I have had a love-hate relationship with lasagna. As one of my family’s favorite Italian comfort foods, right up there with Italian Wedding Soup and Minestrone Soup, it’s frequently requested at my house. However, between my hungry husband and practically famished son (he’s not…unless there’s lasagna to be had), lasagna doesn’t stand a chance in my house. After nearly three hours in the kitchen, a lasagna that was supposed to feed us for at least two nights now gone, and dishes up to the ceiling, I often wonder if it’s worth it.
It is, of course, but there had to be an easier way!
This One Pot Lasagna Soup is the easier way. Filled with all those familiar, comforting, and delicious flavors we have all grown to love and expect from regular lasagna, Lasagna Soup is practically the same thing…except that it’s not. Lasagna’s more disorganized cousin, Lasagna Soup doesn’t care about outward appearances or pretty layers. It’s what’s on the inside that matters most to this kid- and husband-approved soup.
Made with 100% natural Swanson® Beef Broth to bring superior taste and quality to this crazy-good soup takes just 45 minutes to make. And, thanks to loads of easy modifications, anyone can make a big batch of this delicious Lasagna Soup.
So, grab an extra large pot and get ready to make the easiest, most low-maintenance lasagna EVER.
Ingredients in Lasagna Soup
To make this insanely delicious lasagna soup recipe, you’ll need a handful of super simple, easy-to-find ingredients. These are the most important:
- Ground meat. Traditional lasagna recipes typically use ground beef, however, feel free to use whatever you have on hand. I decided to mix and match ground turkey with ground sausage as they are my family’s favorite meat combination, but I have also made this recipe with just ground beef and just ground turkey.
- Italian seasonings. Ok, you guys, so you may notice in the video and in the recipe card that there are a lot of different Italian herbs (dried parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary) going into this lasagna soup. If you don’t have all of those herbs sitting in your cupboards already, don’t worry. In their place, add 2-3 tablespoons of Italian seasoning and you’ll be good to go.
- Canned tomatoes. Unless you feel like making your own homemade tomato paste and puree from raw tomatoes, grab a couple big cans of tomatoes from your local market, a small can of tomato paste, and keep things simple. I added an entire (28 ounce) can of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. That said, don’t worry if you can’t find tomato sauce versus crushed tomatoes or stewed tomatoes versus diced tomatoes.
- Quality beef broth. I highly recommend using beef broth instead of water as the base for this soup. Anytime I cook a soup with lots of rich and comforting flavor with a short cook time, I always pick up Swanson® Beef Broth. Made with non-GMO ingredients, no MSG, no preservatives, and no artificial flavors, I’ve trusted Swanson® Broth in all my family recipes for years.
- Noodles. Being a lasagna soup and everything, I thought it would be pretty important to show you guys this recipe with actual lasagna noodles. However, any pasta noodle will work. If you decide to use a spaghetti or linguine noodle, I highly recommend breaking them into smaller pieces.
- Half-and-Half. Some of you may be wondering what the half-and-half is all about. Do you really need to add it? Will the soup taste any different without it? Truthfully, the soup doesn’t need it. However, as with ricotta and cheese, it tastes delicious and helps mellow out the acidity from all the tomatoes. If that’s not really your thing or you prefer to add more cheese, simply skip the half-and-half.
- Ricotta. Lasagna is not lasagna without ricotta. I would say the same for lasagna soup, but remembering that you can make up for it with extra gooey, melted, shredded cheese makes me think twice.
- Shredded cheese. I added both shredded parmesan and shredded mozzarella cheese as they are, in addition to ricotta, the other classic lasagna cheeses. Feel free to do the same or go rogue and add your favorite cheeses to your soup.
How to make this One Pot Lasagna Soup Recipe
First things first, let’s brown our meat. I recommend grabbing the largest pot you have (ideally 8-10 quarts) so that you don’t have to worry about running out of space toward the end of cooking. Set your pot over medium-high heat, add a drizzle of olive oil and, once hot, dump in your ground meat. Now, do you like extra large and chunky soup? Or do you prefer teeny tiny meat pieces? Obviously, if you want your meat to be teeny tiny and small, you’ll have to work a little harder to break it up as it’s cooking. I’m neutral, so I tend to break up my meat until it’s somewhere in the middle.
Once the meat is nearly cooked through, add the diced onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I hate to give an exact measurement of exactly how much salt and pepper to add as this is always so personal, so go with what feels right. That said, I do not recommend starting with more than 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook the onions until they are translucent and soft. Assuming that your onions were chopped pretty small, this shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes or so.
Add the garlic and red chili flakes. You guys, I added 8 whole cloves of garlic to my Lasagna Soup. Why? Because I love garlic. Garlic is super good for you and even though it makes your breath smell really bad, it tastes awesome in this soup. If that is too much garlic for you, just add less. No big deal. The same can be said about the red chili flakes. Please, do not add the red chili flakes if you are sensitive to spicy food. Yes? Ok.
Plop in the tomato paste and dried Italian seasonings. Start with 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste and see how that works before you decide to add the rest of the can or tube. As for the Italian seasoning, if you know you strongly dislike any particular herb, feel free to skip that one. The biggies are dried parsley, basil, and oregano as they come pretty standard in all Italian recipes.
By this point, you should start asking yourself if you plan to cook the lasagna noodles directly in the soup or separately. Factors such as whether you plan to have leftovers, plan to freeze, or whether you really love soggy noodles are all really great things to consider. If you answered yes to the first two and no to the last, then definitely boil your noodles separately.
In any case, dump in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and all that Swanson® Beef Broth. It will look like a ton of broth but trust me, it’s not. Remember, there are no noodles or cheese in there yet. In fact, I highly recommend keeping some extra broth on hand just in case. Bring to a boil, cook the noodles, and simmer.
Get your cheese ready. Truthfully, you don’t have to mix them all together. BUT, I find it easier and somewhat more logical to just mix it up. No pressure though. Feel free to keep the ricotta separate from the shredded parmesan and mozzarella.
Finally! We’ve made it to the end! Eating time is nearly here! All that’s left to do is stir in the sugar and half-and-half (if using), and serve! Garnish with loads of cheese and parsley, and get ready because I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be making this again next week.
Tips and Tricks to make the BEST Lasagna Soup
- Add the unused Parmesan rind to the broth. The rind may be incredibly difficult to shred, and somewhat less appealing to eat, but that doesn’t mean it should be tossed away. Adding awesome extra flavor, add the rind at the same time as the broth and remove just before serving.
- Add some extra veggies. This lasagna soup recipe, amazing just the way it is, is the perfect base for extra vegetables. My favorites include peas, spinach, and chopped broccoli florets.
- Make it extra meaty. I have one word for you guys here: sausage. Whether you prefer ground sausage or sliced Italian sausage, this soup really loves sausage.
- For a thicker soup, add extra tomato paste—1-2 tablespoons at a time.
If you’re looking to make this soup a little healthier,
- Add lean meat such as lean ground beef or ground turkey. This is, hands down, the easiest way to cut down on the overall calories in this soup.
- Cook the noodles separately, then add it to each individual serving bowl rather than directly to the pot. This allows me to know exactly how much pasta I’m eating.
- Skip the half-and-half. Remember how I said that it’s not a make-it-or-break-it ingredient?
- Go easy with the cheese. I’m not saying you should or that I want you to, but since you asked…
Can you freeze Lasagna Soup?
Yes yes yes!
However, before you go and make three huge batches of this lasagna soup and fill it with all the noodles and all the cheese, let me make a few recommendations so that your thawed lasagna soup will taste just as awesome as the original.
First and foremost, I do not recommend freezing this soup with the noodles and cheese added. Cooked noodles, already on their way to soggy town, never freeze well. Unless, of course, you enjoy soggy, mushy pasta noodles. In that case, add all the noodles! But me personally? Thanks, but no thanks.
For best results, allow the soup (just the soup, not the noodles or the cheese) to cool in the refrigerator completely before transferring to freezer-friendly containers or double-bag in freezer-friendly zip-lock bags. Remove most of the air, leaving just a small amount of space to allow the liquid to expand as it freezes.
To reheat, allow your frozen Lasagna Soup to thaw in the fridge overnight, then transfer to a pot and cook until heated through. Once hot, decide if you want to add the pasta noodles directly to the soup or if you prefer to cook them separately. Serve topped with fresh mixed cheese.
But what about if you don’t plan to freeze the leftovers? Enjoy within 3-4 days, thoroughly reheating each time.
Love this One Pot Lasagna Soup Recipe? Try these,
- Italian Wedding Soup <— meatballs and tiny pasta!
- Homemade Tomato Basil Soup Recipe
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
- Easy Minestrone Soup Recipe (Stovetop + Slow Cooker) <—classic Italian comfort food
- Cambodian Pork and Cucumber Soup
- Alphabet Soup Recipe<— fun for the kids!
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One Pot Lasagna Soup
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 pounds ground meat - (I used ground turkey and ground sausage)
- 2 medium yellow onions - diced
- salt + pepper - to taste
- 8 cloves garlic - minced
- 1/2 tsp red chili flakes - (optional)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 8 cups Swanson® Beef Broth
- 1 pound lasagna noodles - broken into smaller pieces (see notes)
- 1 tbsp sugar - (optional)
- 1 cup half-and-half - see notes
- Fresh parsley - to garnish
For the Ricotta Cheese Mixture
- 15 ounces Ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded cheese - see notes
- 3 tbsp finely minced parsley - (or 1/2 tsp dried parsley) optional
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch-oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook, breaking into smaller pieces with a wooden spatula, until nearly cooked through.
- Add the onions, salt, and pepper to the pot and mix well to combine. Cook the onions and meat, stirring often, for approximately 5 minutes, or until onions start to soften and turn translucent. Mix in the minced garlic and red chili flakes (if using). Cook for approximately 1 minute, stirring continuously.
- Add the tomato paste and Italian seasonings (dried parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary). Mix well to combine.
- Increase heat to high and add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and Swanson® Beef Broth. Allow mixture to come to a boil and add the lasagna noodles (see notes). Mix well to prevent the noodles from clumping together. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook the soup, stirring often, until the noodles are soft (not mushy).
- As the noodles are cooking, prepare the ricotta mixture. Add the ricotta, shredded cheeses, chopped parsley, and pepper, to a large mixing bowl. Mix well to combine. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
- Once the lasagna noodles are cooked, add the sugar and half-and-half (if using). Mix well to combine. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
- Serve each bowl garnished with desired amount of ricotta cheese mixture and additional chopped parsley. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Feel free to use your favorite ground meat in this recipe. Traditional lasagna is made with ground beef, but I am partial to ground sausage and ground turkey.
- If you don't have each individual dried Italian seasoning for this recipe, simply substitute (the dried parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary) with 2 FULL tablespoons of dried Italian seasoning.
- You may cook the lasagna noodles one of two ways- directly in the soup OR separately and add to each individual serving bowl just before serving. Of course, there are pros and cons to each. If, however, you expect leftovers or plan to freeze part of the soup, I highly recommend cooking the noodles separately from the soup.
- The half-and-half is completely optional. Although it does add an extra layer of richness to the soup, it doesn't add to or take away from the flavor.
- I mixed mozzarella and parmesan cheese together with the ricotta cheese. Feel free to add different cheeses (goat cheese would add great flavor), subtract, or keep each of these cheeses completely separate.
My kids loved this! Thank you.