Easy Lasagna Soup

A flavorful tomato broth full of tender noodles, hearty ground beef, and savory Italian flavors, this shortcut lasagna soup has everything you love about traditional lasagna all in one steamy bowl that is ready in about thirty minutes.

 

Why We Love Lasagna Soup

• Easy Dinner With Pantry Staples– Most of the ingredients in this recipe are easy pantry or refrigerator ingredients that many people have on hand. It is also very easy to substitute from what ingredients you do have on hand in this recipe without an extra trip to the store.
• All The Flavor Of Lasagna– I love lasagna, but I don’t always have the time to prep it. This gives my family a cozy bowl with all the flavors of lasagna but in soup form for those busy weeks.
• Made in 30 Minutes- This is one of those easy dinner recipes that I keep on hand for a busy day when I just don’t have much time to think about dinner. As long as I have ground beef or another ground meat, I can throw this together fast and easily.
• Use Up Leftover Broken Noodles– If you find yourself with a handful of broken noodles, this is the perfect recipe to use this up. I’ll sometimes make this soup when I’m prepping a few lasagnas for the freezer with the extra broken noodles that sometimes just happen.

Ingredients For Lasagna Soup

• lasagna noodles broken into pieces
• olive oil
• ground beef
• onion diced
• garlic minced
• salt
• Italian seasoning
• marinara sauce– can also use tomato sauce of choice
• chicken broth low sodium, can also use beef broth
• mozzarella cheese shredded
• parmesan cheese shredded
• fresh basil optional for garnish

How To Make Lasagna Soup

1. Fill a large pot with water and a sprinkle of salt. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Break the lasagna noodles into 1-2 inch pieces with your hands. Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook until al dente according to the package directions, usually 8-9 minutes. Drain noodles and set to the side.

2. Place a tablespoon of olive oil in a second large pot or dutch oven to warm over medium-high heat. Add onion and ground beef to the pot. Cook breaking up the ground beef with a wooden spoon until brown and no longer pink, about 7-10 minutes. Drain any additional grease from the pan.

3. Add in garlic, salt, and Italian seasoning to the ground beef mixture. Cook one minute over medium heat, until fragrant.
4. Pour marinara sauce and chicken broth in with the ground beef mixture. Stir continuously, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low to a simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Place noodles in individual bowls and ladle soup over noodles. Top with mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and basil (optional). d ladle soup over noodles. Top with mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and basil (optional). Serve and enjoy.

Variation Ideas

This recipe is extremely flexiable and perfect for using up leftovers you may have in your pantry or fridge.

Swap The Ground Meat– Ground pork sausage or ground turkey can easily be swapped in this recipe. Drain any excess grease after browning the meat, and remove the sausage from any casings. You can also add sliced smoked Italian sausage, chicken sausage, or shredded cooked chicken like a rotisserie chicken.

Add Greens- Spinach, kale or other greens can be diced and added to this soup at the very end to wilt it into the soup. I highly recommend dicing the greens first so they sit on the spoon more easily, I do this for my slow cooker chicken gnocchi soup also.

Try With Other Vegetables– I’ll sometimes add diced carrot, diced cauliflower, chopped bell pepper or zucchini to this soup for an extra dose of vegetables. My family usually doesn’t even notice it’s there if I dice it small, and soften it after I brown the ground beef. It takes a few extra minutes to make, but is delicious.

Use Different Noodles– We’ve used broken lasagna noodles in smaller pieces, but penne, rotini, or another type of pasta that is a short noodle you happen to have on hand can easily be swapped into this soup. Simply cook according to the package directions.

Use Canned Tomatoes– You can use canned diced tomatoes in this recipe. I recommend blending them in a food processor a little bit before adding them to the soup otherwise your soup will be on the chunkier side.

Dollop Ricotta Cheese– Lasagna often has the flavor of ricotta cheese in it’s rich layers. Adding a large dollop of ricotta cheese to the top of your bowl of soup can give you the flavor and texture more of lasagna in this quick soup. Cottage cheese can also be used if you prefer.

Drizzle Heavy Cream- A good drizzle of heavy cream into this soup before adding it over top of the noodles will give it an even creamier texture and flavor.

Can You Freeze Lasagna Soup?

You can freeze lasagna soup and most of the soup tastes delicious. I usually will freeze the soup separately from the noodles as the large noodles will sometimes become extra gooey when frozen in the tomato broth. Try the hamburger stew for a soup that freezes more easily.

How Long Does Lasagna Soup Last?

Expect this soup will last for about three days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.