One-pot dinners
Lasagna Soup Recipe: One-Pot Tomato Soup With Broken Noodles
Make lasagna soup with broken noodles, tomato broth, optional ground meat, and a flexible ricotta finish—all in one pot.
- TIME
- 50 min
- SERVES
- 6
This lasagna soup recipe keeps the tomato, herbs, noodles, and creamy cheese of lasagna but cooks them in one pot. Broken lasagna sheets are ideal, including the cracked pieces at the bottom of a box, and the loose structure makes room for a carrot, pepper, or handful of greens that needs using.
Brown the meat first so it develops flavor instead of simmering pale in the broth. Tomato paste should cook for a full minute with the garlic and herbs; that brief step removes its raw taste and deepens the base before the crushed tomatoes and stock go in.
Keep the noodles under control
Break dry sheets into spoon-friendly pieces, protecting your hand with a clean towel. Stir often once they enter the pot because broad pasta pieces like to settle and stick. Different brands need different cooking times, so use the package as a guide and stop when the noodles are just tender. They continue softening in the hot broth.
If you expect leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl. Otherwise it will keep drinking the broth overnight. Already mixed? Loosen the next day’s soup with water or stock while reheating.
Change the filling, keep the soup
Ground beef or mild Italian sausage gives the classic shape, but cooked lentils or two drained cans of white beans make a meatless pot. Replace spinach with kale, chard, or finely shredded cabbage, allowing sturdier leaves a few extra minutes. Ricotta is traditional, yet cottage cheese, grated mozzarella, Parmesan, or no cheese at all can finish the bowl.
Cook ground beef or pork to 160°F / 71°C and do not use raw meat that has been left at room temperature for more than two hours. See USDA safe-temperature guidance. Cool leftover soup promptly in shallow containers; if its storage history is uncertain or it develops mold, gas, or an unusual sour smell, discard it.
Use another tin of tomatoes in store-cupboard tomato pasta, turn extra ground beef into easy weeknight meatloaf, or send a larger mix of aging produce toward clean-out-the-fridge soup.
From fridge to table
How to make it
- 01
Warm the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef or sausage and cook, breaking it up, until browned and it reaches 160°F / 71°C.
- 02
Add the onion and carrot or pepper. Cook for 6 minutes until softened, then add the garlic, tomato paste, and dried herbs and stir for 1 minute.
- 03
Pour in the crushed tomatoes and stock. Scrape the base of the pot, bring to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.
- 04
Add the broken lasagna pieces and simmer uncovered, stirring often, until just tender according to the package timing. Add a splash of water if the soup becomes too thick.
- 05
Fold in the spinach and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.
- 06
Spoon into bowls and add ricotta or cottage cheese and grated cheese at the table, if using.
