Super Creamy One-Pot Lasagna Soup Recipe

Traditional lasagna, an Italian dish that may actually have roots in Greece, is typically a craveable pasta casserole baked in the oven. Home cooks, however, have been putting their own spin on it for years, with some turning it into a type of hearty tomato-noodle soup. Many lasagna soups use a marinara-sauce base, but developer Katie Rosenhouse does things a bit differently — she opts for a tomato cream sauce as her soup base, then bulks things up with seasoned sauteed Italian sausage and adds a touch of green freshness with quickly wilted spinach. The crowning touch is a cheesy combo that adds that creamy meltiness we love about lasagna. 

As Rosenhouse says of her creation, "This is a tasty soup for sure. It tastes just like a classic lasagna, but with the added comfort of a hot, tomato-based broth that makes it perfect for a cozy winter dinner." Rosenhouse takes the soup to a new level by repurposing the ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella from a standard lasagna as a special topping for the soup. As she says of this 3-cheese medley, "It adds a nice contrast to the hot soup, ultimately melting in to give it an even creamier, cheesier finish."

This soup is made with olive oil, yellow onion, sweet Italian sausage, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, tomato paste, a can of crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, lasagna noodles, spinach, and heavy cream. You'll also need ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, and basil for topping.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.

Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it's tender and beginning to brown.

Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until it's no longer pink.

Stir in the garlic, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper, and cook for an additional minute.

Stir in the tomato paste to combine, and cook for an additional minute.

Add the chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, and water, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring to a simmer.

In the meantime, break up large lasagna noodles if using.

Add the noodles to the simmering soup.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente.

Stir in the spinach to wilt.

Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in heavy cream.

In a bowl, stir to combine the ricotta cheese with the remaining ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt.

Portion the soup into bowls.

Top each bowl with a dollop of the ricotta cheese mixture, a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese, and a few leaves of basil.

Serve immediately.

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There are all kinds of ways to tweak this recipe to make it suit your tastes. For starters, you may swap the sausage for ground beef, turkey, or chicken, or make it spicier by using hot Italian sausage or Mexican-style chorizo. Of course, you can always go with something plant-based if you prefer, like crumbled tofu, white beans, or lentils. As for the pasta, you could skip the wide, flat lasagna noodles and go with a shorter, chunkier shape such as penne, ziti, or rotini.

The spinach could be changed out for kale or chard, or swapped with a different type of vegetable like mushrooms. A frozen vegetable mix would also work. If you don't have ricotta on hand, you could use cottage cheese or a swirl of bechamel sauce, or just leave it out and make up the difference with extra mozzarella and Parmesan. For a lighter soup, it's okay to use half and half in place of heavy cream or simply skip this addition altogether. You can also use a different garnish, like parsley, in place of the basil, or just leave off the greenery and enjoy your soup as is.

If you're planning to make this soup well in advance of eating it, it's best to skip adding the noodles until right before you're ready to serve the soup. If you let them sit and soak in the broth for several days, they may absorb so much liquid that they're no longer al dente. Instead, you can complete steps one through six of this recipe, then bring the soup to a quick simmer before cooling it and refrigerating it for up to four days. Once you're ready to eat, all you'll need to do is add and cook the noodles, wilt the spinach, then stir in the cream. You can season the ricotta ahead of time, too, so it'll be ready to garnish the bowls when the soup is done.

Of course, if you make the soup and have leftovers, that's okay; the softer noodles will still taste great and even add an extra layer of creaminess to the dish. You can also store the leftover soup in the freezer. Once you thaw and reheat your soup, whether in the microwave or on the stovetop, you may want to add a little water or broth to restore a thinner, more soup-like consistency.

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