Lasagna Soup
All the flavors of lasagna in a comforting, cozy soup with a dollop of ricotta goodness that gets melted right into the soup!
With the low temperatures settling in, I’ve been on a major soup kick lately. See, back in LA, we never really had a winter season so I was able to walk around in my flip flops throughout the year. But here in the Bay Area, I’m constantly wrapped up in sweats along with the electric blanket and a bowl of a soup to keep me warm and cozy.
And with my new home-grown basil, I just had to use it in this soup. Now, I’ve had many basil plants in the past years but somehow, Jason and I can’t seem take care of one. We either water them too much or completely neglect them!
But with my new AeroGarden ULTRA, Jason and I can manage to grow these gorgeous basil plants without being plant killers! AeroGarden is a fool-proof indoor garden, leaving you to grow plants all year long, from fresh flowers to butterhead lettuce for your salad.
All you need to do is add water and nutrients when indicated, and it even has programmable grow lights that turn on and off by itself to simulate the sun. Seriously, how easy is that? Not to mention, it’s incredibly clean too. There’s absolutely no weeds, no dirt, and no mess involved here!
So once that basil was ready for me, I set out to the kitchen to make this lasagna soup that’s been on my bucket list for at least a year now. It’s all the flavors of a lasagna in a glorious tomato-based soup!
But what makes this soup over-the-top is the ricotta center. With a simple dollop of a ricotta, Parmesan mixture and a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella, these cheeses get melted right in the soup into the most amazing ooey gooey, cheesy center.
It’s a form of lasagna without all the prep work and if you ask me, the soup version is a million times better!
Check out Kitchen PLAY for more AeroGarden basil recipes!
AeroGrow will be running its ‘12 Days of Deals’ for the holidays with discounts and special bundles for the season. Plus, get up to 20% on everything storewide when using promo code ‘Holiday20’ in the shopping cart at checkout.
Lasagna Soup
Ingredients
- 8 ounces elbows pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casing removed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 28-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
For the ricotta mixture
- 8 ounces ricotta
- ½ cup grated Parmesan
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat. Add Italian sausage to the skillet and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; drain excess fat. Add garlic, onion, oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in tomato paste until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken stock, diced tomatoes and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir in pasta.
- Serve immediately with a heaping spoonful of the ricotta mixture, sprinkled with mozzarella and basil.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by AeroGarden and Kitchen PLAY. All opinions expressed are my own.
Love this another wonderful recipe!! Had to do it with ground beef because we don’t eat pork but it was just at delicious didn’t make any other changes. Love your recipes! keep them coming
I don’t have Italian sausage can I use ground beef instead?
Yes, of course.
Can u sub cottage cheese for ricotta cheese? Not a fan of ricotta! Or even cream cheese? Pics look delicious. Can’t wait to try!
Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
This soup is one of our favorites.
This recipe looks wonderful. I was wondering do you think I could use chicken broth instead of chicken stock?
Yes.
I know that this is an old post, but I just tried this for the first time last night and can not stop thinking about this recipe!
Let me start off by saying that my fiance and I are not big soup eaters, heck – we’re not even big lasagna eaters but something about this recipe told me that this would not be the typical thin, watery, soup that still left you hungry afterwards.
I followed this recipe pretty much exactly except that I used mini penne noodles and broiled the cheeses at the end, French Onion soup style. Well, this soup probably made about 8 or more servings so tell me how I went to work with just 2 measly containers while my fiance happily carried a whole cooler with a large container (just for him!) and several smaller containers for his coworkers??!! Hahaha I couldn’t even get mad because I was just happy enough that I was able to find a soup recipe other than French Onion that we both enjoy. Thank you for making us soup lovers again!
This was a total hit at the dinner table tonight. My VERY picky 4-year-old ate it up and even called me the best chef in the world. Wow!!
I added mushrooms (just a personal fav!) and substituted half the sausage for turkey Italian sausage to try to cut some calories, so more like a 50/50 of pork and turkey mix d together and was still absolutely DamnDelicious!!
Just made this soup. It was the best I’ve had in forever! Unbelievable recipe. All the components make it so delicious. Thank you!
Decided to make this dish today, and i can tell you it was very delicious. Definitely one for the cookbook.
Wow! This was delicious!! An easier, lighter-ish version of one of my fave Italian dishes. Though it killed me to do so, I left out the Italian sausage for my picky little eaters, but it was still amazing. Reheated the next day for lunch and it was just as good, if not better! Definitely a keeper. Thanks!!
I just made the soup and it is delicious !! Wondering about something….do you think I could add some of the ricotta mixture to the soup before serving ? or do you think it would curdle ?
Yes, I definitely worry about curdling!
Hi, made this tonight and it was easy and delicious. I don’t like Italian sausage so I used ground beef and added one teaspoon Italian seasoning to mixture to make up the difference in meats used. It was amazing and everyone said it is a Keeper!! Thank you so much, I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
YUM! This meal looked SO delicious in your photos — and I am happy to report it lived up to the pics! So flavorful, filling, and tasty. It made the whole house smell delish while cooking. I’m actually not a huge traditional lasagna fan so this was the perfect alternative for me. Will make it again!
I made this soup tonight and it was absolutely amazing! Everyone who at it, LOVED it!
Chungah, I know this post is almost a year old, but I just came across it on Pinterest. I was on my lunch break at work, just browsing around Pinterest when I saw this soup. Wow!! This looks absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to make it!
This looks amazing! Could I make it vegetarian, you think?
Georgianna, that is really up to you. I personally think the sausage and the Parmesan plays a huge roll in this dish but please feel free to make the appropriate substitutions to fit your dietary restrictions.
This soup is heavenly; comforting and super filling. Perfect for a windy fall day in NY. I lightened it up slightly with Italian style turkey sausage; next time I think I’ll add some spinach and carrots to sneak some extra veggies into my diet.
This looks very good, and I am interested in trying it. However, I am curious. Does it have any sort of a “tomato soup” flavour, or is it all lasagna flavour? I tried canned tomato soup once and hated it, so I don’t want to spend the money to make this if it’s like tomato soup any. Though your pictures make it look very delicious!
Amanda, as the recipe includes both tomato paste and fire roasted diced tomatoes, there is definitely a tomato flavor, but I can assure you that this tastes nothing like canned tomato soup!
Thanks for the quick answer! Really, I may just have to try it anyways, the pictures look too good to resist.
My wife is always on Pinterest . I never new why until I see all the different ideas. This is the 1st receipe I tried and thank you. Awesome tasting and not changing a thing. PS
Addicted to the sights just like the wife.
If you pre cooked the sausage, could you put all the ingredients in a crock pot and cook that way?
Nancy, please understand that it is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to the slow cooker method without further recipe testing. I recommend using your own judgement to convert this recipe to utilize a slow cooker.