Name: Easy Lasagna Soup Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 pound 85/15 ground beef; 1 medium yellow onion, diced; 1 tablespoon minced garlic (or 4 cloves, minced); 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1 jar spaghetti sauce or marinara (about 3 cups) ((24 ounces)); 5 cups beef broth, plus more for thinning (chicken broth works too); 8 ounces regular lasagna noodles (about 9 noodles), broken into 2-inch pieces; 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried, added with the Italian seasoning); 1 cup small-curd cottage cheese (or ricotta); 1 cup shredded mozzarella; 1/2 cup grated parmesan; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or basil; pinch black pepper

All the cozy flavor of a pan of lasagna, ready on a weeknight with no layering and no oven. Ground beef, a jar of spaghetti sauce, and broken lasagna noodles simmer together in one pot. Then every bowl gets a big spoonful of melty three-cheese topping, which I think is the best part!

Lasagna Soup At A Glance

Prep

15 min

COOK

30 min

Total

45 min

Serves

Pan

5 to 6 quart Dutch oven or large pot

A red bowl of lasagna soup topped with a mound of three-cheese topping and a fresh basil leaf, with a red Dutch oven behind it — A bowl of lasagna soup with the cheese topping and a basil leaf.

Lasagna Night in a Bowl

My easy lasagna is a favorite around the farm. But even an easy lasagna takes a while. You brown the meat, mix the filling, layer it all up, bake it for almost an hour, and then wait while it rests. But this lasagna soup gives you the same flavors with none of that. The noodles cook right in the saucy broth, so there’s no pot of water to boil and no pan to layer, and dinner is in bowls in under an hour.

Most lasagna soups start with cans of crushed and diced tomatoes, and Greg isn’t a fan of lots of tomatoes. Tomato sauce is fine with him, though. So this one is built on a jar of spaghetti sauce, just like my lasagna. It’s smooth, it’s already seasoned, and it’s one less thing to open. The cheese goes on each bowl instead of into the pot, and once it hits the hot soup, it gets SO melty, with long strings of cheese on every spoonful of noodles, a lot like biting into a slice.

And yes, that cheese topping is made with cottage cheese, just like my lasagna. Here in the Midwest, that’s how a lot of us grew up eating lasagna.

The first time I made it, I loved it, and Greg gave it top marks … a 5 out of 5. So I’m sharing my version here with you!

Let’s dig in!

Tips and Notes Before You Start

Any smooth spaghetti sauce you like works. A jar is all you need, and homemade sauce is lovely if you have it.
Break regular lasagna noodles into about 2-inch pieces. Ruffled, uneven pieces are perfect.
Stir every couple of minutes once the noodles go in. They like to stick to the bottom of the pot.
Mix the cheese topping first. It’s a one-bowl stir, and letting it sit on the counter while the soup cooks takes the fridge chill off.

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What You’ll Need for Lasagna Soup

Labeled ingredients for lasagna soup: lasagna noodles, spaghetti sauce, beef broth, mozzarella, fresh basil, onion, ground beef, cottage cheese, Italian seasoning and pepper, garlic, salt, parsley, and parmesan — Everything for the soup and the cheese topping.

Ground beef. One pound of 85/15. That’s enough fat to flavor the broth without leaving a greasy pot. Leaner beef works, but the soup tastes a little flatter.

Spaghetti sauce. A smooth marinara or tomato-basil sauce is what you want here, and a brand you already like is perfect. The only jar that lets you down is a thin, watery, or very sweet one. If you have a batch of my homemade spaghetti sauce in the freezer, 3 cups of it works beautifully.

Broth. Beef broth gives you the deeper, meaty flavor, but chicken broth works fine too. Regular broth is already salted, and so is jarred sauce, so we hold off on adding any salt until the very end. If you use low-sodium broth, you’ll probably want a little more salt at the end.

Lasagna noodles. Use regular (not no-boil) lasagna noodles. Break them into pieces about 2 inches across. They don’t need to be neat. Those ruffled, uneven pieces are what make it look like lasagna in the bowl. Be careful not to break them too small, though, because tiny shards turn mushy.

Seasoning. One teaspoon of Italian seasoning (my homemade Italian seasoning is perfect here), since the sauce is already seasoned, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. At the end, a quarter cup of chopped fresh basil goes in. If you don’t have fresh, add 1 teaspoon of dried basil along with the Italian seasoning instead.

For the cheese topping. Full-fat cottage cheese is creamier, but any kind works. If you’d rather use ricotta, it swaps in cup for cup.

Can I Make Lasagna Soup Lactose Free?

You can, and you don’t have to change anything else. The only dairy is in the topping. Lactose-free cottage cheese is on the shelf at most grocery stores now, and lactose-free mozzarella melts just like regular. Aged parmesan is naturally very low in lactose, and plenty of people who avoid milk do fine with it. You know your own tolerance best, so use whichever versions work for you. And if dairy is off the table entirely, the soup itself is still SO GOOD with just a little fresh basil on top.

Can I Make It Gluten Free?

Swap in gluten-free lasagna noodles. I haven’t made it that way myself yet, so start tasting them a few minutes early. Gluten-free pasta tends to go from tender to soft quickly, and it keeps softening in the hot broth after you turn off the burner.

How to Make Lasagna Soup

Before You Start: Mix the Cheese Topping

Mix this up before you turn on the stove. In a small bowl, stir together the cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley, and a pinch of pepper. Then just leave it on the counter while you make the soup, so it isn’t fridge-cold when it goes on the bowls. Don’t worry if the cottage cheese looks lumpy. Those curds are supposed to be there, and they give the topping that little bit of texture you get in a baked lasagna.

Cottage cheese, shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan, chopped parsley, and a pepper grinder for the cheese topping — The topping: cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley, and pepper.

The cottage cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, and parsley topping stirred together in a glass bowl — Stirred together, curds and all.

Step 1: Cook the beef

Cooked ground beef crumbles in a dark Dutch oven — One pound of 85/15, cooked through and ready for the onion.

Set your Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Break it up with your spoon as it cooks, and keep going for 7 to 9 minutes, until there’s no pink left. If you let it sit for a minute or two between stirs, it picks up a little color, and that adds flavor to the broth.

Now check the bottom of the pot. Mine only had about a tablespoon of fat, which is just right for cooking the onion, so I didn’t drain anything. If yours has more than that, tilt the pot and spoon off the extra.

Step 2: Soften the onion

Diced onion added on top of cooked ground beef in a Dutch oven — The onion goes right in with the beef.

Add the onion to the beef and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring now and then, just until it starts to soften. It keeps cooking in the soup, so it doesn’t need to go all the way. Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning, and pepper, and cook for 30 seconds, just until you can smell the garlic. Be careful not to let it go longer, because garlic scorches fast.

Jarred garlic, Italian seasoning, and pepper added to the beef and onion — Jarred garlic and the dried seasonings, right on top before a quick stir.

Step 3: Add the sauce and broth

Spaghetti sauce poured over cooked ground beef and onion in a Dutch oven — A smooth marinara, so there are no chunky tomatoes in the finished soup.

Beef broth added to the ground beef and spaghetti sauce in a Dutch oven — Then the broth. It looks thin at this point, and the noodles thicken it as they cook.

Pour in the spaghetti sauce and stir it through the beef. Let it bubble for about 2 minutes, so the sauce and the beef get to know each other. Then pour in about a cup of the broth and scrape up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot. Once the bottom is clean, add the rest of the broth. Bring it to a boil, and you’re ready for the noodles. The jarred sauce is already cooked and seasoned, so there’s no need for a long simmer first.

Step 4: Cook the noodles right in the pot

Broken lasagna noodle pieces going into the simmering soup — Big, ruffled pieces are perfect. No need to be neat.

Once the soup is boiling, add the broken noodles and stir well so they don’t clump together. Turn the heat down just enough to keep a lively simmer. Let them simmer uncovered for about 13 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes and scraping along the bottom as you go. Be careful not to walk away for long here. The noodles release starch as they cook, and they’ll stick to the bottom and scorch if nobody’s stirring.

Start tasting a piece at about 10 minutes. The noodles are done when they’re tender all the way through with no firm center. That may be a little longer than your box says, because pasta cooks more slowly in a saucy broth than in plain boiling water. The soup will thicken as the noodles cook, and that’s totally normal. If it gets thicker than you’d like, stir in a little more broth.

Overhead view of lasagna soup in a red Dutch oven with tender ruffled lasagna noodles — After about 13 minutes, the noodles are tender and the soup has thickened up.

Step 5: Finish and serve

Take the pot off the heat and stir in the fresh basil. Now taste it. Mine didn’t need a single pinch of salt, because the broth and the sauce bring plenty. If yours tastes a little flat, add up to half a teaspoon.

Overhead view of a bowl of lasagna soup with a mound of cheese topping and a fresh basil leaf — A generous mound on every bowl.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top each one with a big spoonful of the cheese topping, about a third of a cup. Don’t worry if it looks like a mound of unmelted cheese when you set the bowl down. Once you start stirring and eating, the heat of the soup melts it right into the noodles, and you get long, stringy pulls of mozzarella on almost every bite.

A spoon lifting a lasagna noodle with melted mozzarella stretching down into a bowl of lasagna soup with cheese and fresh basil — A few stirs in, the cheese melts and stretches with every spoonful.

Can I Make Lasagna Soup in a Crock Pot?

You can, although I’ve only made this one on the stove so far. I’d still brown the beef and onion in a skillet first. Then scrape it all into the crock pot with the spaghetti sauce and broth, and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours or HIGH for 3 to 4.

Hold the noodles until the end. Stir them in, turn the crock pot to HIGH, and cook for 25 to 35 minutes, stirring once or twice, until they’re tender. Noodles left in a crock pot for hours turn to mush, so be careful not to add them at the start.

How to Store and Reheat Lasagna Soup

Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Keep the cheese topping in its own container. Don’t be surprised if it looks more like saucy pasta than soup the next day. That’s completely normal.

To reheat, warm it on the stove over medium-low with a splash of broth, stirring until it loosens back up. In the microwave, add a spoonful of broth and heat it in short bursts, stirring in between. Add a fresh dollop of the cheese topping once it’s hot.

If you know you’ll want leftovers for later in the week, you can cook the noodles in a separate pot and add them to each bowl as you serve. That keeps the soup brothy. It’s one more pot to wash, but it’s worth it if you’re planning ahead.

For the freezer, I’d freeze the soup base without the noodles. Pasta frozen in broth tends to turn soft and mushy when it thaws. I haven’t tested that myself yet, so take that as a warning rather than my results. Thaw it in the fridge overnight, bring it back to a simmer, and cook a fresh batch of noodles right in the pot.

Lasagna Soup FAQs

Can I use crushed tomatoes instead of spaghetti sauce?

You can, if you like a chunkier, more tomato-forward soup. Use a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes in place of the jar, and bump the Italian seasoning up to 2 teaspoons, since plain tomatoes aren’t seasoned.

Can I use no-boil lasagna noodles?

You can, but they’re thinner and cook much faster, so start checking at about 5 minutes. Regular noodles hold up better in soup.

What other pasta can I use?

Mafalda (sometimes sold as reginette or mini lasagna) looks just like little lasagna noodles. Any short pasta works too, so just go by the package time plus a couple of minutes.

How to Trust This Recipe

Unlike a lot of other recipes these days, we personally developed, tested, and ate this food. But just me saying that here is not enough anymore, nor is the recipe and photos you see above (sadly). So I took this closeup photo of the warm pot of soup, with fresh chopped basil from my farm garden on top, in a special app that helps us see this is the real deal.

Closeup of finished lasagna soup with fresh basil

The above photo was taken with ProofMode, which attaches Content Credentials (the C2PA standard) to the image, so anyone can check that it’s an original, unaltered photo taken by a real camera (my iPhone). You can download the proof files here and learn how to verify them.

If you make it, I’d love to hear whether your family stirs the cheese in right away or saves it for the last bite.

Happy cooking!

Love,
Jennifer

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