Easy Lasagna Soup with Cheesy Ricotta Toasts.
This easy lasagna soup is one of our most favorite dinners ever! It’s super simple and easy, packed with flavor and topped with cheesy ricotta toasts and fresh basil. Comfort food at its finest!
Soup season is here!!
It’s officially fall which means it’s time to get back in soup mode – fully. Give me all the soup, all the time! This lasagna soup is super simple, made with a parmesan broth and topped with a super cheesy ricotta toast that melts right into the bowl.
It’s the ultimate comfort food and I can’t get enough! Bread dipped in soup with cheese?
HELLO.
This is such a classic and one we make over and over again. It’s everything I want in a soup, plus more. It’s super satisfying, my whole family loves it, it reheats well and is absolutely packed with flavor.
I have LOVED lasagna soup for years. It’s been a staple for a decade, at least. And I’ve tried many different versions and flavors. I’ve even tried to nail a good chicken lasagna soup for years so I could share it, but it never makes the cut. It just doesn’t come close to the original classic flavor.
Speaking of the original, I make a few key changes. Because I can’t help myself!
Here are some of the ways that I make lasagna soup my own:
First, I only use ground beef. I don’t use sausage because I don’t love it; especially fennel seeds. I love fennel itself, just not the seeds! So I like to keep it to just ground beef.
Next, I make a parmesan tomato broth with tomato pasta, fire roasted tomatoes, a parmesan rind and stock. This is incredible! It makes it taste nutty and savory but still has the marinara-like vibe. I do not like using marinara sauce or even tomato sauce for the base of this soup. It’s just way too heavy for me.
The original recipe I started using years ago calls for a cheesy ricotta mix that you use in the bowl BEFORE ladling the soup in. Which is truly incredible. I absolutely love that version! This is another version that I find simpler and a bit less heavy, just in case you’re in a rush.
These ricotta toasts are something I pop in the oven while the soup is simmering and I adore them. You still get the cheesy ricotta mess situation that is delicious and loved in lasagna, but now, it’s on a little garlicky crostini toast. Obsessed.
Because there is nothing better than bread dipped in soup. This is like the best of both worlds!
I like to add some fresh spinach into the soup because it’s such an easy way to get extra veggies.
You could of course add in others too – carrots, celery, peppers – whatever works! But I like to keep things sort of traditional here.
The only thing that feels like it’s maybe missing to me? A bit of pepperoni! My aunt puts pepperoni in her lasagna and it’s incredible.
Easy Lasagna Soup with Cheesy Ricotta Toasts
Easy Lasagna Soup with Cheesy Ricotta Toasts
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 28 ounces fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 parmesan rind
- 10 lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
- 8 ounces baby spinach
- fresh basil, for topping
- shaved parmesan, for topping
cheesy ricotta toasts
- 1 baguette, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup ricotta cheese, plus more for topping if you wish
- ⅓ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat and add the beef. Season all over with salt and pepper. Brown the beef, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon or meat chopped, until it’s cooked through. Break it into small crumbles.
- Once the beef is mostly cooked, add in the onions and garlic. Stir well. Add in the basil and oregano. Cook, stirring often, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the tomato pasta and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken stock and parmesan rind. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the soup simmers, make the crostini. Brush the baguette slices with olive oil. Sprinkle them with garlic powder and kosher salt. Stir together the ricotta cheese and parmesan. Spread the slices with the ricotta parm mixture. Top with the mozzarella. Place the crostini in the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden and cheesy.
- Add in the broken lasagna noodles and the spinach. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through.
- Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with the ricotta crostini, shaved parmesan and fresh basil. Add an additional dollop of ricotta if you wish!
Did you make this recipe?
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