Lasagna Soup With the Ricotta Dollop and None of the Layering

It is 6:20 on a Wednesday and you want lasagna, which is a Sunday commitment with layers, a dish and an oven you will be standing over. This lasagna soup recipe is 24 minutes, one pot, and the ricotta still gets its moment. All the lasagna, none of the commitment, which is exactly what a Wednesday is for.

Browned beef, marinara, broth, broken noodles, and a cold spoonful of ricotta on top.

Everything cooks in one pot: beef and onion first, then garlic and Italian seasoning, then the marinara and the broth. Break the noodles into bite-size pieces, drop them into the boil, and let them simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. This makes enough for six, which means lunch is also handled.

This lasagna soup recipe is thick enough to want a spoon and a little patience, because the noodles soften into the broth and thicken it as they go. The sauce comes from a jar, which is honest and fine, and the mozzarella lands on top at the table, so it melts into strings you can pull instead of vanishing into the pot.

How to make it

1. Dice 1 yellow onion and mince 3 garlic cloves. Break 8 oz lasagna noodles into bite-size pieces.
2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 lb ground beef and the diced onion, cooking until the beef is browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain excess fat if needed.
3. Stir in the minced garlic and 1 tsp Italian seasoning and cook 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Pour in 3 cups jarred marinara sauce and 4 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then add the broken lasagna noodles.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
6. In a small bowl, stir together 1 cup ricotta cheese, ½ cup grated parmesan, and a pinch of black pepper.
7. Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with a scoop of the ricotta mixture and a sprinkle of the 1 cup shredded mozzarella, and serve hot.

Notes

Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. The noodles keep drinking the broth, so the soup thickens in the fridge. Add a splash of broth or water when you reheat it.

Brown the beef until no pink remains. Ground beef is safe at 160°F per USDA, and the 6 to 8 minutes of browning in the method gets you there. Drain the fat if the pot looks slick.

Spoon the ricotta mixture onto each bowl rather than into the pot. If you are saving leftovers, keep the extra ricotta separate and add it fresh.

Break the noodles small. A piece that fits on a spoon is a piece you can eat on the couch, lights low, no one watching.

Swipe it on a Wednesday and the agent adds the beef, the marinara and the noodles to the cart. You still have to choose the bowl. We cannot do everything for you.

Salt carefully. Jarred marinara and chicken broth both arrive seasoned, and the parmesan in the ricotta adds more. Taste at the end of the simmer and season then, because the topping will add salt of its own.

Stir the soup now and then while the noodles cook, scraping the bottom of the pot. Noodles that sit still on the base can stick and clump, and a quick pass with the spoon every few minutes keeps them moving.

Swaps that actually work

The ricotta topping is the point. It is what makes this lasagna soup and not beef and noodles in tomato broth. Everything else can move.

Cottage cheese stirred with the parmesan is a reasonable stand-in for ricotta. It is looser and tangier, the understudy who turns out to have charm of its own, so spoon it on a little less generously.

Italian sausage for some or all of the beef adds fennel and heat. Cook it until no pink remains, and the same 160°F applies.

Any short pasta can take the place of broken lasagna noodles, but check the packet against the 12 to 15 minutes of simmering and adjust. Beef or vegetable broth can replace the chicken broth. Use a jarred marinara you would happily eat on its own, because it is most of the flavor.

The swap that costs you the dish is leaving out the ricotta. You will have a decent bowl of beef and noodle soup in tomato, and it will not be what you swiped for.

Fresh mozzarella can replace shredded, but it melts into stringy pools instead of a blanket, so tear it small. A lasagna soup recipe like this one also forgives extra vegetables: a handful of spinach stirred in for the last minute wilts quickly and does no harm. The ricotta stays the star.

If it goes wrong

The noodles went mushy. They simmered past tender. Take the pot off the heat now, and next time start testing at 12 minutes. A mushy noodle still tastes right under enough cheese.

It is too thick. The noodles absorbed the broth. Stir in a splash of broth or water until it loosens, and taste again for salt.

It looks greasy. The beef fat stayed in the pot. Spoon the fat off the surface, or tilt the pot and skim it. Next time, drain the beef after browning.

It tastes flat. Salt and black pepper, then a stir of parmesan. A flat lasagna soup is a perfectly nice stranger you will not remember tomorrow, so add the salt in pinches and taste in between.

What to serve with it

Garlic bread is the default and it earns it. Soup like this needs something to drag through the bottom of the bowl.

The better version is a sharp green salad with a lemony dressing, which cuts through the cheese and the beef.

A few torn basil leaves or a pinch of red pepper flakes on top lifts it, if either is in the fridge. It makes a very good lunch the next day, as long as you loosen it with liquid first.

This lasagna soup recipe serves six, so one pot covers a family dinner, or two people and the lunches that follow.

For six, put the ricotta mixture and the mozzarella on the table and let each person top their own bowl. It turns a Wednesday into a small event, and the cook stays at the stove.

Why this one earns its place

Lasagna has a reputation as a weekend project, and this one lets it be a Wednesday. It is the comfort-food answer to a long day: one pot, 24 minutes, and a bowl that tastes like effort. Swipe it into your week and the agent shops the cart.

For more bowls and bakes in the same cozy spirit, try Baked Ziti or Creamy Tomato Basil Soup, and for making the leftovers work, see meal prep for the week.

More like this: all Italian-American recipes in Crave Corner.