When you are craving pasta but don’t want the heaviness I highly recommend this delicious and easy soup. This is effectively a one-pot dinner and little hands nearby can help break up the lasagna noodles for fun! Bonus, soup can always be eaten another day for lunch or frozen for the future.
Highlights
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
Make Ahead? Yes
Freezer Friendly? Yes
Substitutions? Yes – feel free to either remove the protein entirely or swap out the sausage for ground turkey
Ingredients List
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb ground sweet Italian sausage or turkey
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 4.5 oz tube double-concentrated tomato paste
- 4 cups chicken broth (low-sodium is fine)
- ~10-12 uncooked lasagna noodles, broken up into 1.5-2 inch pieces
- 6 oz spinach or baby spinach
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta
- salt and pepper to taste
This recipe contributes 7 items to your weekly list plus 3 pantry staples.
Recipe: Lasagna and Spinach Soup
- Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven until hot and then add sausage. Break up while cooking and lightly browning until cooked through. Use a slotted wooden spoon to transfer the sausage to a bowl and put aside.
- Add onion and salt and pepper to the same pot (do not drain). Cook onion until transluscent, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic, and tomato paste stirring often for about 3 minutes (until thickening and turning sticky).
- Add 2 cups of water, scraping up any browned bits that have gotten stuck. Add chicken broth. Increase heat to bring the liquid to a boil. Add broken lasagna bits and cook until very al dente, about 9 minutes.
- While the pasta is cooking, add the ricotta, salt, and pepper to a small bowl and mix well.
- after the 9 minutes, add 2 additional cups of water to thin out the soup, and stir in the sausage that was put aside. Reduce heat to low and cook until warmed through. Remove from heat and add spinach, additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Spoon into bowls and top with a heaping spoonful of the ricotta. Enjoy!
Family Tips
- If you don’t want to have sausage you can either swap in ground turkey or omit the meat entirely (you will likely want to add in extra spinach or noodles if this is the case just to make sure it is hearty and filling enough).
- Kids love breaking things up! Give tiny hands a job – to break up the lasagna. Don’t worry if the pieces seem a bit big or a bit small – they will still taste good! Truly, if you don’t have lasagna noodles you can throw in whatever pasta you do have on hand (think penne, cavatappi, fusilli etc.).
- Double-concentrated tomato paste brings extra tomato-y flavor that packs a punch to soups. You should be able to find it easily in the pasta aisle at the store.
- You can freeze this soup and thaw it for later. To thaw, simple run the container under hot water for a few minutes to loosen, and then heat on the stove. You may need to add additional broth or water to thin out the texture.
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