An easy recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup. This hearty, delicious recipe is perfect for chilly weather or anytime you want lasagna without layering noodles and firing up your oven. Customize with your favorite noodles and all the cheese!
Spring break is underway, and I’m heading back to Wisconsin for a visit.
Apparently it’s in the 20’s there right now, though, so I’m bringing all my best cold weather food ideas. Lasagna Soup is perfect for the occasion because it’s so easy to make and tastes delicious! Everyone is going to love it.
What meat goes in Lasagna Soup?
I started with a pound of Italian sausage.
I chose mild, but you can use sweet or hot if you prefer. You could also substitute ground beef it that is how you prefer your lasagna. Or go halvesies! (Is that a word?)
Brown the meat in a skillet with the vegetables before you add it to the slow cooker. You can drain the grease if you want to (I never do because Fat is Flavor).
How to Make Lasagna Soup
While browning the meat and softening the vegetables in a skillet, load up your slow cooker with the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms (OPTIONAL), and a pile of spices.
I LOVE these spices; they are straight from my favorite lasagna recipe. Stir in some water. Add the meat mixture. Cook slowly.
Towards the end, stir in some noodles. I think radiatori pasta is adorable and apparently everyone else thinks so too, since I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. I used rotini.
Cheese
The best part about this, and the part that really makes it feel like lasagna, is when you ladle up a huge bowl full and then SMOTHER it in cheese. We’re talking about lots of cheese here. Because it’s a lasagna which I think means MOSTLY CHEESE in Italian.
To my sister Monica and anyone else who hates ricotta cheese: You’re welcome.
And to anyone out there who shall remain nameless, that gets freaked out by the gigantic lasagna noodles: You are also welcome.
Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 large onion chopped (about 2 cups)
- 3 carrots peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes undrained
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced, optional
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cans water
- 1 cup rotini or other small pasta
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese for topping
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, combine sausage, onions, and carrots. Cook until the sausage has browned and the vegetables has softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain if desired. Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Meanwhile, add diced tomatoes and their juice, tomato sauce, mushrooms, Italian seasoning, basil, fennel, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper to the slow cooker. Stir in water and sausage mixture.
- Cover and heat on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. During the last 10 minutes of cooking time, stir in the pasta, cover, and continue to cook until softened. Serve with mozzarella cheese on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Made this for my mother-in-law a couple years ago…she calls me every few months to send her the recipe again. Very easy and delicious!!
Thank you Emily! So glad you both love it! -Meggan
This is one of my families favorite recipes. I’ve made it countless times and came back to thank you for sharing this delicious recipe!! I’ve made it both with and without mushrooms depending who I’m feeding and it’s delicious both ways!!
#1 – 1 can of tomato sauce is 8oz – NOT 15oz. (especially at whole foods). I had to run to the store in the middle of making this recipe – you need to edit that.
#2 – your search doesn’t work
Hi Jane, I agree my search is terrible. I’m working on a redesign and that’s a top priority. I’m so sorry about that. I have a lot of ingredients tagged so I personally use the recipe index and look at the ingredients there. But I agree. Regarding tomato sauce – It comes in 8 ounce and 15 ounce cans. I can change the recipe and I wasn’t trying to mislead you, but my cupboard is full of 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce. I buy it Ralphs, Sprouts, and Walmart. I do shop at Whole Foods but I don’t buy canned goods there, so I can’t say. But I will for sure edit the recipe. Sorry about that!
Jane,
You can find 15oz cans of tomato sauce at Walmart.
Also, there is an ingredient list at the beginning of the recipe.
Personally, I find your reply to this post a bit cold, as the recipe is delicious and worth any “inconvenience” of the site formatting.
Can this be frozen?
Made it again. Re-post this bad boy. Too good to have this low in your feed! Miss you!
Your wish is my command! It’s on deck for Tuesday. Luckily it was already re-photographed. :) I MISS YOU TOO! You’re the sweetest. XO
I had a lasagna soup recipe years ago that I lost, so when I saw this I was so happy, One thing I remember from my old recipe was that you put a big dollop of ricotta cheese in the bottom of the bowl before ladling the soup in. It was out of this world. Can’t wait to try yours, with the ricotta cheese ;)
The Lasagna Soup was delicious, but I’m still trying to figure out why this is called Lasagna Soup. Nevertheless, it was very tasty.
Fair point. :) It’s basically the flavors of lasagna but in a soup form. I couldn’t find the small lasagna noodles at the time (radiatorre) and some of my pictures have no cheese. So basically the post just needs a little love and it will make more sense!
my fav pasta for mac and cheese is pipettes…its a happy marriage of macaroni and shells. i tried your recipe with cheese tortelini plus rotini….it was soooo lazagna good. i thought next time maybe ill try raviolis in it!
The lasagna soup is amazing! The only things I changed were that I used spicy red pepper diced tomatoes instead and then just added more Italian seasoning (gave it some heat), next time I think I’ll do one regular diced tomatoes and one spicy pepper, I had to cook the carrots a bit longer, and the pasta took 20 minutes to cook at the end. This was such a perfect soup for a cold winter day. :D
Thank you so much, Kristi! And great ideas. Well I shy away from spicy food because I know my mom would never eat it, but I would love to try it for myself and update the recipe. So glad you liked it though! I need to make this again, soon!
What do you mean by Italian Seasoning? Are you talking Oregano since Basil, onion, salt, pepper and garlic are already on the ingredients list?
Hi Cece, there is actually a specific “Italian Seasoning” blend that you can buy at the store, it’s maybe $.99 at Walmart for example. Depending on the brand, it may contain basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, and rosemary. I apologize for the confusion and I’ll figure out what is in my own “Italian seasoning” so I can just list it out. But, having the blend on hand is convenient for things like this (but not earth-shattering in any way). It’s basically just dried herbs and does not usually contain salt, pepper, garlic, or onion. I hope that helps.