You'll love this creamy White Lasagna Soup with Italian sausage! Made with chicken stock, it features spinach, half-and-half and broken lasagna noodles. Top it with a blend of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan for the best flavor and texture!
Our family's lasagna with ricotta is my favorite meal ever, so it was only a matter of time before I started making soup variations. This White Lasagna Soup might be the best dish I've cooked in a year!
Instead of tomatoes and beef, it features leafy spinach and savory sausage in a creamy chicken broth. Pieces of thick lasagna noodles float to the top and get dolloped with a Parmesan, mozzarella and ricotta filling.
Stirring creates melty, cheesy magic.
You have to try this! It's already a family favorite.
Recipe ingredients
Italian Sausage: A pound of sweet Italian sausage adds tremendous flavor. Don't worry if you can't find ground sausage. It's easier than you think to cut off the casings from four links.
Half & Half: We tested this soup using some cream, but found it too heavy and hard to digest. We much prefer using half-and-half, which provides enough creaminess without being rich.
Lasagna Sheets: You'll need nine lasagna noodles, which you'll break into pieces and cook in the soup. They stay pretty al dente, even left over, and have a satisfying thickness. Be sure to buy regular lasagna noodles instead of the oven-ready ones.
Of course, you can substitute regular pasta. Go with a medium-sized, curly shape, such as rotini or campanelle.
Spinach: I like using fresh leaves here, because it's convenient to buy a box of spinach that's already been washed and doesn't require thawing. You'll need four cups.
You could thaw a package of frozen chopped spinach instead. Or, you can substitute kale or escarole.
Cheeses: A combination of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan makes a delicious topping for the lasagna soup. For the best melting quality, shred the mozzarella yourself. For the best flavor, use freshly grated Parmesan.
Basil: Fresh basil leaves bring a fragrant, flavorful accent to the ricotta mixture. I keep a basil plant on my windowsill so I can pluck off leaves for recipes like this. You could substitute a little dried basil if needed, but it won't taste as good.
How to make white lasagna soup
See the card at the end of this post for the full recipe, but here's an overview.
Make the soup
- Brown the sausage in a soup pot.
- Add chopped onions, then garlic. When the onions are soft, stir in flour.
- Pour in chicken stock, season with pepper and bring to a boil.
- Add broken lasagna sheets, spinach and half-and-half. Cook until the pasta is al dente.
Make the topping
Combine ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan and basil.
What to serve with it
It's delicious plain, but you have to top this lasagna soup with ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan for the best flavor and texture! Spoon a dollop of the mixture onto each bowl of soup.
Stir in the cheese and watch it melt, creating a creamy, velvety texture.
Look at that cheese pull! Yum!
This is a complete meal with the sausage, spinach and pasta. But feel free to serve the creamy lasagna soup with Italian dinner rolls and the best green salad.
You also could follow it up with chicken cutlets or Italian breaded pork chops.
How to store it
You can refrigerate this soup for up to four days in an airtight container. The lasagna noodles will soften slightly but hold up decently.
If you used regular pasta instead, you may want to store the leftover cooked pasta separately so it won't get too soft in the broth.
Make-ahead option
You can make the creamy lasagna soup without the pasta or the ricotta mixture a day ahead of time. The next day, make the cheese mixture, reheat the soup (in the microwave or on the stove), and cook the lasagna noodles separately.
Can you freeze it?
I don't recommend freezing White Lasagna Soup. Soups with half and half or cream can become grainy when frozen. It's also best not to freeze soup containing pasta, because it will become soggy.
More soup recipes
- Chicken Pastina Soup
- Clam Chowder with Bacon
- Cheesy Crockpot Cauliflower Soup
- Broccoli-Parmesan Soup with Cheddar
- Italian Minestrone Soup
Enjoy!
If you try this White Lasagna Soup recipe, please leave a comment and a rating!
White Lasagna Soup
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 medium onion (yellow, white or red)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 cups fresh spinach leaves (use up to 5 cups)
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (Remove casings from four links or buy ground sausage.)
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 6 cups chicken stock
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 9 lasagna sheets (½ pound)
Ricotta Topping
- ¾ cup ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (Shred it from a block for the best melting quality.)
- 6 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 Tablespoons fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Peel the onion and chop it. Set it aside. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Roughly chop the fresh spinach leaves. (They should already be washed when you bought them.)
- Brown the sausage in a tall soup pot over medium-high heat. (If using sausage links, use kitchen scissors to poke through the casing and slide the scissor blade along the length of the sausage. Peel, remove and discard the skin.) Break up the meat with a wooden spoon.
- After the sausage has cooked for three minutes, add the chopped onions. Stir to combine.
- After the onions have cooked for three minutes, stir in the chopped garlic.
- When the sausage is no longer pink and the onions are soft, add 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir for one minute to combine.
- Add the chicken stock and pepper. Cover and bring the pot to a boil over high heat. While the stock is heating up, break each lasagna sheet into five pieces. When the stock is boiling, add the broken pasta, chopped spinach, and half and half. Cook, uncovered, for about eight minutes or until the lasagna noodles are al dente. Stir occasionally as needed to prevent sticking.
- While the noodles are cooking, make the ricotta mixture. Add the ricotta to a small mixing bowl. Shred the mozzarella and add it. Grate the Parmesan, if needed and stir it in to combine. Gently rinse two basil leaves and pat them dry. Roll them up and cut them into ribbons. Stir them into the cheese mixture.
- When the lasagna noodles are done, turn off the heat. Ladle some soup into each bowl. Top with some of the ricotta mixture and stir it in before eating.
- Refrigerate leftover soup in a tightly sealed container for up to four days. Refrigerate any leftover ricotta mixture in a separate container. I don't recommend freezing the soup.
Notes
Nutrition
(Recipe Source: Cooking with Mamma C)
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