Healthy Lasagna Soup (High-Protein + Vegetarian Option)

Looking for a healthy lasagna soup that’s just as nourishing as it is delicious?

I’ve got you.

Ciao, friend — I’m Alessia, the writer and founder behind Italy with an Italian.

Today I’m sharing my own version of lasagna soup — and it’s unlike most recipes you’ve seen.

This isn’t simply a Bolognese sauce with broken lasagna noodles thrown in.

It’s a well-balanced, protein-rich soup that truly stands on its own — delicious with or without pasta. You’ll find options for both a hearty meat version and a vegetarian (easily vegan) alternative, so you can make it exactly how you prefer.

If that sounds like your kind of comfort food, let’s get into it.

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The Healthy Lasagna Soup From Winter 2020

When I told you that this is my recipe, I didn’t just mean that it’s a recipe I tried and tested. It’s actually a recipe I came up with from scratch.

Back in January 2020, I was going through some health issues, and because of that my diet consisted of mostly soups. That meant that my soup recipes needed to be tasty enough for me to actually want to eat another soup, day after day, and also nutritious enough to sustain me, since that was my main meal, other than a couple smoothies.

This is why I was putting so much time and effort in crafting soup recipes that were more than just soups. They had to be complete meals — filling, nutritious, and so good I would actually look forward to eating them.

My lasagna soup recipe is one of those soups. I created it with the intention for it to taste just like a lasagna, but the recipe also needed to be meatless and super clean.

So, if you are looking for a soup to eat when you are trying to stay healthy but still craving lasagna, you’ll love this recipe. You can add the meat for extra protein, or follow the original recipe for a vegetarian and vegan meal.

This recipe is also a great one if you are trying  to cook cleaner versions of your favorite recipes, without sacrificing on taste.

There’s one other important thing that makes this recipe so wonderful. It’s a one pot recipe, provided you precook your beans, super easy and quick to make.

My Healthy Lasagna Soup Ingredients

Now that I have shared the story about my recipe, you are likely curious to know what are the magic ingredients that I ended up using to get the dish I was after. Here they are.

But first, I want to tell you something.

To me and most Italians, lasagna is the combination of four essential parts: a good Bolognese sauce, a homemade bechamel sauce, lasagna sheets, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Based on that, for me, the perfect lasagna soup has to include elements of nearly all of those. 

However, some of you might be looking for a basic lasagna soup without the extras. Maybe, you want to skip the noodles, the bechamel, or the cheese, or even all three.

This is why I am going to share my basic lasagna soup recipe without the extras, with options for a meatless and meat dish. That’s actually how I made my recipe the first time.

Then, I will also give you all the finishing options. You’ll find lower calories ones, and more indulgent add ons, but all of them will be wholesome.

With that said, here are the ingredients for my basic lasagna soup recipe without the toppings.

Extra virgin olive oil – I always say this. No Italian savory recipe can be complete without using this fundamental ingredient. Make sure you are using a high quality one. This is the one I use.

Leeks – You might be surprised by this second ingredient. Leeks are not part of the authentic lasagna recipe, so why am I using them? It’s because I want to add sweet notes to my lasagna soup. In a regular lasagna, you would usually get that from wine or adding sugar (most Italians don’t do the latter). 

Celery and carrots – These are the base of an Italian bolognese sauce, because together with the onions they create the soffritto. While I am replacing the onions with the leeks, I am keeping the essential celery and carrots.

Zucchini – There’s no particular reason for adding zucchini to my lasagna soup other than I love them. They add an earthy and sweet flavor, and they are similar to meat in that they are great at absorbing the flavors of the other ingredients that accompany them. I also find they combine extremely well with the other vegetables and beans in this lasagna soup recipe.

Beans – Since my original healthy lasagna soup recipe was meatless, I needed the beans to add the extra protein and meaty texture to the soup. 

I chose split broad beans for their creamy texture and their buttery taste. I thought that could be my natural bechamel replacement.

I chose red lentils for a variety of reasons: they are my favorite, their color complements this recipe beautifully, and because of their sweetness.

Both broad beans and red lentils are easier to digest than most other beans, which is an important factor if you (like me) find beans heavy.

Tomatoes and tomato passata – tomatoes are another fundamental ingredient for a lasagna soup, whether you choose to make it meatless or with meat. Normally, in a Bolognese sauce you only use jarred tomato sauce, but I wanted to add a fresh element. That’s why I am using both the passata and the fresh tomatoes. And to make this lasagna soup sweeter, I am using cherry tomato passata instead of the regular one.

Salt – is essential to bring out the flavor of all ingredients, and balance their sweetness. However, if you like me, want a more delicate and sweet lasagna soup, use less than what you would normally do. You are welcome to add a little pepper too.

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Ingredients for 4 servings

Basic recipe

• 2 tablespoons EVOO
• 2 stalk of leeks 
• 1.5 stalks celery 
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 regular zucchini
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 cup dry favetta beans or split broad beans (must be pre-cooked) > 3.5 cups water, 30 mins
• 8 tbsp dry red lentils (must be pre-cooked) > 1.5 cups water, 10 mins
• Half to one glass water
• 3 cups cherry tomato passata this brand
• ½ teaspoon salt (adjust according to your preference)
• Optional black pepper
• 1/2 vegetable stock cube
• 500 ml water
• 200 gr fresh lasagna sheets (or dry)

Extras for the meat version

• 250 gr lean ground beef
• 1 extra tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups extra tomato passata
• Add another 1/2 vegetable stock cube
• 2 cups water or cream or bechamel
• 2 bay leaves for simmering

How To Make A Tasty Healthy Lasagna Soup

Here are the main steps to follow when making my wholesome lasagna soup recipe.

1. Precook the beans in advance. You should cook them separately because one cooks for much longer than the other. Split broad beans cook for around 30 minutes, while red lentils are ready in just over 10 minutes.
2. Make your one-pot lasagna soup, with or without the ground beef.
3. Add any extras before serving. The only extra thing you might need to cook is bechamel sauce, if you choose to add the latter and cook it from scratch. You could also replace it with cooking cream, or skip this. You can also top it with cottage cheese or ricotta, or just parmesan like I am doing.

Once you have cooked your beans, you can follow the recipe below.
(I cooked mine the day before and stored them in the fridge).

Here’s the recipe to make the one-pot lasagna soup, with options for the vegetarian and the meat versions.

Start by washing, peeling and cutting all your vegetables – leeks, carrots, celery, zucchini, and tomatoes.

You want to cut them into small cubes and slices.

Add the leeks and the celery into your large soup pot with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Let them sauté, and lower the heat after a minute or two.

After a couple minutes, add all the other vegetables and another tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Mix everything, lower the heat further, and leave to sauté for a few minutes. The tomatoes should create enough liquid to avoid the vegetables from sticking. However, feel free to add half a glass of water or more.

Next, add the precooked beans – the broad beans and red lentils. The beans should be fairly dry and mushy, but if there’s any water, you can add that too.

Now, add your vegetable stock and mix.

The amount of vegetable stock and water you will add also depends on whether you have added the meat or not. The meat will require more water and flavor.

It’s time to add your passata. Refer to the ingredients above and add the amount based on whether you have added any meat or not. The meat will require extra tomato sauce. 

Mix the tomato sauce with all the ingredients and add the salt.

Add the bay leaves (they go perfectly with the beef), lower the heat further, and cover with a lid. Leave to simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. 

Simmering time:

If you are cooking your lasagna soup without the meat, 30 to 40 minutes is enough.

If you have added the beef, 45 minutes to one hour is optimal.

Add the lasagna:

After your lasagna soup has finished simmering, you want to add your lasagna rectangles to cook for the last 10 minutes.

I am using fresh lasagna sheets, which I pre-cut into small rectangles.

How I served my healthy lasagna soup:

I served mine with just grated parmesan.

I also blended some of it without the pasta and turned it into a proper creamy soup.

Both options were delicious.

How I stored my lasagna soup:

This lasagna stores great both in the freezer, especially without the pasta, and in the fridge. I suggest keeping it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Make sure to only reheat your portion.

Lasagna Soup Variations So That Everyone Can Enjoy It

My recipe above is already very straightforward, which means you likely already know what to do whether you are vegan, vegetarian, looking for extra protein, or a super clean recipe. However, let me give you a few extra notes.

Intolerant – Make sure to check you are not intolerant to any of the ingredients in my base recipe. If so, omit or replace any of them.

Vegetarian and Vegan – My base recipe is already vegetarian and vegan, so you can follow it as is. 

High protein vegetarian/vegan – Follow the recipe as is plus opt for the third add on option below.

High protein meat eater – Follow the basic recipe, add the extra ingredients listed above for the meat version, and top your lasagna soup with one of the high protein options I list in my next section.

Clean recipe seeker – My base recipe is already super clean, and that holds whether you add the meat or don’t. The add ons below are also all super clean, provided you make your own bechamel sauce.

Healthy Lasagna Soup Add Ons You’ll Love

Like I mentioned earlier, if we want to make a lasagna soup that tastes just like the most authentic Italian lasagna (here’s my recipe for that, by the way) we not only need the meat sauce element, but also the lasagna sheets, the white creamy part, and the cheese.

Here are different ways to add those other flavors to your final recipe.

Add Lasagna Sheets or Don’t

Depending on how low calorie you want your meal to be, you can decide to add the pasta noodles or not. 

If you are gluten free, you can choose gluten free lasagna. 

Add Bechamel and Parmesan (Richer & Ticker)

Make a small bechamel sauce, and mix that into your lasagna soup, towards the end. Let it simmer over low heat for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese on top, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil, and enjoy your wonderful authentic lasagna soup. 

My bechamel sauce recipe is actually dairy free, because I am dairy intolerant. 

PS: Feel free to use a packaged bechamel sauce, if you don’t mind doing that. Of course, homemade will be cleaner and also tastier.

If you are vegan, simply use a vegan parmesan option. And if you want it to avoid processed foods, you can add some nutritional yeast. Everyone else can use a small quantity of real parmesan cheese.

Add Cream and Parmesan (Lighter)

If you want a lighter but still creamy lasagna soup recipe, but don’t want to make bechamel sauce from scratch, consider using a clean cooking cream. You can add that in at the end while your pasta cooks. I would suggest a quantity ranging between 200 and 400 ml, depending on how creamy you want it to be.

Then, serve it with grated parmesan cheese.

Top with a High-Protein Dairy 

If you are going for the extra protein, you can skip the bechamel sauce, and add one of these high protein dairy options:

• Greek yogurt gives you around 10 grams protein per 100 gr
• Ricotta gives you around 11 grams protein per 100 gr
• Cottage cheese gives you around 12 grams protein per 100 gr

You can choose to add a little grated parmesan for the extra taste, or skip it. If so, you can add it to the soup before serving, or grate it directly onto your plate.

More Healthy Italian Recipes

I hope this recipe was everything you were expecting and so much more. Please give it a heart and share it with your community, so that everyone can enjoy it.

Here are more healthy Italian recipes I love to cook and eat.

My fluffy 7 Ingredient Homemade Sandwich Bread
(I bake this in batch every two weeks)

My Favorite Clean Broccoli Soup

My Veggie-Packed Green Minestrone Soup 

My Healthy Banana Bread Recipe With Olive Oil

My Healthy Eggless High Protein Tiramisu Recipe (coming soon)

If you love eating healthy delicious food we should be friends! I invite you to join my Italian newsletter – Buona Settimana. I send weekly emails, every Sunday, and I almost always share a wholesome recipe I love to make, or I grew up eating. You can join via one of the sign up boxes on this page.

Thank you so much for reading.

A presto,
Alessia