Easy Lasagna Soup - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

What can I make with lasagna noodles besides lasagna? ›

Roll-Ups. For a lunchbox meal you can make the day before, spread cooked lasagna noodles with ricotta, sliced pepperoni and basil leaves. Roll up and pack with marinara sauce for dipping.

Traditional lasagna, baked in a casserole dish, first became popular in the 1930s in Italian American restaurants and was presented as frozen food in the 1950s, said Ian MacAllen, the author of “Red Sauce: How Italian Food Became American.” The soup version was likely first introduced at Windsor's Lounge at the Palmer ...

Many recipes call for 8 oz of lasagne noodles and since that amount fills a 13 by 9-inch pan nicely, go with the classic 3-layer (9 sheets of lasagna noodles) amount. If you want to use up a whole box anticipate on doubling the recipe and using a larger baking dish.

Yes, you can absolutely boil your lasagna noodles – even the oven-ready type. I prefer to par-boil (partially boil) oven-ready dried noodles for lasagna for 3-5 minutes before they become “al dente”. Al dente is an Italian term that literally means 'to the tooth'.

In Italian cuisine, ricotta cheese is a popular ingredient in many dishes, but when it's not available, Italians may substitute it with other soft cheeses like mascarpone, stracchino, or crescenza.

Some people use zucchini noodles (slices) or cabbage.

I've even seen people use fathead dough rolled out super thin, baked and then used as a keto lasagna noodle.

The primary differences I found between American lasagne and Italian lasagne were: The use of a layer or two of white bechamel (“"besciamella”) sauce imparts a nice creaminess to the lasagne in Italy. The pasta sheets seemed thinner and “fresher” in Italian pasta, very tender and with a “"melt in your mouth” texture.

Lasagna: Variations throughout Italy

In the north, especially in Bologna, the most popular version of lasagna features fresh egg pasta colored green with spinach and layered with ragú, bechamel and Parmigiano Reggiano. Each region of Italy has its own signature lasagna specialty.

The Romans borrowed the word as lasanum, meaning 'cooking pot'. The Italians used the word to refer to the cookware in which lasagna is made. Later the food took on the name of the serving dish.

No-boil pasta sheets are par-boiled before being mechanically dehydrated and sold in the grocery store. “I maintain that the no-boil lasagna has reached a quality level that is quite elevated and almost indistinguishable from the traditional fresh homemade lasagna,” Bruschi told HuffPost.

How many will a 9x13 pan of lasagna feed? ›

As a general rule of thumb, one 13x9 pan will yield 8 medium-sized portions. You can adjust the serving sizes to your family's appetite: if they have larger appetites, you cut the pan into 6 large portions, and if they have smaller appetites, you can cut the pan into 10 smaller portions.

Rinsing not only stops the cooking process but also helps to keep the pasta from sticking to itself, which makes it easier to layer the ingredients.

Begin Layering

After the initial sauce layer, add a layer of pasta sheets, ricotta mixture (or bechamel), sauce, and cheese. Then repeat the layers. Top the last layer of your lasagna with sauce and cheese. You can also alternate layers of sauce and ricotta cheese.

Take the sauce can, fill it halfway with water, then slowly pour over the dish all over, so the liquid will rise up to about half full in the pan. This will all get absorbed by the noodles, because you didn't pre-boil them. Tightly cover with foil. Bake at 325 F for 2 hours.

Put them in soup

Don't let leftover lasagna sheets go to waste, instead, throw them in a soup. Pasta e fa*gioli, minestrone, chicken noodle, and meatball soup are all perfect contenders for a lasagna noodle swap. You can add the noodles either cooked or uncooked, depending on the soup and where you're at in the recipe.

Turn lasagna sheets into soup

Yes, it's that good. Remove the casings from Italian sausages and break up the meat, then saute it with onions in your Instant Pot, along with marinara sauce, chicken broth, and canned diced tomatoes. Snap dried lasagna sheets into the soup (not the no-boil type).