Lasagna soup gives you the flavor of a pan of lasagna with none of the layering. My version keeps the cheesy, tomato-y bowl you want and builds it around protein and fiber. Lean ground meat, beef bone broth and Pete’s Pasta lasagna noodles carry most of the nutrition, and the cheese on top starts with cottage cheese for an extra bit of protein. I make mine with ground bison, but any lean ground meat you like works here.
Why This Works
Protein shows up in nearly every part of this pot. The meat gives you the biggest share, and the bone broth, noodles and cheese topping all add to it. Getting a real serving of protein at each meal is one of the most practical ways to support your muscle as you get older.
Fiber comes almost entirely from the noodles. Pete’s Pasta lasagna lists 18g of fiber per 54g serving, which is how a bowl of pasta soup ends up this high in fiber. That fiber also feeds the bacteria in your gut.
Pairing protein and fiber with the carbs in a meal tends to slow how quickly those carbs reach your bloodstream, which is a big part of eating for steadier blood sugar.
High-Protein Lasagna Soup
Serves 10.
For the soup
1½ lb lean ground meat (I use 90/10 bison)
½ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
¼ tsp black pepper
1 yellow onion, diced
½ tsp fennel seed
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 jar crushed tomatoes (24 to 28 oz)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
6 cups beef bone broth
1 box low carb pasta (I used Pete’s lasagna sheets and broke them up)
5 oz fresh baby spinach
For the cheese topping
2 cups low-fat cottage cheese
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
½ cup grated Parmesan
Instructions
Brown the meat. Heat a large pot over medium-high, add the meat and break it up as it cooks, about 6 to 8 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper. With 90/10 bison or another lean meat, you can skip draining, and the bit of fat left in the pot gives the onions something to cook in. If your meat is fattier, spoon off all but about a tablespoon.
Soften the onion and garlic. Add the onion and fennel seed and cook until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic for 1 more minute. The fennel is what brings back the sausage flavor you’d otherwise miss here.
Build and simmer the broth. Stir in the tomato paste and give it a minute to darken. Add the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and bone broth, bring it to a boil, then turn it down and let it simmer for 10 minutes so the tomatoes lose their canned taste. Now taste it. Your bone broth is already salted, so add more a pinch at a time.
Add the noodles. Break the lasagna sheets into bite-size pieces, drop them in, and keep it at a simmer. Stir often so the pieces don’t stick, and start tasting a couple of minutes before the package time.
Wilt the spinach. Stir it in until it just collapses.
Mix the cheese topping. Stir the cottage cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan together in a small bowl. If you want it closer to ricotta, blend the cottage cheese smooth first.
Serve. Ladle into bowls, add a spoonful of the cheese mixture, and finish with fresh basil if you have some on hand.
A few notes: Crushed tomatoes run thicker in some brands than others, so if the soup feels heavy, add another ½ to 1 cup of bone broth. If the tomatoes taste a little sharp, ½ tsp of sweetener rounds them out. The noodles keep drinking up broth as the soup sits, so leftovers come out thicker the next day, and a splash of broth when you reheat fixes that. To freeze, freeze the soup base on its own and add noodles and cheese when you serve.
Thrive Tip
Read the carton before it goes in your cart. Bone broth and regular broth often sit side by side on the shelf, and they are not interchangeable here. Kettle & Fire’s classic beef bone broth lists 10g of protein per cup, while their regular beef broth lists 2g. With 6 cups going into this pot, that choice changes every bowl.
How to Serve It
Extra Parmesan and torn basil on top
A big green salad on the side for even more fiber
Red pepper flakes on the table for anyone who likes heat
Packed for lunches, makes delicious meal prep!
Make It Your Own
Ground turkey and lean ground beef both work in place of bison, and your protein numbers will shift, so log your version. If you go with Italian sausage, you can leave out the fennel, since most Italian sausage is already seasoned with it.
Kale works in place of spinach. Add it with the noodles, since it needs longer to soften.
If you’d rather use marinara, a 24 oz jar of Rao’s can replace the crushed tomatoes. Drop the Italian seasoning to 2 tsp and leave out the fennel.
Ricotta works in place of cottage cheese if you love the classic texture.
Pete’s Pasta is made from wheat, so for a gluten-free version you’ll need a different noodle, and the fiber will change with it.
This makes a big pot, and it keeps in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, so a protein and fiber packed dinner is waiting for you on the nights you’d rather not cook.
Enjoy every spoonful,
Lolita