Keto Lasagna Soup with Whipped Ricotta

Introduction

Lasagna soup takes everything people love about lasagna (the sausage, the tomato sauce, the mozzarella, the ricotta) and puts it in a bowl. No layering, no baking, no waiting for it to set before you can cut a square. It all comes together in one pot on the stove.

The catch, for a keto version, is the noodles. A lasagna soup usually has broken lasagna sheets simmering in it, and that’s the one part we can’t keep. So instead of lasagna sheets, we swapped in cabbage. There are other options out there, but we didn’t go that route. We like cabbage, and honestly, with it this is still a very, very good soup, so cabbage sliced into wide strips it was.

Yes, Cabbage

We know cabbage doesn’t sound much like pasta. Sliced long and wide, though, it simmers down into soft, floppy strips that sit in the tomato broth the way pieces of lasagna sheet would. It isn’t trying to fool anyone into thinking it’s pasta, but it gives each spoonful something to bite into besides sausage.

The cabbage goes in with the broth and only needs 3 to 5 minutes, covered, at a simmer. You can watch it happen: raw strips are opaque and stiff, and as they cook they turn translucent and go limp in the broth. The thickest pieces, the ones with a bit of rib, take longest, so test those with a fork. When a fork slides through them, the rest are done too. Take the pot off the heat a little before the cabbage is as soft as you want it, because it keeps softening in the hot soup.

What Goes In

• Italian sausage: Raw ground Italian sausage comes already seasoned, which is a lot of the flavor done for you. Brown it with the onion and drain off any extra grease before you add anything else.
• Tomato paste, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce: All three go in. The paste gets a minute in the pot with the garlic first, and the diced tomatoes and sauce make up the body of the broth.
• Chicken broth: Three cups gives you a thicker soup; go up to four if you like it brothier.

The Whipped Ricotta

Without the ricotta, this would be a good sausage and tomato soup. With it, it’s lasagna soup, and when we made it, the whipped ricotta is what made it really delicious. The ricotta gets whipped with Parmesan, salt and pepper until light and creamy, then spooned onto the soup in dollops after the mozzarella goes on.

Give the soup a little time off the heat before the ricotta goes on. Straight off the burner, it’s hot enough to melt the dollops right into the broth. Letting it cool down a bit doesn’t change the flavor either way, but the dollops hold their shape, and that’s the part that looks like lasagna.

When you ladle it out, try to get a dollop into every bowl. The soup in the photos is finished with chopped parsley, which isn’t counted in the Nutrition Facts panel.

If you’d rather have your lasagna layered and baked, our keto lasagna bowls build the same flavors into individual oven-safe bowls. And for something to dip into the soup, try our low-carb Italian garlic breadsticks.

Storing Leftovers

Get leftovers into the refrigerator within two hours of cooking. Kept covered, they’ll be good for three to four days, which is the USDA window for cooked leftovers. Reheat a portion on the stove or in the microwave until it’s hot all the way through, to 165°F.

We haven’t tested freezing this one, so we can’t tell you how the cabbage holds up once it’s thawed.

If you make it, tell us in the comments how soft you like your cabbage noodles.