Hearty lentils and tender noodles are simmered up in chunky tomato soup and topped with creamy vegan pesto ricotta to make this cozy vegan lasagna soup.
I keep saying I need to use the slow cooker more often, and I really do! Now that it's getting cooler out I'm all about having dinner simmering on the counter all day, so I think it's going to actually happen.
A few months back I posted this chili mac recipe, which was a revelation. The idea seems really simple, but for some reason it never occurred to me that I could let my liquid ingredients cook up in the slow cooker, and then throw pasta in at the end. With my newfound discovery, I decided it was time for some vegan lasagna soup.
If you haven't yet seen the non-vegan versions of this soup floating around on Pinterest, here's the deal: tomato heavy soup, all the flavors of lasagna, noodles, and in most cases, copious amounts of cheese. Obviously, I had to work around the whole cheese thing.
Fortunately, ricotta cheese is one of the easiest things ever to veganize. I have a few formulas for vegan ricotta, but since I'm trying to keep things simple, I went with my basic cashew-tofu blend, flavored with some premade pesto. Easy!
I had some pesto hanging out in the freezer (made from this recipe), but if you'd rather go with store-bought, Amore is a vegan brand that's pretty widely available.
My vegan lasagna soup turned out to be every bit as satisfying as a big slab of regular old lasagna, and after hanging out in the fridge for a day, the leftovers pretty closely resembled lasagna, thanks to the noodles sucking up most of the broth. This is the perfect healthy, cozy, and meal-worthy soup to have around during the week after a holiday feast.
Make a big batch, pack it up, and enjoy it for days.
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Slow Cooker Vegan Lasagna Soup
Hearty lentils and tender noodles are simmered up in chunky tomato soup and topped with creamy vegan pesto ricotta to make this cozy vegan lasagna soup. It's easy to make and hearty enough for a meal!
Ingredients
For the Lasagna Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (stove-top version only)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 ½ cups vegetable broth
- ¾ cup dried brown lentils
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 (14 ounce or 400 gram) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (14 ounce or 400 gram) can crushed tomatoes
- 8 lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
- 3 cups chopped spinach leaves
For the Vegan Pesto Ricotta
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4 to 8 hours, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- ¼ pound extra firm tofu, drained
- 3 to 4 tablespoons prepared vegan pesto, to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Instructions
Make the Lasagna Soup (Stove-Top Version)
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Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil and place it over medium heat.
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Once the oil is hot, add the onion. Cook it for about 5 minutes, until it begins to soften up.
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Add the garlic and cook it with the onion for about 1 minute, until very fragrant.
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Stir in the broth, lentils, basil, and oregano. Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil, then lower the heat and allow the soup to simmer for about 30 minutes, until the lentils are just slightly firm at their centers. Add water to the pot if the liquid reduces too much. Prepare the pesto ricotta (instructions below) while the soup simmers.
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Stir in the crushed and diced tomatoes, noodles and spinach. Continue simmering the soup until the noodles are tender and the spinach is fully wilted, about 8 to 12 minutes.
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Remove the pot from heat and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
Make the Lasagna Soup (Slow Cooker Version)
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Place the broth, onion, garlic, basil, oregano and lentils into slow cooker and stir a few times to blend.
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Set the slow cooker to high and cover. Allow the soup to cook until lentils are just a bit on the firm side, about 2 hours.
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Add the diced and crushed tomatoes to the slow cooker and stir. Allow to continue cooking on high for 2 to 3 hours more.
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Add the noodles and spinach to the slow cooker and give the mixture a stir. Allow the soup to continue cooking until noodles are tender and the spinach is wilted, about 12 minutes.
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Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
Make the Vegan Pesto Ricotta
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Place the cashews and milk into the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.
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Add the tofu and pulse a few times, just until the mixture takes on a ricotta-like texture. Add pesto to taste, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve
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Divide soup into bowls, and top each with a dollop of vegan pesto ricotta. Serve.
Recipe Notes
You may have some extra ricotta. It will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days, or you can freeze it. Use it as a pasta or salad topper, or save it for another batch of soup.
This was very good. Needed salt, but could have been because of the lack of it in the stock that I used. I made it in my Instant Pot, following the suggestions of Trish, above. The 4 minutes pressure and then 10 minutes natural release cooked the lentils and pasta perfectly (I would say slightly more cooked than al dente). I doubled the spinach because it seemed to disappear in the soup and I needed the kids to eat more greens. 1/2 or 1 tsp of red pepper flakes and 1-2 tsp of balsamic vinegar would be a good addition.
I would like to make this, but am not a fan of using tofu. Any other suggestions?
You can leave it out and use some additional cashews - 1/2 cup extra should be enough!
If I were to make this using canned lentils, how much stock would I use? I'd like to do it this way so I can set and forget at the beginning of the day. It looks delicious!
I'd use 1 (14 ounce) can of lentils and cut the broth back to about 3 cups. If that seems like too little you can always add more broth at the end. You can also wait until the end to add the lentils, since they're already cooked and you only need to heat them up. Enjoy!
We recently made this using canned beans. We just drained off some of the liquid from the beans (14 ounce can)and stuck with the original recipe other than that. Turned out great and was able to leave it in the crock pot all day.
Wonderful! I'm glad it worked out!
I can't believe how good this is!! I am making it for the 2nd time exactly as written. Thank you! (I am not vegan but my husband is!) I did sprinkle my bowl with vegan parm (cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder).
Yay!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thanks Karen!
Use mafalda noodles instead of lasagna noodles. Getting the ratio right with regular lasagna noodles you either have too many or not enough.
This is so good! I wouldn't change a thing about it. It tasted like we were having a serving of lasagna. Served with garlic toast and made for a delicious meal.
That's awesome!! I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks Van!
Is the soup tasty without the ricotta pesto?
Yup!
Thank you! I am making this for the 2nd time today and can't wait until it's ready! After 2 hours it is smelling sooo good. The vegan ricotta is the perfect topping. I use the Trader Joe's Vegan Pesto to make it easy.
I'm so glad you like it!! Thanks Karen! Enjoy!
This looks delicious! Would you recommend any changes to the liquid amounts if were making this on the stovetop instead?
Thank you! I think you should be good to use the same amount of liquid. You can always add extra at the end if needed. Enjoy!!
I really want to make this recipe. How do I make the vegan pesto?
Thanks for asking! I had meant to link to my own vegan pesto recipe, but it looks like I forgot! Here it is: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/lemon-pistachio-pesto/ You can also use store-bought vegan pesto if you like - Amore brand is vegan. :)
Have you ever made this in the stovetop instead of a slow cooker? I wonder how the cook time for everything would be different?
I haven't, but step 1 should take around 30 minutes, step 2 about 10 minutes, and step 3 should be about the same. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
Turned out great! Making it for the third time today!
This has fast become my son and husband's number 1 requested dinner. I haven't made it in a slow cooker, just stovetop- but it's come out perfectly every time. Making it tonight for the 3rd time alongside a crusty french loaf that's rising as we speak. ❤
That sounds like a delicious meal! I'm so glad it's a hit! Thanks Sonia!
If I wanted to leave out the lentils and do vegan ground beef instead - would that change the amount of vegetable stock I use? This recipe looks great, but lentils give me a stomach ache!
Thanks!
It probably would. I'd try cutting back by about a cup. You can always add extra broth at the end if the soup seems too thick!
OK - this was amazing. I has some cottage cheese for the non-vegans in the house and both groups said everything was amazing. (4 teenagers, 1 hubby) This cashew pesto we will be making frequently as a dip or spread. I had some fresh basil so I tossed a handful in to the blend with the cashew pesto blend. I made a batch and half for the bunch- and added 8 oz of fresh spinach for color and veggie content.This will be in regular rotation for-like-ever.
Hi! I made this! :) It’s delicious!
I ended up putting the noodles in about 15 mins before I thought I’d be hungry....and then I wasn’t hungry lol. So I didn’t end up eating it for a few hours later, and you were right- it totally thickened, and I felt like I was eating lasagna! Lol
I have to say though...the pesto ‘cheese’...omg...I didn’t have tofu, so I made it with just cashews (so it it was basically pesto cashew cream) and I can’t believe I have never had PESTO WITH TOMATO SAUCE BEFORE!! It is amaze balls! I feel like this pesto cashew cream will end up on a lot more pasta (with tomato sauce) dishes in my house ;)
Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Do you have any eco friendly tips?
Has anyone made this with GF pasta?
Looks so delicious but I recently had to give up wheat :(
I love trying new dishes and this was amazing! I totally forgot to put the pesto cheese on top (mines was store bought vegan pesto) but next time I'll add a dollop!
Don't have unflavored soy or almond milk --- is coconut milk ok?
Do you have the kind in a can or the kind in a carton? The carton variety will definitely work. Canned might be a little heavy, so you might want to try mixing it with some water.
is there a way to do the ricotta without nuts based products? my 2 yr old is allergic to nuts. Also, she is allergic to spinach, is there a different substitute for that as well?
Sure! Try tripling the amount of tofu in the recipe and leaving out the nuts. You could also leave out the spinach or substitute another type of green like chard or kale.
This was so amazing! I’m not a complete vegan but i do eat vegan most days, and with some vegan recipes it feels like it’s missing something but with this one it was perfect. Everyone in my family really liked this dish even my picky grandmother. She is on a low sodium diet so i got low sodium vegetable broth, and chopped and diced the tomatoes myself. We will be making this regularly:)