Lasagna Soup in a Pot
Broken noodles, tomato powder, and hard cheese. Lasagna without the layering or the oven.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 29 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 14 min
- total time
- 19 min
- water
- 650 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Lasagna noodles | 2 sheets | snapped into pieces the size of a stamp |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for crushed and diced tomatoes |
| Sun-dried tomatoes | 2 tbsp | chopped, for the texture the powder loses |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube | |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried basil | 1 tsp | |
| Crushed red pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Freeze-dried spinach | 1/4 cup | |
| Parmesan | 2 tbsp | the shelf-stable grated kind |
| Hard mozzarella or provolone | 1 oz | low-moisture only; it keeps a couple of days out |
| Freeze-dried ground turkey | 1/2 cup | optional |
Method
- Bring 650 ml of water to a boil. Stir in the tomato powder, sun-dried tomatoes, bouillon, onion, garlic, basil, pepper flakes, and salt.
- Add the broken noodles and the turkey if you carried it. Keep the pot at a low boil.
- Stir every minute or so. Noodles sink and weld to the bottom if you walk away.
- Cook 10 to 12 minutes, until the pieces bend without snapping back. Add a splash of water if it goes dry before then.
- Off the heat, stir in the spinach and the olive oil. Two minutes with the lid on.
- Add the parmesan and the chopped cheese. Stir until the strands vanish, then eat.
Lasagna soup is already a one-pot dish, so the trail version mostly involves removing the refrigerator. Canned tomatoes become tomato powder and a handful of sun-dried pieces: the powder does the color and acid, the pieces do the chew. Ricotta and fresh mozzarella are out entirely. A hunk of low-moisture mozzarella or provolone melts into the broth the same way and survives two or three days in a pack.
The cook time is the real cost here. Lasagna sheets are thick, and even broken small they want ten minutes at a boil, which is more fuel than most one-pot dinners. Stir often. Starch settles and scorches on a thin titanium pot faster than you would expect, and burnt tomato is not something you can stir back out.
Packing
Everything dry except the cheese goes in one bag: powder, herbs, bouillon, spinach, noodle pieces. Break the noodles at home over a bowl so the shards stay in the bag and not in your pack. Cheese in its own bag, oil in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Skip both cheeses and it is vegan, but you lose about 150 calories and most of the fat.
- A spoonful of tomato paste from a tube in place of half the powder gives a deeper, sweeter base.
- Instant polenta or couscous instead of the noodles cuts the cook time to three minutes.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/web-stories/healthy-lasagna-soup-instant-pot-or-stove-top