Gluten Free Slow Cooker (or Instant Pot) Lasagna Soup
It’s soup season!! Soup is great in every season as far as I’m concerned, but as soon as Fall arrives I feel like it’s truly soup season. The other night my husband said he was in the mood for Italian food, and my mind immediately went to lasagna. I love lasagna, but it can be so time consuming to make. And since 2 of my kids are completely gluten and dairy free that adds another challenging element. Fortunately, I’m up for a challenge, and since it’s legit soup season I decided lasagna soup was on the menu.
To make this lasagna soup I could have pulled out my instant pot, but since we were going to be out all afternoon I decided to use my slow cooker instead. I love my instant pot, and it actually did play a part in making the soup. But it was a behind the scenes role. When ground beef or italian sausage goes on sale I stock up. I pre-cook it in large batches, chopstir it, drain, and freeze in 1 lb portions. So I have pre-browned ground meat ready anytime I need it for a recipe. I freeze it flat so it thaws extremely quickly or I can easily break it up while frozen. Because I had cooked ground beef and italian sausage in my freezer, I was able to get this soup into the slow cooker and on with our day in record time. And we still had a home cooked meal ready for us by dinner.
Now I could have made this soup and just skipped the cheese entirely, but it’s hard to call it lasagna soup without some form of cheese and ricotta. So, I used Daiya brand mozzarella for the topping as well as easy homemade vegan cashew ricotta. It is very simple to make and much like ricotta takes on the flavors of your recipe. Speaking of recipe, let’s get to it.
- 1 lb ground beef or ground mild italian sausage (or mixture)
- ½ cup onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jar pasta sauce (25 oz)
- 2 tsp italian seasoning
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 8 ounces gluten free pasta (macaroni or shells work well)
- Dairy free mozzarella for topping
- Cashew ricotta, recipe below
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes, then drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 small garlic clove
- salt and pepper to taste
- Brown the meat and drain the excess fat. (You can skip this step if you have a very lean ground beef.)
- Put all soup ingredients (but NOT the pasta, cheese, or ricotta) into your slow cooker and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or low for 7 to 8 hours. It's a slow cooker, and if you've pre-cooked your meat it's a very forgiving recipe in terms of time.
- About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, set your slow cooker to low and stir in the uncooked pasta noodles.
- Allow the noodles to cook until done, about 30 minutes.
- Serve the soup and top with dairy free mozzarella and cashew ricotta.
- Blend all ingredients in food processor, adding more lemon juice and garlic to taste. Add more water if necessary to get to the consistency you like. The key is to taste as you go to get exactly the flavor and consistency that you want. You can easily overpower with too much lemon or garlic, so add these slowly until you get the flavor you want.
The following are tools that I used (and love) in my kitchen to make this soup. These are affiliate links, which means as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Hamilton Beach Stay or Go Slow Cooker
- 8 qt Instant Pot
- 6 qt Instant Pot (I love it so much that I have 2!)
- Silicone Mini Mitts (these are NOT for taking things from the oven, but great for gripping the instant pot)
- Chopstir for breaking up ground meat
- Glass Mixing/Storage Bowls (I prefer glass for leftovers, and these bowls are great because they double as mixing bowls)
Enjoy!
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