Easy Lasagna Soup - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

Why is my lasagna so soupy? ›

The sauce could be too watery. The noodles can be holding on to water. The vegetables are releasing excess moisture. If you are using ricotta be careful of the moisture it can add.

Cornstarch is cheap and widely available at most grocery stores with the flours and baking products. To use cornstarch as a thickening agent for lasagna sauce, add it in a slurry to the sauce as it simmers. A slurry consists of equal parts cornstarch and cold liquid.

Whether you're making a tomato and meat sauce from scratch or using a jarred sauce, you can thicken it with cornstarch to prevent the problem of a soupy lasagna. Cornstarch is a classic binding ingredient that won't affect the sauce's flavor and is much more effective than flour.

How can I keep lasagna from being a mushy mess? The best way is to keep your ingredients dry. Cook your pasta sauce long enough to boil out most of the moisture so the sauce is thick.

Ricotta cheese, with its creamy texture and mild flavor, is a quintessential ingredient in many lasagna recipes. However, it can also introduce excess moisture if not handled properly. To avoid a runny mess, it's crucial to pat dry the ricotta before incorporating it into your lasagna.

For cleanly stacking layers and easy cutting, don't flood the dish with watery sauce. This is what leads to layers sliding apart—the pasta noodles are hydroplaning every time you go to cut a bite. Instead, make a “dry” sauce for layering. If you're using meat, break it apart into fine chunks, brown it, and season it.

Most people use low-moisture mozzarella in lasagna, and I am no exception. Fresh mozzarella tastes phenomenal in lasagna; however, the extra moisture will make the lasagna a bit watery. Sometimes I'll use bagged, shredded mozz in the layers but then will splurge for the good stuff on top.

Just like steak, you need to allow the lasagna to rest before slicing into it. Resting or letting it cool for a good 10 to 15 minutes at least allows the heat to dissipate, the ingredients to settle from its bubbling state in the oven, and firms up the cheese that you added on top.

So, to achieve the perfect lasagna, the consistency of the sauce is absolutely essential. Both the ragù and béchamel sauce should be dense and creamy. Avoid sauces that are too liquid and slide to the bottom of the dish. A thicker consistency of the sauce will allow the pasta to be flavoured in the best possible way.

Why does my lasagna falls apart when I cut it? ›

The biggest offender, though, is watery, thin pasta sauce. A helpful technique can prevent this pitfall from sabotaging your lasagna: Reduce your sauce to thicken it before pouring it into the casserole. A thin sauce runs right off of cooked lasagna noodles, causing all the layers to slide off of each other, as well.

(Do notice that I put the noodles criss cross – perpendicular from the layer below – it helps it to hold together when you serve it). So, the noodles directly on the cheese means there won't be enough for a top layer of noodles.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until cheese is golden brown, 5 to 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Generally, lasagna has about 3 or 4 layers of pasta, with sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, béchamel, and sometimes meat or even meatballs or sausage between those layers. Our many layer lasagna has around 12 layers of pasta, or even more depending on how thin you end up rolling the dough.

So, to achieve the perfect lasagna, the consistency of the sauce is absolutely essential. Both the ragù and béchamel sauce should be dense and creamy. Avoid sauces that are too liquid and slide to the bottom of the dish. A thicker consistency of the sauce will allow the pasta to be flavoured in the best possible way.

The number one reason lasagna turns out soupy is, quite simply, too much sauce. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and this is it. To avoid baked lasagna swimming in sauce, use enough sauce to cover each layer but don't go overboard. Wet ingredients are another reason lasagna turns watery.

This could happen when you add too much pasta water into your sauce, and you accidentally drown the thick sauce with the starchy water (happens to the best of us). I find that this happens to me most often when I'm making quick sauces, like a meat sauce or light marinara that hasn't had the time to simmer.