Today, we are reviewing Panera Bread’s Three Cheese Lasagna Soup, which was introduced in 2026. This is a limited-time offering. While lasagna soup comes in many variations, it combines traditional lasagna ingredients but cooks them in a tomato-based broth instead of baking them in a casserole.
Panera Bread is a bakery-café store chain in the United States and Canada. Ken and Linda Rosenthal founded it as the Saint Louis Bread Company, and stores in the St. Louis, Missouri, area still carry that name. Au Bon Pain purchased the brand in 1993 and rebranded it as Panera. In 2017, JAB Holding Company purchased Panera for $ 7.5 billion. Today, over 2,000 franchises operate.
The Construction
For this assessment, I ordered the Three Cheese Lasagna Soup without any customizations.
- Stock (Tomato Based) (Default)
- Three Cheeses
- Parmesian (Default)
- Ricotta (Default)
- Asiago (Regular)
- Lasagna Ribbon Pasta (Default)
- Italian Inspired Sausage (Default)
- Size: Bowl
- Weight: 13 1/2 ounces (including paper bowl)
- Soups Eaten: 4
- Location: Indian Trail
- Price: $7.99
There is a bread bowl option, where the soup is served in a hollowed-out sourdough bread bowl, as well as a smaller “cup option”. The bread bowl option seems to offer less soup. The only customization option was a lighter or heavier amount of Asiago cheese. The Asiago cheese tops the soup.
The Appearance (*)
The lasagna soup in the staged photo features freshly placed Asiago cheese, which will likely melt from the soup’s heat. In the photo, the tomato broth appears richer. Overall, while the served soup looks decent, it doesn’t quite match the staged version.
Comparison Rating: Fair
(*) This is not factored into our overall assessment rating but is included for reference.
The Experience
Normally our soup reviews follow a pattern: Stock (4 points), Main ingredient(s) (2 or 3 points), Supplemental ingredients (1 or 2 points), and Intangibles (2 points). In this case, I scored all the tangible ingredients under Ingredients for 4 points. This includes the lasagna noodles, the sausage, and the Asiago cheese.
One thing that made it difficult to assess was the three cheeses. The Asiago cheese was the easiest of the three because it is layered on top. The Parmesan and ricotta were harder to assess because they are essentially blended into the soup. I decided to include the Parmesan and ricotta in the tomato stock component. I scored the Asiago with the soup ingredients.
- Stock (Broth): 4 points
- Ingredients: 4 points
- Intangibles: 2 points
One final note. This soup was ordered as take-out. An insulated bag was used to maintain temperature during transport.
Stock (Broth)
As mentioned, this is a tomato-based broth. It’s a milder broth, and sometimes I like a little more robustness. However, the milder broth lets the ricotta and parmesan shine. The parmesan adds a little more sharpness. The ricotta adds smoothness, creaminess, and texture. The sausage brings savoriness and saltiness to the broth. The broth has Italian herbs and garlic, but they’re milder. Overall, it’s a good stock to build this soup on. It gives you the elements you would expect in a baked lasagna, but in soup form.
Score: 2.75 points out of 4.00 points
Ingredients
We will break down the ingredients one by one:
- Lasagna Noodles: The lasagna noodles are served in pieces, unlike the full-size ribbon noodles in a baked lasagna. From my experience with the chicken noodle soup, I was expecting the lasagna noodles to be very soft and overcooked. While it wasn’t close to al dente, the noodles in each soup I had weren’t as soft as I expected. The noodles have a starchy, slightly nutty taste, but they’re soft enough to absorb the flavors of the tomato broth, cheese, and sausage.
- Italian Sausage: The soup uses a mild, sweet sausage. It was slightly chewy. As mentioned earlier, it adds saltiness and savoriness. That saltiness and sweetness permeate the lasagna noodles and tomato stock.
- Asiago Cheese: As you eat the soup, it eventually blends into the stock. Early on, it adds more creaminess and nuttiness. I’m not sure this ingredient was necessary, but it worked well.
Score: 2.50 out of 4.00 points
Intangibles
As always, we compare whether the overall experience exceeds the sum of its parts. In this answer, it’s an absolute yes. As you have seen in the other sections, the ingredients don’t exist in a vacuum, and they do a great job of creating something different. This is what a good soup should do.
I thought the main ingredients were in a good ratio: stock, lasagna noodles, and sausage. The cheese also does its job well.
One argument I have with many Panera items is the portion size. I went with the bowl (the larger option from the “cup”), and it’s still a small soup portion in my book. This felt like size still feels like a side item. The good news is that the cheese and lasagna noodles make this soup richer, so it didn’t feel as small a portion as other Panera soups. You’ll still probably want two bowls for a full meal, or use it as a side.
Score: 1.50 out of 2.00 points
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
A lasagna soup should bring a lasagna-like experience with the richness, creaminess, and savoriness. I felt the Three Cheese Lasagna Soup does a good job here. It wasn’t perfect, but this was definitely one of the better soups I’ve had from Panera. I hope it returns after its limited run, and it’s good enough that I would consider it a regular offering. I still think Panera needs to do more with its portion sizes, but I would definitely come back to this soup.
Summary
| Stock / Broth (4) | 2.75 |
| Ingredients (4) | 2.50 |
| Intangibles (2) | 1.50 |
| Total | 6.75 |
Score: 6.75 (out of 10 points)
Value: Slightly Above Average
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
