Lasagne Stew with the Thermomix® cooks the lasagne sheets directly in the mince and tomato sauce. We break the dry sheets into bite-sized pieces, add them to the finished pot and let them cook for 8 minutes at 90°C. The starch from the pasta thickens the sauce, the mince stays loose thanks to reverse direction, and the whole pot becomes creamy without a flour-based roux.
This stew is real soul food for cold days. We have been making it at least once a week in autumn and winter for years. The key point: no extra oven dish, no pre-cooking the pasta, no layering. Everything happens in the mixing bowl in 40 minutes.
Lasagne Stew with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 16 ✓
- 100 g Emmental cheese
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley flat-leaf
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 dried chilli
- 2 onions
- 30 g olive oil
- 500 g mixed minced meat
- 3 tbsp tomato puree
- 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
- 200 g vegetable stock
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 5 lasagne sheets
- 200 g crème fraîche
Instructions 0 / 8
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1
Chop the Emmental.
Place the Emmental in the mixing bowl and chop for 10 sec / speed 8, then set aside.
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2
Chop the parsley.
Wash the parsley, shake dry, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 5 sec / speed 6, then set aside.
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3
Chop the garlic and chilli.
Peel the garlic, place in the mixing bowl with the dried chilli and chop for 3 sec / speed 8.
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4
Chop the onions.
Peel the onions, halve them, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 3 sec / speed 5.
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5
Brown the mince.
Add the olive oil, mince and tomato puree and cook for 4 min / Varoma (TM5 120°C) / reverse direction / speed 1.
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6
Cook the ingredients.
Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, thyme, oregano, salt and paprika and cook for 5 min / 100°C / reverse direction / speed 1.
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7
Cook the lasagne sheets.
Break the lasagne sheets into bite-sized pieces, add to the mixing bowl and cook for 8 min / 90°C / reverse direction / speed 1.
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8
Garnish and serve.
Divide among bowls and serve garnished with crème fraîche, Emmental and parsley.
Tip: You can adjust the chilli to taste. If you are cooking for children, leave it out entirely. For adults, you can add a little more in step 3.
Nutrition per serving
Why the pasta cooks directly in the sauce
Lasagne sheets are made from durum wheat semolina and therefore contain a lot of starch. When we cook them directly in the tomato and mince sauce, the starch releases gradually and thickens the liquid. That makes the stew creamy without needing cream or flour. The 200 g of vegetable stock plus the liquid from the tomatoes is exactly enough for the 5 lasagne sheets to become al dente in 8 minutes at 90°C.
Important: we break the dry sheets by hand into pieces roughly 3 to 4 cm in size. Not too small (or they turn mushy), not too large (or the centre stays hard). The broken edges are rough, which helps with binding.
Browning the mince in reverse direction
We brown the mince for 4 minutes at Varoma (TM31: 120°C) in reverse direction at speed 1. Reverse direction is essential here because the blade turns backwards and does not mince the meat. That keeps the 500 g of mixed mince crumbly and loose rather than turning it into a paste. The olive oil (30 g) prevents sticking, and the tomato puree (3 tbsp) gives roasted flavour.
After 4 minutes the meat is cooked through but not dry. The onions (chopped beforehand for 3 seconds at speed 5) and the garlic (with chilli for 3 seconds at speed 8) add flavour without burning.
8 minutes at 90°C is the key threshold
The lasagne sheets go into the mixing bowl after the 5-minute cook of the tomato sauce. We cook them for 8 minutes at 90°C in reverse direction at speed 1. 90°C is the right temperature because the pasta softens too quickly at 100°C and cooks too slowly at 80°C. At 90°C they stay al dente, the sauce does not boil over, and the starch binds cleanly.
After 8 minutes we check one piece of pasta: it should still have a slight bite, not be soft. The pasta continues to cook in the hot sauce as you serve. If we cook them perfectly soft in the pot, they will be mushy by the time they reach the table.
Controlling the chilli heat
We add 1 dried chilli with the garlic into the mixing bowl and chop for 3 seconds at speed 8. A single chilli gives moderate heat that children can still handle. The seeds contain most of the capsaicin, which is why we chop the whole chilli.
For more heat, use 2 chillies. For no heat at all, leave the chilli out completely and increase the paprika to 2 tsp. That gives mild sweetness instead of spice.
Stirring in the crème fraîche at the end
The 200 g of crème fraîche does not go into the mixing bowl but onto the plate. We serve the stew in deep bowls, add 1 to 2 tbsp of crème fraîche on top and garnish with the Emmental (chopped beforehand for 10 seconds at speed 8) and the chopped parsley.
If the crème fraîche were cooked in with everything else, it would curdle and turn grainy. Added cold to the hot stew, it melts in slowly and gives creaminess without breaking the texture.
The pasta absorbs the sauce
The stew keeps for 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. One thing to note: the lasagne sheets continue to absorb liquid as they sit. After a day in the fridge the stew will be noticeably thicker than when freshly made. When reheating, add 50 to 100 ml of water or vegetable stock, stir and heat at 90°C at speed 1 for 5 minutes.
Freezing works, but the pasta will be softer after thawing. If you want to freeze the stew, cook the lasagne sheets for only 6 minutes instead of 8. They will still have a good bite after thawing and reheating.
More hearty Thermomix® dishes: Thermomix® Lasagne, Pumpkin and Crispy Lasagne, Vegetable Stew with Potatoes and Sausages.
How other recipes approach this dish
Goes well with: Baguette and Parmesan.
We have looked at the most popular lasagne stew versions and see three clear differences from our approach. Cookidoo and similar sites use fresh pasta sheets or spirelli and skip the bechamel entirely, topping with soured cream or crème fraîche instead. Some recipes break 10 dry lasagne sheets roughly into the broth and cook for 20 minutes in a closed pot, with no cheese inside the stew itself. In our version we keep genuine lasagne sheets and cook them directly in the Thermomix®, and we also grate Emmental into the stew so the cheese melts through rather than sitting only as a topping. That makes the lasagne character much more pronounced.
