Winter weather calls for a wonderful, nourishing bowl of soup! This hearty, heavenly Minestrone Soup recipe will keep you warm and satisfied!
Classic, super-flavorful Minestrone Soup – a thicker, heartier version of traditional vegetable soup – is everything you want it to be! Minestrone begins with crushed tomatoes, cannellini beans, vegetable broth, and a generous blend of Italian herbs and spices. It then incorporates all your favorite garden vegetables (such as onions, green beans, zucchini, and spinach), along with pasta, to create the ultimate pot of soup.
The Best Minestrone is Endlessly Customizable
If you’re looking for the best vegetable soup recipe, look no further than Minestrone! The word “Minestrone” literally means “soup” in Italian! It was never intended to be a specific recipe, but rather a hearty soup that uses “whatever you have”.
Minestrone is packed with vegetables – the more the merrier! Use what you have and what you love. Leftover jar of green beans from last year’s garden? Toss them in! A bit of spinach from this summer’s salad garden? Great! A few carrots left in the fridge? Go ahead and add them! Minestrone gets its incredible flavor from the variety of ingredients simmered with onion, garlic, bay leaf, parsley, and rosemary.
Other Recipes to Serve with Minestrone
- Homemade Cheese Bread is perfectly crusty on the outside, soft and cheesy on the inside, and amazing with a big bowl of vegetable soup!
- Brisket Grilled Cheese elevates the classic grilled cheese to a new, meaty, melty, mouthwatering level – add a cup of Minestrone on the side!
Ingredients
Stock: Start this minestrone recipe with olive oil, diced onion, chopped celery and carrot, minced garlic, and vegetable broth.
Veggies: For this recipe, we’re using cannellini beans, peeled & crushed tomatoes, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini, and baby spinach. (Use WHATEVER veggies you like or have on hand!)
Pasta: A short pasta works best for this – elbows, ditalini, small shells – shapes that scoop and hold the broth.
Seasoning: In addition to the soup stock seasonings, we’re flavoring this amazing Italian soup with a bay leaf, salt & freshly ground pepper, chopped parsley, and a sprig of rosemary.
How to Make Minestrone Soup
STEP ONE: Heat the olive oil in a big soup pot. Add in the chopped onion, celery, and carrots. Over medium heat, cook the veggies until they are soft (but not browned). Add in the garlic and cook another minute.
STEP TWO: To the mirepoix (onion, celery & carrot mixture), pour in the vegetables, vegetable broth, canned tomatoes, herbs, and beans. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
STEP THREE: Add in the pasta and zucchini. Cook 10-15 minutes until the pasta is al dente.
STEP FOUR: Finally, stir in the spinach and parsley.
STEP FIVE: Ladle into soup bowls and serve hot, accompanied by grated parmesan cheese and buttered baguette slices. MMMMM!
Tips for Success
- Stir a touch of sun-dried tomato pesto into your bowl and thank me later.
- Use the pasta you like, including a gluten-free variety if needed!
- All kinds of beans, from black beans and navy beans to cannellini and fava beans, work great in this recipe! (Canned beans save you tons of prep time!)
- Minestrone can be vegetarian, or you can add in ground beef or turkey.
- This fabulous soup is traditionally served with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and a side of thick, crusty bread.
Can I Make Minestrone Ahead of Time?
Absolutely! Follow the recipe up to the point of adding in the pasta. (Don’t add the pasta yet.) Allow the soup to cool, then store in the fridge for 3-4 days or freeze for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to serve it, bring it back to a boil on the stove then resume the recipe – add in the pasta and any delicate vegetables like squash or spinach and cook until the pasta is just done. Serve and enjoy!
Can I Make Minestrone in the Crock Pot?
Yes, but you need to add in your veggies at different intervals to prevent the slow cooker from turning your Minestrone into Mush.
Start with your tomatoes, liquids, and flavorful herbs and spices (don’t forget the onion and garlic at this step!) If you’re using dried beans, add them here; otherwise, add them later. Let this simmer for 5 hours on LOW. At the 5-hour mark, add any frozen vegetables and cook for an additional hour. At the 6-hour mark, add in any canned veggies and the pasta. Cook another half hour before finally adding in delicacies like kale, spinach, and parsley. Allow to heat for 5-10 minutes, then serve!
Other Hearty, Healthy Soup Recipes
- Italian Wedding Soup
- Mexican Beef and Vegetable Soup
- Crock Pot Pozole
- Homemade Black Bean Soup
- Crock Pot Vegetable Soup
- Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion peeled and diced
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 1 medium carrot peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 30 ounces canned cannellini beans drained and rinsed (see note)
- 14 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups vegetables (see note)
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small sprig rosemary
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 medium zucchini sliced and cut into quarters (2-3 cups)
- 1 ½ cups ditalini pasta shells, or other short pasta
- 2 handfuls baby spinach roughly chopped (2-3 cups)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- Salt to taste
- Parmesan cheese shredded, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook, stirring regularly, until softened but not browned. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the beans, tomatoes, vegetables (I used green beans and cauliflower), vegetable broth, bay leaf, rosemary, and pepper. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the zucchini and pasta (see note). Cook for another 10-15 minutes until the pasta is al dente and the vegetables are cooked and have some bite.*If you want to make the slower version of this soup, add all the vegetables at once and let the soup simmer for at least 1 hour. Add the pasta either 10-15 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
- Remove the bay leaf and stir in the spinach and parsley. Check the seasoning and add salt as needed. Serve hot with shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish, if desired.
Notes
- You can use kidney beans, great northern beans, fava beans, black beans, or even chickpeas. Just use whatever you have on hand. Minestrone is a soup made out of leftovers or veggies that grow in your garden. It’s super versatile and forgiving.
- You can use whatever vegetables you have on hand or are in season – green beans, cauliflower, pumpkin, squash, broccoli, more carrots. Add them to the soup in order of their cooking time. You can also use frozen vegetables to cut down on prep time.
- If you don’t want to serve the Minestrone right away or prefer to cook more for meal prep, I recommend cooking the pasta separately and adding it to the soup when serving. The pasta can get a bit mushy during reheating otherwise.
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