Minestrone soup is packed with vegetables and hearty beans. This recipe may look simple, but there’s something about the flavor combination that is homey and perfect. I first had homemade minestrone when my sister in law brought it to my house for dinner and shared the recipe. I tweaked it a little and it’s one of my family’s favorite dinners. This meatless soup is still filling and makes a great main dish or side dish. Pair it with fresh crusty bread or your favorite sandwich!
Ingredient and Equipment Notes
- Heavy Soup Pot – this recipe makes a large batch, so you’ll want a nice large soup pot. My favorite is an enamel-coated cast iron pan, like this one.
- Canned Beans – This recipe calls for two different kinds of beans, a white bean and kidney beans. You are welcome to adapt depending on your preference of canned beans. Chickpeas would also be great.
- Pasta – I like classic ditalini pasta, but any small shaped pasta will work great in minestrone soup.
Instructions
- Saute chopped carrots, celery, and onion.
- Add zucchini and garlic.
- Add the beans and seasonings, as well as a can of tomatoes.
- Add vegetable broth and simmer these ingredients for about 30 minutes. During this time the beans break down a little and help add body to the soup.
- Add the pasta until cooked through.
- At the very end, turn off heat and add fresh spinach and parsley.
Note: This a thick soup, which is how my family likes it. You can easily add a little more broth or water at the end to make it the perfect consistency for you!
Serving Suggestions
- Try topping minestrone soup with freshly shaved parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Minestrone pairs perfectly with a warm loaf of crusty artisan bread. Try this incredibly simple overnight recipe!
- Pair this minestrone with a classic grilled cheese sandwich, or level up with something like a panini or this Hot Italian Sandwich.
- A side salad would also be great. Try some simple greens with this Homemade Italian Dressing or a Classic Caesar.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can this be frozen? Totally! This soup works great to freeze in portions to heat up later. Sometimes pasta isn’t the best to freeze, but in this soup, the small amount of pasta is almost hidden- it blends in with the veggies so that works great.
- Can I leave out the pasta? Feel free to omit the pasta if you need to, minestrone is still super delicious.
Veggie-Packed Minestrone Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: about 8 (1.5 cup) servings
Description
This vegie packed and flavorful minestrone soup is perfect for cold winter days!
Ingredients
Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, thinly sliced or finely diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small zucchini, diced or shredded
4-5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 cup frozen French cut green beans, or used canned if preferred
2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 15-ounce cans white beans like Great Northern or Cannellini
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
32 ounces vegetable broth (that’s 4 cups)
3 cups hot water
1/2 cup ditalini or other small shell pasta
4-6 cups loosely packed fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup fresh minced parsley
Instructions
- Heat a large stock pot to medium heat.
- Add olive oil to coat bottom of pan. Add onions, carrot, and celery. Saute 4-5 minutes, until onions start to look translucent.
- Add zucchini and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes longer, stirring until garlic is fragrant.
- Add green beans, kidney and white beans, tomatoes, and seasonings and stir to combine.
- Add broth and water and bring soup to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer on low for 20-25 minutes, until carrots and celery are tender.
- Add pasta and cook until pasta is soft, 8-10 minutes.
- Remove pot from heat and stir in spinach and parsley. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Feel free to add additional broth or water for a thinner consistency.
- Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
So easy and so yummy! I did 3/4 cup ditalini and it was perfect. My two little girls gobbled it up and kept exclaiming, “this is so good!”
This soup is the most incredible soup that I’ve ever tasted. My husband never likes when I have soup as a main course EXCEPT with this soup. Does anyone have the nutritional value for this recipe?
Muy deliciosa esta sopa.
Gracias por la receta. La acompañe con pan con ajo.
This recipe is perfectly seasoned. Many recipes have the right spices but not the right quantities. They wash out in cooking and the result is bland or they are unbalanced. Sara, you get an A+. Also stated many times before, this soup is absolutely beautiful and my soup looked like the picture! Yay! Thank you.
So glad you loved it!
Added hamburger, this was absolutely delicious!! Thanks for the great soup recipe, will use time and time again!
How could this possibly have 30 grams of fat per serving? There is no meat, and only 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil (21 grams total). Yes the beans have some fat, but minimal. Please explain.
This is by far the best soup I’ve made. A thousand times thank you.
Just made this for dinner and the whole family LOVED it! Thanks for yet another wonderful recipe!!
LOVE IT! Thank you! used kale instead of spinach (what I had) and it worked. Can I tell you how much we LOVE your recipes – if you can do more vegetarian/vegan recipes I would be very very very very grateful! My sister likes to point out that then I wouldn’t love your recipes so much, but I believe you can work magic!
Thanks for posting! I was going to ask about kale.
I may be making this one again soon… not sure why all these soups sound so good. The locusts starting? Signaling summer’s end fast approaching? But I have to ask… how in the world do you make a decent, not soggy-thin-centered grilled cheese sandwich? Two things I don’t think I will ever succeed with in the kitchen.. grilled cheese and pancakes. Pancakes are covered by my husband. But grilled cheese not so much because he won’t touch or go near cheese. I’ve often wondered how in the world Bob Evans gets that perfect crunchy buttery toast for the grilled cheese. Are there lots like me out there? I’ve tried low heat, medium heat, different kinds of breads, different kinds of cheeses, the end result is always a mushy, yet somehow burnt grilled cheese sandwich. I would love a post on how-to to the perfect grilled cheese lol 🙂
I just made this and it is delicous. Though truthfully, I’ve never made anything off this website that wasn’t–so kudos to both of you. Thanks for posting!
I made this last night, and it was definitely a hit.
I made changes, because I can’t look at a recipe without messing with it (sometimes disastrously). Changes were:
– more veggies (esp. spinach)
– added parsnip
– more pasta
– dried parsley instead of fresh (just what I had)
– added a cube of frozen buttermilk, because it sounded good. Necessary? Prolly not. 😉
I also didn’t have to cook it as long, but it may be because my veggies were chopped finer.
This was VERY good, I would highly recommend this! Made much more than I thought it would. <3 Thank you for another successful recipe for my home!
Also, a funny note, I was just reading other comments, and saw that I had made the same mistake as Lori did, and didn’t realize til she mentioned it! I only used one can of each type of beans. It was amazing, still, and I like more other types of veggies anyway, so I’m sorta glad I did it. 😉
Wow you take some great photos!
Made this tonight and it was good! I was cooking using my kindle and missed that there were 4 cans of beans and I ended up just using one of each type. It didn’t seem to have an impact. I was happy to see a vegetarian recipe. Especially one that didn’t include dairy!
This looks delicious, but I am on weight watchers right now and it costs 10 points per serving, using the nutritional values you provided. When I calculated the point value it asked for the fiber count, but you don’t have that listed, do you know what that might be, it could possibly lower the points per serving. Thanks
Thanks for this recipe! I made it the other day, and my 7 yr old daughter was hanging out with me in the kitchen playing with all the veggie scraps as I was chopping. Then, the whole family (including my 7 yr old daughter and 8 yr old son) finished their bowl of this yummy soup for dinner that evening. Such a great way for all of us to eat our veggies! Thanks for sharing, and please keep these healthy recipes coming!
Anyone else with the flu?
Sorry, somehow my fever riddled fingers somehow posted before I finished! My point was, count this soup as your new favorite for soothing your coughing demolished throat. This filled my dutch oven, and we have been super happy to eat it as leftovers!
I made this for my boyfriend and I last night and it is delicious with much to spare to have for lunch the next few days 🙂
Made this tonight for dinner. I used beef stock to make it a little richer and it was great! The only vegetable my kids had a problem with was the spinach. May crush or chop it next time to make it less noticeable. May also add some ground sausage as I have meat loving men in my house.
So are you going to show us the rest of your kitchen??? I would love to see a post on building your house!
I know my kids would love minestrone if they could just get past those visible veggies…I’m impressed your kids eat it anyway 🙂 Definitely need the grilled sandwich on the side – perfect combo!
could this all the thrown in the crock on a low heat for 8 hours while at work???
I was wondering that too. This soup kind of reminded me of this recipe, which can handle 8 hours on low (read the comments for tips):
http://www.thekitchn.com/slowcooker-recipe-curried-vege-67520
I am all about vegetarian food in the slow cooker!
did you try this in the crock pot??