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!
Ingredients and Equipment Needed
- 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.
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Carrot
- Celery
- Zucchini
- Fresh Garlic
- Frozen or canned green beans
- Red kidney beans
- Great Northern beans
- Diced, canned tomatoes
- Dried oregano, basil, and thyme
- Salt and pepper
- Vegetable broth
- Ditalini or other small shell pasta
- Fresh spinach leaves
- Fresh parsley
How to Make Minestrone Soup
- Sauté 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.
Storing and Other Notes
- 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!
- Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- This soup freezes beautifully. Freeze individual portions for a quick weekday lunch!
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
Feel free to omit the pasta if you need to, minestrone is still super delicious.
Yes! This soup might even taste better when reheated the next day. Feel free to whip up a batch and enjoy for several days.
Veggie-Packed Minestrone Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion medium, diced
- 1 carrot, large thinly sliced or finely diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 1 zucchini, small diced or shredded
- 4-5 cloves garlic finely minced or pressed
- 1 cup French cut green beans frozen, 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 ½ teaspoons oregano dried
- 1 teaspoon basil dried
- ½ teaspoon thyme dried
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 32 ounces vegetable broth (4 cups)
- 3 cups hot water
- ½ cup ditalini or other small shell pasta
- 4-6 cups spinach leaves fresh, loosely packed
- ¼ cup parsley fresh, minced
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.
Questions & Reviews
How do you feel about reheating soup that has pasta in it? I think if I was making this soup, I might cook just the amount of pasta I needed for the servings that time and add it separately. I know this is extra work, but I don’t like how pasta becomes bloated and overcooked upon reheating.
Love the kitchen backsplash, mind sharing what it’s called and who makes it? 🙂
Awesome! I can’t wait to make this! I always steered clear of veggie broth because it was so much higher in sodium than chicken. Maybe I’ll try the brand you used. It doesn’t take too much salt for me to think there’s too much, but I’m willing to give it another go!
Thanks so much for denoting the amount of servings. My children have left for college (sniff, sniff) so just 2 of us at home—- could I freeze the leftovers into several containers and have soup once/week/month?
Yep- soup freezes beautifully! You could also easily cut this recipe in half.
This looks fabulous! Thanks for another great recipe! Just curious- is 30 grams of fat per serving correct?
Wow, I’m a dork. 1 gram of fat, actually:) 30 grams of protein! Sorry:)
Lol, now THAT is my kind of soup 😉
I have a Minestrone soup recipe that I really enjoy but I may have to give it a try. I’m trying to cook vegetarian one to two times per week. It would be perfect.
I have a Minestrone soup recipe that I really enjoy but I may have to give it a try. I’m try to cook vegetarian one to two times per week. It would be perfect.
I tell my kids anything white is chicken too. My 2-year-old loves the weeknight chili; let’s see if I can get his sister to love this soup! I’ve been trying to copy Olive Garden because I’m sick of spending the money just for soup. That is the only reason I go there.
We are building a house and I am trying to choose a new stove. Can I ask for more details about yours? Brand etc? Thanks!
Misty, I put Thermador appliances in my new kitchen. This is the range I got and I absolutely love it. There’s a warming drawer underneath it that you can see in that photo. I’m going to do a whole post on my kitchen appliances this month so that might be helpful as you plan. How fun you’re building a house, we’re sure happy to be in ours now!
Yum! Just curious what type of bean you would sub for the kidney beans? Kidney beans are not loved by any of us 🙁
Any bean you like, really. You could always just leave out the kidney beans, there’s 4 whole cans in there so there’s beans to spare! If you do like it really packed with beans, like the recipe calls for, you could add an extra can of white beans in there.