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Minestrone Soup
Hearty and filling minestrone soup is loaded with vegetables, beans, and pasta in a rich tomato broth. This comforting soup is ready to eat in just 60 minutes.
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Hearty minestrone soup is a homemade soup made from scratch with veggies, beans, pasta, broth, and spices, all simmered together. Just like grandma used to make, this old-fashioned recipe is a delicious version of the classic Italian soup.
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Minestrone Soup
The perfect dinner when everyone is craving something warm and cozy, you can have this soup on the table ready to eat in just 60 minutes. Minestrone soup is loaded with vegetables, beans, and pasta in a rich tomato broth.
Soup isn’t just for the first course, minestrone soup is filling enough to be the main dish. Serve your soup with dinner rolls, garlic bread, or biscuits. You could also pair it with a green salad and a glass of iced tea.
There’s nothing more comforting than making a big pot of homemade soup for family and friends. This easy soup is simple to make and reheats well for leftovers later in the week.
Minestrone Soup Ingredients
- Oil - Olive Oil
- Onion - Vidalia or Yellow Onion
- Garlic - large cloves of Garlic
- Tomatoes - cans of Petite Diced Tomatoes
- Wine - Pinot Grigio or Marsala Cooking Wine
- Broth - Beef Broth
- Bouillon- Better than Bouillon Beef Paste
- Tomato Paste
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Oregano - Dried Oregano
- Basil - Dried Basil
- Thyme - Dried Thyme
- Onion Powder
- Bay Leaves
- Cheese - Parmesan Cheese Wedge
- Water
- Pasta - Ditalini Pasta
- Beans - can drained Northern Beans
- Beans - can of Kidney Beans
- Salt
- Pepper
Minestrone soup is perfect for using a variety of fresh vegetables. Try adding veggies like yellow squash, butternut squash, green beans, mushrooms, peas, leeks, potatoes, baby spinach, swiss chard, or kale.
In addition to Northern Beans and Kidney Beans, you can also use cannellini beans. You can use a variety of different kinds of pasta including shell pasta, elbow macaroni, or even rotini. You can also use rice or lentils if you don’t have any small pasta on hand. If you don’t have any Marsala cooking wine on hand you can also use a dry white wine.
This soup can be made on the stovetop, or it can also be made in the slow cooker. To make your minestrone soup in the slow cooker, combine all the ingredients except the pasta and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or high for 2 to 3 hours. Then stir in the pasta and cook for another 20 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
How to Make Minestrone Soup
FIRST STEP: Dice your garlic first! Set it aside on your cutting board and let it rest for 10-15 min. Letting garlic rest before heating it gives the enzymes a chance to form and ensures their maximum health and flavor benefits. Fresh and rested garlic in soups and other dishes are wonderful for flu season because of its amazing antioxidant and immune system boosting properties.
SECOND STEP: Next, warm your olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat until it shimmers. Once the oil is shimmering, add the diced onion and garlic. Sauté in the olive oil until fragrant and translucent.
THIRD STEP: Open and pour in both full cans of the petite diced tomatoes (do not drain the juices) and the dry cooking wine of your choice. Simmer uncovered on low heat until the liquid has reduced by half. This takes about 15-20 min.
FOURTH STEP: Add broth, bouillon, seasonings, tomato paste, parmesan rind (see below instructions), and carrots. DO NOT add the zucchini yet! Bring to a boil. Parmesan Rind Instructions: One of the special ingredients in this recipe is the parmesan rind! The parmesan rind is the parmesan’s outside shell or rind that develops as the cheese is air-dried in its temperature-controlled environment. The rind is typically about 1 inch thick on the larger end of your parmesan wedge. Visually, the rind might look and feel inedible. It feels and looks like wax but I promise it is completely safe to eat and is an amazing flavor-infusing ingredient for your soup! Some of the rind will dissolve while simmering, but there will typically be a soft rind left that is easy to remove in one piece after all the flavors have been infused into the soup.
FIFTH STEP: Let the soup boil for about 2 min while stirring constantly so nothing sticks on the bottom.
SIXTH STEP: Add salt and pepper, the 2 cups of dry Ditalini Pasta, and (diced but not peeled) zucchini. The skin of zucchini is so brilliantly bright and green and has lots of flavor and health benefits, so no need to shave it off.
SEVENTH STEP: Drain and wash the two cans of beans and set them aside.
EIGHTH STEP: Add 1 cup of water, stir and let simmer until the pasta is cooked and zucchini is tender. About 10 min.
NINTH STEP: Turn heat off and stir in beans and salt and pepper. Then remove the bay leaves and the remainder of the softened parmesan rind and discard it. Let sit for 2 min before serving.
TENTH STEP: This soup is delicious served with the rest of your wedge of parmesan shaved onto the top of your bowl of soup and some freshly cracked pepper.
Can I add meat to this soup?
You can make this soup with meat and add in chicken, ground beef, stew meat, ground pork, Italian sausage, ham chunks, or bacon.
Can I make minestrone soup gluten-free?
You can easily use a gluten-free pasta in this soup recipe.
Can I make this dish vegetarian?
Use vegetable broth instead of beef broth to turn this into a vegetarian soup.
How to Store Minestrone Soup
IN THE FRIDGE: Store leftover minestrone soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
IN THE FREEZER: We don’t recommend storing this Italian soup in the freezer as the pasta tends to get mushy after freezing and re-thawing. Instead, the soup is best kept stored in the fridge for no longer than 3 days for maximum flavor and intact noodles. However, if you want to, you can store minestrone soup in an airtight container in the freezer.
Minestrone Soup
Hearty and filling minestrone soup is loaded with vegetables, beans, and pasta in a rich tomato broth. This comforting soup is ready to eat in just 60 minutes.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 38 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- ½ of a large diced Vidalia or Yellow Onion
- 3 large cloves of Garlic finely chopped
- 2 cans of Petite Diced Tomatoes (14.5 oz)
- ½ cup Pinot Grigio or Marsala Cooking Wine
- 32 oz. Beef Brooth
- 1 tbsp of Better than Bouillon Beef Paste
- 2 oz. Tomato Paste
- 2 cups diced Carrots (peeled)
- 2 large Zucchini diced (washed and intact/not peeled)
- ⅓ tbsp Dried Basil
- 1 tbsp + ½ tsp of Dried Oregano
- ½ tsp Dried Thyme
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 4 Bay Leaves
- 8 oz. Parmesan Cheese Wedge
- 1 cup Water
- 2 cups Ditalini Pasta
- 1 can drained Northern Beans (rinsed and drained)
- 1 can of Kidney Beans (rinsed and drained)
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Dice your garlic first! Set it aside on your cutting board and let it rest for 10-15 min. Letting garlic rest before heating it gives the enzymes a chance to form and ensures their maximum health and flavor benefits. Fresh and rested garlic in soups and other dishes are wonderful for flu season because of its amazing antioxidant and immune system boosting properties.
- Next, warm your olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat until it shimmers. Once the oil is shimmering, add the diced onion and garlic. Sauté in the olive oil until fragrant and translucent.
- Open and pour in both full cans of the petite diced tomatoes (do not drain the juices) and the dry cooking wine of your choice. Simmer uncovered on low heat until the liquid has reduced by half. This takes about 15-20 min.
- Add broth, bouillon, seasonings, tomato paste, parmesan rind (see below instructions), and carrots. DO NOT add the zucchini yet! Bring to a boil. Parmesan Rind Instructions: One of the special ingredients in this recipe is the parmesan rind! The parmesan rind is the parmesan’s outside shell or rind that develops as the cheese is air-dried in its temperature-controlled environment. The rind is typically about 1 inch thick on the larger end of your parmesan wedge. Visually, the rind might look and feel inedible. It feels and looks like wax but I promise it is completely safe to eat and is an amazing flavor-infusing ingredient for your soup! Some of the rind will dissolve while simmering, but there will typically be a soft rind left that is easy to remove in one piece after all the flavors have been infused into the soup.
- Let the soup boil for about 2 min while stirring constantly so nothing sticks on the bottom.
- Add salt and pepper, the 2 cups of dry Ditalini Pasta, and (diced but not peeled) zucchini. The skin of zucchini is so brilliantly bright and green and has lots of flavor and health benefits, so no need to shave it off.
- Drain and wash the two cans of beans and set them aside.
- Add 1 cup of water, stir and let simmer until the pasta is cooked and zucchini is tender. About 10 min.
- Turn heat off and stir in beans and salt and pepper. Then remove the bay leaves and the remainder of the softened parmesan rind and discard it. Let sit for 2 min before serving.
- This soup is delicious served with the rest of your wedge of parmesan shaved onto the top of your bowl of soup and some freshly cracked pepper.
Nutrition
Calories: 399kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 1700mg | Potassium: 726mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 5911IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 428mg | Iron: 3mg
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