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This minestrone soup recipe is loaded with vegetables, beans, and pasta in a delicious tomato broth. This classic soup is nourishing, easy to make, and makes amazing leftovers!
Love restaurant-style Italian soups? Try this Chicken Gnocchi Soup, Zuppa Toscana, or my Pasta e Fagioli recipe.
Why you’ll love it
Minestrone is a really tasty Italian vegetable soup that usually has pasta, beans, and a tomato-based broth. I think of it as the ultimate vegetable soup! You’ve maybe tried Olive Garden minestrone soup, but I’m here to convince you that my version is so much better.
It’s one of those soups you can make on a lazy Sunday in chilly weather, and you’ll actually look forward to eating it for the rest of the week. It’s also easy to make with everyday, wholesome ingredients. There’s nothing complicated about it!
What you’ll need
- Olive oil and butter – for sautéing
- Onion, celery, and carrots, and garlic – this is a classic savory base for soups
- Zucchini and fresh green beans – for veggie goodness
- Canned tomatoes – to give the broth a thick and rich quality
- Broth – use either chicken or vegetable for more savory flavor
- Italian seasoning – a wonderful blend of dried herbs like rosemary and thyme that comes in one jar
- Cannellini and red kidney beans – for added protein
- Pasta – I used elbow macaroni, but any pasta variety that’s fairly small like ditalini will work
- Basil – optional, but it adds a burst of freshness and flavor
- Parmesan – use lots and lots of freshly grated parmesan
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- This is my go-to Dutch oven for making this soup and others.
- Parmesan is best when freshly grated from a block, and I use this Microplane zester.
- Easily mince garlic (no peeling!) with this garlic press, and store leftover cloves in this garlic saver.
How to make minestrone soup
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Prep your veggies. Sauté the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic until softened. Add in the crushed tomatoes, broth, zucchini, beans, and seasoning. Bring the soup to a boil, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Stir in the macaroni, and cook until the pasta and veggies are tender. Season the soup with salt & pepper as needed. Stir in the basil if using, and top each bowl with plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese!
Pro tip
If you happen to have a parmesan rind, throw it into the pot while cooking the soup to infuse extra flavor! It really makes a difference. Sometimes if you ask at the cheese counter, they’ll give you an extra rind if your parmesan block didn’t come with one. Don’t forget to take it out of the soup when it’s ready, though.
Substitutions and variations
- If you want to add a non-vegetarian twist to this soup, try sautéing some bacon or pancetta with the veggies at the beginning. It’ll be incredible!
- You could include other vegetables like cabbage or peas. Feel free to add/swap veggies based on personal preference, what’s in season, and what’s in your fridge.
- If you want it to be extra hearty, go ahead and throw in a potato as well.
- You can swap the crushed tomatoes for diced tomatoes, but I like the thickness and body that the crushed tomatoes give to the soup. If going the more traditional route and using diced tomatoes, I would probably add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the soup as well at the end of step 1.
- Want to make it in your pressure cooker instead? Try this Easy Instant Pot Minestrone Soup Recipe.
What to serve with minestrone
- A slice of crusty bread like sourdough or French bread would be perfect.
- You could serve this soup as an appetizer before your main course.
- Or make it a soup and salad kind of dinner! Try a side salad with Italian Dressing, homemade Creamy Balsamic Dressing, or go all-out with Caesar Salad and homemade Garlic Parmesan Croutons.
Leftovers and storage
- Minestrone soup will keep for about 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
- The pasta will soak up the broth the longer you leave it, so you may need to add some more chicken or vegetable broth when reheating leftovers.
- If you’re planning on freezing the bulk of the soup, I suggest adding cooked pasta when you’ve thawed it instead.
Leave me a star rating and review below if you made this hearty minestrone soup recipe! As always, tag me #saltandlavender on Instagram so I can see your creations. 🙂
Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 sticks celery chopped
- 3 medium carrots peeled & sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth or veggie broth
- 1 small zucchini chopped
- 1 cup fresh green beans chopped
- 1 (14 ounce) can red kidney beans drained
- 1 (14 ounce) can white kidney (cannellini) beans drained
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3/4 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Fresh basil optional, to taste
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste
Instructions
- Add the oil, butter, onion, celery, carrots, and garlic to a large soup pot. Sauté for 7-10 minutes.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, broth, zucchini, green beans, red kidney beans, white kidney beans, and Italian seasoning. Increase the heat to high, and bring it to a boil.
- Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat so it's simmering and cover the pot with the lid slightly open and cook for 10 minutes.
- Stir in the pasta. Continue simmering the soup (I leave the lid off) for another 15-20 minutes or until the pasta and veggies are tender. Stir occasionally to stop the pasta from sticking to the bottom.
- Before serving, season to taste with salt & pepper (I am generous with both), stir in the basil (if using), and serve each bowl with some parmesan cheese grated/shaved over top. This minestrone is fairly thick. If you find it too thick, add a splash more broth to thin it out (especially leftovers).
Notes
- The pasta will soak up the broth the longer you leave it. You may need to add more chicken/veg broth to leftovers. If you’re freezing the bulk of this soup or planning on having lots of leftovers, I recommend cooking the pasta separately and adding it in when you reheat it.
- I recommend chopping the vegetables quite small (see the ingredients photo in the blog post) so they cook properly in the timeframes I suggest in the recipe.
- Want to make this soup in your Instant Pot? Check out that version here.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.
This recipe was originally published on January 29, 2020. It’s been tweaked to be even easier, tastier, and has new photos!
I just made this and Omggg, so good! Thank you for the recipe. The only thing I did differently was doubled up on the spices listed. But 10/10.
You’re very welcome!! 🙂
Hi! I’d love to try this recipe. I see your nutritional facts, but I am missing serving size. What would you estimate the serving size to be, please? I am trying to lose a few of my Covid pounds 😂
Hi! I really don’t know, unfortunately. It’s 1/6 of the recipe. I just plug it into my nutrition program. Honestly, with this soup I really wouldn’t worry about the calories too much unless you eat a LOT at once haha.
This recipe is amazing and so easy! Thank you for such a great veggie option!
You’re very welcome, Tiffany! 🙂
This was so delicious! The Parmesan on top really made it! I added a little more pasta than recommended because I love pasta, but it turned out to be just a little too much. I might add in some mushrooms next time. I’ll definitely be saving this one for later. Thanks! ❤️
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Brianna! 🙂
This soup is amazing, we loved it! I took your advice and kept the pasta separate so as not to soak up all that delicious broth. Lots of leftovers to tuck in the freezer for those cold winter days ahead. Thank you for this new family favorite!!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it and that you’ve got some leftovers. Thanks so much for taking the time to write me a comment.
Love this soup make it sometimes once per week or once per fortnight it is good that you can add your own little bits and pieces I have put some cabbage in some turnip some potatoes but it does not matter what I put in it is always fantastic thanks this is only one of your recipes that I make I do a lot of your chicken as well siperb
I’m so happy you enjoy it, Nancy!! 🙂 I appreciate you following along and making my recipes.
Solid recipe but 1/4 teaspoon of Italian seasoning was so small for the amount of soup. I had to add quite a bit more otherwise it’s a pretty one-note soup. I would also recommend for anyone who prefers their veggies a little more cooked to simmer the soup for a bit before adding the pasta. As the recipe says, “tender-crisp” is how mine turned out after simmering for 20 min. I’ll be adding a splash of broth in my leftovers throughout the week because it does soak up a lot of liquid but that was to be expected with pasta involved. Overall satisfied my craving for minestrone!
I’m glad you liked it, Lauren! Yup, with any recipe feel free to adjust seasonings to your taste. I usually go a bit more conservative in the measurements on the blog these days since if I add more I get people complaining it’s too much lol. Can’t win ’em all.
This is fabulous! Another instant family favourite. Well worth spending the two seconds it took to scroll down. Keep up the brilliant work Natasha, your website and the recipes are fantastic!
Thanks so much, Doug! I really appreciate your support more than you know! 🙂
Delicious and super easy! I added some bay leaves for extra savory flavor. As usual, the tips up top were super helpful!
Thank you so much, Julia! 🙂
Would be GREAT, AWESOME, FAB if you didn’t have to scroll through so much to get to the recipes!!! Why do you do that?!
Well, Cynthia, if you actually read the post, you’ll see that it’s filled with tips on how not to screw up the recipe. It also contains info that tells Google what this post is about. Ranking well for recipes is highly competitive, and so we can’t just slap a recipe up online and assume anyone will be able to find it unless we provide a good amount of information. I know it’s a HILARIOUS thing these days to make fun of food bloggers telling their life story on every recipe, but as you can see, there’s zero commentary on my life in this post. And the ads that appear are what allows me to provide you with FREE recipes (this website is my full-time job and a sh*tload of work). I know scrolling is extremely tough, though. Have a great day!
That’s true, but my ad company doesn’t recommend that button. It’s a choice every food blog makes, and I prefer not to have one. If I lose some viewers then so be it… I work hard on the recipe and the write up, and scrolling is not difficult.
Shut up Cynthia. Great recipe Natasha!
🙂