Easy Minestrone Soup in a quick, healthy recipe that's delicious, loaded with flavor, and simple to customize using your favorite vegetables!
For more wholesome soups, you'll also enjoy Easy Chicken Noodle Soup, Sausage Kale White Bean Soup, and Easy Gazpacho!
I feel like today's recipe is a perfect soup for transitioning from winter to spring. Easy Minestrone Soup is delicious any time of year, of course, but what makes it really nice right about now is that it's cozy and comforting enough for the dreary, drizzly days we've been having...but the veggies can easily be swapped out to take advantage of the spring bounty that's about to hit grocery stores and farmers markets!
Maybe I'm simply justifying the timing of this recipe, since it was actually a request from a friend of mine back in December (hi, Elizabeth!) and it's only taken me three months to get around to making it (sorry?). But the good news is that we've enjoyed this vegetarian delight a couple different meatless Fridays now during Lent, and that's what I like to call killing two birds with one stone...or creating one recipe with two (actually, multiple) purposes.
So! Easy Minestrone Soup. I debated whether to make this a slow cooker recipe or an Instant Pot recipe. But the truth is, it's so quick and easy to throw together on the stovetop, there's really no reason to reinvent the wheel!
(I'm apparently going for one overused idiom per paragraph today.)
Ingredients
I did lots of research on Minestrone Soup to figure out the "standard" or "classic" ingredients. And you know what I determined? There aren't completely consistent veggies from recipe to recipe...there are a whole lot of variations!
I opted for a combo of kidney beans and Great Northern beans, half a cup of whole wheat elbow pasta, frozen haricots verts (AKA, long, skinny green beans, which I cut in half), and frozen chopped spinach.
Frozen spinach is hard to measure, so I eyeballed it. Had I used fresh baby spinach, I probably would have stirred it in towards the very end of the cooking time, so as not to overcook it.
So while I made this recipe using a few of my favorite things, I hope you feel free to adapt it to your liking, switching out the types of beans, the shape of pasta, and the fresh or frozen veggies. (And in case you need some inspiration, I've included some substitution ideas in the Tips & Tricks section below!)
How to Make It
This Easy Minestrone Soup recipe is, well, easy.
- I started out by sautéeing some garlic, carrots, and celery in extra-virgin olive oil. This is where you'd traditionally throw in a diced onion as well (and I did include one in the recipe)...but I don't actually like onions, so I threw tradition out the window here. See??? THE FREEDOMS OF CUSTOMIZATION!
- Next I added herbs and spices, canned tomatoes (crushed and diced, for texture), and some broth. I let everything simmer for about 20 minutes to soften the tomatoes and allow the flavors to meld.
- Then I stirred in the canned beans, pasta, green beans, and spinach.
- Once the pasta was tender, I simply adjusted the seasonings, stirred in a splash of balsamic vinegar (optional but recommended), and served with a shower of freshly grated Parmesan and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.
Delicious!
This is a warm, wholesome soup that's relatively quick -- and definitely simple -- to whip up.
It's tasty and cozy while also being pretty darn healthy. Nope, no guilt involved with this type of comfort food!
And finally, it's a recipe that should serve you well regardless of whether you're still relishing winter or already thinking spring. 😉
Helpful Tips, Tricks, & Equipment
- Feel free to add your favorite seasonal veggies (or whatever vegetables you have on hand) to make this soup your own. A few ideas:
- 1 or 2 cubed yellow potatoes
- A medium-sized yellow squash or zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced (for half circle-shaped pieces)
- 1 cup sliced or shredded cabbage
- 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
- Depending on the vegetables you add, you have three choices. You can sauté them at the beginning of the recipe along with the carrots and celery (such as squash or zucchini). You may add them to simmer along with the broth and tomatoes (such as potato or cabbage). Or you can add them at the end with the pasta and beans (such as peas).
- You can swap out the spinach in this recipe for chopped kale or collard greens.
- You can also vary the types of canned tomatoes you use. I prefer using one can of crushed tomatoes (OR a can of tomato puree) plus one can of petite diced tomatoes. But you can use two cans of petite diced (or regular diced) tomatoes instead. Or, if you have kids who pick out chunks of tomatoes, go for two cans of crushed tomatoes.
- I generally prefer fire-roasted canned tomatoes for extra flavor. And since tomatoes are so acidic, I always buy tomato products in cans with BPA-free linings (pretty easy to find these days) or -- for certain products like tomato paste or tomato puree -- in glass jars.
- If you have a Parmesan rind on hand, throw it in to simmer with the tomatoes and broth for even more flavor.
- Dried herbs are more potent than fresh. So if you'd like to use fresh herbs, increase the amounts to use three times more fresh herbs.
- Any tiny pasta will work in this soup. Small elbows, ditalini (tubular), orecchiette (small ears), and small shells are some of my favorites.
- You may use regular pasta or whole wheat. Make sure it cooks as long as necessary to become tender before serving. And ½ cup dried pasta won't seem a lot when you first add it, but keep in mind that it will expand as it cooks. I didn't want the pasta to overtake the soup with so many other ingredients to be enjoyed. But if you'd prefer to add more pasta to your soup, be aware that you may have to add a bit more broth (or water) to compensate for extra absorption of the pasta.
- Same thing goes for leftovers. Pasta can continue to absorb liquid once refrigerated, so you may have to add a splash of extra broth when reheating your soup.
- To make this Easy Minestrone Soup vegetarian, use vegetable broth (or stock) instead of chicken broth. To make it vegan, also leave out the Parmesan cheese.
More Cozy Soups
- Instant Pot German Lentil Soup
- Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Easy Hamburger Veggie Soup
- Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup
Easy Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large carrot, diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 medium stalk celery, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken OR vegetable broth/stock
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted petite diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (15-ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed & drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, rinsed & drained
- ½ cup dried small elbow pasta, regular OR whole wheat
- 1 cup fresh OR frozen green beans
- 1 cup packed fresh baby spinach OR frozen spinach
- ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar, optional
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh minced parsley, for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat, heat the extra-virgin olive oil. Saute the onion until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrot, and celery and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring frequently, or until the vegetables are just tender.
- Stir in the broth, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Stir well and place a lid on the pot, leaving it cracked about an inch for steam to escape; cook for 20 minutes. Add the canned beans, pasta, green beans, and spinach to the pot; stir to combine. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer once more. Stir well and cook uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until the pasta is tender. Adjust the seasonings, adding more salt (¼ teaspoon at a time) and pepper if necessary, and stir in the balsamic vinegar, if using. Serve hot topped with fresh Parmesan and parsley.
Notes
- Feel free to add your favorite seasonal veggies (or whatever vegetables you have on hand) to make this soup your own. A few ideas: 1 or 2 cubed yellow potatoes; a medium-sized yellow squash or zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced (for half circle-shaped pieces); 1 cup sliced or shredded cabbage; or 1 cup fresh or frozen peas.
- Depending on the vegetables you add, you have three choices. You can sauté them at the beginning of the recipe along with the carrots and celery (such as squash or zucchini). You may add them to simmer along with the broth and tomatoes (such as potato or cabbage). Or you can add them at the end with the pasta and beans (such as peas).
- You can swap out the spinach in this recipe for chopped kale or collard greens.
- You can also vary the types of canned tomatoes you use. I prefer using one can of crushed tomatoes (OR a can of tomato puree) plus one can of petite diced tomatoes. But you can use two cans of petite diced (or regular diced) tomatoes instead. Or, if you have kids who pick out chunks of tomatoes, go for two cans of crushed tomatoes.
- If you have a Parmesan rind on hand, throw it in to simmer with the tomatoes and broth for even more flavor.
- Dried herbs are more potent than fresh. So if you'd like to use fresh herbs, increase the amounts to use three times more fresh herbs.
- Any tiny pasta will work in this soup. Small elbows, ditalini (tubular), orecchiette (small ears), and small shells are some of my favorites.
- You may use regular pasta or whole wheat. Make sure it cooks as long as necessary to become tender before serving. And ½ cup dried pasta won't seem a lot when you first add it, but keep in mind that it will expand as it cooks. If you prefer to add more pasta to your soup, be aware that you may have to add a bit more broth (or water) to compensate for extra absorption of the pasta.
- Same thing goes for leftovers. Pasta can continue to absorb liquid once refrigerated, so you may have to add a splash of extra broth when reheating your soup.
- To make this recipe vegetarian, use vegetable broth (or stock) instead of chicken broth. To make it vegan, also leave out the Parmesan cheese.
Susan F
Yum! And it was easy!
Sara F.
This was really delicious! I was amazed by the depth of flavor the soup developed. My 2 year old loves pasta, so we called it pasta soup. He loved it so much he asked for seconds 🙂
Samantha at Five Heart Home
So happy to hear that, Sara! I'm always honored when my recipes pass the 2-year-old test. 😉