This minestrone soup recipe is a delicious version of the classic Italian vegetable soup. Serve it with crusty bread for an easy vegetarian meal!
Today, I have two goals: to bake a batch of Christmas cookies and to make a pot of minestrone soup. To me, the two go hand-in-hand. After I spend an afternoon baking (and eating!) something sweet, I want nothing more than a warming, nourishing pot of soup for dinner at night.
I love this minestrone soup recipe in particular because it’s so satisfying, but still light and fresh. Onions, carrots, and celery add depth of flavor to its herb-flecked tomato broth, and starchy beans and pasta make it nice and thick. I toss in green beans for texture, and, as a final finishing touch, I top it off with fresh parsley and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. It’s super easy and flavorful, and all you need is crusty bread to make it a meal. Cookies for dessert are optional, but highly recommended.
Minestrone Soup Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this minestrone soup recipe:
- Onion, carrot, and celery – These vegetables create the aromatic base of the soup, known as a soffritto in Italian. You’ll sauté them in olive oil before adding the other ingredients.
- Garlic – It adds additional depth of flavor to the soup. You’ll stir it in after cooking the onions, carrots, and celery so that it doesn’t burn.
- Diced tomatoes – For sweet, tangy flavor.
- Green beans – They add vibrant color and crisp-tender texture to the soup.
- White or kidney beans – Navy beans, cannellini beans, and red kidney beans all work great!
- Vegetable broth – Use store-bought, or make your own.
- Bay leaves, oregano, and thyme – My easy version of a homemade Italian seasoning! These dried herbs add so much complexity to this simple minestrone soup.
- Small pasta – Think elbows, little shells, orecchiette, or ditalini. I like to cook it right in the soup so that it releases its starches into the broth.
- Fresh parsley – For garnish! Fresh basil would be excellent here too.
- Red pepper flakes – Optional, for heat.
- And Parmesan cheese – This salty, umami garnish takes the soup over the top.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Variations
If you don’t have these exact ingredients on hand, don’t worry. As Alice Waters writes in The Art of Simple Food, minestrone soup is endlessly customizable. Part of the beauty of this recipe is that you can change it up to use what’s in season or what you have on hand. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Substitute chopped fennel for the celery.
- Replace the green beans with diced zucchini or yellow squash, or use a mix of all three.
- In the summer, use diced fresh Roma tomatoes instead of canned ones.
- Stir in fresh greens, like spinach or kale, near the end of the cooking time.
- No pasta? Swap in a quick-cooking grain like pearled farro or barley.
- Instead of using canned beans, cook your own! Then, use the aromatic cooking liquid in place of some or all of the vegetable broth in this soup.
Let me know what variations you try!
Minestrone Soup Serving Suggestions
This recipe is best right after it’s made, as the pasta absorbs the broth as it sits in the leftover soup. If you want to make it ahead of time, I recommend cooking the pasta separately and stirring it into the soup as you’re ready to eat. Alternatively, you can skip the pasta and add an extra cup of beans to the soup. Prepared this way, the soup will keep well for up to four days in the fridge.
When you’re ready to eat, top each bowl with a sprinkle of parsley, red pepper flakes, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. If you’re vegan, feel free to skip the cheese, or garnish your bowl with a scoop of vegan pesto instead. (Non-vegans take note: regular pesto is also a great topping for minestrone soup!).
Serve the soup with good crusty bread and call it a day, or round out the meal with a side salad. This arugula salad, this beet salad, and this pear salad would all be fantastic with this minestrone soup. Enjoy!
More Favorite Soup Recipes
If you love this minestrone soup, try one of these delicious soup recipes next:
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Tortellini Soup
- Cabbage Soup
- Many-Veggie Vegetable Soup
- Best Lentil Soup
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup
- Tomato Basil Soup
- Or any of these 33 Best Soup Recipes!
Minestrone Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, chopped
- 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1½ cups cooked white beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ¾ cup small pasta, elbows, shells, orecchiette
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- Red pepper flakes
- Grated Parmesan cheese, optional, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, salt, and several grinds of black pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the garlic, tomatoes, beans, green beans, broth, bay leaves, oregano, and thyme. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the pasta and cook, uncovered, for 10 more minutes, until the pasta is cooked through.
- Season to taste and serve with parsley, red pepper flakes, and parmesan, if desired.
Hi! Could this be made with rice, rather than pasta or the other grain variations noted? If so, would you suggest adding the rice already cooked or par boiled? Thanks!
Absolutely delicious! not a fan of most soups but this one hit the spot!
Isn’t carrot/celery/onion mirepoix?
I thought sofrito was peppers/garlic?
I made this for my daughter-in-law who came down with a terrible cold while visiting. She is a vegetarian so no chicken soup! I made my vegetable stock and it’s harvest time in my garden so had most of the ingredient on hand. It turned out amazing.. Thank you!
So good!!! Healthy and vegetarian, will be making g again.
This recipe is absolutely outstanding! I made
it for a friend who loves Minestrone Soup and
she said it was the best she has ever eaten.
The flavors meld so well and it is hardy and tasty soup. The large recipe gave me enough to freeze a container for another day. Thank you for sharing such a winning recipe.
James
Closest I’ve ever come to duplicating my Nana’s recipe. Thanks for the wonderful memories.
Combined this with our typical minestrone recipe, 5c vegetable broth and full cup of pasta, and we use fresh zucchini in the summer instead of green beans. Its a weekly staple for our family!
This is my first time making Minestrone! I really really loved it and Hubby did too! Wonderful recipe!
Made this yesterday. It was very good! Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it, Linda!
I have made this recipe so many times! My family loves it. My favorite part is how easy this meal is. Vegetarian means last min planning is ok! I always have these ingredients in my pantry. Thank you!!!
Hi Allie, I’m so glad you love the recipe!
So good! Do you have the Nutrition facts by chance?
Hi Sheila, we don’t calculate nutrition facts for our recipes unfortunately, but you could use an online nutrition calculator to get an estimate. I’m glad you loved the soup!
I have searched for and made many Minestrone recipes looking for the perfect one. I have found it with this recipe. This is excellent and I’ve never had one person not gobble it up and express how much they like it. It’s perfect the way it is and I didn’t change anything. Thank you!
Aww, I’m so glad it’s been such a hit!
I have made this recipe a couple times and not only is it delicious but it also helps us use many of our garden veggies. I followed the recipe exactly but substituted 4x fresh oregano and thyme for dried.
Love this recipe!
Added zucchini and some corn for color. Also didn’t have diced tomatoes do I hand crushed whole San Marzano tomatoes, crushed half the beans before adding and for just a little kick, added 1/4 tsp of crushed pepper.
Will definitely keep on the rotating menu!
Hi Denise, I’m so glad you loved the soup! Those additions sound delicious.
Love this! We use one part garbanzo beans/one party kidney beans and swap the green beans out for diced zucchini and love it! We also add a stalk of fennel to add a little something if we have it on hand
Hi Sam, I’m so glad you love the soup! Great idea to toss in a fennel stalk for extra depth of flavor.
So so good!!
Hi Sarah, so glad you loved it!
I am not a great cook, but this minestrone soup recipe would fool anyone into believing I am! Even my four-year-old grandson asks Nana to make this soup for him and I happily oblige. We sit and eat it together from the same bowl. I love, love, LOVE this recipe!!
Hi Wini, I’m glad it’s been such a hit!
I tried this recipe. The beans took 4 hours to cook and it was a complete disaster. What kind of beans could possibly cook in 20 minutes
Recipe says cooked canned beans
Hi, the recipe calls for beans that are already cooked.
usually it takes all day for beans to cook so i just get canned organic beans hope this helps !
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but definitely intend to do so. After reading your review and the responses, I checked the recipe and discovered, like you, that there is absolutely NO mention of COOKED GREEN BEANS. Thank you for clarifying…Either the beans are intended to be “crisp” or the writer simply omitted “cooked” beans should be used.
Hi Dianne, the green beans get cooked in the soup, no need to cook in advance.
Cooked, canned beans. @ejm
Excellent recipe! Thought I’d share my substitution ideas. Hope you find one you’d like to try.?
For extra bold flavor, try substitution of Italian Style stewed or Rotel tomatoes for half the diced tomatoes, we like substituting all 28oz, but I’ll admit we are a family of 5 & 6 generations of native Southwestern spice loving, chili growers!
If you don’t want to go that zesty, try diced, roasted sweet Red Peppers. I like to puree them for a thicker & flavorful soup. We are not lovers of Bay Leaves, so I add a good handful of our fresh Basil to the red peppers as I puree &/or chiffonade & add with the salt, pepper, pepper flakes & parmesan. Stir & allow them to warm & flavors to meld.
BTW, your recipe also makes a fabulous base for my dad’s favorite Manhattan Clam Chowder!!
Thanks again for sharing! ?
That’s awesome! I’m so glad the recipe works as a base for your dad’s favorite Manhattan Clam Chowder! Thanks for sharing your twist on it.
Hi Sue, sounds so delicious, I’m glad you enjoyed!