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Minestrone soup is a colorful Italian soup

full of hearty vegetables and pasta! This
recipe is an easy plant based dinner or
lunch recipe.

Dinnertime can be difficult. So it’s often that

Alex and I turn to this solution: soup! It’s the
best way we’ve found to pack in healthy
vegetables in a delicious and easy way. We
have lots of vegetarian and vegan soup
recipes here on A Couple Cooks, but we
realized we were missing a classic:
minestrone! This one is full of colorful
veggies, a hearty broth and pasta spirals.
It’s so satisfying: great as an easy dinner
with crusty bread. And with a dollop of
pesto…it’s damn good.

Got a pressure cooker? Go to our Instant

Pot Minestrone.

What’s in minestrone soup?

Minestrone soup is a thick Italian soup that’s
full of chunky vegetables and a hearty broth.
Often minestrone includes pasta or rice. It
was originally intended as a way to use up
whatever veggies you have on hand. In our
minestrone soup we’ve gone pretty classic,
using the veggies you’ll most often see if
you order a minestrone soup at a restaurant
or buy it in a can. Here’s what’s in it:

Tomatoes. Both fire roasted diced

tomatoes and tomato paste are used
here, to go big on the tomato flavor.
Fire roasted tomatoes are uniquely
sweet right out of the can: if you can’t
find them, use the best quality
tomatoes you can find.

Onion, carrot and celery. These

aromatic veggies are often used
together to flavor foods; in Italian
they’re called soffritto (and in French
it’s called mirepoix).

Zucchini, or 1 to 2 cups other

veggies. Here’s where you can get
creative: use 1 to 2 cups of other
veggies you have onhand (like green
beans, broccoli, etc).

White beans. Cannellini beans add a

good pop of plant based protein.

Pasta. Pasta is traditional in

minestrone: you can use any short
pasta you like: fussili, spirali, radiatore,
orechiette, ditali, farfalle, rotini, gemelli,
etc.

Garnish with all the toppings!

What toppings go with minestrone soup? In
some parts of Italy it’s traditional to serve
minestrone in a special way. Serve this soup
with pesto and it’s called Minestrone alla
genovese. In Italian this means “minestrone
soup from Genoa,” the capital of the region
of Liguria Italy and where all the great pesto
comes from! But you don’t have to use
pesto: here are a few different ways to
garnish minestrone:

With fresh parsley. Minestrone is often

traditionally served with fresh parsley,
which adds a freshness and a bright
green color.

With Parmesan or Pecorino Romano

cheese. You’ll often see Italian soups
garnished with an aged cheese. Use
Pecorino Romano to step it up, since
it’s sharper and has an even more
savory flavor.

With pesto! Serve it alla genovese and

add a dollop of pesto, which adds a pop
of irresistible flavor. Use your favorite
storebought pesto, or try our
homemade basil pesto or vegan pesto.

Make it a meal: what to serve

with minestrone soup!
Once you’ve garnished this minestrone
soup, how to serve it? To us, it’s perfect
accompanied by a salad with an Italian vibe.
Here are a few salads that fit the bill:

Easy Arugula Salad Baby arugula,

lemon and Parmesan combine to make
a zingy Italian salad (you don’t even
need to make a dressing!).

Favorite Chopped Salad This one will

amaze everyone around the table!
Homemade Italian dressing, crisp
veggies and Parmesan cheese
combine into one extraordinary salad.

The BEST Kale Salad This kale salad is

all Italian, tossed a lemon garlic
vinaigrette and Pecorino shavings.

More Italian soup recipes

As you may have guessed, Alex and I love
Italian cuisine! We traveled together to
Rome, Naples, Amalfi Coast and Tellaro and
picked up all sorts of food inspiration there.
Traditional Italian pizza is our obsession
(like this Margherita!), but soups fit more into
our everyday way of eating.

If you like this minestrone soup, here are a

few more Italian soup recipes you might
enjoy:

Vegetarian Tortellini Soup The definition

of cozy in a bowl, this soup is easy to
put together and its hearty flavor
pleases everyone at the table!

Italian Vegetable Soup with Gnocchi

This one bursting with flavor and can
be made in around 30 minutes, making
it an easy weeknight meal.

Tuscan Lentil Stew Here’s a cozy stew

with kale, tomatoes and artichokes
that’s full of Italian flavors.

This minestrone soup recipe

is…
Vegetarian, plant-based, dairy-free, and
vegan. For gluten-free, use gluten-free or
legume pasta.

Easy Minestrone
Soup

(8
votes, average: 4.63 out of 5)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 4 to 6 1x

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DESCRIPTION

Minestrone soup is a colorful Italian soup

full of hearty vegetables and pasta! This
recipe is an easy plant based dinner or
lunch recipe.

INGREDIENTS SCALE 1x 2x 3x

1 medium onion (or

leek)

2 medium carrots

1 celery stalk

5 garlic cloves

1 small zucchini squash (or 1 to 2

cups of other chopped vegetables)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 quart vegetable broth

28-ounce can diced fire roasted

tomatoes

1 cup water

1 bay leaf

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans

1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano

and thyme

1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

3/4 cup pasta shells or spirals

(gluten-free or legume pasta if
necessary)

3 cups baby kale (or spinach or other

chopped greens)

Fresh ground black pepper

Fresh parsley, for garnish

Optional topping: Parmesan cheese,

basil pesto or vegan pesto

INSTRUCTIONS

1 Prep the vegetables: Peel and small

dice the onion and carrots. Small dice
the celery. Mince the garlic. Small dice
the zucchini.

2 In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the

olive oil over medium high heat. Add the
onion, carrots, celery and tomato paste,
and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until the
onions are just translucent. Add the
garlic and cook for 1 minute.

3 Add the vegetable broth, tomatoes and

juices, water, zucchini, bay leaf, white
beans, oregano, thyme, and 1 teaspoon
kosher salt. Bring it to a simmer, then
cook 10 minutes on medium low.

4 Add the pasta and cook until pasta is

just al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir in the baby
greens for a few seconds until wilted. (If
you’re using tougher greens like mature
kale, chop them and add them in the
last 5 minutes of the cook time.)

5 Remove the bay leaf. Add the remaining

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Taste and add
fresh ground black pepper and more
kosher salt to taste. Garnish with
chopped parsley (or optionally add
Parmesan cheese shavings or basil
pesto or vegan pesto).

Category: Main Dish Method: Stovetop

Cuisine: Italian

Keywords: Minestrone Soup, Italian Soup, Italian Recipes,

Easy Minestrone

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I N S TA G R A M

About the Authors

Sonja Overhiser
COOKBOOK AUTHOR AND
WRITER

Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty

Simple Cooking, named one of the
best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s
host of the food podcast Small Bites
and founder of the food blog A Couple
Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show
to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire
adventurous eating to make the world a
better place one bite at a time.

Alex Overhiser
COOKBOOK AUTHOR AND
PHOTOGRAPHER

Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food

photographer and author based in
Indianapolis. He’s host of the food
podcast Small Bites and founder of the
recipe website A Couple Cooks.
Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon
Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple
Cooking, named one of the best
vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.

BEANS CARROT C E L E RY D A I RY- F R E E H E A LT H Y

ITALIAN MEDITERRANEAN MINESTRONE ONION

PA S TA PLANT-BASED SOUP TO M ATO VEGAN

VEGETARIAN WHITE BEANS

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