Soup must be one of the most brilliant recipe ideas ever created. In this wonderful, healthy soup you get a complete meal in a bowl.
This Minestrone Soup is full of healthy legumes, green leafy vegetables, plenty of Italian herbs, a handful of pasta, and wonderfully rich tomatoey broth.
I love a great pot of soup that’s good enough for company or simple enough for lunch or dinner any day of the week. Our Minestrone Soup is best served with a loaf of crusty bread and a sprinkle of fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
I’ve posted a lot of soups this year and you may wonder if they all taste similar. Some have a few of the same ingredients, i.e. carrots and celery and fresh leafy greens. But I don’t believe they taste similar at all and this particular recipe has an incredibly rich flavor that is synonymous with authentic Italian cuisine. I haven’t made this soup in many years but decided to give it a serious makeover … with tremendous results!
Served with crusty bread and fresh grated Parmesan cheese, this is a complete and filling, healthy meal.
You can smell the amazing flavor before tasting the very first spoonful. The aroma is homey and fresh and may transport you to a small Italian bistro with white table cloths and bottles of red wine. A mini-vacation!
Leftovers may be even better than the first bowl. I think I’ll need to try another and let you know.
Don’t for your PIN!
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 whole firm onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced and quartered
- 3 whole small carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon basil, juilenned
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 6 cups vegetable broth (low salt)
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes (low salt) do not drain
- 1 (24-ounce) bottle Cento Rustica Passata *
- 1 cups hot water
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian cut green beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach, lightly packed
- 1 cup small shell pasta
- Fresh grated Parmesan cheese for garnish
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy bottom soup pot on medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent and soft. Add the minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Immediately add the zucchini, carrots, celery, and all spices except bay leaf. Cook, stirring gently for about 2-3 minutes or until the oil has coated all the vegetables. Add the Vegetable broth, tomatoes with juice, Passata, hot water, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the green beans, kidney beans, cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, baby spinach and pasta. Cook until the pasta is al dente - about 15 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf.
- Check the seasoning and add fresh ground pepper and salt if needed.
- Garnish individual bowls with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and serve.
* Cento Rustica Passata - found near the spaghetti sauce in your local grocery store
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fantastic week 🙂
Tricia
I made this a couple weeks ago but had to use tomato sauce instead of passata; otherwise, everything was the same as your recipe. It was the best minestrone soup I’ve ever had…delicious! Even my son, who isn’t a big fan of soup, loved it. Yesterday I found passata at our local grocery store, so I’m going to make it again this weekend. We got almost a foot of snow yesterday and it’s pretty cold here, so it’s a great time for a nice warm soup. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
I love this soup Karen and so glad you did too. Passata is one of those ingredients I was thrilled to find and use it often in soups and sauces. A foot of snow – I am so sorry. We’re in Virginia and are supposed to get a dusting or so tomorrow night. I am over winter this year – here’s to an early spring!
Another winner…your blog is rapidly becoming my favourite food blog!
I love the yield on this. My friend is due within the next couple of weeks, and she and her husband are vegetarians, so I’m thinking I might put together a batch to keep them healthy during their adjustment to life with baby…
Thank you so much Valerie – we aim to please! I really love this soup and may just make it for my daughter-in-law who is expecting a daughter soon. Great idea 🙂 Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by.
Beautiful! I love a hardy minestrone and the weather is perfect for it.
Thank you Kate! I really love this soup and it kept very well.
You say that you can smell the flavor before you taste it, but I swear I can see the flavor in these photos! The photos are delicious! Usually, I make “whatever is in the freezer/cabinet” soup, cooking an invented soup out of whatever we have on hand. Minestrone soup is one of my husband’s favorites. He will be delighted to hear I plan to use a recipe this time!
Thank you so much Wendy 🙂 I ate this soup for at least 5 days and it still tasted great. I love a big pot of soup that is good for a week of lunches! So filling and a true feel good soup!
Wonderful. I haven’t made minestrone soup in ages and it’s a favourite of mine. A perfect midweek supper dish!
Thanks Beth – I don’t know why we don’t have this soup more often. I ate leftovers all week and they were great each day. Have a super week!
What a healthy and good looking minestrone . I love soup any time of the year.
Thanks Gerlinde!
We’ve been making a ton of soups this year, too. And have a ton to go — it’s still pretty darn cold! Anyway, one of the things I love about herbs and spices is you can take the same set of ingredients, but totally change the flavor of things depending on how you season it. Oh, it’s a big more complicated than that, of course, but not much. Anyway, this is such a good soup! Love minestrone. Which reminds me, it’s been ages since I’ve made it. Thanks!
Thank you John – we’re still eating the leftovers and it’s still delicious … at least we love it. Thanks for stopping by and for commenting!
This looks so delicious ♥
summerdaisy.net
Thanks Summer – we really love it.
I could use a whole pot of this today! We received a ton of snow last night and this looks so good!
So sorry about the snow Abbe – but spring is right around the corner!
Your photos make this look so tempting, Tricia! I love minestrone soup but haven’t made it in quite some time. This looks like a fabulous recipe!
We have eaten it for several days and I still love it. It’s a keeper 🙂
So colourful and full of flavour and a great way to use up veg too!
You are right – love those veggies!
wow ! Your soups looks amazing! And your photos are too. Have a great week Tricia!
Thank you so much! Hope you are both doing great.
I love minestrone soup but I can’t remember the last time I had it! Thanks for bringing it back to us with such a beautiful recipe. It looks amazing!
It had been years for us too – I was really craving it 🙂 Thank you Monica!
I love to make a big pot of soup on the weekend so I can have it for lunch- it’s so much nicer than a cold sandwich! This one is absolutely gorgeous, with all of the colorful vegetables. My lunch buddies would be so jealous if I brought it. 🙂
You should make a pot to temp them all! I took it for lunch today – so good and filling. Have a wonderful week (back at work!)
These pictures are magnificent Tricia. Just looking at them makes so clearly imagine the amazing aroma from your soup. I could enjoy this for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Soup, to me, is the best part of winter!
I agree Chris and thank you so much for the kind words. It was a pretty subject to shoot 🙂
Hi Tricia, what a beautiful soup, I could enjoy this anytime of year any type of weather. Love all the veggies you added. take care, getting ready to rain here. Cheri
Rain in the desert – that should give you some spring flowers! Enjoy 🙂
Haven’t had minestrone soup in ages!! You make it so inviting and beautiful. Love the last photo.
Thank you Angie – that shot was my husband’s suggestion so I’ll tell him you like it! The soup is delicious – hope you give it a try!
this is my go-to soup… who doesn’t have tinned toms and veg in the fridge? I made a curry over the weekend with some left-over tomato dip of all things and it was glorious! Yours looks so beautiful. That aroma when the cheese melts into the soup! Yes! Yes! Yes!
I know Dom – simple ingredients make a wonderful soup 🙂 Have a lovely week!
I don’t beleive we’ve ever made minestrone but your version looks so good it makes me want to. I like your last shot of it.
Hope you give it a try Larry – it is a good one!
What a beautiful bowl! Minestrone is one of my favourite soups. I love the pasta and kidney beans 🙂 Pinning!
It is so filling and absolutely delicious – I love it too 🙂
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! sharing and pinning!
Thank you Sue!
I only have soups in winter, and I love to have a big bowl, cuz I feel cold all the time in winter no matter how many layers of clothes I wear. This is a good looking soup, it’s in my to make list 🙂
It is filling and tasty Muna – hope you enjoy as much as we do!