Classic Italian Minestrone Soup – Simple Recipe
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Italian Minestrone soup or “Minestra” as we call it in Italian, is a simple but classic vegetable soup. It is a flavorful combination of healthy vegetables, broth, and pasta. Served with some crusty bread, it is a hearty, comforting meal in a bowl.
This hearty Italian soup is made with simple ingredients like carrots, celery, onion, tomatoes, potatoes, beans and pasta. I cook everything in a chicken broth until the vegetables and pasta are tender and the soup is flavorful.
I think I have made this soup about once a month for the last 36 years! It is an easy recipe that you can fall back on any night of the week. The great thing about minestrone is that you can use just about any combination of vegetables you like, and it will always be delicious.
In Italy, Minestrone or Minestra simply refers to a soup. Minestrone di Verdura is specifically a vegetable soup that is usually made with fresh seasonal vegetables. Every region of Italy has its own version of minestrone based on the vegetables that are most commonly available and in season.
My mother made soup often and never really followed a recipe. In the summer she would use fresh zucchini from her garden in her Zucchini soup. Sometimes she made a minestrone with whatever she had available in the refrigerator. Her soup was always delicious and never exactly the same twice. Believe it or not, as a kid, my favorite soup recipe was her Broccoli and Potato soup!
I adapted my recipe from my mom’s traditional Italian minestrone soup recipe. She never used chicken broth in her minestra, but I love the instant boost of flavor it provides.
Ingredient Notes
Vegetables: The great thing about minestrone is that you can use any vegetables you like or that you have on hand. Carrots, onion, celery, potato, and green beans are commonly used in Minestrone. Frozen vegetables can be used instead of fresh. I often do this in the winter months if I want to use a vegetable that is not in season. Cut the vegetables into similar-sized pieces that are easy to pick up with a spoon so they cook at the same time.
Diced Tomatoes: I like to use canned tomatoes in this soup because they are convenient, but fresh tomatoes work well, too.
Chicken Stock or Broth: If you want to make this a vegetarian minestrone soup, you can use vegetable broth instead. If you don’t have broth, you can use water and bullion.
Parmesan Cheese Rind: A parmesan rind is every Italian Nonna’s secret ingredient. It is an instant flavor booster. I keep a container of cheese rinds in the freezer, so I always have them on hand.
Cannellini Beans: Drain and rinse canned beans before adding them to your soup. Cannellini beans are most commonly used in a traditional minestrone soup recipe, but other white beans or red kidney beans can also be substituted or used in addition.
Dried Herbs: Dried Italian seasoning and bay leaves add a blend of aromatic flavors to the soup. Italian seasoning is a blend of herbs like rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, and sage. The dried herbs have a concentrated flavor, so if you choose to use fresh herbs, you will need to increase the amount called for in the recipe to 1 tablespoon.
Pasta: The ideal pasta for this minestrone recipe is a small pasta shape like Ditalini, small shells or small elbows.
Step by Step Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or a soup pot. Add the Onion, celery, and carrots and saute over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables start to become tender.
- Stir the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning into the vegetables and cook another minute or two. Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, cheese rind, and bay leaves to the pan and raise the heat to medium-high.
- Bring the soup to a boil, add the potatoes, cover, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
- Remove the cheese rind and bay leaves from the soup. Raise the heat to medium and stir the green beans, cannellini beans, and pasta into the soup. Cook uncovered for about 8 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Serve with grated Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese.
Cooking Tip
When pasta sits in a liquid, it will absorb it and become swollen and mushy. So, if you are planning to serve the minestrone immediately, it is fine to cook the pasta in the soup. But if you are going to make the soup ahead of time, cook the pasta separately and add the soup to the cooked pasta when serving it.
Variations
- One of the great things about minestrone soup is that it is such a versatile dish. Don’t be afraid to make use of leftover vegetables in this soup, afterall in an Italian kitchen, nothing ever goes to waste.
- During the summer months, fresh vegetables like zucchini or yellow squash make great additions to this classic Italian soup.
- My mother often adds meatballs to her minestrone. You can also use ground beef or Italian sausage for an even heartier meal in a bowl.
- Finish the soup with leafy greens like Tuscan kale or fresh spinach.
Storage Recommendations
Leftovers stored in an airtight container can be refrigerated for several days. If you have not cooked the pasta in the soup, minestrone can be frozen for several months.
FAQ
One of the best ways to thicken minestrone broth is to stir a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste into the soup.
Minestrone is a basic mixed vegetable soup, which may or may not include beans. As with minestrone there a numerous versions of Pasta fagioli throughout Italy. Some are more soupy, while others are thicker, but all feature beans and pasta as their main ingredients.
Minestra in Italian means soup. Minestrone means big soup. Minestrone di Verdura means vegetable soup.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
In our Sicilian family, we often started our weeknight dinners with a bowl of nutritious soup and it didn’t matter what time of year it was. Here are some of my family’s favorite soup recipes for you to try.
Chicken soups are always popular, and they are a great way to use up leftover chicken. The kids love Nonna’s Chicken Pastina Soup, made with little pasta shapes like tiny stars or acini di pepe. My Chicken Rosamarina Soup, Chicken Florentine Soup, and Chicken Tortellini Soup are both easy and delicious, so they are great options for busy weeknights.
If you are looking for something to do with turkey, you will want to try my Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables or Nonna’s Turkey Soup.
My mom’s Traditional Italian Lentil Soup with rice and my Italian Onion Soup are hearty and packed with flavor.
I love to get your feedback, so if you try this Italian Minestrone Soup or any other recipe on this website, please leave me a comment below. I hope you enjoy our recipes, and I look forward to hearing from you!
You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more recipes your family will love!
Italian Minestrone Soup Recipe
Classic Italian Minestrone Soup – Simple Recipe
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Equipment
- 1 Dutch Oven large
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 cloves Garlic Minced
- 1½ cups Carrots Peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup Onion Diced
- 1 cup Celery Chopped
- 2 tsp Salt Kosher
- ½ tsp Black Pepper Ground
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 15 oz Diced Tomatoes Canned
- 8 cups Chicken Broth Or Vegetable Broth
- 1 Parmesan Cheese Rind
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 cup Potato Peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1½ cups Green Beans Cut into bite-size pieces, fresh or frozen
- 15 oz Cannellini Beans Or Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups Ditalini Pasta Or small elbows or shells.
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or a soup pot. Add the Onion, celery, and carrots and saute over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables start to become tender.
- Stir the garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning into the vegetables and cook another minute or two. Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, cheese rind, and bay leaves to the pan and raise the heat to medium-high. Bring the soup to a boil, add the potatoes, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
- Remove the cheese rind and bay leaves from the soup. Raise the heat to medium and stir the green beans, cannellini beans, and pasta into the soup. Cook uncovered for about 8 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Serve with grated Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese.
Delicious classic Italian soup.