Minestrone Soup with Beans (Printable)
Comforting Italian minestrone with beans, pasta and seasonal vegetables in a savory tomato broth.
# What You'll Need:
→ Vegetables
01 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
02 - 1 medium onion, diced
03 - 2 medium carrots, diced
04 - 2 celery stalks, diced
05 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
06 - 1 small zucchini, diced
07 - 1 small potato, peeled and diced
08 - 1 cup green beans, chopped
09 - 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes with juices
→ Broth & Beans
10 - 6 cups vegetable broth
11 - 1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
12 - 1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
→ Pasta
13 - 3/4 cup small pasta (ditalini or elbow macaroni)
→ Herbs & Seasoning
14 - 1 teaspoon dried oregano
15 - 1 teaspoon dried basil
16 - 1 bay leaf
17 - Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
18 - 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
19 - Grated Parmesan cheese, to serve (optional)
# Method:
01 - Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes until vegetables are softened and fragrant.
02 - Stir in garlic, zucchini, and potato. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes until garlic is aromatic.
03 - Add green beans and diced tomatoes with their juices. Stir well to combine all ingredients evenly.
04 - Pour in vegetable broth. Add cannellini beans, kidney beans, dried oregano, dried basil, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Stir thoroughly.
05 - Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer gently for 15 minutes to allow flavors to meld together.
06 - Add pasta to the pot and cook for 10 minutes, or until pasta and vegetables are tender.
07 - Remove and discard the bay leaf. Taste the soup and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
08 - Ladle hot soup into bowls. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese if desired.
# Expert Hints:
01 -
- It forgives every mistake and adapts to whatever is sitting in your fridge, making it the most forgiving soup you will ever meet.
- The broth develops a richness that tastes like it spent all day on the stove, even though your hands are barely busy for twenty minutes.
02 -
- Cook the pasta too long and it will absorb every drop of broth overnight in the fridge, leaving you with something closer to stew than soup the next day.
- The bay leaf truly does add a subtle earthy depth but only if you remember to remove it before serving because biting into one is a deeply unpleasant surprise.
03 -
- If you are meal prepping, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl individually so it never gets bloated and mushy in the fridge.
- A parmesan rind simmered in the broth for the entire cooking time adds a savory depth that will make people think you spent hours on this.