Description
This Easy Minestrone Soup is a hearty and comforting Italian-inspired vegetable soup packed with beans, pasta, and fresh vegetables simmered in a flavorful tomato broth. Perfect for a nutritious weeknight meal, it combines classic ingredients like cannellini beans, kidney beans, zucchini, and spinach for a satisfying bowl of soup that warms you up from the inside out.
Ingredients
Scale
Vegetables and Aromatics
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 3 medium celery ribs, diced
- 4 medium carrots, diced
- 3 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 cup baby spinach, roughly chopped
Liquids and Canned Goods
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15 ounce) can white cannellini beans, undrained
- 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, undrained
- 6 cups vegetable broth
Other Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni or shell pasta
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, to garnish
Instructions
- Heat fats and soften onion: Heat 2 tablespoons salted butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large 6-quart soup pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to soften.
- Add and cook vegetables: Add diced celery, carrots, and zucchini to the pot. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften. Then add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute more to release its aroma.
- Add canned ingredients and seasonings: Stir in diced tomatoes with their juice, tomato sauce, white cannellini beans with liquid, kidney beans with liquid, vegetable broth, dried basil, and dried oregano. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
- Add pasta and simmer: Add elbow macaroni or shell pasta to the pot. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook at a low boil for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the pasta is tender.
- Add spinach and season: Stir in baby spinach during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Season the soup with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Serve: Ladle the hot soup into bowls and garnish each serving with grated parmesan cheese if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- For a vegan version, omit the butter and parmesan cheese or substitute with vegan alternatives.
- You can substitute other small pasta shapes if elbow macaroni or shells are unavailable.
- If you prefer a thicker soup, reduce the vegetable broth to 4 cups.
- Fresh herbs can be used instead of dried basil and oregano; use three times the amount if fresh.
- Leftover soup stores well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and freezes for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 220 kcal
- Sugar: 8 g
- Sodium: 700 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 33 g
- Fiber: 7 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
