Classic Minestrone Soup
Warm up with this vegetarian minestrone soup! This classic minestrone soup recipe is healthy, easy to make, and tastes incredible. It's vegan, too, if you don't top it with cheese.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Finally! It’s about time this blog offered a traditional minestrone soup recipe. Minestrone is a hearty Italian vegetable soup made with tomato-y broth and pasta or rice. I’ve been working hard on this recipe and I’m so excited to share it with you.
Minestrone was traditionally made to use up leftover vegetables, so feel free to use any seasonal vegetables and greens you have on hand. I used potatoes and spinach for the soup you see here, and it was absolutely delicious.
I listed some alternatives in the recipe, including yellow squash, zucchini, butternut squash, green beans or peas. That means that you can make seasonal minestrone on cool days from fall through spring!
I used canned beans here instead of cooking my own, which cuts the cooking time down to a reasonable weeknight level. The remaining ingredients are basic pantry items, including canned tomatoes, pasta, basic spices and onions.
Why is this the best minestrone soup?
- This hearty minestrone is easy to make and totally worth the effort.
- The recipe calls for seasonal vegetables and affordable pantry ingredients.
- The soup packs great for lunch, and tastes even better the next day.
- It freezes and defrosts well, too.
- This homemade minestrone is infinitely better than the Olive Garden or store-bought varieties!
I adapted this recipe from the lentil minestrone in my cookbook, which was based on my lentil soup. For this classic minestrone, I omitted the lentils, added white beans, upped the tomato paste, and reserved the final tablespoon of olive oil to mix in at the end.
Please let me know how you like this soup in the comments! I always love reading your feedback and I’m eager to hear which veggies you use in your soup.
If you’re looking for more soup recipes, definitely check out the two mentioned above, and I have even more soups here.
Watch how to make Minestrone Soup
Classic Minestrone Soup
Warm up with this vegetarian minestrone soup! This classic minestrone soup recipe is healthy, easy to make, and tastes incredible. It’s vegan, too, if you don’t top it with cheese. Recipe yields 6 bowls or 8 cups of soup.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 medium ribs celery, chopped
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2 cups chopped seasonal vegetables (potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, butternut squash, green beans or peas all work)
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, with their liquid (or 2 small 15-ounce cans)
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 bay leaves
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup whole grain orecchiette, elbow or small shell pasta
- 1 can (15 ounces) Great Northern beans or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked beans
- 2 cups baby spinach, chopped kale or chopped collard greens
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for garnishing (optional)
Instructions
- Warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, tomato paste and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables have softened and the onions are turning translucent, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Add the seasonal vegetables, garlic, oregano and thyme. Cook until fragrant while stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.
- Pour in the diced tomatoes and their juices, broth and water. Add the salt, bay leaves and red pepper flakes. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper.
- Raise heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil, then partially cover the pot with the lid, leaving about a 1” gap for steam to escape. Reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer.
- Cook for 15 minutes, then remove the lid and add the pasta, beans and greens. Continue simmering, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the the pasta is cooked al dente and the greens are tender.
- Remove the pot from the heat, then remove the bay leaves. Stir in the lemon juice and remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Taste and season with more salt (I usually add about ¼ teaspoon more) and pepper until the flavors really sing. Garnish bowls of soup with grated Parmesan, if you’d like.
Notes
Make it dairy free/vegan: Don’t garnish with Parmesan, or use homemade vegan Parmesan.
Make it gluten free: Substitute your favorite sturdy gluten-free noodle. I used DeLallo’s Whole-Grain Rice Shells and they worked great.
Parmesan note: Most Parmesans are not technically vegetarian (they contain animal rennet), but Whole Foods 365 and BelGioioso brands offer vegetarian Parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Seriously, you left that seasonal vegetable door wiiiiide open!! What a treat. I don’t know if it’s the range of veggies I can pack into this soup or that crazy addition of lemon juice (who knew?!?), but this one is a major keeper in our house!! Hubs gives two thumbs up, and the kids devour it (given a nice portion of crusty bread) Thank you for this one!!
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Kay.
Not only the best minestrone, but possibly the best soup I’ve ever made. I added/subtracted a little based on pantry and personal tastes (omitted canned tomatoes and relied on paste for the flavor without pieces of tomato, used home-cooked white beans I had in the freezer so got some of that delicious bean broth, and didn’t have thyme). What I paid attention to were the ratios. The balance of veg to beans to pasta to broth was perfect. With a little baguette, a perfect light dinner.
Thank you, Nancy! I’m glad you loved it.
Hey. I had been searching for some time for a minestrone recipe. Several I tried didn’t produce the body or zing I was looking for. This version is excellent. I’ve made it a bunch of times and it will forever be part of the soup rotation. Thanks for your efforts.
You’re welcome, Stevo!
I didn’t have any celery so added fennel seeds. I loved the aroma when frying the onion carrots and tomatoe paste at the start. I used butternut squash, courgette, flat green beans and sugar snap peas and rice. Sorry to deviate but I love smoked paprika so added 2 tsp of that and cannelloni beans, also cooked it with cheese rind. Otherwise I stuck to your recipe and it made a lovely thick main course soup. Thank you
I’m glad you got creative and enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing, Mau.
Thank you for this recipe. It is wonderfully balanced, as are all your other recipes that I have tried. I adore the combined kitchen talents of both Cookie and Kate. I’m a dog lover and my dogs are my sous chefs when I cook (you know, hanging out for scraps that might fall on the floor). Health issues are leading me back to a vegetarian diet, and I found this site when looking for fresh, new veggie recipes. After trying out a few, I also bought the cookbook. Every recipe I have tried has been wonderful. So thanks, Kate…you too Cookie.
I’m happy you found the blog and are able to enjoy this recipe, Karen! Thank you for your review.
SOOOOO great! I used garbanzo beans and pearl barley in place of pasta and your beans. Peas, sweet potatoes, new potatoes and cauliflower made it in on the veggie side. Diced fire roasted tomatoes and hickory smoked peppercorns took it over the top. Excellent, and will certainly make it again. Thank you.
Can I freeze this as is or should I leave the pasta out until it’s reheat it? Hoping to make this for a friend that’s just been diagnosed with cancer. Thanks!
Hi, Daniela – I know others have froze it both ways. It will be thicker if you freeze it with the noodles when thawed. I hope this provides your friend some comfort!
Is it 2 cups each of the vegetables?
Hi! The amount is for total. I hope that helps!
Such a good soup! True to the origins of the dish, we made it with leftover vegetables (green beans, kale, spinach) and it came out delicious. Leftover onion made this a 1.25 onion soup but I take onion and garlic amounts on recipes as suggestions only anyway :-) Can’t wait to heat it up and eat some more tomorrow!
I was craving a tasty vegetable soup and googled “healthy minestrone” and landed here. I love many C&K recipes so I figured this would be a winner. I used zucchini, green beans and early carrots from our garden. Because my husband is not fond of cooked tomatoes, I decided just to use the tomato paste for flavoring and realized this is the way to create a simple tomato base without the chunks. The flavor is excellent, and it is great to have a simple recipe such as this that will taste great and allow for creativity with respect to which veggies are available or desired.
This is my favorite soup to make, and I’ve made it so many times. It is so good! You can add so many vegetables to it – anything that you may have on hand. Love it!
Wow what an amazing soup packed full of veg and flavour. This will become a winter staple in our house.
Wonderful to hear, Leonie! Thank you for your review.
Dear Kate,
I tried your minestrone soup recipe and loved it!
You make the world a better place.
Though I am not a vegetarian (I am a “moderate meat eater”) I like eating vegan foods every other day. I will surely come to your blog to try out your other recipes in the future.
Bravo!
I’m at the end process as of this comment and am truly enjoying what I’m tasting! I used zucchini, kale, can navy beans, 2,15oz cans of peeled Roma tomatoes which I chopped. I’m waiting to add the lemon juice! I used 6 cups of chicken broth instead of 4 cups of broth and 2 cups of water. Should have put the kale in a bit sooner as it takes a little longer to soften so here’s to hoping my elbow pasta is not mushy. I think this recipe is a keeper!
Hi true minestrone is one of my favourite soups. The base of this recipe is closest to my italian friends recipe? that she shared with me. Sadly she passed several years ago. I add cauliflower,broccoli, peas and corn. Was always a great healthy warm filling soup when had the family, hubby, and farm worker’s coming in for lunch.adding nice fresh home made bread. JUST PERFECT.
Thank you, Marlene!
So tasty! My 6 year old is dairy free and it’s a great way to get some Kale (calcium) into her – she went back for seconds. I don’t know what you mean by Pepper flakes, Capsicum? I can’t find it on supermarket shelves in Australia but just put in 1/2 tsp hot crushed chillies instead and that seemed to work.
I would say pepper flakes are chili flakes in Australia. That’s what I would use.
I am an accomplished at home cook but had never tried minestrone until today. My 6 year old daughter recently became obsessed with it and let me tell you, this recipe does not disappoint!!! It’s the best minestrone I’ve ever had.
I just used what we had on hand…garden tomatoes, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, butternut squash, peas, garbanzo beans, spinach and some noodles. Seasoned it a bit more than the recipe and threw in a Parmesan cheese rind I had in the freezer. Omg it’s incredible!!!!
Wonderful, Deana! Thank you for your review.
I am currently making this recipe for the second time. It is absolutely delicious! I had been wanting to make minestrone soup for a long time, but was put off by so many recipes containing meat. I’m so glad I found this recipe. I stuck to the recipe and used one cup butternut pumpkin and one cup zucchini for the vegetables. Absolutely delicious! Will be making this and sharing it again and again. Thank you!!
I’m happy you found it too, Kylie. Thank you for your review.
Thank you for this recipe!
I’m not super skilled at cooking & I was able to follow this and make something pretty yummy!
Thank you for your review, Monica!
I made this for myself one weekend to eat for lunches for the week. I told my picky 17 year old to try some and she ate half the pot. That is a true testament to a tasty dish! Thank you! It’s delicious!
Absolutely divine!!! I followed exactly as recipe called. I used green beans, zucchini, and butternut squash as my added vegetables. Honestly, this recipe tastes identical to the Minestrone I’ve ordered at a nice restaurant. WOW!!! DELICIOUS!!!
Thank you, Wendy!
This recipe had a little too much tomato flavor for me. I added a small amount of sugar (1 teaspoon) to balance the acidity of all that tomato. Next time I definitely will leave out the tomato paste, or reduce the amount canned diced tomatoes a bit. I also think anything tomato requires basil, so I included 1/2 teaspoon dried basil as well as an extra can of beans.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this as is, Barbara. Thank you for sharing how you adjusted this recipe.
Excellent recipe, but needed twice the amount of broth. After adding all the veggies and pasta, it was too thick to stir, and that was before the pasta cooked! I added almost another 32 oz. carton of broth. Still, one of the best soups I’ve ever made!
I added more broth also, plus a bit of fresh rosemary. I never liked bay leaves, and i didn’t have spinach or other greens on hand so i chopped the leaves from the celery. My daughter and her family are vegan – nice soup to make when they visit!! Thanks for the great recipe.
You’re welcome, Kathy! Thank you for your review.
This minestrone soup recipe is best minestrone recipe I have made. It is absolutely delicious. My extra vegetables were zucchini, cauliflower green beans as well as the others mentioned in the recipe
Excellent recipe! We used carrots, taters & cabbage (because we live in Alaska and that’s all we had on hand) and I may or may not have added some Italian sausage. Hubs chowed and I got lots of compliments. This is definitely going into our rotation. Super tasty :)
Sounds like a delicious way to use what you had on hand! I appreciate your review, Lori.
Nice recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Added potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, scallions for vegetables.
Switched up greens with Swiss chard. Switched up beans. Not fond of the two types you suggested.
Hi, I’m going to give this a go tomorrow. I really don’t like celery is there an alternative??
You could omit and add more carrot if you like.
Really delicious soup. Tastes so similar to our favourite Italian restaurant soup it will ge made over and over again. The lemon at the end makes the biggest difference. I served it with the parmesan and a blob of pesto. Yum scrum!
Can this be modified for the slow cooker?
I haven’t made it in a slow cooker and recommend it as is.
Wow. I do not normally eat much soup. Hubby does though. I tried it with a few subs. Spinach in place of kale. Chick peas instead of garbanzo. Had no thyme so used poultry seasoning. Wonderful! Thanks!
Simple to follow, not complicated at all and very very healthy, cheers.
My visitors loved it.
This has become one of my favorite and most-used recipes ever. Thank you!
Love this recipe. I got pulled away for a minute while the carrots , celery, onions and tomato paste were sauteing so the pot had a little fond built up which I deglazed with a little red wine. This soup is delicious! Thank you for an excellent recipe.So good!
We made a double recipe to use a surplus of summer squash + bartered corn and kale. Skipped the celery (not our favorite) but otherwise followed your instructions, and it came out great – we were so pleased to find the texture, color combo, and flavors of the minestrone we remembered enjoying growing up.
Love love love this soup!!! The very best I’ve ever had!!!! Thank you
You’re welcome, Gaby!
An absolute favourite.
That’s great, Anne!
Fantastic!! Love that the tomato ingredients don’t overpower the soup. There’s really so much space to play with this recipe and really make it to your liking. I followed pretty much to recipe but added a Parmesan rind and more lemon juice. Chefs kiss!!
I have made this soup quite a few times. We love it!! I use potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini squash, and baby spinach. The only adjustment I made was that I use two cans of cannellini beans instead of one (because my daughters love beans)and I blend the tomatoes (because we don’t like chunks). The rest of the soup I made as instructed. I think it’s tasty and hearty and healthy and I especially enjoy it with crusty bread on the side. Thanks for the great recipe!!
You’re welcome, Jenny! Thank you for your review.
I made the soup this morning for my daughter and her family. She texted me and said “That is the best soup I have had in years” The only thing I added was beef bullion cubes. Cecilia Urton.
What a fabulous recipe!
Thank you, Marilyn!
I made this last night for my friend and her husband. Turned out delicious! I thought I had diced tomatoes but I was wrong so I subbed a can of tomato sauce. I also added a ton of fresh parsley at the end and all my personal favorite seasonings cause why not lol. I used ditalini for my pasta and a green zucchini, a yellow squash, and French beans for my seasonal veggies. Thanks for the recipe I was craving minestrone :)
Loved it. I used rainbow silverbeet and added a whole parmesan rind to the soup and it was spectacular.
Thank you for your review, Sian.
Best minestrone I’ve ever had
That’s great, Andie! I appreciate your review.
Best minestrone recipe out there! Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Terilynn! I appreciate your review.
I usually don’t leave comments but this was too good! I’m a new mom and feeling a bit under the weather so I wanted something healthy but comforting. This was exactly what i needed to feel better :)
I’m glad you did, Had! Thank you for your review.
awesome recipe! tastes great, simple and easy to make
First time making minestrone and this was just delicious. My partner said it was the “perfect bowl of soup”, among other compliments. I used zucchini, potato, and sweet potato for my veg, and elbow pasta. The lemon juice was such a great call. I will definitely be making this again soon. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us!
You’re welcome, Lizzie! Thank you for your review.
Perfectly balanced and delicious! I used potatoes, zucchini, and corn for the seasonal veggies.
Delicious. Lemon juice adds a great dimension.
Made the ‘summer minestrone’: fresh tomatoes (instead of canned diced), yellow squash, corn, kale, green beens, snow peas, as well as the listed ingredients. Wonderful! Can’t wait to try the ‘autumn’ variation!
That’s great, Mary! Thank you for sharing.
It was incredible!! Best minestrone ever!!!!
I’m glad you loved it, Marilyn!
Hi! Nutrition information says one bowl. How much is one bowl in oz or cups? Thank you! It was so delicious!!
Hi Julie, roughly 1.5-2 cups. I’m glad you loved it!
I love that this recipe gives free license to experiment with different veggies. This time I had green and yellow zucchini as well as baby kale on hand. No Northern or Canellini beans in the pantry today. So, I used a can of mixed beans (navy, pinto, garbanzo, and kidney) instead.
I followed the recipe exactly as stated with the one exception of throwing in a tsp of cayenne and garlic powder with the oregano and thyme. It turned out amazing!!! I have so much that I’m now scrambling to find containers suitable for freezing. LOL. Thanks for posting such a great recipe!
My son sent me this recipe saying it is the best minestrone soup he has ever had. I prepared it today and I have to agree with him it is absolutely delicious. Im looking forward to trying out your vegetarian chili next.
That’s great, Dave! Thank you for sharing.
Great recipe! I could only find beans in tomato sauce, so I used them with the sauce and skipped the tomato paste, it came out great. Lemon juice is a surprising and wonderful addition! I used zucchini as the seasonal veggie as it is that time of year, but I am looking forward to trying other vegetables as well. Delish, will make it again for sure.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Hannah! I appreciate your review.
All the vegetables are wonder but the tomatoes overpower them. I think if I adjust the proportions, this will be just fine.
I’m sorry you didn’t love it as is, Eileen. Thank you for your feedback.