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.
Awesome recipe. Never made minestrone before and this was delicious. Whole family loved it. Thank you for sharing
Thank you, Traci!
I followed the exact recipe, and only skipped the potato. It was delicious and I loved it, but it came out way too thick (It was perfect until I added the pasta). How can I fix it without ruinning the taste? Thanks for your help.
I’m sorry to hear that. You can try a bit more vegetable broth.
Greetings from Austria, Diana!
I have been reading onlineminestrone recipes for hours on end, and this one comes closest to what I created this evening.
I adhered to some advice I found in another recipe: while I was preparing the soup, I cooked about 250g of pasta (about half a pound; all I had at hand was torre di Pisa, which kind of caresses the veggies) in a separate pot, let it cool, and divided it into small containers.
When I am ready for soup, I will just heat-up what I need (I made enough to feed attendees of a Taylor Swift concert) and toss in the pasta.
I think I only diverted from the recipe by using peas instead of green beans. I didn’t sauté the ingredients as suggested, but brought 1,5L (6 cups) of vegetable broth to a boil in my largest stock pot, dumped in all the ingredients, and let it simmer for about two hours, adding seasonings as it cooked.
It is one of the coldest days of the year here (-15°C) so the extra heat and the aroma helped a dreary day when, outside of cooking, I and my feline companion remained in bed!
Tschüß!
I loved reading this comment from Austria! Nothing like a warm soup to warm up a day!
Me too.. love the comments
I made this soup yesterday…fantastic! I added a slew of veggies including acorn squash, sweet potato, rutabaga, potatoes etc and it was delicious. I cook the pasta on the side and add it to portions as they are served. No mushy pasta the next day and the consistency of the broth is perfect.
Wonderful to hear, Stacey!
Cook your pasta separately; that way it won’t absorb the liquid from the soup, and the leftovers won’t have mushy pasta. Just scoop some pasta in the bottom of each bowl, ladle the soup over it and stir.
Cook the pasta separately and add to bowl when serving.
Cook the pasta separately. And store leftovers separately. It’s the only way to avoid soggy bloated pasta. Plus you can add more or less pasta for kids or those who eat less carbs.
Omit the 2 cup of water and cook the pasta separately. Then add a scoop of cooked pasta as you please to each bowl. I never cook the pasta with the soup.
I’ve never been a huge minestrone lover, but in an effort to eat more veggies, I made this the other night and WOW, yummy!! I did forget to add the tomato paste, but the flavor was even good without it. So good that even my fiancé, who is very much a meat and potatoes kind of guy, loved it enough to say it should go into the regular rotation!
We actually even forgot to add the tomato paste, which
Thank you for your review, Eleyna!
Cook the pasta separately and do not add it until everything else is cooked. The first batch I cooked, I added the pasta to my pot and it absorbed a ton of the broth. Otherwise, it’s a great recipe!
Cook noodles separately. They soak up water as they cook.
Cook pasta separately. So that the starch from cooking it won’t go into your soup.
Can I use fire roasted tomatoes? Thanks
Sure!
Excellent recipe! Especially love the add of lemon juice.
Thank you for your review!
I have made this soup many times…So good! Thank you Kate!!!
You’re welcome, Danielle!
I’m obsessed with this recipe. I making this soup every other day now. Very delicious and easy to make. Thank you
You’re welcome, Irina!
I made this using a medium Yukon Gold potato, zucchini, yellow squash, baby spinach, Barilla Ditalini and Bonifide Organic(no salt added) vegetable broth. This broth is so much better than the other brand name because it’s loaded with alot of vegetables. It really makes the difference. I found this recipe to be easy to follow. Everyone loved it. I topped the soup bowls with parmesen reggiano shredded cheese. Yum.
Thank you for your review, Caolyn!
I was able to get more containers of Bonafide Organic no salt added vegetable broth, so I am going to make some more Minestrone soup using this recipe. I might change it up using a different assortment of fresh vegetables this time.
I have made many Minestrone recipes and this is hands down one of my faves! I added some Parmesan rind for some additional flavor and then also added some cabbage with the spinach. Otherwise, it was perfect just as written!
Can this be done in a crockpot?
For best results, I recommend this method.
Is there a vegetable broth you really like?
I try to buy organic when I can. I have been buying Kettle Fire recently and enjoying it. I find a lot of variation in brands.
The soup recipe was easy and everyone loved it! I’ll make again. I added cooked ground sausage which gave it a nice variation one of the times. Thank you
Thank you for your review, Patrick!
Can I use beef or chicken broth instead of vegetable broth?
Others have and didn’t mind the results.
I love this recipe and so does the family. Reading through it to make it again tonight!
I used all but peas.Put fresh quarters zucchini & two cups(about two handful rinsed & drained spinach & 1lb of sautéed ground Italian sausage at the end & cook on low for 20-39 minutes more. Sometimes I use ground turkey instead of sausage. I too cook my Dilante noodles separately. Like the idea of storing in separate cupsRR for later servings
This soup is incredible. My family went nuts – will go into our very elite, selective rotation of keepers. I absolutely love your recipes, they are 5/5 every time. Thank you!
Would love to see what other recipes you keep in rotation! I agree this soup is excellent and we make it all the time in my household.
I made it with farro and it came out great.
Thank you for sharing, Caroline! I appreciate your review.
Making this for the second time this month. It’s easy, healthy and delicious. Thank you for sharing such a fantastic recipe!
You’re welcome, Amy! I appreciate your review.
This soup is amazing! I make it once a week for my family and we love it more and more every time. A household staple. Not only is the flavor great but it is so nutritious. Great recipe! thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome, Shannon! I appreciate your review.
Your soup is awesome! I needed to clean out my vegetable bin with carrots, onions, celery, and a potato. I added frozen green beans and peas, organic Gemelli pasta and curly kale. Just use what your pantry has!
… just made my grocery list and SO excited to try what sounds like the most delicious minestrone recipe!!!! Thank you!!
Yum! I made this for weekday lunches but couldn’t resist having a serving of it for dinner tonight. Really good. But it always takes me a LOT longer to do all the chopping/cooking than the recipe says it will. What am I doing wrong?
I’m glad you enjoy it! The recipe times are an estimate. It can depend on the skill level. I try to be reasonable with preparation time and cook time.
Been cooking for 50 years so I’ve had a lot of practice. :D
Am excited to make this for this weeks’ lunches!
Wonderful recipe. Loved it.
Can the pasta be substituted with Rice? We love this recipe and was just looking for other variations.
I haven’t tried it, Sorry!
Lovely recipe! Hint: if you precook the pasta to “al dente”, then add to the soup, it doesn’t end up too thick.
I’m making a pot of this soup every single week! I love it. I alternate between garbanzo beans and white beans … whichever I have on hand. Both are great. I also add in sliced cremini mushrooms and diced zucchini or yellow squash. I have decided to leave out the tomato paste; I found it made the whole thing a bit too sharp and acidic; the large can of crushed tomatoes is more than adequate for my taste. I wonder if there is nutritional info available for this recipe?
YUM!
You want to take this up a non-vegetarian notch? Add spicy sausage. Period. Mike drop.
Would it freeze well!
If you plan to freeze it, I would not add the noodles until ready to serve.
Used basic structure but with roasted cauliflower and canned artichokes in place of “seasonal veggies” for delightful tang, plus chickpeas as beans- and frozen kale- your recipes are always so adaptable and delicious :) thank you!
You’re welcome, Jess! Thank you for your review.
I am in my 50’s and I have never made minestrone soup before. Your recipe is perfection, easy and a crowd pleaser.
Thank you!
Melissa
You’re welcome, Melissa!
After looking for Minestrone recipes for some time this is the one I’m going to give to my elderly friends for Xmas. I know it’s the best. Thank You.
Made this for dinner and it was so delicious! I appreciate that the instructions were clear and easy to follow. I added zucchini and frozen green beans for my extra veg. I used ditalini for my pasta and cooked it separately so I could freeze any leftovers without the pasta getting mushy. I also added red kidney beans! For the beans (both the red kidney and Great Northern), I used dried beans. 3/4 cup of dried beans is roughly the same as one 15 oz can when cooked. I soaked the beans overnight with some salt and baking soda (helps the beans cook faster). Rinsed and then cooked the soaked beans directly in the soup after step 3. My beans took about 25-30 minutes to cook. This is my first recipe from the blog and I will be checking out others since I am trying to eat less meat in 2024. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome, Jessica!
Fantastic recipe! I have used several of your recipes and they all are wonderful. I made this on a snowy cold day (it’s my moms favorite soup). I cooked the pasta and then added it to the simmer soup. Because the veggie stock already has plenty of salt I didn’t add any salt. Love your recipes, and thank you for all the tasty meals!
You’re welcome, Taji! This is a great recipe for a cold day.
Great recipe! Love this every time. Lasts a very long time ~~
Great to hear, Claudia!
Thi
Serving this for Christmas and everyone loves it! Beautiful flavors
Thank you, Kenneth!
Made this and added some leftover sliced brisket that was kind of bland. I think it’s a Midwest or Southern plains thing to make a soup similar to this with ground beef, and the brisket worked out pretty well.
To echo another comment, I also cooked the pasta separately and added it at the end. I also added the fresh spinach at the end, because I’d rather it not be overcooked.
For a lower FODMAP variant, use 1 to 3 green onions (whites and greens) and a bunch of garlic chives instead of the whole onion, garlic-infused oil instead of garlic (add at end), rice pasta instead of wheat pasta, a little celery seed instead of celery, and homemade broth (carrots, garlic chives, bay leaf, the bottom of an oyster mushroom cluster, and herbs). I also used a can of drained rinsed cannellini beans, and took a beano.
Fabulous!
We used more potatoes and veggies
One small can of fire roasted tomatoes. Love zucchini in this and don’t skip the Parmesan
Have a large pot and will eat this for the next 3 days!
This is great leftover! Thank you for sharing, Ana.
This is a fresh, delicious, healthy, easy-to-prepare, family-pleasing soup! I’ll definitely make it again!
That’s great to hear Carolyn!
Great recipe I skipped the seasonal vegetables, beans, spinach and kale but added a potato and a pound of mild Italian Sausage. I also used vegetable stock, turned out great. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome, Danny!
I’ve made this before and loved it. Wondering if it would work to make 24 hours in advance? I want to take it to a family gathering. I will put in a crockpot only for transport and to warm up. Thank you so much!
This makes great leftovers! Just note the noodles can soak up some liquid so you can always cook those separately and add when ready to serve. I hope that helps!
This was a wonderful New Year’s Day activity: cooking this while the husband and dog napped on the couch. Now about the recipe…
Seriously the BEST minestrone ever. The veggies I used were button mushrooms, zucchini, and green beans and then used collards for greens. My only departure was using a full tablespoon of lemon juice, which hit the spot! I’ll try the suggestions others made of cooking the pasta separately and adding for leftovers next time (thanks to others for that tip).
Thank you, Kate. And Happy New Year, everyone!
excellent. We loved it!
Thank you. I am trying to cook out of my comfort zone. This recipe was perfect. Every year i make gift baskets for the people I work with. This year it was Minestrone Soup. I also made the vegetable stock. It was a huge hit. They are asking for more. I will be making more this weekend. Thank you so much.
I did it today was easy and delicious …
Delicious! Even my picky eater liked it. I did not put olive oil in at the end though…can you explain why you add some at the end?
I find it adds more flavor. You can omit it if you like.
Very tasty, thank you
I added one spoon of brown sugar. I guess it depends on the sweetness of the carrots and of the canned tomatoes
Great recipe. Making a 3 batch in2 weeks. Nice to find a recipe that everyone in the family enjoys. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
You’re welcome, Xander!