Minestrone Soup is the sort of soup that keeps life interesting – it’s filled to the brim with a variety of vegetables, potato, beans and pasta, in a thick tomato broth that’s full of savoury flavour. Nobody ever leaves the table dissatisfied after hoovering down a bowl of this!
Minestrone Soup
It’s hearty, it’s chunky, it comes fully loaded and the savoury tomato soup broth is full of flavour thanks to a few extra little touches that make all the difference: bacon sautéed until golden, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and the final touch – parmesan stirred in the soup as well as sprinkled on top.
So if you’ve ever made and been unimpressed by a Minestrone Soup before – I promise you, this one will not disappoint! (Because I’ve been there too, which is essentially why I ended up just creating my own. 😇)
What goes in Minestrone Soup
Fair warning – I put everything but the kitchen sink in my minestrone soup! 😂 I like mine with lots of variety. But actually, it means the add ins for minestrone soup are highly customisable (circled in the photo below).
The secret ingredients for the minestrone soup broth are bacon, parmesan and Worcestershire sauce, and a touch of tomato paste which thickens the broth nicely as well has driving home the tomato flavour. Together, they add extra flavour that takes what can sometimes be a pretty meh! soup into give me seconds! Thirds!
Best pasta for Minestrone Soup?
Small pasta works best for easier eating and also they don’t bloat as much as large pasta (like rigatoni) when leftovers are left in the broth.
I used Ditalini (very small tubes, pictured above) but any small pasta works fine – try tiny shells, risoni / orzo, small macaroni or even alphabet or tiny star shaped pasta!
How to make Minestrone Soup
There’s no denying there’s a fair amount of veggie chopping involved, but the good news is that the cooking part all happens in one pot!
After sautéing the bacon, garlic and onion, the veggies get added in the time it takes to cook. So if you’re customising your add ins – and I thoroughly encourage you to – start with the vegetables that can hold up to long cook times first, and faster cooking vegetables last.
PRO TIP: Cook the pasta to just before al dente – take the pot off the stove at the recommended cook time per packet MINUS 1 1/2 minutes. The pasta will finish cooking in the residual heat to perfect al dente, then the pasta will hold up fine even stored IN the broth for 2 to 3 days. It does soften more but it doesn’t go unpleasantly mushy.
Using small pasta also helps with this (larger pasta and long string pasta bloats more, breaks apart etc).
What to serve with Minestrone Soup
The nice thing about Minestrone Soup is that it comes fully loaded with plenty of vegetables (not just the chopped fresh vegetables, but also the canned tomato and onion counts towards your daily veg intake!) plus starch (beans, pasta, potato).
So it’s a complete meal in a bowl that’s hearty, satisfying, and keeps you full. And pretty healthy too, if you opt for lean bacon!
But nobody says no to crusty bread for dunking – especially if it’s warm and slathered in butter. Try this crusty Artisan Bread (pretty sure it’s officially the world’s easiest yeast bread recipe). And if you’re out of yeast, try this no yeast Sandwich Bread, Irish Soda Bread or Flatbread – all easy, all terrific! – Nagi x
Breads to serve with Minestrone Soup
Watch how to make it
Note on video error! One of the cans of tomato I tipped into the pot was WHOLE tomato instead of crushed. So off camera, I stuck my hand into the pot and crushed them myself. 😂
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 150g / 5oz bacon , finely chopped
- 1 onion , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 800g/ 28oz crushed tomato (or 700g passata)
- 2 cups chicken stock/broth , low sodium
- 2 cups water
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 400g/ 14oz canned kidney beans , drained
- 1 tsp EACH salt and pepper
- 1 cup small pasta , like ditalini, tiny shells, risoni/orzo, baby macaroni, alphabet or star pasta
- 1/4 cup parmesan , grated
Minestrone Vegetables (Note 1):
- 1 celery rib* , chopped 1.5cm / 1/2″ pieces
- 1 large carrot* , peeled and diced 1.5cm / 1/2″ pieces
- 1 zucchini* , chopped 1.5cm / 1/2″ pieces
- 1 potato* , cut into 1.5cm / 1/2″ pieces (peel if needed)
- 100g / 3oz green beans* , trimmed then cut into 2cm / 3/5″ lengths
- 2oz/ 60g baby spinach (or frozen spinach, kale or similar – can leave out)
For serving – optional:
- More parmesan
- Chopped parsley
- Crusty bread for dunking!
Instructions
- Heat oil over high heat in a very large pot.
- Add bacon, cook until starting to turn golden (~2 min) then add garlic and onion.
- Cook until onion is translucent and bacon is light golden ~ 2minutes.
- Add carrot, celery and zucchini. Stir for 1 minute to coat in flavour.
- Add crushed tomato, chicken stock, water, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, kidney beans, salt and pepper.
- Stir, bring to simmer, then place lid on and adjust heat so it’s simmering gently.
- Simmer 20 minutes, then add potato and beans.
- Simmer 5 minutes, then add pasta. Cook for time per pasta packet MINUS 1 1/2 minutes.
- Remove from stove, stir through parmesan and baby spinach. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.
- Serve, garnished with extra parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley if desired. Warm crusty bread on the side would certainly be the cherry on top!
Recipe Notes:
- Increase parmesan to 3/4 cup (75g)
- Add 2 tsp Vegeta (or other vegetable stock powder) instead of salt (then add salt at end to taste)
- (For meat free vegetarians) Use 3 anchovies (finely chopped) or 2 tsp anchovy paste – add it halfway through cooking onion, it will dissolve. Adds a good hit of umami into broth, no sign of fishiness once simmered
Nutrition Information:
More hearty soups
Life of Dozer
Dozer leading the pack, chasing a water bird!
Tried out the pescatarian version of this recipe last night and it was amazing! Best minestrone I’ve ever had. Nagi, you’ve done it again.
Loved this. Super recipe
Okay.. seriously. This soup is SO GOOD. I followed the recipe to a T, opting for kale instead of spinach. I’m already dreaming about lunch tomorrow. Thankyou Nagi! Your recipes never disappoint (and I’ve made a few of them!)
Nagi… I loveeeee your recipes! You’re my go to when I’m looking for that full proof full flavoured meal to make every belly in the family happy. And this is another one of those! I love butter beans so that was my only alteration to this recipe. Keep the food gems coming ^_^
This is the first time I’ve made a Minestrone that the kids (teens) have ever eaten without complaint AND have also said was amazingly delicious. Thanks Nagi!
I used salami instead of bacon and it was great, I used sweet potato, capsicum, zucchini, and mushrooms as my veggies too. Delish. I love that with your recipes I can substitute loads and they are still fabulous- thanks! I have this cooking now plus Greek slow roasted lamb in the oven and my house is so toasty warm and smells like a week of delicious meals xx
Hi Nagi!
I’ve made this a few times now. And I thought I’d commented – but can’t seem to find it – so think I meant to – but didn’t get around to it? Made it once more last night – and enthusiastic all over again…
Anyway: superb! When the weather is colder and I have a bunch of vegetables in the crisper – I usually make minestrone. Easy and tasty and nutritious. I’ve been making David Herbert’s minestrone for years as my go to – but yours is even tastier! Soooooo good! Thanks again for providing yet another menu staple 🙂
You say to add the beans twice, when should they be added?
Hi Katherine, sorry for the confusion, the first lot is kidney beans and the second mention of beans is the green beans (see the video for reference) – I hope you love it! -N x
Go figure that I would crave fried rice and minestrone all in the same week. Lucky for me.i could just double up the veggies and use for both recipes. Loved the tip about anchovies. Used it in both recipes.
Just to add. It was only the veggies that I doubled up on. Obviously different recipe after that. 😊
Made soup for dinner tonight best minestrone I have had. Great when you feel you haven’t been eating enough veg lately. Another great recipe thanks Nagi
I feel the same way about not enough veggies sometimes!
Lovely soup I also made the crusty bread wow I would definitely make it again
Thank you for sharing
I made this soup exactly as per recipe: it turned out perfectly! Such a delicious, healthy and comforting meal.
I love this recipe! So hearty and comforting. Also delicious 🙂
Tried this & it’s delicious. But i find that it tastes more like tomato soup than minestrone
Hi Lynn, minestrone does have a tomato base so it should taste similar to tomato soup! N x
I love your recipes Nagi! We currently have an abundance of homegrown cherry tomatoes and zucchini’s so I was looking for a minestrone recipe when I came across this. Definitely did not disappoint. I made my own crushed cherry tomatoes with garlic and basil, but apart from that followed the recipe exactly. Oh and doubled it for my big family. It was so good everyone went back for seconds and we still have enough for lunch tomorrow. All the vegetables and pasta were cooked perfectly. The flavours were amazing.
Gosh, wow! The glowing comments are well deserved. Such a perfect combination of flavours. And versatile – I used leftover carrot, celery and cucumber sticks, plus a few more veggies. I didn’t need to add the salt or tomato paste. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow!
We tried this today and we really liked it. It was different from some of the minestrones we have had before. I really liked the flavors in this recipe. Thanks so much for making recipes easy to follow. I can’t wait to try the another recipe.
Wow, this was fantastic. I didn’t use bacon but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It’s amazing how it thickens up at the end! So delicious.
Making this again, second time in two weeks 😉
My thoughts. Yum. Daughters thoughts. Why haven’t we had this before. Son. Yum yum.
Hi Nagi, Happy New Year
i’ve been given a soup maker for christmas and just wondered if i can make this soup in it as it’s one of my favourites