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. 😂
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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!
My favourite Minestrone soup, easy to make and soooo delicious.
fantastic! my fiance who has no interest in eating vegetables has been asking for me to make this again!
Just made this, it is scrumptious! Thank you, Nagi! I hope Dozer has fully recovered <3
Hi I’m not keen on kidney beans..what other beens could I use..haricot..butter beans?
Hi Tammy, yes either of those will be fine! N x
This is such a delicious recipe plus a wonderful road map for other soups. I wanted to make this but didn’t have bacon on hand-so I easily subbed ground sausage with great results. Nagi making all our lives easier with this one!
Nagi, as a foodie and cook I love your recipes and I have my own minestrone recipe that I’ve tweaked and made my own…so I must ask…where is the basil??? 😜 I was just tearing many leaves into my soup as it was almost done heating up today, savoring every bite!
I have made minestrone soup many times, my son loves soup, he has moved out of home now so I made a big pot of this soup for him. I must say, he had 2 large bowls for lunch, needless to say “THIS IS THE BEST SOUP I HAVE EVER EATEN MUM”! I am on cloud nine, thanks for all your great recipes Nagi!!
TEN STARS**********
Woah what a compliment!!! Thanks so much! N x
Oh Nagi, it’s beautiful. Just made it for a late Sunday lunch. Thank you again.
This was amazing, very tasty indeed.! I have made minestrone soup before but it was always a bit watery. Now I have a good recipe 🙂 I added a parmesan rind that I had in the freezer and it worked well. Thanks Nagi!
You’re so welcome Anita, that’s great to hear! N x
Total winter warmer bliss. Loved the traditional Italiano parmesan garnish too!
This is the best soup. I could eat it everyday! My husband loved it!
Made this for lunch today. Absolute magic! A meal in itself with so much goodness and wonderful flavors. Hubby’s rating out of 5 was 10!! Thanks again Nagi for another winning recipe!
That’s awesome, thanks so much for letting me know Suzanne 🙂 N x
This is the best minestrone soup recipe Ever. It is so easy and very tasty and I used gluten free pasta.
It truly is the best.
Wahoo, perfect Liz! N x
Absolutely delicious! Thanks Nagi, another one bookmarked 😊. Served up with a fresh homemade olive, Parmesan and lemon zest sourdough bread 👌
Made this for dinner the other night and it turned out really well. I used passata instead of crushed tomatoes. Will definitely make it again!
I’m so glad you loved it MarianneA!! N x
Forgot to rate, 5 star rating!!
Hi Nagi, I am cooking the minestrone now for dinner tonight. It smells delicious, can’t wait, thank you for such an easy recipe to follow, another keeper!!
You’re so welcome Raelene, enjoy! N x
Fantastic soup! Thanks Nagi. Super easy to make and amazing flavour. You were right, everyone wanted second helpings!
Sounds like you nailed it Tony! N x
Hi Nagi
I cook a LOT and often from recipes from the net. The ones that work I hand write into my little recipe diary for future quick reference. After signing up to your newsletter I’ve gone back and realised a good 50% of my favourite recipes are actually from your site! And this one did not disappoint. Thank you for always having the recipe answers to my cooking whim questions.
Wahoo, what great feedback Suzi – thanks so much!! N x
Made this last nice and it was incredibly delicious and very hearty! Serving size was quite generous so we have heaps of leftovers ready for tonight’s dinner too. Perfect soup for this time of the year since it’s been so cold. Thank you for the amazing recipes Nagi xx
Perfect Samantha, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x