Minestrone soup is a specialty of Italian cuisine similar to a soup made with vegetables from the season, like the traditional Spanish vegetable soup. Often some pasta or rice is added. The most common ingredients are beans, onions, celery, carrots and tomatoes. There is no fixed recipe for the preparation of minestrone, since the typical vegetables of the season of the year are usually used and it depends on the place where it is prepared. It can be a purely vegetarian dish or, on the contrary, it can contain meat or meat-based ingredients, such as chicken broth, bacon and ham, among others.
Learn how to make your Minestrone Soup with this simple and easy to make recipe!
Minestrone Soup
4
servings30
minutes40
minutesMinestrone Soup is healthy, it’s packed with vegetables, and it’s the perfect thing to bring to school or work on a cold winter’s day.
Ingredients
1 Onion, diced
1 cup (150 g) of carrots, half moons
1 cup (150 g) of celery, chopped
1 cup (150 g) of zucchini, chopped
1-15 oz (420 g) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup (75 g) of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
½ cup (75 g) of French green beans, cut into ½ in pieces
1 ½ (210 g) cups of small shell pasta
1 (150 g) cup of red potatoes, skin on, diced the same size as your shell pasta
10 cups (2 liters + 480 ml) of vegetable broth
¼ cup (60 ml) tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp (30 ml) dried Italian seasoning (oregano, basil etc)
1 tsp (5 ml) salt
½ tsp (2.5 ml) freshly cracked pepper
½ cup (45 g) of parmesan cheese, freshly grated for garnish (1 tbsp per person)
½ cup (45 g) of fresh Italian parsley, chopped, for garnish (1 tbsp per person)
Directions
- The first step is to take out the biggest soup pot you can find.
There are a ton of vegetables that go into the soup so you’re really gonna need the space. - You’re then gonna add some diced onion, and saute that up in a little bit of olive oil.
- You’re then gonna add some diced carrots, some celery and some zucchini.
- You’re then gonna add a whole can of cannelloni beans.
- You’ll also find that they’re also called white beans.
- You wanna rinse them and drain them, and put them in the pot.
- To that, you’re gonna add some sliced cherry tomatoes and some chopped french green beans.
- Then, we’re gonna add some diced red new potatoes.
- I like to keep the skins on because I think it looks pretty that way, and also there’s a ton of nutrients in those skins, so don’t take the skins off.
- Go ahead and keep ’em on, just give ’em a good wash, chop ’em up, put ’em in the pot.
- Then, it’s time to add your shell pasta.
- Then you’re gonna add 10 cups of vegetable broth, a quarter cup of tomato paste, three cloves of minced garlic, and two tablespoons of the Italian seasoning.
- Now, the Italian seasoning is just the dried herbs that the oregano, basil, marjoram, all those great Italian herbs already in it.
- Now, at this stage, you might be looking at the soup and think that this is a big watery mess, this doesn’t look good at all, and you’re right, it doesn’t look good at this stage, you actually need to let it simmer for 20 minutes.
- What is gonna happen is the potatoes and the pasta will start to emit their starch and thicken that soup up, and in about 20 minutes, you will have a beautiful, luxurious looking minestrone soup, I promise, that is delicious.
- Your Minestrone Soup is ready!
