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
- Author:
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 bowls 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
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.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Kay Cee
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!!
★★★★★
Kate
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Kay.
Mau
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
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you got creative and enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing, Mau.
Karen L Redmond
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.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you found the blog and are able to enjoy this recipe, Karen! Thank you for your review.
Sunken Souffle
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.
★★★★★
Daniela Lawler
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!
★★★★★
Kate
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!
Denise
Is it 2 cups each of the vegetables?
Kate
Hi! The amount is for total. I hope that helps!
Frassy
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!
★★★★★
Kim
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!
★★★★★
Leonie
Wow what an amazing soup packed full of veg and flavour. This will become a winter staple in our house.
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful to hear, Leonie! Thank you for your review.
Moges
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!
Healthy Living With Annie
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!
Marlene
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.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Marlene!
Kris
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.
★★★★★
Kimberly P
I would say pepper flakes are chili flakes in Australia. That’s what I would use.
Deana
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!!!!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful, Deana! Thank you for your review.
Kylie M
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!!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you found it too, Kylie. Thank you for your review.
Monica
Thank you for this recipe!
I’m not super skilled at cooking & I was able to follow this and make something pretty yummy!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for your review, Monica!
Colleen West
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!
★★★★★
Wendy
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!!!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Wendy!
Barbara T.
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.
★★★★
Kate
I’m sorry you didn’t love this as is, Barbara. Thank you for sharing how you adjusted this recipe.
Diane Charest
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!
★★★★★
Kathy A Brown
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.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Kathy! Thank you for your review.
Rebecca Jeffrey
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
★★★★★
Lori Alaska
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 :)
★★★★★
Kate
Sounds like a delicious way to use what you had on hand! I appreciate your review, Lori.
MaryBeth
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.
★★★★★
Wendy Lundon
Hi, I’m going to give this a go tomorrow. I really don’t like celery is there an alternative??
Kate
You could omit and add more carrot if you like.
Jacqueline Peacock
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!
★★★★★
T F
Can this be modified for the slow cooker?
Kate
I haven’t made it in a slow cooker and recommend it as is.
susan v dimaria
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!
Heather
Simple to follow, not complicated at all and very very healthy, cheers.
My visitors loved it.
★★★★★
irbe
This has become one of my favorite and most-used recipes ever. Thank you!
★★★★★
Lisa Jenkins
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!