Easy Minestrone Soup
Easy Minestrone Soup brings the cozy taste of comfort to your table. This is a bowl full of tasty vegetables cook to perfection with a tomato and herb broth. Forget Olive Garden – this surpasses theirs in every way! Grab your blanket and curl up with this comfort soup to warm you up!
Easy Minestrone Soup
Minestrone Soup is a classic Italian vegetable soup bursting with flavor. Olive Garden has made this soup popular, but there are so many ways you can make this soup. Minestrone is a tomato broth based soup. It typically uses the basic “mirepoix”, the aromatic flavor base of many soups and stews – celery, carrots, and onions. Other common ingredients you’ll find are beans, spinach, kale, potatoes, pasta, rice, and others. Olive Garden’s version has zucchini and green beans.
My Easy Minestrone Soup
To get this out of the way right off the bat – I don’t like Olive Garden’s minestrone soup. It’s my least favorite of the 4 they serve. So let me explain why my version is so similar to theirs, and how mine is different.
My version of Minestrone Soup is inspired by my father and Olive Garden (OG). Before my father lost his ability to cook, he used to make some of the best soups you could find. He had such knack for soups and stews. Many of my soup recipes are his with my improvements. He used to make this killer Minestrone Soup.
My parents, especially my father, loved to go to Olive Garden for their all-you-can-eat soup and salad deal. And, invariably, they would treat us once in awhile. While I kinda liked them, I would always walk away saying, “I can do better.” The one I liked the least, even couldn’t eat at time, was their Minestrone. It was so disappointing, really, because I so loved my dad’s version.
Since so many people out there like the Olive Garden soups, this recipe include the same vegetables and pasta they use. There are a bazillion OG copycat recipes out there. I don’t claim this to be a copycat version because my goal was to make it taste way better.
While the basic elements are the same with the vegetables, the soup overall is different. My cooking method and herbs are different, and I added a few additional items.
I don’t care for the zucchinis in the soup, or even the green beans for that matter. But that’s the beauty of this recipe. If you don’t like certain vegetables, leave them out. Add others in or just put in extra of the ones you like that are already in the recipe.
Important! Cook the Pasta Separate!
Most recipe for Minestrone Soup tell you to add the pasta directly into the pot you are cooking the soup in. You do not want to do this! Pasta will continue soaking up liquid after it is done cooking. You will be left with a soup with no broth and mushy pasta.
Vegan/Vegetarian Version
If you’re living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, leave out the pasta and use a vegan/vegetarian butter.
What Ingredients Are in Easy Minestrone Soup?
- Carrots
- Celery
- Onion
- Olive Oil
- Butter (optional)
- Green Beans
- Zucchini
- Fresh Garlic
- White Wine
- Tomato Paste
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Basil
- Bay Leaves
- Petite Diced Tomatoes
- Small White Beans
- Small Red Beans
- Vegetable Stock
- Baby Spinach
- Small Shell Pasta
- Salt and Pepper
Ingredient Notes
Butter – this meal is an easy vegan and vegetarian soup. The butter is to add flavor to the vegetables but is not totally necessary. So you can either leave it out or use a vegan substitute.
How Is Easy Minestrone Soup Made?
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box for al dente in well salted water. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil and butter in a stock pot or Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the onion are translucent, about 10 minutes.
- Next, add in the green beans and zucchini and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 3-5 to soften these vegetables.
- Add in the garlic and stir frequently to prevent it from burning. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the white wine and add the tomato paste. You want to cook the tomato paste to draw out its sweetness. Stir often to prevent burning, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the oregano, basil and bay leave for about 1 minute.
- Then stir in the diced tomatoes, red beans, and white beans and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes.
- Add in he vegetable stock. Turn up the heat and bring it to a boil. Immediately lower the temperature to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Just before you take the soup off the heat, add in the spinach and stir in until it is wilted. Taste the soup to see if additional salt is needed.
- To serve, spoon a little bit of cooked shell pasta in the bowl first. Then ladle the soup overtop of the pasta.
What Can I Do with the Leftovers?
Leftovers will keep well in the fridge for about 1 week.
Can I Freeze Easy Minestrone Soup?
Yes, absolutely! Make a bunch of this and freeze it so you have some available for those days you’re craving it. Just be sure to let it cool completely before freezing it and leave out the pasta. You can add the pasta in when you rewarm it. It will last up 6 months in the freezer.
Try these other Olive Garden-like Soup Recipes!
We have made all 4 of the soups served at Olive Garden, but our own style. Most elements are similar, but there are a few key differences that make ours taste so much better than theirs. A little sceptical? Try them for yourself . . .
Three Bean Pasta é Fagioli with Beef
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Other Amazing Recipes That You’ll Love!
Three Bean Pasta é Fagioli with Beef
Easy Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup Carrots, sliced
- 1 cup Celery, diced
- 1 cup Onion, diced
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Butter (optional)
- 1 cup Green Beans, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup Zucchini, sliced in halves & quarters
- 6 cloves Fresh Garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup White Wine
- 1/4 cup Tomato Paste
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 2 15 ounce cans Petite Diced Tomatoes
- 1 14.5 ounce can Small White Beans
- 1 14.5 ounce can Small Red Beans
- 4 cup Vegetable Stock
- 2 cups Baby Spinach
- 1 cup Small Shell Pasta
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
Instructions
-
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box for al dente in well salted water. Once cooked, drain and set aside.
-
Heat the olive oil and butter in a stock pot or Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the onion are translucent, about 10 minutes.
-
Next, add in the green beans and zucchini and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 3-5 to soften these vegetables.
-
Add in the garlic and stir frequently to prevent it from burning. Cook for 2 minutes.
-
Pour in the white wine and add the tomato paste. You want to cook the tomato paste to draw out its sweetness. Stir often to prevent burning, about 3 minutes.
-
Stir in the oregano, basil and bay leave for about 1 minute.
-
Then stir in the diced tomatoes, red beans, and white beans and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes.
-
Add in he vegetable stock. Turn up the heat and bring it to a boil. Immediately lower the temperature to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
-
Just before you take the soup off the heat, add in the spinach and stir in until it is wilted. Taste the soup to see if additional salt is needed.
-
To serve, spoon a little bit of cooked shell pasta in the bowl first. Then ladle the soup overtop of the pasta.
Recipe Notes
Important! Cook the Pasta Separate!
Most recipe for Minestrone Soup tell you to add the pasta directly into the pot you are cooking the soup in. You do not want to do this! Pasta will continue soaking up liquid after it is done cooking. You will be left with a soup with no broth and mushy pasta.
