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!
It’s hot sticky summer in NJ, and I made winter soup…..an attempt at a diet, I didn’t use pasta, but added a big bunch of shredded cabbage. I can’t believe how good the taste of the base is. I don’t really like minestrone, but this tastes amazingly good. Thank you. Going to be eating this for the next week….with pleasure!
Just made this. Absolutely delicious Nagi!!! It’s for lunches but I think I’ll be having some for dinner this tonight as it tastes so nice 😂
Didn’t have any of the small pasta mentioned so threw in a load of broken up linguine 👍🏼
Will be getting some stars though as I’ve always liked the look of those 🙂
Perfect Kat!! N x
This soup was fantastic and the big bowl was exactly what I needed on a chilly night. Delicious.
Oh my word, this soup is amazing! My husband and I can ear this every day. With such a big pot of soup, that’s just want we’re doing. 🙂
We love it! Thank you!
Yes me too Lynne!!! And so good for you 😉 N x
Made tonight for dinner – absolutely yummy! And soon easy! Thanks for the nutritional value too, Hubby and I need to know our calories.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Fiona, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
perfect for a winters night in isolation. My supermarket didn’t have any zucchini so I substituted eggplant & I used risoni for my pasta. Looking forward to leftovers for lunch
Yum!! Sounds perfect Colleen! N x
I have been trying one of your recipes almost every night and each one is delicious beyond imagination. I finally can cook restaurant quality meals for the first time in my life!
Delicious, hearty & warming. Loved it!
Awesome Nissrine 🙂 N x
I tried the huli huli chicken and pineapple fried rice, wow!!! I had everyone scraping from their plates. Am definitely trying the soup this weekend. Your recipes have had people asking me to open a restaurant.
I hope you love it Chanda!! N x
Hi Nagi, do you think this will work with passata instead of crushed tomato?
Hi Nao – yes I have that noted next to crushed tomato in the recipe ingredients. Enjoy! N x
I am very glad that you posted this recipe,because I love this soup,and I am sure it will be a success.
Thank you!
You’re so welcome, love to know what you think if you try it! N x
This is definitely the best minestrone soup I have ever made. I have been cooking meals for a family of six for 40 years (so I’ve tried and tested many recipes). I usually let the soup rest for day prior to eating to allow the flavours to develop. I did not need to do that this time, we chowed down straight up.
Hi Nagi, I love all your recipes, especially this minestrone. Can eat it all year round! Just a minor thing I noticed was prep time says 20hrs. Just a point when clicking on Quick and Easy as it doesn’t show up.
Hi Leanne, it says 20 minutes prep time 🙂 N x
I’m going to try this one and I am really surprise to see you have mentioned vegeta (not many people know about this delicious stock powder), I’ve been using for 45 years and I use it for everything I wouldn’t know how to cook with out it.Love you recipes they are delicious and Dozeris adorable.
It’s one of the best ingredients Vera, I always use it in soups!!! N x
I’ve been making minestrone for a while, but my problem has always been the noodles bloating in the leftovers. Thanks so much for the tip! I will try small noodles next time–and Worcestershire sauce! I never thought of that.
I cook one of your recipes at least twice per week and every meal has been delicious! So glad I found your site. Dozer is a crack up, love seeing his pics. Thanks Nagi xx
I’m so glad you’re loving all the recipes Suzanne!!! That’s so great to hear 🙂 N x
Not sure how adding anchovies would make it vegetarian…
For the meat free people 🙂 Actually, all my vegetarian friends eat fish! N x
Kathyrn Kern I never received my three cook books
Hi Kathyrn, if you shoot me an email I’ll have this fixed for you 🙂 N x
Thank you kindly. I will NOTsay NO to bowle if hearty soup this time if the year. Dozer us so brave to go into the water brrrr. Stay safe . Ciao.
I’d eat it all year round Vera!! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I’m Federica, I’m Italian and the minestrone is really an Italian dish, as you know …
but surely in Italy you don’t put Bacon in the minestrone, some regions of the north put sweet bacon, and certainly not the Worcestershire sauce!
I live in Genoa, we put Genoese Pesto, you should try …
bye, see you soon
Federica
Hi Federica, I love hearing all the different versions of this dish! N x