Celebrate the end of winter with one last bowl of nourishing warming Minestrone Soup to farewell this season’s best. This is actually more a meal than a soup. I love to make this when I have a glut of vegetables in the fridge or if I’m after a hearty, but simple warming meal. It’s another delicious and nutritious one pot wonder.
Health benefits
The sheer variety of seasonal vegetables combined with cannellini beans is enough to make this a very healthy, fibre loaded meal. If you use a homemade bone broth for the stock, then you are going to derive a dose of collagen and gut-healing nutrients from this minestrone. For more about the healing powers of bone broth, see here.
Ingredients
This vegetable soup comes together with everyday ingredients like onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and zucchini, along with pantry staples like canned diced tomatoes (or crushed tomatoes) and cannellini beans. Add in some fresh basil for flavour, and don’t forget the broken spaghetti (or small pasta) to make it more filling. If you’re using bacon, it adds a lovely smoky taste, but the recipe is easy to adapt.
How to make this Warming Minestrone Soup recipe
Start by softening the onion, cloves garlic, bacon, carrot and celery stalks in a pot, then add in the tomatoes and wine for extra depth of flavour. Toss in your canned beans, zucchini, stock, and pasta, stir and let it all simmer at a medium heat until the pasta is al dente. Finish with some leafy greens, sea salt and black pepper and you’re done! Simple, nourishing, and delicious.
Serving suggestions and how to store
Garnish your minestrone with fresh basil (or fresh parsley would work too), a drizzle of olive oil, and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. This soup stores well in the refrigerator for up to three days or can be frozen for later—perfect for meal prep! Just reheat gently on the stove when you’re ready to enjoy.
Vary this to suit your dietary needs
Make this vegetarian or vegan by swapping out the bacon for extra beans and using vegetable broth or stock. For a gluten-free option, use gluten-free pasta or quinoa, or skip the pasta entirely. Dairy-free? Just leave off the cheese. You can even blend the soup for picky eaters or omit any veggies that might cause complaints!
Check out the variations below the main recipe for tips on how to adapt it to your specific dietary needs.
Warming Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 onion/s (large) peeled and finely diced
- 2 clove/s garlic -peeled and chopped
- 4 rasher/s bacon -diced
- 2 carrot/s -peeled and diced
- 2 stick/s celery -sliced
- 1 bunch/s fresh basil leaves -leaves picked and stems finely chopped
- 800 g diced tinned tomatoes (2 x 400g tins)
- 100 ml red wine
- 1 zucchini/s (large) diced
- 425 g can cannellini beans -drained and well rinsed
- 600 ml chicken broth or stock
- 50 g spaghetti -broken into pieces (put it in a plastic bag and break it up by hand or by bashing with a rolling pin)
- 100 g silver beet or spinach leaves -well washed and chopped (or kale even)
Instructions
- Start by cutting up all of your vegetables.
- In a large pot or saucepan, heat a little butter or olive oil and over a low heat cook the onion, garlic, bacon, carrots, celery and basil stems. You are not frying, rather sweating the vegetables and bacon with the lid ajar for around 15-20 minutes until they are starting to soften (but not brown).
- Now add the tomatoes and red wine and simmer for about a further 5 minutes.
- Next, add the cannellini beans, zucchini, spaghetti and stock.
- Turn up the heat to a moderate temperature and simmer until the spaghetti is cooked.
- Add the silver beet or spinach or kale leaves and mix to wilt.
- Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Serve
- Serve with basil leaves, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and parmesan cheese.
Make-ahead
- Re-heat in a pot over a low heat until just hot.
Store
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
