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. 😂
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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!
I made the minestrone and it was so fab but my heathen Children would not eat it. So I blended it the next day and used it as pasta sauce and I tell you what, it was INSANELY DELICIOUS 🤤
Always a favourite for me this recipe is the best yet. So easy to “tweak” it a bit as many have already commented. Definitely a five star recipe.
AMAZING 🤩 love this so much
Keeper this winter xx
Great, hearty soup – love the variety of veges and my kids loved the alphabet pasta! My 6 year old found it a bit peppery but I don’t know if I was a bit over zealous with the pepper 😬
I always use a 4 bean mix plus the must have butter beans. Gives more variety and texture.
Made today. Didn’t have potatoes, parmesan or bacon. But turned out amazing! Added some better than bouillon to a homemade veggie broth, was so 😋
Recipes are always solid and practical on this website, have made many since I started cooking 5 years ago
I love this soup so much. I get sick of recipes easily if I make them too many times but I have made this soup over and over again since I discovered it two years ago and can confirm I will never tire of it. So full of flavour and satisfying.
Delicious, I left out the green beans. Very hearty soup with a kick. Great way to get your 5-a-day. Thank you for sharing
I have Covid (round 2!🙄😅) so wanted something full of veges for dinner last night and my husband suggested Minestrone so I knew exactly which website to find it on!😁
I swapped kidney beans for butter beans and it was absolutely delicious and I ate some leftovers today for lunch.👌🏻It makes a lot.
I also made the yeast bread recipe in the cast iron pot and it was lovely and crispy with the holey texture but I think I did something wrong as the bottom was a bit dense and doughy. Maybe my oven wasn’t hot enough but I’ll try again and make dough well in advance to improve flavour.
Thank you for all your recipes Nagi, I so love your website that I’ve bought your recipe book for myself for Christmas.😂💜
This was really, really delicious 😯. Just as simple as that, really.
Delicious but even on day one it was as much “stew” as soup. Hearty, nutritious and delicious, for me it ticks all the boxes.
Out of this world Minestrone! This is so good! Thank you so much Nagi.
Thanks Nagi! I love your recipes😊 I made this soup AGAIN today as it is so yummy and warming in winter!
Ridiculous, the bacon elevates this usually mediocre soup. Thanks Nagi.
Hi Nagi!
Minestrone is not typically my favourite soup but I definitely enjoyed this recipe! I like that you opted to skip any additional herbs in your recipe, mainly because I like to taste the tomato and the vegetables in minestrone and not have them compete with oregano and/or thyme, basil etc. It’s a soup that has alot happening for texture and flavour already in my opinion and herbs ruin it for me! (and yet are almost always in minestrone recipes) Loved the bacon addition which added a subtle smokiness. Was a great way to use up zuchinni, kale and green beans from my garden. Thanks for another great recipe. 🙂
Wow. This was yum, just yum!
Delicious!!😋
Delicious! Another Nagi triumph!
I did add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end, as I like the extra level of freshness this provides.
Very filling and a great way to use up random veg.
Another delicious recipe thank you! My picky eater daughter declared best soup ever, and a hit all around the family table (blended for some on request)!
I didn’t think I was a minestrone fan until I tried this recipe. It is outstanding!! Thank you Nagi❤️