Nonna's Minestrone Soup Recipe
Nonna's Minestrone Soup Recipe is a one-pot meal that comes together in 30 minutes loaded with fresh vegetables, beans, pasta, fresh herbs, and parmesan cheese.
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This traditional minestrone soup recipe Uses staple pantry ingredients and a good way to use up any leftover vegetables in your fridge. It's a delicious lunch or dinner to keep you full and satisfied during those chilly winter months!
Why this recipe works
This minestrone soup is made in one pot, easy to whip up like my Pasta e Fagioli. A delicious soup the whole family will love served with some crusty bread like my No Knead Artisan bread.
Ingredients needed for this Italian soup
- Olive oil: I use Extra Virgin olive oil
- Carrots & Celery: Diced into even sizes.
- Onion: White or yellow medium onion.
- Potatoes: Yukon gold diced small will hold up best while cooking.
- Dried Herbs: Basil, oregano and thyme.
- Garlic: Fresh minced is always recommended.
- Broth: Low sodium Vegetable broth is recommended, but chicken broth will also work.
- Pasta sauce: I prefer pasta sauce as it adds more flavor but canned crushed tomatoes will also work.
- Beans: I used Red kidney beans and great northern white beans.
- Pasta: Any small pasta will work like small shells or Ditalini pasta.
- Parmesan cheese: Both shredded or grated are fine.
Additional Add Ins
- Zucchini or yellow squash
- Fresh green beans
- Baby spinach
- Fresh or frozen corn
How to make Nonna's minestrone soup recipe
- Step 1: Heat a dutch oven or large pot on medium-high heat, add in the carrots, celery, chopped onion and potatoes, and cook.
- Step 2: Add in the herbs, salt, pepper and minced garlic clove.
- Step 3: Pour in broth, beans and pasta sauce and simmer.
- Step 4: Add in pasta and simmer until al dente. Add in parmesan cheese and serve!
Recipe tips
- Try and keep all the vegetables cut into small pieces for even cooking.
- If you use a larger pasta the cooking time will change a bit.
- I used dried herbs but fresh herbs can be used instead.
- If you grate your own parmesan add a Parmigiano rind to the sauce to simmer.
Recipe Faq's
The word minestrone means "thick vegetable soup" It is a tomato-based soup loaded with veggies also known as a poor man's soup
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Yes, saute up some Italian sausage or crispy up some pancetta or smoky bacon.
Yep! Add all the ingredients into the slow cooker except the pasta. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 add in the pasta the last 30 minutes.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. The pasta will soak up the broth you can add a little more stock if you prefer before heating it up. If you want to eat this soup throughout the week I suggest making the pasta on the side and adding it to the soup before serving.
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Nonna's Minestrone Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 3/4 cup onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups vegetable broth, low-sodium Chicken broth can also be used
- 1 cup pasta sauce or crushed tomatoes
- 1-15 ounce can red kidney beans, drained
- 1-15 ounce can great northern beans, drained
- 1/2 cup small pasta shells
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or pot on medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add in the carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes, and saute for 5 minutes.
- Add in oregano, basil, sat, pepper and garlic and saute for another minute.
- Pour in the vegetable broth, beans and pasta sauce and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add in the pasta and simmer for 8 minutes or until pasta is al dente and the vegetables are soft. Turn off the heat and add in the grated parmesan cheese.
- Serve with additional parmesan cheese and crusty bread.
Yay Reina, you can never have too much parmesan cheese 🙂
This recipe is great, I did aDD MORE PARMESAN TO MY TASTE BUT ITS DELICIOUS
It's snowing and I'm sitting here enjoying this wonderful soup with a hot roll- I'm so glad I went out last night & got the ingredients to make this!
Love those additions Sharon!
Another great recipe. I added 1/2 pound of ground beef and a cup of chopped mushrooms, I add mushrooms to everything and like a little spice, a bit of crushed red pepper and black beans with the kidney beans.
I know how people hate when you make changes to recipes, but hey, I love hearing what others do. I have not time for the gripers!!
Yes I did! Thank you John 🙂
I believe there is an error in your recipe with respect to the beans.
“1 ounce can red kidney beans, drained
1 ounce can great northern beans, drained”
Perhaps you meant one – 15 ounce can red kidney beans, etc.?
Yay so happy you loved it Becky 🙂
My grandma used to make the best minestrone soup when I was a little girl. I never got her recipe so the title of this one caught my attention. I made it for dinner last night and it brought me right back to my childhood and all the memories I have of sitting at my grandma's table. This is so delicious I know we'll make it again and again. Thanks for the recipe and the trip down memory lane.
I haven't had minestrone soup in years. This one was so easy I kept the pasta separate so it wouldn't get soggy and we had a few meals with it throughout the week. Definitely adding this one to the recipe rotation this winter.