Easy Minestrone Soup

This easy minestrone soup packs tender vegetables, kidney beans, and bite-sized pasta into an herby tomato broth, and it comes together in about 50 minutes for a hearty weeknight dinner you can adapt to the season.

A Flexible Italian Soup for Any Season 

When it comes to a comforting dinner that doesn’t ask much of you, minestrone is at the top of my list. This classic Italian vegetable soup is made with simple ingredients—aromatics, vegetables, beans, pasta, and a rich tomato broth—and no two pots have to be exactly alike.

My version is slightly tangy from the tomatoes, peppery from the olive oil, and fragrant with rosemary, thyme, basil, and parsley. Kidney beans and bite-sized pasta give the soup enough heft to make it a satisfying meal.

One small step makes a big difference: I cook the pasta separately and add it just before serving. It’s worth the extra pot, especially if you’re making the soup ahead or hoping for leftovers. The pasta stays al dente instead of soaking up the broth and turning mushy.

What Is Minestrone Soup?

Minestrone is a hearty Italian soup made with vegetables, often with beans and pasta or rice added for extra body. It is associated with cucina povera, or “poor kitchen” cooking, a resourceful way of making a nourishing meal from humble ingredients that were available.

That practical spirit is why there is no single correct minestrone recipe. The vegetables traditionally change with the region, season, and household:

• In Northern Italy, you may find more root vegetables, including potatoes and carrots.
• In Southern Italy, zucchini, summer squash, or peas are common additions.
• Throughout the year, cooks can use whichever vegetables are fresh or already in the kitchen.
• Unlike a lighter vegetable soup, minestrone typically gets extra substance from beans and pasta or rice.

Minestrone shares that thrifty, use-what-you-have spirit with ribollita, another rustic Italian soup. Ribollita, however, is a Tuscan white bean soup thickened with day-old bread.

Minestrone Soup Ingredients

Minestrone is meant to be flexible, but every ingredient in this version has a job to do:

• Small pasta: Ditalini or elbow macaroni is close in size to the chopped vegetables, making the soup easy to eat by the spoonful. Read more about choosing a shape in our guide to Italian pasta.
• Extra virgin olive oil: Olive oil carries the flavor of the aromatics and gives the tomato broth a smooth, peppery richness. I like our Italian Nocellara extra virgin olive oil here, but any good-quality extra virgin olive oil will work.
• Onion, carrots, and celery: This combination forms the aromatic base of the soup, known as a soffritto in Italian cooking. Giving the vegetables a few minutes to soften in the olive oil builds flavor before you add the broth.
• Garlic: Four cloves add savory depth. Add the garlic after the onion, carrots, and celery have started to soften so it does not burn.
• Zucchini and green beans: These vegetables add color and texture. Yellow squash works in place of the zucchini.
• Seasonings: Sweet paprika, dried rosemary, a bay leaf, kosher salt, and black pepper season the broth without overpowering the vegetables.
• Crushed tomatoes: Crushed tomatoes give the broth body while leaving it slightly textured. If you have whole peeled tomatoes instead, squeeze or crush them before adding.
• Broth: Use homemade vegetable broth for a meatless soup or homemade chicken stock if that is what you have.
• Parmesan rind: This is optional, but it adds a deep, savory quality as the soup simmers. I keep leftover Parmesan rinds in the freezer for soups like this. Remember to remove the rind before serving.
• Kidney beans: Beans give the soup heft and a creamy contrast to the vegetables. Cannellini beans, borlotti beans, or chickpeas also work.
• Fresh herbs: Thyme simmers in the broth, while parsley and basil go in near the end so they keep their fresh, peppery flavor.
• Grated Parmesan: A final sprinkle adds a salty, savory finish, but it is optional.

How to Make Minestrone Soup

Cooking the pasta separately is the key to keeping it al dente, particularly if you plan to save some of the soup for later. While the pasta cooks, begin building the soup in a large Dutch oven. 

• Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add 1 cup ditalini or elbow pasta and cook until al dente according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.
• Prepare the vegetables. Chop 1 small yellow onion, 2 carrots, and 1 large handful of parsley. Dice 2 celery stalks and 1 zucchini or yellow squash. Mince 4 garlic cloves. Trim 1 cup green beans and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Drain and rinse 1 (15-ounce) can of kidney beans.
• Soften the aromatics. Heat 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, then increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring regularly, until the vegetables soften slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring regularly.
• Add the remaining vegetables and seasonings. Add the zucchini, green beans, 1 teaspoon sweet paprika, 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, and a generous pinch each of salt and black pepper. Toss to combine.
• Build the broth. Add 1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth, 2 to 3 sprigs fresh thyme, 1 bay leaf, and the Parmesan rind, if using. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Partially cover the pot and simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Add the beans and fresh herbs. Uncover the pot and stir in the kidney beans. Cook for another 5 minutes, then stir in the parsley and fresh basil.
• Finish and serve. Just before serving, stir in the cooked pasta and simmer only until it is warmed through. Remove the Parmesan rind and bay leaf. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then finish each bowl with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmesan, if you like.

Tips for Flavorful Minestrone Soup 

A good minestrone gets its flavor from layering the ingredients rather than adding everything to the pot at once. These simple techniques make the most of the vegetables and herbs already in the recipe:

• Give the aromatics time to soften. Cooking the onion, carrots, and celery in olive oil creates a flavorful base before any liquid goes into the pot.
• Keep the vegetables bite-sized. Pieces that are similar in size cook more evenly and fit neatly on a spoon with the beans and pasta.
• Maintain a gentle simmer. Once the soup boils, lower the heat and let it simmer gently as the vegetables soften and the flavors come together.
• Use the Parmesan rind if you have one. It adds savory depth to the tomato broth without requiring another seasoning.
• Add the fresh herbs near the end. Parsley and basil keep more of their fresh flavor when they are stirred in after the soup has simmered.
• Do not overcook the pasta. Cook it only until al dente, then warm it briefly in the soup just before serving.

Minestrone Variations

Minestrone is meant to be adapted. Keep the basic method the same, then make it your own with one of these variations:

• Change the vegetables with the season. Use zucchini or yellow squash in warmer months. When the weather cools, try potatoes or sweet potatoes cut into small pieces so they cook evenly. A large handful of spinach can be stirred in near the end.
• Use a different bean. Cannellini beans, borlotti beans, or chickpeas can replace the kidney beans.
• Skip the pasta. Leave it out and add more vegetables if you prefer a lighter soup.
• Try a grain instead. Farro, barley, or freekeh can replace the pasta. Pearl couscous also works, though it is technically a type of pasta.
• Make it vegetarian or vegan. For a vegetarian minestrone soup, use vegetable broth and either omit the Parmesan or choose a vegetarian Parmesan. For a vegan version, also use egg-free pasta and leave out the Parmesan rind and topping.
• Add cooked meat. For a meatier soup, add cooked ground turkey or leftover rotisserie chicken after the onion, carrots, and celery have softened.

What to Serve with Minestrone Soup

With vegetables, beans, and pasta, minestrone is hearty enough to stand on its own. Finish each bowl with a drizzle of good olive oil and a little grated Parmesan, then serve it hot.

Though I doubt anyone would complain about rosemary garlic focaccia or crisp homemade garlic bread for dipping! If you want to round out the meal, add a bright, crunchy butter lettuce salad on the side.

Make Ahead, Leftovers, and Freezing 

For the best leftovers, keep the cooked pasta separate from the soup. Add a small portion of pasta to each bowl, then ladle the hot minestrone over it. This prevents the pasta from continuing to absorb the broth and becoming too soft.

If you plan to freeze the minestrone, freeze the soup without the pasta. Cook the pasta separately and add it when you reheat and serve the soup.

More Vegetable-Packed Soups and Stews 

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Hearty Vegetable Stew

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Easy Ratatouille (One Pot Vegetable Stew)

*This post originally appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2019 and has been recently updated for readers’ benefit.