Incredibly flavorful and rich, this minestrone soup is every bit as hearty as it is beautiful. Made easily in the slow cooker, this soup is perfect for a busy weeknight!
Made with minimal effort, this minestrone soup is one of the most flavorful soups I’ve ever made! Full of protein and fiber rich beans, nutritious vegetables and filling pasta, it’s a complete meal in a bowl!
How’s your Spring going so far? Ours has been absolutely crazy, with snow storms hitting us several times within the last two weeks. Now this week it’s cold and rainy. BLAH!! The good news is, it’s still soup weather!
Honestly though, I still make soup year round… it’s just great comfort food. Especially this minestrone soup.
I’ve made a lot of soups over the years… some of our favorites are tomato basil, zuppa toscana, and beef barley… but this one, it might just be my absolute FAVORITE!! Normally vegetable soups always leave me feeling hungry about an hour after. But this one doesn’t do that to me; it’s hearty, rich, and FULL of flavor.
WHAT IS IN A MINESTRONE SOUP
Minestrone is typically a vegetable soup, usually with beans, and pasta. Traditionally ditalini (the small little tubes) is used, but mini shells, mini penne, or any other really short pasta will work.
IS MINESTRONE SOUP GOOD FOR YOU
In many ways yes! It’s low in fat and calories and loaded with healthy vegetables. If you’re following a low-carb way of eating, the beans and pasta will make this higher in carbohydrates.
HOW DO YOU MAKE MINESTRONE
This recipe is super easy to make… the slow cooker does the work for you! The only “work” involved is chopping the carrot, celery, onion and zucchini and most of that can be prepped ahead of time. Just add the ingredients in the crockpot, cover, and switch it on! There’s a trick to the timing of adding certain ingredients, but it’s all detailed in the recipe at the end of the post 😉
IS THIS AN OLIVE GARDEN COPYCAT RECIPE
Not technically, but from looking at other copycat recipes, it has extremely similar ingredients, so it will probably taste pretty close. I’ve never actually had the minestrone soup from Olive Garden, so I can’t say with certainty how close the flavors are. Try it and let me know!
Even though we may be heading into warmer weather, I hope you give this hearty and comforting minestrone soup recipe a try… I know you’ll love it!!
Try this soup with my no-knead artisan bread or semi-homemade garlic bread for a great treat!
HELPFUL TOOLS
- Large slow cooker – I have the 6 and 8 quart version of this slow cooker and it works amazingly well. I love that the lid latches down.
- Vegetable base – this is what I mean when I say vegetable base, it adds SUCH flavor to soups and stews. Your grocery store might have it in stock, but in case it doesn’t, this link is to the exact version I use.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
- 1 cup carrots, sliced
- 1 cup celery, sliced
- 1 1/2 cups yellow onion, diced
- 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- parmesan rind, or 1" chunk of parmesan
- 2-3 Tbsp minced garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/4 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- 4 cups fat free vegetable stock or broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 Tbsp vegetable base
- 15 oz can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 oz can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
ADD 20-25 MINUTES BEFORE SERVING
- 1 cup diced zucchini
- 1 1/2 cups dried ditalini or other small pasta
ADD 5 MINUTES BEFORE SERVING
- 1 cup frozen cut green beans
- 1 1/2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Add first 15 ingredients to 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Stir to combine, cover, and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours, or HIGH for 3-4 hours.
- 30 minutes before you want to serve the soup, add zucchini and ditalini pasta, stir, cover and cook on HIGH for 20-25 minutes.
- 5 minutes before serving, add in frozen green beans and baby spinach, stir, cover and cook on HIGH for 5 minutes.
- When serving, if desired, grate parmesan cheese over the soup and enjoy!
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Chef Tips
Video
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Valerie says
Best of the multiple minestrone soup recipes that I’ve tried. I did it on the stove rather than a crock pot and it was fine. Delicious.
Cara says
Great recipe, but I don’t prefer it in the crock pot because the onions don’t cook down enough for me. Next time I’ll make it on the stove, sautéing the onions, celery, and garlic first in some olive oil before continuing on with the rest of the recipe. Although I wasn’t happy with the texture of the crock pot vegetables, the flavor was really good.
Elena says
I had always wanted to taste minestrone soup and decided to try your recipe. I made it for a church event and almost all was eaten. I loved it, the taste was delicious! Will definitely make it again.
Nic says
This soup is truly amazing. I have made it several times and everyone in my family loves it. In addition, it is so healthy. Thank you fir sharing!
Penny Friedrich says
This is definitely the best Minestrone soup recipe I’ve ever made. It’s delicious! Thank you Amanda!
Linda says
Looking forward to making this. Could I use black beans instead of kidney beans since I don’t have any on hand? Also, thinking if subbing chopped kale for the spinach.
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested it with black beans, but I think that would work well, as would kale 🙂
Peter says
Love this recipe! I was wondering if I just wanted to do this on the stove top, do you have instructions for that?
The Chunky Chef says
Glad you enjoy! I would saute the carrots, celery, and onion in a bit of butter in a dutch oven (or whatever you normally use for soup), over MED heat for several minutes, until soft. Then add the garlic and tomato paste and cook another minute or two. Add the vegetable base, if using, then pour in the tomatoes, water, and broth. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom to pick up any browned bits and stir. Add the parmesan rind, bay leaves, all seasonings, and the drained beans. Stir and increase heat to MED HIGH, then once it’s at a low boil, reduce the heat to MED LOW and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Add the pasta and zucchini and cook, stirring often, for about another 10 minutes, or until pasta is cooked to al dente. The last 3-5 minutes of the pasta cooking time, add the frozen green beans and spinach and stir. Remove bay leaves and parmesan rind and serve 🙂
Linda Weber says
Absolutely delicious & so easy to make in the crockpot. I will definitely make this soup again. Thanks for the great recipe.
Marilyn Warren says
Your minestrone soup looked lovely. I followed the recipe exactly but it turned out differently. When I finished cooking the soup in my big crockpot there was not enough liquid in the soup and the ditalini pasta made it very thick. I added another 2 cups of
Vegetable broth and a small can of diced tomatoes and more Italian spice but it was still thick like stew and bland. I am so disappointed!!
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve never had that happen before, and I make this recipe all the time! There’s 6 cups of liquid, plus the juices from the can of tomatoes, so my guess is that your pasta is cooking quicker, resulting in it absorbing a lot of liquid. Unfortunately all slow cookers do cook a bit differently. If you try it again, I’d try cooking the pasta separately.
Jo May says
It was a lovely,healthy & easy to follow winter warming dinner! Yummy!
P.S. It gave us plenty of leftovers to share as well.
Taylor says
Oh man, I’m recovering from the flu and was craving something nutritious with little prep since I don’t have energy right now. I had to doordash a few ingredients I didn’t have on hand and my husband cut up veggies for me, but I tossed in the slow cooker and took a nap and it was wonderful to eat when I woke up 🥰 So much yum. I’ll be freezing batches of this for future meals!
Kimberly T Redding says
Although it tasted good, the carrots were still crunchy. I used the slow cooker function on my instant pot to make this and it may have been the reason why. I transferred it to my dutch oven to cook it further. I also added a teaspoon of salt.
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve noticed that the slow cooker function of my Instant Pot doesn’t heat the way that a regular slow cooker does, so I would recommend using a traditional slow cooker if you have one. Otherwise you’ll have to add some cooking time, or transfer it to another cooking vessel, like you did.
Kytlun says
This soup was fantastic!! Your recipe rocked and I will be looking at more of your stuff. Thank you so much and have a blessed day!
Amber Orum says
Love this. So quick and easy yet such a flavorful broth!
Regen says
I’ve had people who don’t care for Minestrone say they love it, and ask for the recipe! Best ever.
Haley says
This might be a dumb question, but do we cook the pasta before adding it or put it in hard and have it cook in the soup? My assumption is we put it in directly from the package…
The Chunky Chef says
As written, you add it dried and it cooks in the slow cooker. You could boil it separately if you’d like, then add some boiled pasta to your individual bowls before topping with some soup.
Cathy says
Quick question- if I’m using fresh green beans, would you add them with the zucchini?
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t tested it, but I think that would be a good time to add them 🙂
Cindy Machado says
This looks delicious!
Can I add ground turkey to this and if so when would i do that? And could I sub corn and peas for the zucchini?
The Chunky Chef says
I would brown the turkey and add it when you add the pasta. If subbing corn and peas for the zucchini, I would add those when you add the green beans, since they won’t need very long to warm through.
Olivia Medved says
I don’t have a slow cooker, but I made this in a big pot on stove and it was so so delicious. I have been traveling and eating out a lot so this was a lovely recipe to pack in some veggies.
Jackklyn Janis says
I just made this and it’s delicious! Does it freeze well?
The Chunky Chef says
Yes, this soup freezes well 🙂
June says
Sorry but I didn’t like it. Much too heavy on the tomato and herb flavours, it’s all I could taste. I even used one can not two of the canned tomatoes. Oh well, each to their own!