minestrone soup

Minestrone soup

Minestrone soup is a simple and healthy Italian soup made with tons of vegetables, beans and pasta.

Standard aromatic vegetables like onion, carrot, celery and garlic cooked with red tomatoes and stock, then goes the green beans, whole grain pasta, kidney beans, white beans and spinach into the soup pot.  The addition of Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and fresh basil takes this soup to next level in terms of deliciousness. 
There are so many recipes of minestrone soup and that’s what makes this soup so good and friendly. You can use either pasta or rice, your choice of beans, your choice of herbs and spices and your choice of stock. Like you can use chickpeas or pinto beans and you can use chicken stock or tomato based broth or beans broth and use zucchini or kale instead of green beans and spinach. Use seasonal vegetables and herbs and you are good to go.


I have freshly cooked kidney and white beans for this recipe instead of using canned beans and I have used beans stock or its cooking liquid as a stock in this  minestrone soup recipe.
But the things which are constant in this recipe are vegetables like onion, carrot, celery, garlic and tomatoes. Normally for this recipe, I choose canned whole tomatoes, as it is bright, red and good in flavor, but if red tomatoes are in season, you can use it well. Just blanch it, peel off its skin and puree it for the soup.
This soup is thick and chunky and the thickness is because of the mashed beans. It is a healthy trick to make any soup or stew creamy and thick. 
Minestrone soup is healthy one pot meal, perfect for lunch or dinner in any busy weekdays.

Minestrone soup

Recipe by Neha NairCourse: Appetizers, SoupsCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium
Servings

6

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

40

minutes

Minestrone soup is an Italian soup recipe comprising variety of vegetable including tomatoes and spinach, plus pasta and combination of white and red beans.

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp of oil

  • 1 large onion chopped fine

  • 2 stalk of celery chopped fine

  • 1 carrot chopped fine

  • 6 garlic clove finely chopped 

  • 1/2-3/4 tsp of red pepper flakes

  • 2 tsp of Italian seasoning

  • 14 oz of canned whole tomato

  • Salt and pepper to taste

  • 8 ounces of green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

  • 4 cup of low-sodium vegetable stock or beans cooking water

  • 3 oz of any small whole grain pasta

  • 1.5 cup of cooked red kidney beans

  • 1.5 cup of cooked white beans

  • 8 oz of baby spinach chopped

  • 2 Tbsp of julienned basil leaves

Directions

  • Crush the tomato with its juice in a blender until smooth and keep it aside. Mash 1/2 cup of kidney beans and keep it aside as well.
  • Heat oil in a dutch oven or any big pan, add onion, carrot, celery and saute for 3-5 minutes.
  • Now add garlic, Italian seasoning and saute for a minute.
  • Add the pureed tomato and let it comes to a slow boil. Then pour the broth with salt and pepper and comes to a rolling boil.
  • Now add green beans, pasta, mashed kidney beans, remaining kidney beans and white beans and simmer until pasta and green beans are cooked.
  • Now add the chopped spinach and cook for another 60 seconds.
  • Turn off the heat and add basil and let it sit for 15-20 minutes and minestrone soup is ready to serve.
  • Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over warm minestrone soup and serve it with crusty bread. Cheese is totally optional, so add if you like.

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