This one pot minestrone soup is a classic Italian vegetable soup filled with cannellini beans, pasta, vegetables, broth and tomatoes. I have a secret ingredient in this recipe that will make it your favorite.
Looking for more soup recipes? Try my lasagna tortellini soup, baked potato chowder, zuppa toscana soup or creamy chicken and rice soup.
This recipe was first published 12/4/20.
When it's just so cold outside and your teeth are chattering, you need something warm and cozy to feed your family for dinner. Minestrone soup is always the answer. This soup takes less than an hour to make.
Minestrone soup is an Italian vegetable soup, so you can be sure it's filled with veggies. In this soup you'll find onions, carrots, celery and green beans.
The broth is made up of chicken broth and beef broth and crushed tomatoes. There is also cannellini beans, bacon, pasta and parmigiano reggiano cheese.
Try serving this minestrone soup with some fluffy cloverleaf dinner rolls or basic saltine crackers.
Ingredients
- Olive Oil: Used for sautéing the vegetables, you could use another type of oil but since it's an Italian soup, olive oil is my oil of choice.
- Bacon: The bacon in this gives the soup and vegetables such good flavor.
- Onion: A small yellow onion.
- Carrots, Celery, Green Beans: These vegetables add so much heartiness to the soup.
- Water, Chicken and Beef Better Than Bouillon: Mix the water and the two bouillons together to make the broth. If you can't find either of these you can substitute just regular chicken and beef broth but it will not taste as good, or have as much flavor. My famous beef stroganoff uses the same stuff.
- Tomatoes: One can of crushed tomatoes.
- Parmigiano Reggiano: You'll want to add the rind of the cheese to the soup and shred some of the cheese to put on top of the soup when you eat it. All the best recipes have parmigiano reggiano, like my fettuccine alfredo pasta, pumpkin cream ravioli and tuscan chicken pasta.
- Salt: Kosher salt to enhance the flavors.
- Italian Seasoning: Italian seasoning will add yummy Italian flavors to the soup. Italian seasoning is usually made up of oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, rosemary and sage.
- Cannellini Beans: A white kidney bean, but you could use any type of kidney bean.
- Pasta: Ditalini pasta is a tiny tube shaped pasta.
Secret Ingredient
This minestrone soup is made with not one, but two secret ingredients. They make this soup taste so much better than any other minestrone soup!
- Bacon: By using bacon, you can sauté the vegetables in a bit of bacon grease and also add the chopped up bacon to your soup for so much extra flavor. Never wipe out the bacon pieces at the bottom of the pan. However you do want to wipe out majority of the bacon grease. It's okay to leave some in there for flavor.
- Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Rind: It's an old trick to add the rind of a parmigiano reggiano block of cheese to your soup for flavor. Whenever I buy a block of parm I always save the rind in my freezer. I use the same method for my tuscan tortellini soup.
Pro Tips
- Pasta: Don't add the pasta too early. The last thing you want is mushy noodles. When in doubt, add the pasta right before you plan on serving the soup, checking it every few minutes.
- Parmigiano Reggiano Rind: Add the rind of a parmigiano reggiano cheese block to add lots of flavor to your soup. Always freeze your rinds when you've used up all the cheese.
- Simmer: Don't cut back on the simmer time for the vegetables, they need the full 30 minutes to soften.
How To Make Minestrone Soup
Cook the bacon in a soup pot, over medium heat, until crispy.
Put the bacon on a paper towel to get rid of extra grease. Use another paper towel to blot out excess grease in the pot but try to leave any bacon bits stuck to the bottom.
On med/low heat add the olive oil, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute the vegetables for 5 minutes.
Add in the 5 cups of water, chicken better than bouillon, beef better than bouillon, crushed tomatoes, parmigiano reggiano cheese rind, salt, Italian seasoning, bacon and cannellini beans.
Bring to a boil and cover with a tight fitting lid. Turn heat down to low and simmer 30 minutes.
Add the green beans and pasta. Cook for 7 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
FAQ
By using a gluten free pasta you can make this minestrone soup gluten free.
Using two types of broth gives the soup even more flavor, however you can use just one if you are in a bind and don't have the other one.
Minestrone Soup
This minestrone soup is a classic Italian vegetable soup filled with cannellini beans, pasta, vegetables, broth and tomatoes. I have a secret ingredient in this recipe that will make it your favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 pieces bacon, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 celery ribs, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 5 cups water
- 2 ½ tsp chicken better than bouillon
- 2 ½ tsp beef better than bouillon
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 1 parmigiano reggiano rind (optional)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ lb green beans, ends trimmed and cut up
- 1 can cannellini beans
- 1 c ditalini pasta
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a soup pot, over medium heat, until crispy.
- Put the bacon on a paper towel to get rid of extra grease. Use another paper towel to blot out excess grease in the pot but try to leave any bacon bits stuck to the bottom.
- On med/low heat add the olive oil, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute the vegetables for 5 minutes.
- Add in the 5 cups of water, chicken better than bouillon, beef better than bouillon, crushed tomatoes, parmigiano reggiano cheese rind, salt, Italian seasoning, bacon and cannellini beans.
- Bring to a boil and cover with a tight fitting lid. Turn heat down to low and simmer 30 minutes.
- Add the green beans and pasta. Cook for 7 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
Notes
Pasta: Don't add the pasta too early. The last thing you want is mushy noodles. When in doubt, add the pasta right before you plan on serving the soup, checking it every few minutes.
Parmigiano Reggiano Rind: Add the rind of a parmigiano reggiano cheese block to add lots of flavor to your soup. Always freeze your rinds when you've used up all the cheese.
Simmer: Don't cut back on the simmer time for the vegetables, they need the full 30 minutes to soften.
Broth: You can use normal chicken broth and beef broth if you don't have any better than buillon. Just know it won't be as flavorful.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 178Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 749mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 6gSugar: 7gProtein: 9g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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