Easy Italian Minestrone Soup; a hearty, healthy one-bowl wholesome mixed vegetable and pasta soup, perfect for a quick lunch or dinner! Serve with crusty toasted bread and a fresh summer salad!
When I start to run out of vegetables in the fridge, but still need something wholesome and healthy to feed the family, I normally reach out to a quick soup. Summers or winters, this is our family-favorite classic Italian minestrone soup! With a few slices of toasted bread and a lovely fresh salad, everyone feels full, good and happy!
It's a hearty, easy, delicious meal that you can make with a couple of pantry staples and whatever fresh vegetables you happen to have on hand.
How to make Minestrone Soup:
This is a very versatile soup with fresh vegetables, some protein and a simple carbohydrate like pasta and Italian seasoning or dried oregano to make it Italian!
Just sauté some onions, celery (optional) and garlic in a little oil with some herbs like dried oregano, Italian seasoning, green chillies/jalapenos/crushed red chillies, dried basil or a combination of dried herbs.
Then it is time to add the rest.
The Vegetables:
The fun and easy part of making this soup is you can add any seasonal vegetable you have in your fridge. I have added carrot, bell pepper/capsicum, celery (optional) and mushrooms. This is all I had that I felt would give a lovely texture to the soup.
You can add zucchini, cauliflower, corn, green beans, peas or even spinach or kale; just add leafy greens at the end just before removing the soup from heat; you need them just to wilt and become soft.
Tomato is of course the base of every minestrone soup. In this version, I have used fresh tomatoes which I feel are the best! If you have canned tomatoes you can use that. To thicken the soup, I have stirred in some tomato puree/paste.
The Protein:
I had some cooked garbanzo beans that I had kept aside before making some Amristari chole that I had made earlier to enjoy with some puffy deep fried Indian bhaturas! I decided to add these to the soup. (Whenever I cook beans like white, black, red kidney beans or even some black-eyed beans or garbanzo beans for any Indian curry, I keep aside some to mix into a salad or soup!). For a quicker version, you can use canned beans too.
If you like meat or seafood, stir in cooked chicken, shrimp etc. For the vegetarians, you have the favorite of all Indians, paneer (Indian cottage cheese) or you can even substitute with the high-protein tofu.
The Pasta:
Coming to the pasta; the smaller the pasta the better. You can use macaroni, shell pasta or even rotini pasta which is the one I have used. Just precook them (according to package instructions) and add at the end just before serving. If they are added early on, they will continue to absorb the liquid in the soup and make it thicker!
My mother loathes any kind of pasta, so I serve her soup without any pasta. If you keep a bowl of cooked fresh pasta on the dining table, everyone can add their own; as much or as little as they want or not at all like my mother.
A few months back, I had even used Ditalini, little bite sized tubular pasta in my homemade minestrone soup to warm me up in the winter!
The Final Garnish:
Just a sprinkle of fresh parsley, cilantro or even celery leaves and a dash of grated Parmesan cheese or grated mozzarella if you cannot find Parmesan. I love to add mozzarella or even grated cheddar sometimes; love the ooey, gooey, melting cheese in every spoonful of soup! Be ready to dig into a sumptuous, belly-filling healthy wholesome soup!
So, head on to your kitchen right now and make this quick soup today! Serve with a big bowl of fresh salad on the side in summer or some toasted bread!
Enjoy and Happy Cooking!
Pair this soup with a large bowl of salad. Choose from:
- Zesty Three-Bean Salad with Walnuts and Pomegranate
- Middle Eastern Tabouli
- Mediterranean Greek Salad
Easy Italian Minestrone Soup; a hearty and comforting soup, full of beans, vegetables and pasta, in a rich tomato broth.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked rotini pasta (I have used natural tomato and spinach flavored)
- 1 medium-sized onion
- 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced or chopped
- 2 large green chillies/jalapenos
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
- ½ bell pepper/capsicum, cubed
- ½ cup sliced mushrooms
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- ¼ to ½ cup tomato puree or paste
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas/garbanzo/chole beans (white beans, black beans, red kidney beans etc.)
- ½ tsp dried oregano leaves
- ½ tsp dried Italian seasoning
- Salt to taste
- Pinch of sugar (depending upon the sourness of the tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil/any cooking oil
- Cilantro/coriander leaves or celery leaves for garnishing
- Grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese/cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions; do not throw away the water; you can use it to add to the soup.
- Heat oil in a large saucepan and once hot, add the onions, garlic and green chilies and sauté on medium heat until the onions are slightly soft.
- Sprinkle the dry seasonings; oregano and Italian seasoning and stir to mix well.
- Toss in the chopped celery and carrots and give it a good stir. Fry again for a minute or two.
- Add the mushrooms and bell pepper and if you are using fresh tomatoes, add these at this stage.
- Fry for about 1 minute on high until the mushrooms start to wilt and tomatoes are soft.
- Stir in tomato paste or puree and if using a can of tomatoes instead, dump that in.
- Add water, about 2 cups or more, depending upon how thick or thin you want your soup and bring to a boil. You can use some of the pasta liquid too.
- Season with salt and sugar; mix well.
- Once it comes to a boil, add in the cooked beans and simmer on medium low for about 5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust the spices and seasonings.
- Toss in the cooked pasta if you are serving the soup immediately, give it one boil and remove from heat.
- Garnish with chopped herbs like cilantro or celery leaves and serve hot with some toasted bread, grated cheese etc. and maybe a drizzle of olive oil.
- Enjoy!!
Notes
Use any seasonal vegetable to amp up the nutrition in your soup.
If you do not have any cooked beans, just omit it.
Feel free to add any favorite protein of your choice. It could be any cooked meat, seafood, paneer, tofu, cooked beans etc.
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Have fun cooking, eating and sharing!!!
Minestrone soupis one of my favourite soups.Healthy and filling soup.
Thanks so much Preethi 🙂
Thanks Mayuri 🙂 🙂 I can have this soup in any weather 😀 😀
Thanks so much Uma 🙂 I love it with garlic bread too!!!
What a delicious looking hearty and filling soup . I would like to have it. Ingrediants of these soup can be easily bought through BigBasket and anyone can enjoy BigBasket Food Coupons that are automatically applied during the purchases
Thanks so much 🙂
Soups are always a quick n healthy opt to fill tummy, lovely share di ???
Thanks dear 🙂 Hope you make it some day too!!
Its raining and the weather is but gloomy. This soup would be just perfect. Love your pictures☺
Absolutely perfect for rainy days!!! Thanks so much dear 🙂
minestrone soup is something which gets preference over other soups if given a choice. Having vegetable and pasta I just love having it.
I love the combo of vegetables with pasta too...thanks so much 🙂 🙂
The soup sounds so filling, wholesome anf comforting !
Thanks a lot Poonam 🙂
This looks so filling! Perfect for a cold day in front of the tele.
It is a one-bowl delight and has been enjoyed many a times in front of the telly!! 🙂 Thanks so much Jagruti 🙂
Such a lovely one, bowlful of goodness. Love this one as it is neither too spicy nor bland.
Thanks so much Jayashree!! This is one of those customizable soups that you can make to suit your family's taste 🙂
This soup looks delicious and healthy. I love adding more vegetables to the minestrone soup and toasted garlic bread along with this will be perfect meal!
Thanks so much Uma 🙂 I love it with garlic bread too!! 🙂
I love minestrone soup, it is a meal in itself. Yours looks super delicious dear 🙂
Thanks so much Freda 🙂 🙂 An absolute complete meal in a bowl!!!!
Healthy and a comforting meal... delicious
Thanks so much Renu 🙂 🙂
What a delicious looking hearty and filling soup. I love pasta soup even if the weather is hot.
Thanks so much Mayuri 🙂 I can have this soup in any weather 😀 😀
What a comforting and hearty soup. Simply filling and definitely satisfying. Wish i get a bowl rite now.
Thanks so much Priya 🙂 You must make this easy one soon!!
I was craving for a soup since the past few days, thank God I found this one, fits perfectly to my cravings and so easy to make, nutirents packed and delicious, Thanks for the share dear Vanitha 🙂
Glad you found it a good one dear 🙂 Thanks so much...it is a surefire one-bowl tasty delight!!
That is such a hearty and comforting soup. Looks so colorful and packed with flavors. I love adding pasta to the soup, but I like your idea of serving it on the side, so everyone can add as little or as much as they want.
Thanks so much Pavani 🙂 🙂 As I have mentioned earlier in the post, my mother hates pasta, so I omit it in her bowl. Also, I have noticed that as the soup sits, the pasta absorbs liquid and make the soup too thick!! I found serving it on the side solves both the problems 😀
I love how all the ingredients you had came together to make this healthy, yummy, filling soup! So creative!
Thanks so much Sandhya 🙂 🙂
Healthy and filling soup.. makes a lovely brunch.
Absolutely!! Thanks Shobha 🙂