There is no comparison to homemade soup! Minestrone soup is SO quick and easy to make. It’s delicious, healthy and hearty. I made today’s batch for a friend of mine for her birthday and I whipped it up after work. This recipe makes about four quarts of soup so the family ate some for dinner and then lunch the next day as well as the batch for my friend Nicole’s birthday! This minestrone is vegetarian because Nicole is actually vegan, but you could substitute chicken stock in place of the veggie stock. Grated parmesan cheese is delish on top of this too! My recipes for soup may be may be different than some because I do NOT like to cook my pasta in my soup. I think the pasta absorbs too much of the broth and the pasta gets too mushy. So I cook my pasta separately and then add it to the bowl and pour the broth over it. I find extra broth freezes better without the pasta in it also.
Tools
- Stockpot
- pot for cooking pasta
- cutting board
- can opener
- wooden spoon
- Sharp knife
- colander
Ingredients
- One cup of diced onions
- One cup of diced carrots
- half cup of diced celery including tops
- three cloves of minced garlic
- 12 ounces of tomato sauce
- 64 oz of low sodium vegetable broth
- One 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes undrained
- One 15.5 oz can of Cannelleni beans* drained and rinsed
- One 15.5 oz can of Great Northern Beans* drained and rinsed
- 12 oz bag of frozen Italian Green beans
- Two cups of Ditalini pasta
- One teaspoon of dried herbs
- Tablespoon of salt for the pasta
- One teaspoon of salt for the stock
- One Tablespoon of olive oil
Recipe
Put a pot of water on to boil the pasta. Once boiling add your Tablespoon of salt and add your ditalini pasta. Cook according to package directions. Drain pasta. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in your stockpot. Saute’ onions, carrots and celery, salt and pepper for 5 minutes. Add garlic, dried herbs, tomatoes, sauce and vegetable broth to the sautéed vegetables. Simmer for 15 minutes until carrots are tender. Add the rinsed and frozen beans to the broth and heat through 5-10 minutes longer. When serving add pasta to your serving bowl and pour your delicious broth on top, stir and enjoy!
DELISH TIP 1- Garbanzo beans and kidney beans go great in this soup too.
DELISH TIP 2- There are 3 options for the pasta.
OPTION 1 Cook the ditalini in the broth but it will get absorbed into the pasta and you won’t have as much broth at the end.
OPTION 2– Cook the ditalini separately and then add to your broth instead of the serving bowls. It won’t absorb as much broth until you put away the leftovers.
OPTION 3- listed above