- Calories
- 280
- Protein
- 12g
- Fiber
- 11g
- Sat. fat
- 2g
- Sodium
- 540mg
- Added sugar
- 4g
What this recipe does for you.
Minestrone the way it should be: a thick, vegetable-packed Italian soup with beans, tomatoes, greens and a parmesan rind simmered into the broth. Naturally high-fiber at 11g a bowl, easily vegetarian or vegan.
Why this works
Every recipe on this site ships with an explanation of the technique decisions, why sear then braise, why the acid goes in at the end, why the fat renders before the aromatics. The method below is those decisions, in order.
Ingredients
Serves 5- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1onion · diced
- 2carrots · diced
- 2 stalkscelery · diced
- 4 clovesgarlic · minced
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 1 candiced tomatoes · 14 oz
- 1 cancannellini beans · 15 oz, drained
- 6 cupsvegetable broth · low-sodium
- 1 pieceparmesan rind · optional but recommended
- 2 cupskale or spinach · chopped
- 3/4 cupsmall pasta · cooked separately
- 1 tspdried oregano
Method
Build a soffritto base first
Sweat the onion, carrot and celery slowly in olive oil until soft and sweet before anything else goes in. This Italian aromatic base, the soffritto, is the foundation of the soup flavour. Rushing it with high heat gives you raw crunch and a thinner-tasting broth.
The parmesan rind is the secret weapon
Drop a parmesan rind into the simmering broth. As it softens it releases savoury, salty depth that makes a vegetable soup taste like it has been cooking all day. Save your rinds in the freezer for exactly this. Fish it out before serving.
Fry the tomato paste before the liquid
Cook the tomato paste with the soffritto and garlic for a minute or two until it darkens. This removes the raw edge and concentrates the tomato flavour that runs through the whole pot.
Cook the pasta separately
Boil the pasta on the side and add it to each bowl, not the pot. Pasta left in the soup keeps drinking the broth and turns to mush by the second day, and you lose your liquid. Kept separate, leftovers stay good all week.
Beans add body, protein and fibre
Cannellini beans push the fibre to eleven grams a bowl and make the soup filling enough to be a meal. Mash a few against the side of the pot to thicken the broth naturally without cream or flour.
Greens in at the end
Stir kale in for the last five minutes, or spinach for the last one, so they keep colour and structure rather than cooking to a grey sludge. Finish with a drizzle of good olive oil and grated parmesan at the table.
Variations
Substitutions and adaptations land with the photography shoot. The method holds across most reasonable swaps.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 to 4 days, sealed. Freezer: up to 3 months. Reheat covered to retain moisture.
Frequently asked
- What vegetables go in minestrone?
- Minestrone is flexible by design, it was a peasant soup built from whatever was in season. The constants are a soffritto of onion, carrot and celery, tomatoes, beans and greens. Beyond that, zucchini, green beans, potato and cabbage all work. Use what you have.
- How do I make it vegan?
- Skip the parmesan rind and finishing cheese, and build the savoury depth with a spoon of miso or a splash of soy stirred in at the end, plus a generous glug of good olive oil. The beans and vegetables carry the rest.
- Why cook the pasta separately?
- Pasta stored in the soup keeps absorbing liquid, so it bloats to mush and drinks your broth dry by the next day. Cooking it separately and adding it per bowl keeps the pasta al dente and the leftovers good for four or five days.
- Can I freeze minestrone?
- Yes, freeze the soup base without the pasta for up to three months. Add freshly cooked pasta when you reheat. The bean-and-vegetable base freezes and thaws well; pasta frozen in soup turns mushy.
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