Easy minestrone soup

Minestrone is a method, not a fixed list

There is no single correct minestrone. The name just means a big soup, and in Italy it changes with the region and the season: beans and cabbage in winter, zucchini and green beans in summer, rice instead of pasta in the north. The method stays the same. Start with a slowly softened base of onion, carrot and celery (the soffritto), add tomato, stock, beans and something green, and cook a starch in the pot at the end. Once you know that shape you can make it with whatever is in the crisper drawer, and our vegetable soup explains which vegetables go in early and which late.

The soffritto is where the flavor starts

Ten minutes over medium-low heat feels like a long time to cook three vegetables, and it is the step people rush. Softening the onion, carrot and celery slowly makes them sweet. Frying them quickly just makes them taste of browned onion. Cooking the tomatoes down afterward matters too. Tomato cooked until its liquid is gone tastes deeper and less sharp than tomato that goes straight into the stock.

The Parmesan rind

If you buy wedges of Parmesan, keep the rinds in a bag in the freezer for this. Simmered in the soup, a rind releases glutamates and gives the broth the savory depth a vegetable soup otherwise lacks, much like a ham bone would. It softens but does not melt; take it out before serving. Without one, a tablespoon of white miso stirred in at the end does a similar job. Traditional Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so for vegetarians skip the rind, use vegetable stock, and top with a vegetarian hard cheese.

Pasta in the pot, or on the side

Cooking the pasta in the soup thickens the broth with its starch, and that body is part of what makes minestrone. The catch is that pasta keeps absorbing liquid, so by the next day it is swollen and the soup has become a stew. If you are making a big batch to eat over several days, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl as you serve. Otherwise just loosen the leftovers with water or stock when you reheat them.

Vegan minestrone soup

Minestrone is easy to make vegan, since the beans already carry the protein. Use vegetable broth and leave out the Parmesan rind. Stir a tablespoon of white miso into a ladle of the hot broth at the end, then back into the pot, to replace the savory depth the rind gives. Most dried pasta sold in the US is made without egg, but check the label. Finish each bowl with olive oil and basil, or with a dairy-free pesto. A bowl has about the same calories and protein as the original.

Crock pot minestrone soup

Cook the soffritto and the tomatoes on the stove first. That step cannot happen in a slow cooker, which traps moisture and cannot cook the tomatoes down. Put them in the slow cooker with the stock, the rind and the beans and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4. Add the zucchini and greens for the last 30 minutes on high. Cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl. Pasta cooked in a slow cooker goes soft and sticky and soaks up the broth. The recipe fits easily in a 6-quart slow cooker.

Olive Garden-style minestrone

The minestrone served at Olive Garden is a vegetarian soup of vegetables, beans and small pasta in a light, thin tomato broth. To make this recipe closer to that style, use vegetable broth and leave out the rind. Use one can of red kidney beans and one of white beans in place of the single can of cannellini, add a cup of cut green beans with the zucchini, and use small shell pasta. A 15-oz can of tomato sauce with the stock gives a redder, thinner broth, and spinach can replace the kale. This is our own recipe, not theirs, and we have no connection to Olive Garden. The same goes for our zuppa toscana, a home version of their sausage, potato and kale soup.

Making it your own

• Smooth instead: for a blended tomato soup on the same base, see our homemade tomato soup.
• Summer: swap the kale for green beans and a handful of fresh peas, and finish with pesto instead of basil.
• Winter: add a diced potato with the stock and use savoy cabbage.
• Gluten-free: use rice or a gluten-free pasta, or leave the starch out and add a second can of beans.
• Heartier: brown 4 oz of diced pancetta before the soffritto and cook the vegetables in its fat.

Keeping it

Up to four days in the fridge, and it tastes better on the second day. It freezes well for up to three months. For the best texture, freeze it without the pasta and add freshly cooked pasta when you reheat.

What it is worth nutritionally

A big bowl is about 220 kcal with 9 g of protein and a good amount of fiber, mostly from the beans and vegetables. That is a lot of food for the calories, which is what soup does best: the water and vegetables fill you up. Cannellini beans provide the largest share of the protein. With cheese on top it makes a complete meatless meal.