Minestrone Soup: Vegan Soup Comfort Food

A delicious, big pot meal that the whole family will love. This minestrone is a quick, easy, vegan soup comfort food that works for anytime (gluten-free, too). Absolutely foolproof!

Minestrone Soup, while some may have a rigid definition of what it includes, is a great and really versatile soup for a cold day. I have made it many times for my kids after swim practice or crew practice and it never fails to provide a satisfying and nourishing love filled vegan soup meal.

Admittedly, I probably never make it the same way twice, throwing in leftover vegetables or the odd potato if they are around. It is a winner for a leftover or lunch the next day and would probably be a good recipe for the crockpot. ( I might have to try that. It comes together very quickly, so I never have thought about that before.)

I made it for the day after New Years because, in truth, I was sick of all the rich fare of the holidays and wanted something really clean, low fat and nutrient dense.

Consider this a base recipe and be creative!

Minestrone-Soup-vertical
Delicious Minestrone Soup – it’s foolproof!

 

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Minestrone Soup: Vegan Soup Comfort Food

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  • Author: Georgia @ Full of Beans
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

A delicious, big pot meal that the whole family will love. This minestrone is a quick, easy, vegan soup comfort food that works for anytime (gluten-free, too). Absolutely foolproof!

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 28 oz can diced tomato with liquid
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • few grinds of black pepper
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
  • 1 (15 oz) can (or 1.5 cups cooked) kidney beans
  • 1 (15 oz) can (or 1.5 cups cooked) chickpeas
  • 1 (15 oz) can (or 1.5 cups cooked) cannellini beans
  • 8 oz frozen chopped spinach or kale
  • 1 cup dried pasta. Elbows or penne work very well

Instructions

  1. Sauté onion, garlic, and celery in the bottom of a soup pot, until tender
  2. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta and spinach
  3. Cook for 20 minutes over moderate heat, stirring occasionally
  4. Add pasta and spinach and cook for 10-12 minutes (until pasta is cooked – see the notes below)
  5. Adjust salt to taste
  6. Add a little water if needed
  7. Serve!

Notes

  • Add water or more broth if too thick.
  • I tend to be a little heavy handed with the pasta so I always need a little more fluid (see first note!).
  • pre-cooking the pasta and adding it at the very end is an option. It also makes it easier to judge the desired amount of liquid.
  • Rice pasta makes it gluten-free. But, they tend to get mushy very easily (see note above about pre-cooking). Trader Joe’s and Tinkyada are our favorite, and most reliable, brands
  • If you are adding left-over cooked vegetables, add them at the end. Fresh or frozen can be added at the beginning. Corn is a nice addition, too.
  • Don’t run out for celery if you don’t have it, simply substitute carrots. (I just did and it was fine 😄)
  • If you don’t want to use any oil, skip the sautéing part and just add the onion, garlic and celery to the liquid.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 8

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Georgia is an unpretentious foodie who, at 50, transitioned from a vegetarian diet to a whole foods plant based diet and is loving it. She works as a nurse, plays as a quilter, loves to run, hates to race.
She thinks dogs are actually angels (in dog suits).

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Comments (9)

  1. This is hands down my favorite soup of all time. Thank you for the delicious base recipe. But I wanted to share my notes because I think they transform it from good to spectacular: 1) Add 1/4 cup nutritional yeast with the other ingredients in step 2 . 2) Use Better Than Bullion No Beef Base as the broth and reduce salt by half 3) Precook the pasta and add at the very end so it doesn’t turn to mush and absorb too much of the soup 4) If anyone is unclear, the recipe calls for three cans of beans total, 1 of EACH type (at first I thought I was supposed to choose ONE of the three types listed)

    Reply

    1. Thank you for your lovely comment, we’re so happy that you like this soup (its a fav or our’s too).
      Those are great suggestions and we will definitely try them next time. Plus, we updated the recipe regarding the pre-cook option with the pasta. Good tip!
      🙂

      Reply

  2. One of your ingredients is “1 15 oz can kidney beans, chick peas and cannellini beans.” Do you mean one can of EACH (total 3 cans of beans), or one can of EITHER? (Also, I corrected the spelling of chick and cannellini for you :-)) Thanks, I want to make this tonight!

    Reply

    1. Hi Alexandra,

      OMG, so sorry that we missed your comment by a few days. 🙁
      Yes, 1 can EACH (it makes a big pot!). We will update the recipe to be clearer in that regard. Also, thanks for pointing out the typo 🙂

      PLEASE let us know if you tried, or do try, the soup.

      Peace, G&G

      Reply

  3. I made this tonight and it’s fantastic! Also, I’m really happy you mentioned adding the rice pasta at the very end. It kept it from getting mushy 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hi Diana! We are delighted that you enjoyed it. That soup is one of our favorites and we have it often during the Fall and Winter. Adding that rice pasta at the end really does make a difference, doesn’t it? 🙂

      Reply

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