Chicken Minestrone Soup
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Chicken Minestrone Soup is an easy, healthy dinner that’s veggie loaded and delicious! Hearty & packed with protein, this is a filling soup!
Chicken Minestrone Soup is one of our favorite cozy, hearty cold weather meals. It’s packed with protein and veggies, done in under an hour, and absolutely loaded with flavor!
We have close to 100 high protein, veggie loaded soup recipes on our website, so we’re experts in packing in all the flavor and making a filling soup without all the extra calories.
This minestrone soup with chicken recipe is one of the meals you’ll want to make over and over again once you try it.
Liz’s Tips for the Best Chicken Minestrone Soup
- Don’t skip the Parmesan cheese rind. Most grocery stores sell these rinds in the cheese aisle. They add SO much flavor!
- Don’t overcook the pasta! Remove the soup from the heat after half the amount of cook time because the pasta will continue to cook in the soup.
- Use a food processor to save time chopping veggies.
Ingredients:
substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil.
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders but we like the flavor of chicken thighs the best!
Fresh Veggies: Feel free to also add more carrots/celery if you want to up the veggies! Some people also like to add small pieces of chopped potatoes – you can add them in when you’re sautéing carrots/celery/onion.
Beans: I usually use cooked cannellini beans to save time. You could also cook your own, or sub with navy beans or great northern beans. Red kidney beans or pinto beans may work too. Feel free to double the amount of beans for extra protein in this recipe!
Dried Beans: If you’d like to use dried beans in this recipe, cook them before adding them to the soup. You’ll need about 1.5 cups cooked beans. You can use any beans in this recipe. White beans or cannellini beans would make a great substitute.
Broth: You can use chicken broth, vegetable broth, beef broth, or bone broth for the liquid in this recipe!
Pasta: You can use any small pasta. Ditalini is my favorite. Use gluten-free pasta to make the soup gluten free. You can also try this Alphabet Soup for a fun recipe.
Low Sodium: If you’re watching your salt intake – omit the salt from the recipe or add it at the end to taste. Also, make sure to check your canned beans/broth. Look for low or no salt added beans/broth.
Spinach: You can use fresh or frozen baby spinach. I haven’t tried this soup with chopped kale, but I think it would be great.
Parmesan Cheese Rind: A parmesan rind is optional but highly recommended as it adds a ton of flavor. You can find them at most specialty grocers near the cheese section. If you are vegan/dairy free- omit this from the recipe.
Vegetarian: Try our Easy Minestrone Soup recipe for a vegetarian version.
How to Make Chicken Minestrone Soup
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, then sauté carrots, celery, onion, and garlic for about 5 minutes.
- Add chicken, stock, tomatoes, water, green beans, spices, and Parmesan rind, stir, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Once boiling, add pasta, beans, spinach, and zucchini, then cook uncovered for 4 minutes less than the pasta’s package time to prevent overcooking as it continues to soften while the soup cools.
- Once the pasta has cooked, remove the soup from the heat.
- Discard the bay leaf and Parmesan rind, then remove the chicken thighs, chop or shred them.
- Stir the chicken back into the pot and serve hot with additional Parmesan cheese.
What to Serve with Italian chicken soup
Minestrone soup is delicious with a big piece of bread and lots of Parmesan cheese!
For even more veggies, serve with a fresh side salad like a Caesar Salad or a Kale Lemon Salad.
storage
Help: My soup is too thick! As the soup sits, the pasta will absorb the broth/liquid and become thicker. Don’t worry! Just add more broth when you’re ready to eat your leftovers.
Reheating: This soup will last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can reheat it in the crockpot, microwave or on the stove. The pasta will absorb some of the liquid overnight so you can just add some broth when reheating or enjoy it thicker.
Freezing: You can freeze this high protein chicken soup, but it isn’t as good once it has been frozen. The pasta can get a little mushy – but it’s still totally edible! We like these containers for freezing.
other Chicken Soup recipes:
Chicken Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ cups peeled, diced carrots
- 1 ½ cups minced celery
- 1 cup minced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs fat trimmed
- 1 quart low sodium chicken stock
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup diced green beans
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Parmesan cheese rind optional
- 1 cup ditalini pasta 4 ounces dry pasta
- 15.5 ounces cooked cannellini beans rinsed and drained
- 2 cups frozen chopped spinach thawed
- 1 cup diced zucchini
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Sauté the carrots, celery, onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until translucent.
- Add chicken thighs, chicken stock, tomatoes, water, green beans, basil, oregano, parsley, pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, bay leaves and parmesan cheese rind to the pot. Stir together, cover the pot and turn the heat to high to bring to a boil. It will take about 10 minutes to come to a boil.
- Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta, cannellini beans, spinach and zucchini to the pot. Cook uncovered for 4 minutes less than the recommended cook time on the pasta package. Do NOT overcook the pasta, because it will continue to cook as the soup cools.
- Once the pasta has cooked, remove the soup from the heat.
- Discard the bay leaf and Parmesan cheese rind.
- Remove the chicken thighs from the pot with a pair of tongs and chop into small pieces on a cutting board or shred with two forks.
- Add the chopped chicken back into the pot. Stir together and serve hot with additional Parmesan cheese.
- Note: The pasta will absorb a significant amount of the liquid. Add more broth if you like a thinner soup.
Crockpot Instructions
- In a sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Sauté the carrots, celery, onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until translucent. Transfer to the crockpot base
- Add chicken thighs, chicken stock, tomatoes, water, green beans, basil, oregano, parsley, pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, bay leaves and parmesan cheese rind to the crockpot. Stir together, cover the pot and turn the heat to high for 6 hours, or low for 8 hours.
- The last hour of cooking, add your pasta, cannellini beans, spinach and zucchini to the crockpot. Stir to combine. Cover and cook for the remaining hour. You can also cook your pasta in a separate pot and stir it in the soup.
- Important: you should undercook the pasta. Once you remove the crockpot from the heat the pasta will continue to cook and absorb the broth. Feel free to add more broth to your liking if the soup becomes too thick.
- Discard the bay leaf and Parmesan cheese rind.
- Remove the chicken thighs from the pot with a pair of tongs and chop into small pieces on a cutting board or shred with two forks.
- Add the chopped chicken back into the pot. Stir together and serve hot with additional Parmesan cheese.
- Note: The pasta will absorb a significant amount of the liquid. Add more broth if you like a thinner soup.
I made this soup this past weekend and it was so easy and delicious. I shared this recipe with 5 co-workers after they saw me bring it for lunch. The aroma filled the kitchen and was so inviting. I can’t wait to make this again! This is perfect for the soup season in Minnesota.