Easy Minestrone Soup is the perfect cozy, healthy dinner! Vegetarian, gluten free, and vegan – it’s delicious and done in under 30 minutes! Make it in your crockpot, instant pot or on the stove – this hearty soup is one you’ll absolutely love! This post is sponsored by our friends at Thrive Market.
This post contains affiliate links. As an affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases. Click here to read my policy and more about affiliate links. We are affiliates of Thrive Market and receive a commission if you choose to purchase a membership thorough our links.
Minestrone soup is a classic recipe we absolutely love. Our best minestrone soup recipe is veggie loaded, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free. It’s easy to make in your crockpot or instant pot but it only takes 30 minutes on the stove!
If you’re looking for a quick cozy Easy Healthy Dinner Ideas – this is the recipe for you!
It’s no secret we love soup around here. We’ve got over 35+ Healthy Soup Recipes from Healthy Italian Wedding Soup to Healthy Potato Soup to Healthy Vegetable Soup. It was time we finally added this quick and easy minestrone soup to the blog too!
Why we love minestrone soup:
- Easy to make: This best minestrone soup is done in under 30 minutes. Other than chopping some veggies, it requires little to no effort!
- Loaded with veggies: We love sneaking veggies in soup (like this Healthy Broccoli Soup or Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup)
- Budget friendly: This recipe is made with basic affordable ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry/fridge. We always have our pantry stocked with Thrive Market goods!
You have probably heard me talk about Thrive Market before… it’s my favorite online grocery retailer and the prices are awesome! (You can read more in my Thrive Market Review)
Thrive Market does have a membership fee.. but in our opinion, it’s totally worth it! Now is the perfect time to sign up because you get a free gift and 30% off your first order!
Quick Minestrone Soup Ingredients:
To make minestrone soup you’ll need some veggies and pantry staples.
- olive oil
- onion, garlic, carrots, celery
- cooked kidney beans
- tomato sauce
- pasta
- vegetable stock
- water
- spices: bay leaves, dried oregano, dried parsley, dried basil, black pepper, red pepper flakes, salt.
- chopped baby spinach
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded box.
How to make Vegetarian Minestrone Soup:
Making minestrone vegetable soup is so easy. That’s why this is called ‘Easy Minestrone Soup’!
- Heat your olive oil in the pan. Sauté onions, garlic, celery, and carrots until they’re soft.
- Add in broth, tomato sauce, and spices. Bring to a boil.
- Once the soup is boiling, stir in pasta.
- Cook the pasta until it’s just al dente – make sure not to overcook the pasta! It will continue to cook a bit after you shut the heat off.
- Stir in your kidney beans and spinach.
- Serve & enjoy!
Time Saving Tips for Quick Minestrone Soup
This easy minestrone soup recipe is pretty easy to make, but if you’re looking for some time saving tips – these can help you cut down on your kitchen time.
Cut your veggies ahead of time -You can keep them in the fridge for 24 hours so all you need to do is cook! I also use my food processor to make chopping carrots, onions + garlic SO quick.
Use canned beans- I try to find ones that are low sodium and always rinse/drain them. The cooked kidney beans from Thrive Market are our favorite!
If using dried beans, make sure to cook them ahead of time. Store in a container in your refrigerator until you’re ready to cook
Substitutions for this healthy minestrone soup:
There are so many ways to customize this healthy minestrone soup recipe and adjust it depending on what you have in your pantry/fridge… Here are a few.
Adding meat: If you’re not vegan, you can sauté bacon or pancetta when sautéing your veggies.. It does add flavor, but I honestly prefer it without. Additionally – you can add cooked ground turkey or ground beef to this soup and it would be delicious! Italian sausage would also add flavor! You could also add a parmesan cheese rind to the soup as it cooks, but that is not necessary.
Pasta: You can use any small pasta. Elbows or ‘macaroni’ are my favorites, but ditalini also work, and I’ve even seen people use broken spaghetti!
Beans: I usually use cooked kidney beans to save time. You could also cook your own, or sub with navy beans, cannellini beans, or great northern beans. Feel free to double the amount of beans for extra protein in this recipe!
Broth: If not vegan, you can use chicken broth, beef broth, or bone broth for the liquid in this recipe! We prefer vegetable broth.
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.
Fresh Herbs: Substitute 2 tablespoons of fresh herbs for 1 teaspoon of dried herbs.
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
Veggies: Some minestrone soup recipes add chopped zucchini – I prefer to omit this because I think it gets too mushy, but you can add it if you like it. 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. Green beans are also a traditional vegetable in minestrone, feel free to add them
Oil: Avocado oil or vegetable oil can be used in place of olive oil.
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.
Storing + Serving Healthy Minestrone Soup
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.
Minestrone soup is best served with a big piece of crusty bread, and lots of parmesan cheese! If you’re vegan, feel free to add nutritional yeast.
Fresh basil and cracked black pepper also add a lot of flavor!
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 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.
We have a whole post on the best way to freeze soup!
Can you make this Vegan Minestrone Soup in the crockpot?
Yes, you can make minestrone in the crockpot – but I would really recommend making it on the stovetop. It’s super quick!
I’ve included crockpot instructions for this soup below. It’s important to note that you don’t add the beans/spinach to the crockpot until you’re ready to eat the soup. If you let them cook in the soup they will turn to mush!
Can you make Instant Pot Minestrone Soup?
Yes you can! See below for instructions. Here are some tips for making minestrone soup in your instant pot.
Be aware of the order of the ingredients. Tomato sauces tend to trigger a burn warning in the instant pot.
This was tested with regular macaroni. I would highly recommend a short cut like ditalini or elbows.
Very important note on the pasta – every pasta is different and cooks differently. I would warn against using pastas with lower cook times than 5 minutes. My recommendation is to set your instant pot to 1/4 the amount of time it needs to cook. If the pasta says it needs 10 minutes to cook, let it cook for 2-3 minutes. If the past says it needs 8 minutes, set it to 2 minutes, etc. Alternatively you can also cook the pasta totally separate too avoid it from getting over cooked.
Other healthy soup recipes:
We love soup recipes and have rounded up 35 Healthy Soup Recipes. We also have a free Healthy Soup Ebook you can download here!
Don’t forget – Thrive Market is still giving away a free gift and 30% off when you join. Click here to try out Thrive Market!
Looking for other healthy crockpot recipes? Check out these Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes!
Easy Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup onion minced
- 1 tablespoons garlic minced – approx 3 garlic cloves
- 1 cup carrots minced
- 1 cup celery minced
- 10 oz cooked kidney beans rinsed/drained if using canned
- 28 oz canned tomato sauce
- 1 large bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional omit if you don't like spice or add to taste at end
- 1/4 teaspoon salt optional – omit if using store bought stock with salt
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 8 oz small pasta about 2 cups dry pasta, gluten free if necessary. Elbows, Ditalini, Orzo all work.
- 2 cups chopped spinach
- 1 Parmesan cheese rind optional
Instructions
Stove Top Instructions
- In a large pot, sauté onions, garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes until translucent.
- While vegetables are cooking, drain + rinse beans.
- Add tomato sauce, spices, stock and water to the pot, bring to a boil. If you’re using a parmesan cheese rind, add it now.
- Once soup is boiling, add raw pasta. Cook uncovered until pasta is al dente, about 7-8 minutes (depending on pasta directions). Do NOT overcook the pasta, because it will continue to cook slightly after you take it off the heat
- Once pasta is cooked, stir in cooked beans and raw spinach. Serve + enjoy!
- Notes: the pasta will absorb a significant amount of the liquid. Add more broth if you like a thinner soup
Instant Pot Instructions
- Sauté onion, carrot, celery and garlic on regular sauté for about 2 minutes.
- While vegetables are cooking, drain + rinse beans.
- Add in the spices, water and broth. Pour the tomato sauce on top. Do not stir it.
- Cook on high pressure for 3 minutes and do a quick release.
- While soup cooks, boil a separate pot of water and cook your pasta. Do not cook your pasta In the instant pot with everything else, it will over cook.
- Once pressure has been released, stir in cooked beans, raw spinach, pasta and serve!
Crockpot Instructions
- In a large pot, sauté onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil over medium heat for about 10 minutes until translucent. Add to crockpot base.
- While vegetables are cooking, drain + rinse beans.
- Add tomato sauce, spices, stock and water. Stir and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- 10 minutes before serving, stir in raw pasta. Cover and set to high. Your pasta may need 5-10 more minutes depending on cook time.
- When ready to serve, stir in cooked beans and raw spinach.
DPerry says
So easy and SO good! My family loved it 😊❤️
Dave says
I am looking for a good recipe to cook for my vegan friends and this looks like a keeper. I totally plan to use it but I have a question. Why add 2 cups of water to the broth rather than just use 6 cups of veggie broth?
The Clean Eating Couple says
The water dilutes the tomatoes. You could use veggie broth if you want
Gayle says
This soup was really good! The only ingredient I didn’t have was spinach. Added a bit of frozen corn as well. Used ground chicken for the meat component. The only thing was it absorbed SO MUCH stock. I didn’t even put in the full 2 cups of pasta. I added atleast 2 more cups. I wish I had of in the beginning as I put in Parmesan rinds which added nice flavour but only to part of the stock. All-in-all a good soup;)
Linda says
I’m confused. Ingredient list says tomato sauce. Instructions say add tomatoes. Which is it?
The Clean Eating Couple says
I’m not sure where the confusion is. The recipe calls for tomato sauce and says to add it! There are no whole tomatoes in this recipe, just tomato sauce 🙂
Taylor says
This recipe was so easy to make and the soup is delicious! Minimal ingredients and done very quick. Even my toddler kept asking for more! I will definitely be making this soup again!
Liz says
Love this recipe! When I have some veggies ready to expire that I haven’t eaten I throw in my food processor to mince . So easy to make , so tasty and I use my souper cubes to freeze for future meals .