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Minestrone soup is so hearty it can stand on its own as the main dish! I fell in love with minestrone at the Olive Garden, so this is a pretty darn close attempt at copying the classic Italian soup.
If you want a few more Olive garden Copycats, here is the Best Alfredo Sauce and Zuppa Toscana recipe.
Minestrone soup is not just tasty, it’s healthy as well! The delicious tomato-y broth is chock-full of vegetables and beans. It’s the perfect dish to serve to kids who are finicky with eating produce.
Made in one-pot, healthy minestrone is a great option for a quick weeknight dinner as the weather starts to cool off and the kids gear up to go back to school. Sometimes knowing that I will have a quick clean-up is enough to motivate me to make a homemade dinner… just sayin’.
What is Minestrone Soup?
Minestrone is an Italian soup known for its thick tomato-based broth. It can be made with pasta or rice, and typically contains carrots, tomato chunks, kidney beans, celery, onions and potatoes. However, the creation of this soup came from a need to use up leftover vegetables. So, feel free to use any veggies that are taking up space in your refrigerator. Or, alter the recipe to whatever is fresh and in season. Seriously, you can’t go wrong!
Tips for Minestrone Soup
- Make Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup – Have gluten allergy? No problem! Substitute the pasta for wild or white rice.
- Make Minestrone Soup Spicy – Like it spicy? Add some red pepper flakes to your minestrone for the perfect touch of heat.
- Make Minestrone Soup Vegan – Easily make your minestrone vegan by using egg-free noodles (or rice!) and a vegetable-based broth. One of my new favorite products is Better Than Bouillon’s No Beef Base broth concentrate.
- Switch up the Vegetables You Use – Minestrone is extremely versatile. If you don’t have the exact ingredients this recipe calls for, don’t worry! You can use red or yellow zucchini, sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower… I mean, anything! The broth compliments any vegetable. Use what you have and don’t let anything go to waste.
- Noodles Make Broth Disappear! – Noodles are notorious for sucking up liquid. As your leftover minestrone sits in the fridge, you may notice that your noodles are slowly absorbing your broth. If this is a problem for you, add more broth to the soup.
Storing Minestrone Soup
- Keeping Minestrone Soup Fresh – Store your minestrone soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. The kicker? Minestrone gets tastier as it marinates in the fridge. That’s right…each bowl you reheat will taste richer and richer.
- Freezing Minestrone Soup – You probably know by now that I am the queen of having frozen, homemade food on hand. However, I would discourage you from freezing minestrone. The reason is that this soup contains fresh vegetables.
Serving the Minestrone Soup
Some freshly grated parmesan cheese is the perfect garnish for minestrone. After all, that’s what they do at Olive Garden! It wouldn’t hurt to add some chopped basil or cracked pepper to the mix.
Like I said before, minestrone is a stand-alone kind of soup. However, there is nothing like sopping up that hearty broth with nice piece of bread. Try making my Parmesan Garlic Flatbread Recipe or No Knead Bread.
Other Soup Recipes to Make
- Split Pea Soup (My Grandma’s Recipe)
- Gnocchi Zuppa Toscana Recipe
- Chicken Gizzard Mushroom Soup
Recipe
Minestrone Soup (Olive Garden Copycat)
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Servings
10 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 30 minutes mins
Total Time 50 minutes mins
Recipe contributed by: Natalya Drozhzhin
Minestrone soup is so hearty it can stand on its own as the main dish! I fell in love with minestrone at the Olive Garden, so this is a pretty darn close attempt at copying the classic Italian soup.
Ingredients
- 2 medium carrots (diced into small cubes)
- 2 small zucchinis (diced into small cubes)
- 1/2 large onion (diced into small cubes)
- 6 celery stalks (diced into small cubes)
- 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
- 32 oz vegetable broth
- 15 oz canned great Northen beans (drained)
- 15 oz canned Kidney beans (drained)
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp dry basil
- 1/2 cup noodles
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups water
US Units – Metric
Instructions
Preheat the pot with olive oil, add zucchini, carrots, celery and onions. Sautee for about 10 minutes, until vegetables soften.
To the pot, add canned diced tomatoes. Season with Italian seasoning and dry basil.
Add vegetable broth, noodles, kidney and Great Northen beans. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the soup, you can add 2 more cups of water to the mix.
Press garlic into the mixture and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Serve while the minestrone soup is still warm.
Nutrition Facts
Minestrone Soup (Olive Garden Copycat)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 152 Calories from Fat 18
% Daily Value*
Fat 2g3%
Saturated Fat 1g5%
Sodium 599mg25%
Potassium 594mg17%
Carbohydrates 27g9%
Fiber 9g36%
Sugar 6g7%
Protein 7g14%
Vitamin A 2436IU49%
Vitamin C 16mg19%
Calcium 87mg9%
Iron 3mg17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Posted October 28, 2019
About Author
BreeApr 9, 2024 Hello! I'm not sure if I'm missing it or not.. however how many servers is this?
Natalya DrozhzhinApr 10, 2024 Hey Bree, It's ten servings. I hope you enjoy!
MouseApr 6, 2024 Hello! I had this for the first time recently and thought it was filling enough to add to my diet while staying healthy. Thank you so much for this! However.. I'm still learning to cookel and have some questions.
When you put the veggies in the oil, do you need to be moving them around? Also you said to press the garlic cloves in and I'm not really sure what that means. Like put them in whole?Natalya DrozhzhinApr 8, 2024 Hey Mouse, I'm happy you love this recipe and are cooking more! Yes, you want to move the veggies around (saute them in oil) so they cook more evenly. To press the garlic cloves, you use a garlic press (linked below) and you place a peeled garlic clove in it, press it and out comes garlic. You could also mince it, - chop it really small with a knife instead. https://www.shopper.com/p/9FF…
AshleyMar 18, 2024 How would I cook this in the slow cooker?
Natalya DrozhzhinMar 18, 2024 Hey Ashely, I personally don't make this soup in a crockpot, but I would add all the ingredients besides the zucchini and noodles and add those the last 20 minutes or so. I hope this helps.
Normand AudetMar 3, 2024 I am making this in my instantpot and it smells soooo good. I will add another comment when it is done and if I can figure out how to send a pic, I will.
Natalya DrozhzhinMar 4, 2024 Can't wait to hear about it! Thanks for sharing.
C VestalFeb 28, 2024 I was searching for a good minestrone recipe for quite a while and luckily stumbled across this about a year ago. It is SO GOOD! We make this about every two weeks. I usually make a double batch, and the leftovers are gone in a day or two. The only thing I consistently do different from the recipe is add more garlic ( family loves garlic) and make the pasta separate. The pasta tends to get a bit mushy when you’re reheating leftovers the next day. We recently went to Olive Garden and everybody agreed, this minestrone recipe is better! Highly recommend!
Natalya DrozhzhinFeb 28, 2024 Hello C! Thank you, I'm so glad it's such a hit in your home! This soup makes great leftovers and reheats so well. I do agree that storing the pasta separately is best if you plan to eat it for a few days though. Thank you for taking the time to leave us feedback, it's appreciated. 😀
D ElliottFeb 19, 2024 This was delicious. I did add salt and pepper.
D ElliottFeb 19, 2024 It was delicious. I did add salt and pepper.
Natalya DrozhzhinFeb 19, 2024 Fine tuning is always key for the personal touch! Glad you loved it!
susan brownFeb 12, 2024 This was wonderful! I will definitely put it in my permanent rotation!
Natalya DrozhzhinFeb 13, 2024 Yay! So happy to hear this made the rotation! 🙂
dellaFeb 6, 2024 what happened to how much receipt made andable to increase the receipt for more or less people?
Natalya DrozhzhinFeb 6, 2024 Hey Della, you can easily double to triple this recipe for more people. Enjoy!
Brieann Trueblood-SauerJan 24, 2024 I made this for a work potluck. Going to put it in a crockpot with noodles in the morning. Hopefully it holds well. At first taste, it’s delicious and visually appealing to look at!
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 24, 2024 Your co-workers are lucky to have you! I would love it if someone brought soup to work! I hope they all enjoyed it!
CharlesJan 8, 2024 Found this recipe while looking for vegetable soup recipes and so glad I did. Made this soup tonight and it was absolutely delicious. Great comfort food for the cold weather we are having. Thank you for sharing!
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 9, 2024 Hey Charles, Tis the season for soups! Glad to hear this soup was a great comforting meal!
LydiaJan 8, 2024 Can I substitute great northern beans for canned Garbanzo’s peas?
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 8, 2024 Hey Lydia, This soup is very versatile, so use what you prefer!
DavidJan 5, 2024 I never leave comments, but this was great! I wound up not adding 2 cups of water, which was perfect for the wife and I. With leftovers, I put a little water in dish when I microwaved it, and turned out great.
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 5, 2024 Hey David, Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate the feedback, and are so happy to hear you and your wife loved it!
DebbieJan 2, 2024 How about instead of draining the beans you just omit adding plane water? I’m asking because I already did that. Oops.
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 2, 2024 Hey Debbie, Hopefully it turned out great! My only concern would be that the liquid from the beans would be less than the two cups of water needed, so might end up having less broth.
LoriJan 23, 2024 I drained the beans in a 2 cup measuring cup and then filled the rest of the cup with water to make 2 cups.
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 23, 2024 Thanks for sharing the details. How did the soup turn out?
sharonDec 31, 2023 Maybe I missed it, but when do you add the noodles? Are they precoooked or do they cook in the broth?
thanks!
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 1, 2024 Hi Sharon! It's in step 3, add the noodles with the vegetable broth, kidney and Great Northern beans. Enjoy!
Stephanie CatesJan 9, 2024 are the noodles cooked or uncooked when adding them
Natalya DrozhzhinJan 9, 2024 Hey Stephanie, The noodles are uncooked when adding them to the soup. Enjoy!
KarenDec 30, 2023 What other vegetable could I use instead of zucchini?
Natalya DrozhzhinDec 31, 2023 Hi Karen, possibly green beans or skip all together. Hope this helps. 🙂
PeterDec 27, 2023 I made it, followed your recipe, wife likes it . It is missing a flavor from Olive garden's version. but thanks for posting your recipe it was very easy to make.
Norrie BurbyFeb 19, 2024 Peter,
See if your supermarket has parmesan cheese RINDS. Then drop one of them in the pot of soup when you combine all. Your taste buds might be reaching out for a more umami-like kick. Adding squirt of anchovy paste, or couple from the can or jar will help as well. Fear not! Your soup will taste NOTHING like fish. The anchovy simply melts into the broth beautifully. This is a good soup recipe. 🙂 Good luckNatalya DrozhzhinDec 27, 2023 Hi Peter, I think home ingredients can be different so it will not be exactly the same but I am happy you still enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for sharing your feedback.
DianeDec 20, 2023 Do you have to cook the beans ahead of time? I've read you need to cooking kidney and great northern beans for 45 minutes but this recipe doesn't say that.
Natalya DrozhzhinDec 21, 2023 Hey Diane, I use canned beans so no pre-cooking required! Enjoy!
BeverleyDec 19, 2023 Where do I get Parmesan rind without having to buy a lot of Parmesan?
Natalya DrozhzhinDec 20, 2023 Hey Beverley, You can check your local grocery store, ask at the deli meat/cheese counter. .
MonikaDec 9, 2023 Made this for lunch today, delicious! Better than Olive Garden.
Natalya DrozhzhinDec 11, 2023 Monika, you totally made my day! I am so happy that you love the homemade version so much!
LinaDec 5, 2023 I have followed your isntruction several times and my family loves your soup...thank you,
Natalya DrozhzhinDec 6, 2023 Thanks for sharing Lina. 🙂
AngelNov 30, 2023 Do you pre cook the beans before adding to soup
Natalya DrozhzhinNov 30, 2023 Hey Angel, Use canned beans and there's no need to pre-cook them.
Rachel HunsakerOct 28, 2023 Is it possible to make it with other beans when you do not have great northern beans?? I realized i forgot to buy them them at the store. 🙁
Natalya DrozhzhinOct 29, 2023 Hi Rachel, Feel free to use what beans you have on hand. Enjoy!
Linda WOct 23, 2023 Made this for company tonight. It was excellent and many said it was the best minestrone they have ever had! I also added the Parmesan rind and extra broth.
Natalya DrozhzhinOct 23, 2023 The parmesan rind is a nice touch! Glad everyone loved it.
SuzanneOct 16, 2023 I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s wonderful! A great vegetarian meal! I add a Parmesan rind like I’ve seen many Italians do when making their minestrone.
Natalya DrozhzhinOct 17, 2023 Hi Suzanne, What a great tip! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
BarbOct 14, 2023 How large is a serving. Looking at calories
Natalya DrozhzhinOct 16, 2023 Hi Barb, It's about 1.5 cups per serving. Enjoy!
SalSep 27, 2023 Could this be made in an instant pot? Would like to make at my office.
Natalya DrozhzhinSep 27, 2023 Hi Sal, It could be, however I have not tried it in the instant pot.
JSep 17, 2023 Red zucchini???
Natalya DrozhzhinSep 18, 2023 Hi J, Thanks for pointing that out!
MarciaSep 2, 2023 When I was a kid, in the 60’s we use to go to the Placerville hotel every Sunday night. I would have minestrone soup, salad, and bread sticks. One of my favorite memories. This soup tastes just like the hotels minestrone. I love it.
Natalya DrozhzhinSep 4, 2023 Hey Marcia- some of our favorite meals are the ones tied to childhood memories. 🙂 I love when readers find a recipe of mine that is nostalgic. Thank you very much for giving it a try!
JaneneAug 17, 2023 Excellent recipe. I made it with and without the tomato paste, and it is much heartier with it. I added pre-cooked Italian mild sausage for my meat-loving family to make it more filling as well. It also freezes just fine...the fresh veggies are fully cooked, so no issue there. The only trick with noodle soups is to allow it to fully defrost in the refrigerator...no microwave :). Also, freezing cooked pasta separately in portions also works very well. Just allow to defrost in the fridge and you'd never know. It also helps keep the noodles from absorbing too much of the broth. Thanks again for the recipe. It's a new favorite in my house!
Jeannie KambeitzOct 13, 2023 Tomato paste? Don’t see that in recipe…
Natalya DrozhzhinAug 17, 2023 Hi Janene, Thanks for sharing all the great freezing tips! Very much appreciated. 🙂
