Minestrone soup is everyone’s favorite Italian soup recipe. It is so popular for a good reason. Because it is one of the most colorful veggie-packed comfort food that you can make to satisfy the whole family. May they be vegan, vegetarian, or else.
Do you know anyone who doesn’t love Italian food? Me neither. We have already shared some of our favorite Italian comfort food recipes like this Vegan Spaghetti Bolognese, or this quick Vegan Mushroom Risotto, or our favorite Vegan Lasagna, or this 15-minute Vegan Alfredo Sauce. And we are not stopping there. Here comes our favorite Italian soup recipe, Vegan Minestrone.
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What is an Italian Minestrone soup?
There is no set recipe for Minestrone, so you can expect several variations even within Italy. However, what they all have in common is that
it is a thick tomato- and veggie broth-based soup loaded with seasonal vegetables, beans, and pasta. Naturally, it is seasoned with Italian spices like oregano and basil.
What is in our Minestrone soup?
Lots of veggies and legumes of course! I think the more vegetables we add, the more delicious the soup will be. This is also the vegan soup recipe we make if we would like to empty our fridge. It is the perfect recipe to use all you have in your pantry in one go. We pack them with whatever we have or can find. The more colorful it is, the better.
Our favorite ingredients to add to this delicious vegetable minestrone soup:
- Onion
- Garlic
- Potato
- Carrot
- Parsnip
- Celery – my daughter calls this soup “Letter C Soup” as the sliced celery stalks look like the letter C
- Canned tomato and tomato paste
- Red kidney beans
- Chickpeas
- Shells pasta or elbow pasta
- Italian seasoning
What other veggies can you add?
Traditionally, it was a frugal, peasant dish, so potato, carrot, and celery are the usual ingredients though. However, we cooked minestrone soup with veggies like mushroom, other root vegetables (like turnip, kohlrabi, rutabaga, or celeriac), and spinach. You can add zucchini, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale, or other collard greens as well. If you add sweet potato or butternut squash, the soup will turn sweeter as they are high in sugar. So the taste will deviate from the original minestrone flavor.
What other legumes can you add?
Whatever legumes you have basically. We made this soup with different beans and they all go great with this vegetable soup base. These are usually cannellini beans aka white kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, or borlotti beans aka cranberry beans. Minestrone soup also tastes delicious with green beans as well. We have never tried it with lentils though, as this should be a bean and veggie soup.
What pasta should you use?
I would say whatever you have. We prefer to use small shells pasta or elbow pasta, but you can use orzo, orecchiette, or even spaghetti (broken into smaller pieces), penne, fusilli, or farfalle. It looks even cuter and more unique with an unusual pasta. You can even ditch pasta and add pre-cooked rice, farro (not gluten-free!), or millet.
How to make Vegan Minestrone Soup?
We cook this Italian vegetable soup either in our cast-iron Dutch oven or in a regular stockpot. We made it lots of times and will show you below step-by-step how to cook the best vegan minestrone soup every time.
Prepare the ingredients
Peel and chop onion and garlic. Wash, peel, and dice the potato. Wash, peel and slice carrot, and parsnip. Wash and chop the celery stalk. We used canned kidney beans and canned chickpeas so nothing to be done there. Cook the pasta of your choice separately according to package instructions.
Let’s cook vegetable minestrone soup
Heat your a stockpot or a Dutch oven to medium heat and add olive oil. Cook the chopped onion (photo #1) for 1-2 minutes. Add the chopped garlic, the sliced carrot, parsnip, and celery (photo #2). Stir and cook for 5-6 minutes. Next, add the tomato paste, the canned chopped tomatoes, and the sweet paprika powder and bring to boil (photo #3), which should take 2-3 minutes. Now, add the seasoning: salt, pepper, dried basil, oregano, and thyme, as well as the dried bay leaves (photo #4). Stir to combine.
Add veggie broth (photo #5) and cook the soup for 10 minutes on medium heat. Then, add the diced potatoes (photo #6) and cook for 6-8 minutes. When the potatoes are soft, add the canned or cooked beans and chickpeas (photo #7) and cook for 5 minutes. Finally, add the cooked pasta and the freshly chopped parsley (photo #8).
Top tips to make Perfect Vegan Minestrone Soup
- Chop vegetables evenly – We added carrots and root veggies first as they need the most time to be cooked. The next one should be potatoes, as they need less time to be tender. Mushrooms and leafy greens need even less time to be ready.
- Dry vs canned legumes – If you’d like to use dry beans and chickpeas, you should cook it separately and only add them to the soup once soft and ready to eat.
- Is it hot and spicy? – Well, not really. However, if you prefer a little hotness, you can add a bit of chili powder or red pepper flakes.
- Thickening the soup – It is a hearty soup and usually, it doesn’t need to be thickened with flour or starch.
What to serve with a Vegetarian Minestrone Soup?
It is a one-pot hearty soup, which already has potatoes and pasta. However, it is so satisfying to dunk your bread or GFV cornbread or even a GFV garlic bread into this lovely soup.
You can also top it with vegan parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, and even more fresh basil or parsley. After serving you can also drizzle it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, vegan pesto or balsamic vinegar.
If you make too much (which is nearly impossible I think as I can eat it 3 days in a row without a second thought), you can turn it into a completely different soup. I found this list where they show us 6 ways to mix up minestrone.
FAQs and Substitutions
How to store it?
This vegetarian minestrone soup recipe is perfect for batch cooking. You can easily store it in the fridge for 3-4 days without any problem.
Can I freeze it?
Yes, you can. Minestrone keeps really well in the freezer. We recommend freezing them in batches of 1-2 servings.
This Vegan Minestrone Soup recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegan, vegetarian, nut-free, and soy-free diets. It can also be WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) if you cook the onion and the garlic in water or in veggie broth. It is only gluten-free if you choose a gluten-free pasta. The vegetable soup part is gluten-free on its own.
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More vegan soup recipes
You can browse through our Vegan Soup Recipes or our Quick & Easy Vegan Meals collection or check out
- Vegan Sweet Potato Soup
- 30-min Red Lentil Soup
- Vegan Cabbage Sausage Soup
- Hungarian Vegetarian Goulash
- Vegan Jackfruit Stew
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Vegan Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 1 Onion medium
- 3-4 cloves Garlic
- 1 Potato large
- 1 Carrot large
- 1 Parsnip medium
- 1 Celery stalk
- 1 can (14 oz) Red kidney beans or any other bean like canellini beans, pinto beans, or cranberry beans
- 1 can (14 oz) Chickpeas
- 1 can (14 oz) Chopped tomatoes
- 2,5 oz Tomato paste
- 6 cup Veggie broth
- 1 cup Small shells pasta aka Conchiglie (dry) or any other pasta of your choice
- 1 tsp Oregano ground
- 1 tsp Basil ground
- 1 tsp Thyme ground
- 1 tsp Sweet paprika powder
- 1 Bay leaves
- Parsley (fresh)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparing the ingredients
- Peel and chop onion and garlic. Wash, peel, and dice the potato. Wash, peel and slice carrot, and parsnip. Wash and chop the celery stalk. We used canned kidney beans and canned chickpeas so nothing to be done there.
- Cook the pasta of your choice separately according to package instructions.
Making Vegan Minestrone Soup
- Heat your a stockpot or a Dutch oven to medium heat and add olive oil.
- Cook the chopped onion for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the chopped garlic, the sliced carrot, parsnip, and celery. Stir and cook for 5-6 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, the canned chopped tomatoes, and the sweet paprika powder. Bring to boil, which should take 2-3 minutes.
- Add the seasoning: salt, pepper, dried basil, oregano, and thyme, as well as the dried bay leaf. Stir to combine.
- Add veggie broth and cook the soup for 10 minutes on medium heat.
- Add the diced potatoes and cook for 6-8 minutes.
- When the potatoes are soft, add the canned or cooked beans and chickpeas and cook for 5 minutes.
- Finally, add the cooked pasta and top it with vegan parmesan, nutritional yeast, freshly chopped parsley or basil. Enjoy!
Notes
Top tips to make perfect minestrone soup
- Chop vegetables evenly – We added carrots and root veggies first as they need the most time to be cooked. The next one should be potatoes, as they need less time to be tender. Mushrooms and leafy greens need even less time to be ready.
- Dry vs canned legumes – If you’d like to use dry beans and chickpeas, you should cook it separately and only add them to the soup once soft and ready to eat.
- Is it hot and spicy? – Well, not really. However, if you prefer a little hotness, you can add a bit of chili powder or red pepper flakes.
- Thickening the soup – It is a hearty soup and usually, it doesn’t need to be thickened with flour or starch.
Karlie
First time ever having this soup, and its so yummy
My Pure Plants
Hi Karlie, thanks for trying our recipe. We are so happy you liked it.
Bec
Do you drain the beans and chick peas? How what size cans of everything? Lacking some good directions.
Bec
My Pure Plants
Hi Bec,
You are right. The can size and the metrics should have there. No idea why they aren’t. I added them now.