4 Videos | Photo: Minestrone Soup with Pasta, Beans and Vegetables Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini or navy) beans, drained
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 2 cups cooked ditalini pasta
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen spinach, defrosted
- 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
- Basil sprigs, garnish, optional
Directions
In a slow cooker, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.
Thirty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add ditalini, zucchini and spinach. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle parmesan cheese over top. Garnish with basil, if desired.
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By mldswreg_11476062
Santa Clara, CA
on February 02, 2012
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I agree with most of the reviews...this is a 4-star recipe WITH some major modifications. I added 4 cloves of garlic and fresh green beans. I used fire roasted tomatoes to boost the flavor. I used fresh spinach. I cooked the pasta (a couple of minutes less than the time suggested on the box, drained it, rinsed it with cold water, and added it 15 minutes before the end of cooking time, not 30. I doubled the amount of stock because 4 hours into cooking, it WAS getting thick...like stew, not soup. I set the slow cooker to 8 hours on low but in the last hour of cooking I changed it to high because the green beans took forever to cook (if I make this again, which I probably will, I'll consider using frozen...but fresh green beans just taste so FRESH, you know?...in the final analysis, that's what recipes are supposed to be. You personalize them. That's what made this one a winner.
By seoneill1
Staten Island
on January 07, 2012
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This was delicious. I added four sliced cloves of garlic and 1/2 tsp. of dried basil to it. I was surprised that garlic wasn't an ingredient in the first place and the dried basil replaced the basil springs. I also ended up using more broth than the recipe called for because it needed it. But all in all a good recipe that offers a wide variety of vegetables - haven't come across spinach or zuchinni in another recipe for minestrone and it was a good idea. I used elbow pasta only because I could get that in whole grain and couldn't find whole grain ditalini. But yeah this is a good base recipe that gets better with personal tweaking. Mine had plenty of broth when we were done so... I don't know what happened with the other people.
By ladydenis1_7234834
Columbia, SC
on November 21, 2011
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The recipe did not come out right. By the time I was done cooking it, there was no broth left. I followed the directions and cooked on high for 4 hours. Also I thought it was tasteless.
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