Hearty Minestrone Soup
Minestrone soup is one of my favourite big batch meals to prepare. This classic Italian vegetable and bean soup is nutrient-dense, uses whole food ingredients, comes together easily and fairly quickly, and is super flavourful and satisfying.
There are many, many variations of minestrone soup out there. My take on minestrone soup uses lots of beans and fresh vegetables, and incorporates leafy greens as well. While minestrone soup recipes often include pasta, I don’t usually include it as it makes the soup harder to freeze and I find that the pasta needs to be cooked and stored separately otherwise it soaks up all the broth and turns the soup into more of a pasta stew.
Speaking of freezing, minestrone soup is a great addition to a postpartum meal prep stash!
Looking to prepare for postpartum by stocking your freezer with ready-to-go freezer meals? My postpartum freezer meal prep guide makes postpartum meal prep a breeze!
In this free e-guide, I share my signature method for easily preparing freezer meals for postpartum, as well as some of my favourite postpartum freezer meal recipes to get you started.
Get your free copy here!
Hearty Minestrone Soup
Prep time: 50 min
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled (optional) and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup green beans, chopped into 1/2” pieces
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 large can (28oz/796ml) diced tomatoes, including juices
1 small can (15oz/398ml) or 1.5 cups cooked kidney beans
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup packed baby spinach, roughly chopped
Instructions:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
Add the carrot, celery, and zucchini and continuing cooking, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir and continue cooking for 1 minute.
Add the green beans, diced tomatoes, beans, broth, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes if using.
Increase the heat to medium high. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Remove from heat. Remove the bay leaves and stir in the spinach. Let sit for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted.
Season to taste with more salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, fresh parsely, and/or grated parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!