Minestrone

Name: Minestrone
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion; 2 carrots; 2 celery stalks; 2 garlic cloves; 2 potatoes; 1 zucchini; 150 g green beans; 1/4 green cabbage; 400 g crushed tomatoes; 400 g cooked borlotti beans, drained; 1.5 l water; 1 Parmesan rind (optional); 100 g small pasta (ditalini); 40 g grated Parmesan; Salt and pepper

Local name: Minestrone

Italy's big vegetable soup, thickened with borlotti beans and small pasta, finished with olive oil and Parmesan.

Published on 17 October 2026

#soup#beans#zucchini#pasta#winter

Photo: Katrin Morenz from Aachen, Deutschland , CC BY-SA 2.0

Prep: 25 min
Cook: 50 min
Total: 75 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Dice the onion, carrots and celery small. Soften them in the olive oil over low heat for 10 minutes with the chopped garlic, without browning.
Add the diced potatoes and zucchini, the green beans cut into short lengths and the shredded cabbage. Stir for 3 minutes.
Pour in the tomatoes, the water and the Parmesan rind. Salt, bring to the boil, then simmer covered for 30 minutes.
Add the borlotti beans and the pasta and cook 10 minutes more, until the pasta is tender.
Remove the rind, adjust the seasoning and serve with grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

There is no single minestrone but as many as Italy has regions and seasons: it takes whatever the vegetable garden gives. It is even better reheated the next day.

The techniques this recipe uses

Sweat the aromatics
Medium heat, no browning: the onion should turn translucent and sweet, not toasted.

This recipe also appears in

Easy recipes

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 340 kcal
Protein: 14 g
Fat: 9.8 g
Carbohydrate: 51.8 g
Fibre: 11.5 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my minestrone watery?

It lacked time or a base. The soffritto of onion, carrot and celery needs ten minutes of gentle cooking before the water goes in, and the soup must simmer long enough for the beans and potatoes to thicken it.

Should the pasta cook in the soup?

Yes if you serve it straight away: the pasta starch binds the broth. If you expect leftovers, cook it separately and add it to each bowl, or it swells and drinks the broth overnight.

How do I make it vegan?

Leave out the Parmesan and its rind, and finish each bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and a spoonful of cheese-free pesto.

Italian vegetarian cooking, the cucina povera way
Why the everyday repertoire of the Italian countryside does without meat, how to bind a sauce with pasta water, and what stale bread can do.
Peasant soups, feeding a table on almost nothing
What gives a country soup its body, how to thicken one without cream, and which of these recipes need adapting to do without meat.
Mexican vegetarian cooking: maize, beans, chilli
What the milpa and nixtamalisation bring to a meatless meal, how dry charring builds a sauce, and what the Spanish added to the repertoire.

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