Packed with vegetables, bacon, beans, and pasta, this Minestrone Soup makes for a hearty, filling, and delicious meal.
I’m giving you a big fat winter hug in the form of soup! This is what you eat when you want to keep warm, feel full AND be satisfied.
Friends, I’m on a soup-bender and I don’t want to stop. It’s bad. Just ask the people that live with me. I’ve been serving soup thrice a week for the past 2 months.
Minestrone is one of our favorites! Minestrone is a hearty Italian soup that is typically made with a variety of vegetables, beans, and pasta in a tomato-based broth. It is a flavorful and nourishing meal that is perfect for cold days or as a way to use up about-to-go-bad-vegetables that you have on hand.
Some common ingredients in minestrone soup include diced tomatoes, onions, celery, carrots, and small pasta shapes or broken spaghetti. You can also add meats such as sausage, ham, or bacon to the soup for added flavor and protein. Minestrone is typically seasoned with herbs, and it is often served with grated Parmesan cheese on top.
BUT I swear this isn’t the same old Minestrone Soup that it appears to be. I swear! I know it looks like any other Minestrone, but it’s not. Maybe it is, but I think mine is better. Is that obnoxious or what?! But, really, mine is finger-lickin’ good. I can eat a loaf of bread with it and be the happiest girl, ever!
Speaking of! I have a question. Do you put beans in YOUR Minestrone?? I never have because I *think* that’s supposed to be Pasta e Fagioli. Right? I’m no Italian, so I could be wrong, but I could also be right. So… I added beans. Peer pressure!
In other words, this is what I like to call eating-all-the-colors, also known as “eating all the veggies left at the bottom of the crisper drawers”. Really, there is a good bit of everything in here, too. Plus bacon. (!!!)
It’s easy, it’s DELICIOUS, it’s quick, and it’s versatile. Add whatever veg you’ve got and eat up. AND if you stick to the serving size, it’s a healthy choice. I mean, if I could do one thing right now it would be to slurp up every last bit of that pot up there.
ENJOY!
Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 slices bacon, diced
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 large carrots, diced
- 1 small zucchini, halved longwise and sliced into half-moons
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
- 2 cans (14-ounces each) diced tomatoes
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup whole wheat ditali pasta
- 1 can (15-ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 bag (10 ounces) fresh baby spinach leaves (10 ounces) fresh baby spinach leaves
- freshly grated parmesan cheese, for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat.
- Add bacon and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until cooked through.
- Add the onions, carrots, zucchini, garlic, and thyme; season with salt and pepper and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth and the bay leaf; turn up the heat and bring to a boil.
- Lower heat to medium-low and let simmer uncovered for 15 minutes; add uncooked pasta and continue to cook until pasta is cooked and vegetables are tender; about 8 minutes.
- Add the beans and spinach; continue to cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until beans are heated through and spinach is wilted.
- Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly.
- If soup is too thick, add a bit more vegetable broth.
- Remove from heat, discard bay leaf and let stand few minutes.
- Ladle into soup bowls, top with parmesan cheese, and serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Pink beans are the base of Northern Italy minestrone.
Dry beans in 4 quarts of water are boiled and then left to sit for an hour (which allows time to sauté veggies with diced tomatoes). Add meat, if desired, such as a chuck roast. Simmer until beans are soft and then purée half the beans with some liquid from the pot, returning the puréed beans to the pot. Remove meat and cut up into bite size pieces. The beans make a hearty, flavorful base. Add cooked veggies (onion, garlic, carrots, and canned tomatoes. Add meat of choice add pesto sauce and Parmesan cheese a
This looks incredibly delicious!
I love soup season! This one I have to make soon! Looks so tasty!
Looks so delicious and healthy! I’m going to try making it in my instant pot! Have you tried that? If so how long did you cook it?
I swear I think I could live off of soup! This looks like a big bowl of comfort food! I like the beans! 🙂
This will be perfect for those cool fall nights!
A wonderful soup, on a cold autumn evening. This looks sooooo good! Yummy! This made me drool. Cannot wait to try this. Thank you for a great recipe!
Have you updated the points for this soup to the new Weight Watchers Freestyle SmartPoints?
Thanks!
Hi! Thanks to your suggestion, I just calculated it with the new points and it’s down to 7 instead of 9. 😀
Almost everything is zero points except for the bacon and pasta. I figured it to be 4 points.
Thanks
Hi Joanne! If you have a minute, could you please share with me what calculator you used? I always use the weight watchers calculator that’s on their website, the paid version, and am still getting 7 points. :-/ Thank you!!
I use the same points calculator on the WW app. I just figured that all of the veggies and chicken broth are zero points. I only looked up bacon which is 4 points and the ditalini which is 12 points giving a total of 16 and divided it by 6 servings which equals 3 points.
Hi- what is the serving size? Thanks!
I say yes to beans in minestrone! Not sure if it’s authentic or not, but from a nutrition stand point it makes sense to get some high quality vegetable protein in your soup!
Minestrone has never looked better, I want this for dinner tonight!
I just had a minestrone soup over the weekend and I can’t believe how incredible it is. Looks delish!