Homemade Minestrone Soup {Slow Cooker}
An easy to make, Minestrone soup recipe that tastes 1000 times better than the Olive Garden’s version! My minestrone soup is loaded with good for you veggies, like spinach and zucchini. It’s also protein packed with red kidney beans and great northern beans. You’ll be full for hours from this healthy, nutritious soup!
How about I throw a bunch of ingredients (say, veggies, beans, and pasta) into a crockpot and call it dinner? This slower cooker minestrone soup is probably going to be the easiest thing you’re ever going to cook. And the best part? You didn’t even need to turn on the stove!
I wonder if it’s even legal for me to call this a minestrone soup recipe? It’s ingredients that get tossed into the slow cooker and a few hours later, they come out in the form of a soup. Don’t you just love lunches and dinners like that? This gal right here is a big fan of those kinda meals.
Minestrone Soup Recipe Video:
So guys, I have news. I ♥ vegetables. And you already knew that. And now you know it even more.
My hope for you with this soup → that you make this on a really chilly and busy October night. It’s absolutely perfect for those days/nights when you have only 3,018,857 things to get done, and the fact that the crockpot is adulting for you and taking on the dinner responsibilities for the evening means you have the 30 minutes you would’ve spent making dinner to do what. ever. you. like.
Real excitement right there. Ideally, that would happen in a big, comfy chair with a good book and a warm blanket. These oh so rare, picture-perfect moments are brought to you by my slow cooker minestrone soup recipe.
Why this is the best minestrone soup recipe:
Shall I dare say my minestrone soup recipe is better than the Olive Garden’s version? Yes, I think I will. Don’t get me wrong; I first fell in love with Minestrone soup at the Olive Garden. It actually set the expectation of what a minestrone should be for me. The canned stuff was absolutely no good at all. And after researching the interweb until there weren’t any more recipes left to research, I decided to develop my own recipe.
So what makes my recipe unique and so much better? Well, I’ve got a secret ingredient. Any guesses? Okay, I’ll give you a hint. It’s in the picture above. And it’s a red blob. No, not the diced tomatoes, the other red blob.
*Shhh* I’m only sharing this with you because we’re friends. Ready for it?
Homemade Sun-dried tomato pesto!
That super concentrated flavor of tomato pesto is exactly what minestrone soup needs. Plus, the basil, parmesan, and pine nuts in the pesto add such a great, full-bodied flavor to the soup.
Also, since we’re sharing secret ingredients and all, toss in a few parmesan rinds into the minestrone soup. For herbs, I used dried oregano, fresh rosemary (because I had fresh on hand, dried is fine too), and a few bay leaves.
TIP: I should mention that this does make quite a batch of soup. So if you’re planning on making this for weekly lunches, I suggest cooking and keeping the pasta separately. Then you can add some to each serving before reheating.
This slower cooker minestrone soup is exactly what you need to warm up on a chilly evening. I served it with a few slices of baguette, toasted and rubbed down with a garlic clove.
We dipped, we dunked, and sipped, slurped soup (say that 3x fast) like it was our job. Garlic bread pairs beautifully with minestrone soup! It was a good evening. 🙂
Homemade Minestrone Soup (Slow Cooker)
An easy to make, a minestrone soup recipe that tastes 1000 times better than the Olive Garden's version! My minestrone soup is loaded with good for you veggies, like spinach and zucchini. It's also protein packed with red kidney beans and great northern beans. You'll be full for hours from this healthy, nutritious soup!
Ingredients
- 2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomato pesto (homemade or store-bought)
- 1 parmesan rind
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- 1 1/4 cup celery, diced
- 1 1/2 cup white onion, diced
- 4 - 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 sprig rosemary (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) great northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups zucchini, diced
- 1 1/2 cups tubular (ditalini) pasta
- 1 cup frozen green beans, thawed
- 2 1/2 cups baby spinach, chopped
- Finely shredded Parmesan cheese, for serving (or Romano)
Instructions
- Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato pesto, parmesan rind, vegetable stock, water, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, oregano, rosemary, and bay leaves to a slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook on low heat 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
- Add in red kidney beans, great northern beans, zucchini, and pasta and cook on high heat for an additional 20- 25 minutes until pasta is tender. Stir in the spinach and green beans and cook for an additional 5 minutes until heated through. Serve warm topped with parmesan cheese and garlic toasts.
*Please note: the nutritional facts calculated are an estimate based on the ingredients i’ve used. If you’d like a more accurate count, please calculate them using the ingredients/brands you’ve used to prepare the recipe. The nutritional info for this minestrone soup is calculated based on 8 servings.*
Made it! Loved it! When shared with my neighbors, I got rave reviews. “Best minestrone soup I EVER had!! Told them all, sadly I’m not a great cook, it was not my creation..BUT! Directed all of them to your website to get the recipe themselves.. then I got many thanks for this website!!
Hiii. We’re getting a snow storm tomorrow so I plan on making this first thing in the morning, looks and sounds delish. Can I freeze the soup, if so how long will it last, and how would you defrost in the fridge?
A question — if you had fresh green beans should I add them with the carrots and other veggies or later with the zucchini?
I am planning to use fresh green beans (trimmed and cut). Can I add them in the beginning with the carrots, onion and celery?
Hi Jessica! I just made this soup, which was very tasty, but I’d definitely add the green beans at the beginning. I added mine with the zucchini and they were too hard.
I’d blanch them for a few minutes and then add with other veg. Even perhaps saute carrots and celery for a few minutes before adding. Blanch green beans or saute for a minute or so with carrots and celery. Or both.
This was very flavorful soup — I will definitely add it to my rotation. I added fresh green beans but next time would add these at the start.
This is my go to minestrone recipe. I have some picky eaters in my house so I use canned tomato sauce instead of tomatoes. It’s delicious either way!
I make a lot of recipes from your site because you really know about flavor – everything is always outstanding. I made this soup yesterday and it is gorgeous in its presentation. However, I used store-bought sun-dried tomato pesto, forgot the celery, and swapped in dried rosemary from my spice cabinet – possibly too old. The soup was good, but I lost some wow with these substitutions. Personally I think the store pesto was a big mistake and will be making yours next time! Thank you for this blog – I cook from it weekly and recommend it to everyone. My favorite!
Best soup I’ ve ever made , and everyone loves it! I share it with so many people. I am extremely happy and grateful that this winner recipe popped into my Instagram feed.
Soooo good!
Wonderful soup. A more complex recipe, but worth it for the complex flavor. I have substituted 1-1/2 cup of dry beans instead of the two cans. Comes out perfect every time.
Fantastic vegetarian recipe for a crowd.
The combo of veggies is delicious. But there is5nearly enough liquid for this to be soup. I followed the recipe exactly but it’s more like a vegetable side dish. I ha e to add broth to the mixture when reheated to make it soup. But it was too thick from the beginning.
This is the seconded time I hv made this
I love this recipe
I fell in love with your tomato pesto. I will be using this pesto often! The soup is in the crockpot! Shared your blog with family members. Meanwhile my family keeps on checking the soup out!
I just made this recipe after years of making the old Olive Garden. This one is absolutely 100 times better. I think that the Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto made all the difference. Also, I had never made it in the crock pot before. Delicious
I have made this several times now and get excited about it every time! The house smells amazing and the soup is scrumptious!!!!!
I have two very young kids so I blend the soup into a purée and serve it with penne pasta and they eat it… if only they knew what they were eating!!
Thanks heaps for this recipe!
I’m trying to pretend it’s Fall in Florida and decided to give this a try. Love love loved this recipe! House smelled like heaven. And this was a perfect lunch for days to come. I cook the pasta separately for those that want it/so it doesn’t get mushy for leftovers. I personally enjoy it without the pasta.
Love, love LOVE this recipe. The sun dried tomato pesto is a game changer.
There’s no real point in adding the great beans last, just add them at the beginning and let them simmer with the rest of the veggies. Use fresh too over frozen. Add a bit of ground beef to this too, I added that and some baby portabella mushrooms.
A definite HIT !!
This soup was so delicious and tasty. Full of flavors and filling. Made it with some garlic bread as suggested. I will be making this again!
made this soup today and must say it is delicious! it will be a definite in my soup repertoire! so flavourful and easy to prepare.
What a great recipe! This makes an awesome addition to our slow cooker repertoire, thank you very much for sharing!
Excellent soup, easy to make (although it took me longer than 10 minutes to prep).
I just recently discovered Reggiano Parmeseano (amazing for anyone who has not tried it) and then bought the rinds, not realizing their use – perfect timing upon discovering this recipe!
This recipe is super-hearty and thick, I added more water (at least 2 cups), a splash of vino, and next time will add another 14oz of tomato, perhaps scale back pasta to only 1 cup. Low and slow cooker, 8+ hrs.
Thank you so much!!!
This recipe is absolutely delicious!!! I took the extra step to saute the onion, carrot and celery, then the garlic. My husband who does all the cooking wants me to make it for company.
Do you have more meatless recipes?
Can you prep this in the slow cooker pot and leave in fridge the night before cooking?
Amazing recipe! I made it for some dairy-free friends, so I used 1/4 cup nutritional yeast instead of the parm rind and some vegan tomato basil pesto, and it turned out awesome!
Best minestrone recipe I’ve tried so far. The only thing. I would do is cook the zucchini perhaps 15 more mins. Otherwise DELISH!!!!!!
I’ve made this twice now and it’s really good and flavorful! I use my big crockpot and it definitely makes a large serving, but that’s great because this time I shared the leftovers with a sick relative. I like that you can put your own spin on it with different veg. I don’t have sun dried tomato pesto but both times have just cut up some sun dried tomatoes. I wouldn’t skip the parm rind! Will make again, thanks!
Very good. My family loved it.
I made this on a snowy day in WI and it was delicious. I did not use the parmesan rind because I only had shredded Parmesan on hand. I also added a half teaspoon red pepper flake and about a half pound of hot italian sausage at the start because we like our soup spicy. I replaced one can of the diced tomatoes with a can of tomato sauce because my husband doesn’t love tomato chunks. Served with parmesan cheese on top and garlic bread sticks – SO good on a cold day!
Why carnt I freeze with the cooked pasta? Or keep in fridge with cooked pasta?
Thanks