Hearty Minestrone Soup with Vegetables and Pasta

This minestrone soup is loaded with vegetables and perfect for using up what’s in your fridge. It’s a hearty, freezer-friendly family favorite.

I love finding a soup recipe that is filling and flavorful. A friend gave me this one decades ago, and it’s still one of our family favorites.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

It’s full of colorful veggies. If you need to use up a lot of produce quickly, this soup is perfect. It’s so adaptable that just about any vegetable can go in.

It’s highly customizable. Although I made this minestrone with ground beef, it’s traditionally a vegetarian soup. Instead of the hamburger, you can add more vegetables and even canned beans if you like.

It’s freezer-friendly. This recipe makes a good-sized batch, so you can freeze it (preferably without the pasta) and pull it out to enjoy later.

Ingredients for Minestrone Italian Soup

(A printable recipe card is included at the bottom of this post for your convenience.)

• 1 pound extra-lean ground beef
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced yellow pepper
• 1 cup diced zucchini
• 1 package onion soup mix
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce (I used half a jar of Classico brand, but you can use whatever pasta sauce you love.)
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon basil
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1 cup dried small shell pasta (any shell pasta will work)

Step-by-Step Instructions with Pictures for Minestrone Soup

1. Wash and dice all the vegetables
2. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, sauté the hamburger, onions, celery, carrots, and yellow pepper until the hamburger is no longer pink and the onions are translucent, about 6 to 7 minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper while sautéing. Drain off the grease and liquid.
3. Add the zucchini, onion soup mix, 2 1/2 cups water, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and all the spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes (stirring occasionally to keep anything from sticking), or until the vegetables are tender when poked with a fork.

1. In a separate medium saucepan, cook the pasta according to package directions until it’s “al dente.”
2. Add the cooked pasta to the soup and stir to combine.

Variations on This Minestrone Soup Recipe

If you don’t have the exact vegetables listed, don’t stress! This soup is very adaptable, and you really can’t go wrong with other vegetables. You can use potatoes, beans, squash, or whatever vegetable is in season.

If you’d rather skip the meat, just leave out the hamburger and add a can of drained white beans instead.

For an extra special touch, sprinkle some fresh Parmesan cheese over the top before serving.

If you find the soup thicker than you’d like, simply add more water until it’s the consistency you prefer.

What to Serve with Minestrone Soup

We love soup with some kind of yummy bread, like Dutch oven sourdough bread, honey oat sourdough sandwich bread, or Mom’s fluffy baking powder biscuits.

How to Freeze Minestrone Soup

This soup freezes beautifully without the pasta. That’s why I recommend cooking the pasta separately and adding it to the soup just before serving. Pasta tends to get a bit soggy after time in the freezer!;)

To save space when freezing soup, let it cool completely and then ladle it into a large, heavy-duty zipper-top bag. Lay the bag flat, squeeze out the air, and seal it completely. Place it on a metal cookie sheet in the freezer until it’s frozen solid. Then you’ll have a nice flat bag that stacks easily in your freezer.

Other Soup Recipes You Will Enjoy

• Bring the restaurant home with this Olive Garden-style chicken gnocchi soup.
• This creamy tortellini soup with sausage and spinach is so very delicious!
• This old-fashioned potato soup is one of our family favorites, and it’s even more special with this dumpling recipe.

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