Trisha T.
This minestrone soup was everything we wanted it to be—chock-full of vegetables, filling, and delicious. We absolutely loved every bite of this soup and look forward to making it again.
It required a lot of chopping but was otherwise simple and straightforward. It’s also easily customizable to your tastes.
My partner isn’t a huge fan of green beans, so we’ll definitely substitute asparagus next time. We couldn’t find borlotti beans, but cannellini beans were a good substitute.
I couldn’t find tiny shells, so I used tiny bow ties (farfalline) instead, which were so cute. Any small pasta would work. I used mostly vegetable stock with a little water.
The pesto truly takes the soup to a whole new level and brings it all together.
Laura Tarlo
I think I might have appreciated this old-fashioned minestrone soup a bit more if it were a cold, blustery day, but it was 83° and sunny! Yet, I still thought it was tasty. It was surprisingly light and flavorful and would be good for your vegetarian guests.
I prepared the soup in a 5-quart Dutch oven. I used vegetable stock along with borlotti beans. The pasta definitely made the soup thick, and I added another 1/2 cup of stock.
We used Trader Joe’s pesto. The pesto is a definite “must.” Without it, the soup is bland. A bit more salt and maybe some red pepper flakes would also be good.
In the future, I’d prepare the pasta separately until it was done and then add it to the soup.
Lou Ann Traster
I’ve started to think of this old-fashioned minestrone soup as “100 Gram Minestrone.” I’m hopelessly dedicated to my digital scale, and it didn’t take me long to note that almost every ingredient weighs 100 grams, which gives me much more pleasure than it should.
Seasoning at every step was my deviation from the author’s instructions. I’ve learned from one too many bland, watery soups. I also used well-salted homemade vegetable stock.
The last trick was a spectacular dollop of pesto—almost unnecessary on soup this good. I used the pumpkin seed pesto on this site.
If you dial up the lemon, the pesto doesn’t even need the cheese. (I usually hold back on the oil and use just enough to moisten the slurry. It’s perfect.)
I used tubetti rigati and pinto beans. I did need to top off leftovers with additional stock after refrigerating overnight. The pasta sucks up the stock a bit.
Patty Fabian
We love good soups, and we really LOVED this one!! This was indeed the best minestrone soup we’ve ever had, and the swirl of pesto was the perfect finish for this richly flavored vegetable soup. So good!
The only thing I’d change next time would be adding the green beans to the soup along with the cannellini beans and pasta to give them more time to become tender. I used skinny French green beans; five minutes wasn’t enough time for them to become tender.
I also added another cup of water to the soup to loosen it up as it was getting thick, which might have been because I used a can of finely chopped tomatoes with more tomato pulp than regular chopped tomatoes.
This is a very versatile soup, and I can see all kinds of wonderful possibilities with farmers-market produce. This soup got a perfect 10 rating from us.
Sarah Kenney
File this old-fashioned minestrone soup recipe away under “what to do with the remains of the veggie drawer” or “how to make my family eat more vegetables.”
I didn’t expect this minestrone to taste better than an average soup and I was surprised to find how tasty it was, even before adding the pesto!
This would be great for a meatless Monday supper when entertaining vegetarians or to pack as lunch for the week. You could definitely switch up the veggies, beans, and pasta to use what you have in the pantry.
I used homemade chicken stock and Trader Joe’s radiatore pasta.
Jessica Berndt
You can always count on me to test a vegetarian soup recipe. We eat a LOT of soup here. And I was particularly intrigued, as I’d made another minestrone soup recently with dry borlotti beans and wanted to compare them.
I really enjoyed this soup. It was super quick to make. It’s much heartier tasting than I had anticipated. And it’s a satisfying meal even before you swirl in the pesto.
Additionally, I still had a bunch of pesto in my freezer from last summer’s basil harvest, so I’m psyched to have another way to use it. I could see us making this again, doubling and tripling the recipe.
This version makes four very generous portions. You could probably even squeeze 6 out of it. Serve with some crusty bread, and no one is complaining.
