This minestrone soup recipe made with a tomato-y broth is packed with sweet potatoes, carrots, celery and green beans. But what sends it over-the-top is the extra kick of hearty flavor the minestrone gets from the addition of ground Italian sausage. It’s the perfect soup recipe for a chilly night at home!
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This recipe is…
This veggie-loaded minestrone soup is incredibly delicious. Plus, you’ll love how quick and easy it is to throw together. And while the ingredient list may look long, each ingredient is pure and simple – and totally customizable! Use whatever veggies you have on hand or prefer. The addition of noodles, sausage and comforting Italian flavors can convert even your most veggie-resistant eater.
If you are wondering if this recipe can be made Paleo-friendly, we have got you covered. Check out this Paleo Minestrone Soup recipe that swaps the noodles/rice for potatoes. For another flavor-packed soup featuring Italian sausage, try this creamy Zuppa Toscana recipe. And if you just can’t get enough of these delicious, Italian soups, don’t miss my One Pot Lasagna Soup recipe. It’s simple, satisfying, and makes the perfect addition to any weeknight dinner table.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s hearty – this minestrone soup is loaded with protein from the kidney beans and Italian sausage – I know, I know – isn’t minestrone a vegetable soup? Yes…and no. Plenty of recipes call for the addition of ground meat, and trust me, you won’t regret adding flavor-packed Italian sausage to this veggie-heavy mix.
- It’s endlessly customizable – switch up the vegetables based on the season. Swap sweet potatoes for summer squash and green beans for spinach.
- It’s quick and easy – this recipe calls for canned beans, which certainly speeds up the process, but if you prefer, you can always soak and cook dried beans to add to the soup, too.
Minestrone Soup Ingredients
Minestrone is a hearty, Italian soup made with lots of veggies (this is typically a “clean-your-veggie-drawer-out” kind of soup), usually some sort of starch (rice or pasta), and sometimes (but not always), a ground protein. The simplicity of minestrone soup is what makes it such a crowd pleaser – and mine is no exception! Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Italian Sausage – we chose this ground protein because of the additional herbs and spices it brings to the mix, but you can swap for any ground protein you prefer or omit altogether for a vegetarian twist.
- Carrots, Onion, and Celery – sometimes called mirepoix, these veggies form the base of the soup. Make sure you allow time for these vegetables to sweat and soften for a more flavorful minestrone soup.
- Broth – you’ll need store-bought or homemade broth to thin the soup. You can use chicken, beef or vegetable broth to get the job done.
- Lemon Juice – don’t skip the lemon juice. It’s just the right amount of acidity to round out all those rich flavors.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
There truly isn’t much that you can do to mess up this soup!
- Make it gluten free – use a gluten free pasta (that’s what we did) or swap the pasta for rice to make this recipe gluten free.
- Swap the veggies – if you don’t like a certain veggie included in the soup, swap it for one you do love. If you aren’t a fan of kidney beans, swap them for a bean you like or omit them altogether.
- Make it vegetarian – leave out the Italian sausage and swap the chicken (or beef) broth with veggie broth.
- Use a different protein – if you want to keep the meat component in this recipe, but you don’t want (or have) Italian sausage, feel free to swap it for simple ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, or ground pork.
How to Make Minestrone Soup
Don’t be intimidated by the long ingredient list. This Italian classic is simple to whip up, clocking in at just over 30 minutes cook time. You’ll find this minestrone soup recipe is achievable even on the busiest weeknight. To find out how to make it yourself, follow along below.
Step 1: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic and onion, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant and the onions are translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes. Be careful not to let the garlic or onions brown.
Step 2: Add the sausage and cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon until the sausage is fully cooked and browned.
Step 3: Add the celery, carrots, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes, sweet potatoes, (drained) kidney beans and noodles to the pot. Immediately add the broth. Bring the soup to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes more.
Step 4: Next, add the green beans, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes more, or until the green beans are tender and bright green.
Step 5: Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with parsley, and serve!
How to Make Minestrone Soup in the Instant Pot
While this recipe is intended to be cooked on the stovetop, there are definitely some adjustments that can be made in order for this recipe to be made in the Instant Pot. Here’s what you’ll do:
- Saute the onion and garlic – set the Instant Pot on the saute mode and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the onion and garlic and stir until the mixture is fragrant and the onion is translucent.
- Add the sausage – to the Instant Pot, add the Italian sausage, and cook and crumble until fully cooked through and crispy.
- Turn off the pot and add the extras – turn the Instant Pot off (hit “cancel”) and add in the celery, carrots, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and kidney beans to the pot.
- Cook on high pressure – secure the lid on the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 7 minutes. Once the 7 minutes is up, release the quick release the pressure on the Instant Pot, and once it’s fully released, remove the lid.
- Cook the noodles – set the Instant Pot back to saute mode, and add the noodles to the pot. Let everything simmer for about 7 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through.
- Add the green beans, lemon juice, salt, and pepper – add the green beans, lemon juice, salt, and pepper into the pot and stir to combine. Let the soup continue to simmer for 3 minutes more, or until the green beans are tender and bright green.
- Turn the Instant Pot off, serve, and enjoy – turn off the Instant Pot, ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with parsley, and serve!
How to Serve
This hearty soup can be served all on its own for a healthy, filling meal. But no one would turn down the addition of crusty bread, like this easy, homemade cheesy garlic bread or a simple green salad – both are great options.
How to Store and Reheat
To store: Store your leftover minestrone soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Alternative, divide the soup into individual portions and freeze in a freezer-safe air-tight container for up to 5 months. Note: This is a great soup to freeze,but if you’re going this route, I do recommend that you wait to add the noodles into the mix until you’re reheating the soup (this will help to avoid soggy, mushy noodles). Freeze the noodle-less soup, then, when you’re ready to enjoy, pop the soup into a large pot and once it’s boiling, add the noodles in and cook until tender.
To reheat: To reheat either transfer to a microwave safe container and heat until warmed through. Alternatively, (or if heating from frozen) transfer to a pot over medium-low heat. Allow the soup to thaw completely before bringing to a boil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can add cooked pasta at the end of the recipe without any issue. You can even add some of the starchy pasta water to the soup to give the soup a little more body.
If you’re soup is too thick, simply add more broth until you reach the desired consistency.
During our minestrone research, we actually found that a lot of minestrone soup recipes are meat-free. This is absolutely an option if you’re looking for a vegetarian soup. If not, we chose to go with Italian sausage here, but feel free to use any other ground meat that you love. Ground beef, turkey, or chicken would be great too.
Yes. Add the farro or other grain after you add the broth. You may need to adjust the liquid volume based on how much liquid is absorbed.
More Favorite Soup Recipes
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Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
- 5 celery stalks, chopped
- 5 carrots, cut into rounds
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup dried pasta shells
- 6 cups 48 fluid ounces chicken or beef broth
- 1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, about 1 whole lemon’s worth of juice
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large pot on the stovetop over medium heat.
- Once the olive oil is hot, add the garlic and onion. Stir, cooking until the mixture is fragrant and the onions are translucent (3-5 minutes). Be sure not to overcook and brown the garlic and onions here, as they’ll continue to cook with the sausage!
- Add the Italian sausage to the pot with the sauteed onions and garlic. Cook and crumble the sausage until fully cooked through and crispy.
- Add the celery, carrots, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, sweet potatoes, kidney beans, and noodles to the pot. Then, pour in the broth.
- Bring the soup to a simmer, then cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, add the green beans, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes more, or until the green beans are tender and bright green.
- Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with parsley, and serve!
Recipe Notes
- Make it gluten free – use a gluten free pasta (that’s what we did) or swap the pasta for rice to make this recipe gluten free.
- Swap the veggies – if you don’t like a certain veggie included in the soup, swap it for one you do love. If you aren’t a fan of kidney beans, swap them for a bean you like or omit them altogether.
- Make it vegetarian – leave out the Italian sausage and swap the chicken (or beef) broth with veggie broth.
- Use a different protein – if you want to keep the meat component in this recipe, but you don’t want (or have) Italian sausage, feel free to swap it for simple ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, or ground pork.
Nutrition
Wow!!!! My husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, choosy toddler AND 10 month old absolutely DEVOURED this!!!! My FIL spread it over 2 dinners and texted me both times how delicious it was. I paired it with a local bakery’s salty bread and it was *chef’s kiss* amazing. I will be making this at LEAST 2 times a month as we head into winter. Thank you!!!
WHAT?! That is amazing, Kate! We are so so so happy y’all loved it!!
My family loved this soup! Easy to make, loaded with vegetables and delicious.
Wahoo! So glad to hear that, Sarah!
This soup was a hit in my house! Perfect for a rainy Sunday
We are so glad this was a hit, Kristen! Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us. We really appreciate it! -Team FF
This is my fav soup. It was so soothing postpartum. Makes a large batch so there’s plenty for leftovers!
We are so glad you enjoyed and found it soothing for postpartum! Thank you for taking the time to share with us. -Melissa
This was really good and makes a huge batch. Love that it’s loaded with veggies and that my kids ask to take it in their lunches the next day. I even had a parmesan rind to give it that little something extra!
Amazing! I’m so glad to hear that, Christie! Thank you so much for sharing this with us.