Vegan Minestrone – White Bean Soup with Elbows, Veggies, Basil and vegan parmesan. Can be gluten-free, nut-free. Soy-free Vegan Dairy-free Recipe.
Winter greys were bringing me down, so I decided it was time to whip up my minestrone.
One pot, tomatoey bowl of goodness filled with veggies, beans and pasta. Use any beans or combination of beans and pasta of choice. Use up any leftover veggies. The soup inevitably becomes everything but the kitchen sink soup, except probably okra. No okra for me in soup. I like my minestrone less tomatoey. Some canned tomatoes work out great instead of paste. Add some tomato paste for a thicker soup or for flavor if needed. Garnish with basil and vegan parmesan. Serve with crusty bread, garlic rolls or crackers.
It snowed a bit today in Seattle and my playlist is on holiday song repeats. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….. Time to whip up cookies and gingerbread things.
More Soups and Stews. This easy creamy filling Broccoli Slaw Soup, Turkish lentil soup, Turmeric Laksa Curry Soup with fresh turmeric root, 15 min Indian Spiced tomato Soup, Curried Butternut Squash Soup with toasted pepitas or Mushroom chickpea greens soup.
I am thankful to have Drizzle and Shine in Seattle making it easy to shop ethical clothing. Finding options that are made of natural plant material is somewhat easy, but finding clothes that are not made in sweatshops, by child labor, by exploited labor, is fair trade, organic and uses sustainable and ethical practices, can take up hours to search for. Jean makes it all easy by doing all that research and curating some in her store. We got a Save the Duck winter jacket that uses no down feathers.
In other fun news, Peta India sent out a Vegan gift basket to 140 celebrities from the film industry(Bollywood) in India and they included my cookbook! I am not sure if all the packages will get to people and if they will open them. I mentioned the book to a few of the celebs on twitter and did get a few tweets back, so yay! Please do retweet some of my tweets so they/their cooks get the book and try some amazing vegan food.
Recipe Card
Vegan Minestrone - Veggies Pasta & White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup (80 g) chopped onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 cup (50.5 g) chopped celery
- 3/4 cup (96 g) chopped carrots
- 28 oz (793.79 g) can diced tomato
- 15 oz (425.24 g) can cannellini beans or other white beans or a combinationof white and kidney beans
- 1 cup (124 g) chopped zucchini
- 3 cups (750 ml) water
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) oregano
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) thyme
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) black pepper
- 1/2 cup (118.29 g) elbows or other pasta use gluten-free if needed
- 1 cup (30 g) baby spinach
- 3 tbsp chopped basil
- vegan parmesan for garnish - optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. 4 mins.
- Add celery, carrots and tomato and bring to a boil. 4 to 5 mins.
- Add the beans, zucchini, water, salt and spices and cook for 15 to 18 minutes.
- Add 1/2 cup pasta and simmer for 12 or more minutes. Taste and adjust salt, herbs and heat.
- Fold in spinach and 2 tbsp chopped basil and simmer for another minute. Serve hot garnished with fresh basil and vegan parmesan.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Lucy H
Excellent recipe! I’ve made it twice now. I only had “Italian herb” seasoning on hand today but it worked wonderfully. I’m going to try a last-minute squeeze of lemon too, next time.
Vegan Richa Support
awesome!
Ally
THis is a great easy little recipe, thanks! I added a little liquid smoke & asafoetida instead of garlic & onion.
Vegan Richa Support
nice idea
Janne P Swearengen
I made the Minestrone from your new IP cookbook. It’s delicious. We sliced and sauteed some home-made plant based Italian Sausage and added after the soup was ‘bowled’. We also made the vegetable stock from the book as well. Outstanding!! This will be a go-to book for some time to come!! Thanks!!
Vegan Richa Support
strike 🎳 !!!
Lauren Eller Vaught
Made a huge pot of this delicious soup for hubs and I to eat all chilly weekend! I used up all the fading veggies, added just a bit of barley, and ramen noodles because they were the only pasta in the pantry! I always toss in a 1/4 lemon during the last 10 minutes of soup boiling to amplify the flavors.
Vegan Richa Support
ramen is versatile, right =)
Sona
Made this last night. It was so good!
DONNA GESUALDI
love this. I have been making this for almost a year. It’s simple, super quick and delicious every time!
Vegan Richa Support
wow that’s a long minestrone! haha let’s go for another
patricia balles
Made this soup today. Used fire roasted tomatoes because I love a kick to my food! It was off the charts delicious.
Melinda
Most fantastic vegan minestrone ever! 5 stars all the way! I did use 4 fresh Roma tomatoes, whole wheat elbow noodles and a can of organic tomato paste. I looove the tomato-y goodness! 🙂
Richa
aweesome!
Cheryl
Love this recipe-wonderful flavors. I use 4 cups of broth and a full cup of pasta when cooking it for small grandkids. A big hit for ages 1-4-5.
Richa
awesome!
Doreen
Simmering away, smells amazing. Hooray for recipes that help use up the bumper crop of zucchini!
Richa
yay
Kate
Everyone in my family loves this recipe, even my fussy 2 and 4 year olds. Thanks!
Richa
awesome
chris gould
I am trying to make homemade family meals that everyone will enjoy and this recipe hit it out of the park. My kids loved it. I feel like such a hipocrit for eating healthy and feeding them processed and manufactured crap.
Susan
I made this last night and it was so good I had two bowls.
I did make a couple of minor adjustments, but only because I was trying to use what I had on hand to avoid a trip to the grocery store. I used white potatoes instead of pasta, crushed tomatoes with basil instead of diced, two full cans of beans (one kidney and one cannellini, and Italian seasoning instead of other spices because I couldn’t find any oregano. This recipe seems quite versatile and is definitely going in the regular rotation.
Now I’m off to search for another one of your soup recipes to try!
Richa
awesome!
M. Angélica
Hi Richa!
I just made your recipe and it has been wonderful, really.
I used gluten free pasta and black beans…
Thank you for giving us so many good ideas for cooking.
Blessings
Richard Simonelli
Great easy to follow recipe with delicious results, I added a pinch of cayenne and used organic vegetable broth instead of water and it was perfect!
Elena
This recipe is wonderful!!! Best Minestrone we’ve ever tried :))
Richa
yay!
Carolyn
Hi… this will be dinner tonight. Can I cook it in my instant pot? If so how long? Thanks so much for your work in the vegan world!
Carolyn
Richa
yes, 4 mins should work with quick release
Mary
I made this tonight doubling the recipe. It is very good, simple, and inexpensive. I used GF pasta.
Tara
Do you rinse and drain beans?
I’m making this today 🤗
Thank you!!
Richa
yes, drain, rinse and then use
Tara
Thank you for responding. It turned out perfectly. Made this for my husbands law office lunch today. And everyone was excited to have a vegan friendly recipe. Happy Holidays !!
Lauren
I’ve been making this recipe for a couple years now and thought it was about time I let you know how much I love it! My husband used to say he wasn’t a soup person… and then he tried this. Now we make it regularly. Thank you!
Bev
I made this for the first time on Sunday. Usually takes one or two times before I get everything the way I like it. First try…..nailed it!
The calorie count doesn’t say the serving size. Is 260 Cals for 1 cup or 1/2 cup?
Richa
serves 4, see right below the times and desc of the recipe. serving size is mentioned there as serves 4, or serves 8 slices etc
Bev
That would be a very big serving if I divided by four. I wanted to know if anyone calculated it down to 1 cup serving. I guess I could figure it out by adding all ingredients by cup size and divide it out. Thank you for your reply.
Angela
My boyfriend and I have made this two days in a row. Absolutely delicious!
Brenda J
I made this tonight after a blizzard yesterday. Looking at the snow and eating this yummy soup was so nice. I love how the white beans break down and make it creamy. Delicious and satisfying. I love your recipes.
Kathy Capobianco
Just a note that if you’re making this “vegan” to make sure the pasta is egg free.
Richa
Many of the store brands are by default vegan. Look at ingredients on the box. Many are just wheat or semolina
Jill
Delicious! Thanks for the minestrone soup recipe 🙂 It was great as is, but also very good if you stir a spoonful of pesto into your bowl with the soup. Also yummy with grated cheese stirred in.
Kimberly
I made this in preparation for the big winter storm thats blowing in to the Northeast USA (-30 below F predicted wind chill for my city). I skipped the salt and added capers, substituted lacinato kale for spinach, and used fire roasted diced tomatoes. Its absolutely delicious. Thank you for keeping me warm through the storm.
Stephanie
Looks incredible! Must try!
But B’ham girl wants to know where you get zucchini in December. 🙂
Richa
in Australia 😉 . use other veggies.
drishtie
Hi I am confused it says to boil the celery and tomato and carrots but in what? It does not say to add water till the later steps…. Please explain….
Richa
28 oz of tomatoes will have a lot of juice. So the mixture is wet and will start bubbling and boiling.
Christine
Great, simple recipe. I served this alongside carbonara so I took out the noodles and reduced the water. I made this in the pressure cooker for 5 minutes high pressure, QR. Turned out perfect! Thanks richa.
Erin
I made this last night and served it with summer rolls for a veg-packed season and ethnic fusion meal. It was probably the best minestrone I’ve made. Thanks for the recipe, Richa! Congratulations on your new book. It looks beautiful. Can’t wait to get my own copy!
Jenna
Can this be made in the crockpot? Thanks!
Richa
I havent tried it, so I am not sure
Karen Berkowitz
Glad I found this today, I order Minestrone at Olive Garden, just as good in Summer as Winter.
V Patel
Loved this recipe. I omitted the spinach and doubled the carrots/zucchini mixture. My husband was impressed with the flavor and couldn’t stop exclaiming while we ate how good it was. Thank you!
Hope
My family loves this soup!!
Richa
awesome!
Logan C
I needed something to tide me through this week, we are finally getting some cold winter weather (something I wish we had more of) and I wanted to make some kind of soup. Nothing nicer or more comforting for winter. Minestone brings back memories of real winter like I used to have the prairies. This recipe is a keeper, the soup turned out brilliant. I made a double batch so I’ve got some for lunches over the next few days. One change was instead of water I used vegetable broth that I whipped up the night before.
Rachel
How well does this feeeze? Should I make ahead without the pasta, freeze and then cook up some noodles when ready to eat? I usually only freeze puréed soups so not sure how the noodles or beans hold up.
Thank you!
Richa
Yes, the pasta will most likely get over cooked when reheated, so freeze the soup without the pasta and add cooked pasta when reheating.
Mehndi
My absolute favorite :):)
Daal Plus Chawal
Cold night in Detroit tonight that needed a warm bowl of soup. There was some squash left from the squash pilaf (another great recipe here) so that went in with everything else above. I had bought some pasta , made from chickpeas by a young company in Detroit with a cool name of Banza, that has been sitting in the pantry for 3 months trying to find its way to a pot so that went in. Came out great. Ate the first bowl as is. Added crushed chili flakes to the second bowl but really that was not needed as the black pepper was more than enough heat to warm me up. Thank you for another great recipe.
Sarah | Well and Full
This look so delicious, Richa! Minestrone is one of my most favorite soups 🙂
Richa
Mine too! once I started making at home. so much better!
Mary
I love minestrone soup, it’s always delicious and so comfy for dinner. This is exactly what I need whit this cold weather 🙂
Jean
Ooh! This looks perfect for a cold, wintery evening. I will give it a try. I also want to thank you for the shout out. I’m so glad you found my store and share my concerns for animals, planet, and people. I hope you like your Save the Duck jacket. Today’s a good day for it!
Richa
I have been living in that jacket!