Easy Minestrone Soup
This easy vegan minestrone soup recipe is the perfect recipe for a quick weeknight meal packed with hearty beans and veggies.
This vegan minestrone recipe is healthy, filling, budget-friendly and easy to make in no time at all.
It’s loaded with veggies, pasta, beans and a delicious tomato broth. It’s a go-to at my house for busy weeknights when I don’t feel like cooking (we love this lasagna soup too!).
It can be on the table in 30 minutes including prep time and makes a healthy, filling meal that the whole family will love.
Features
- Dietary Needs: Vegan, oil-free, can be gluten-free.
- The recipe makes 6 large meal-sized servings or can be served as a starter or side for 8-10.
- Nutrition Features: Each serving contains just 131 calories and 1 gram of fat while providing 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
- Quick and easy soup that’s ready in 30 minutes.
- Easy to customize with different veggies like green beans or kidney beans for cannellini beans.
Ingredient Notes
A complete list of ingredients with amounts and full instructions is located in the printable recipe card below. This section covers ingredient and substitution considerations.
- Pasta: Try bows, penne, shells or rotini, for a gluten-free recipe, use a gluten-free pasta like brown rice or quinoa (or lasagna noodles try my vegan lasagna soup).
- Kidney beans: Canned works just great, drain and rinse well before adding, chickpeas, white kidney beans or pinto beans make a good sub!
- Vegetables: For the flavour based use carrots, celery, onion, garlic. Feel free to add any other veggies you like, such as green beans or zucchini.
- Vegetable Broth: Homemade, carton, powder or cubes all work great. Choose no salt-added or low-sodium to keep the recipe lower in sodium.
- Canned diced tomatoes: I like fire roasted best but any kinds works, choose no salt-added if sodium intake is a concern.
- Dried Herbs: If you don’t have basil or oregano on hand, you can use 2 tsp Italian seasoning.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery to a large soup pot with 2-3 tbsp of water, broth or olive oil and cook over medium heat for 7-8 minutes until soft and fragrant.
If the pan starts to dry out, add a little more water or broth as needed.
Step 2. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer lightly until the pasta is cooked al dente. This may take anywhere from 8-15 minutes depending on the pasta you use.
Quick Tip: Err on the side of slightly underdone and definitely for the pasta as it will continue to cook even after you turn off the heat and you want to avoid mushy pasta!
Step 3. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy! A sprinkle of fresh parsley and vegan parmesan are also yummy for topping.
Quick Tip: If you’d like to add some greens to the soup, stir in a few handfuls of spinach or chopped kale at the end. For soups recipes with greens, try this lemon chickpea orzo soup or vegan zuppa Toscana.
FAQs
Sure! You can use any veggies you like, up to 2 cups in addition to the onion.
I would keep the onion and garlic in there but from there you can sub in other veggies like brussels sprouts, green beans, zucchini or bell peppers.
I sometimes add 2 cups of fresh spinach, collard greens or chopped kale at the end just to get some greens in there.
Since the soup already has pasta, potato wouldn’t be my go-to for this soup, though you can it them if you like. I would recommend peeling and slicing into small 1 cm cubes before adding so they cook fairly quickly. Add them when you add the diced tomatoes.
You can use any kind of pasta you like!
I’ve used whole wheat pasta like bows, rotini and fusilli. I would recommend sticking to short pasta shapes but if you want to use spaghetti or linguine, break the pieces in half or into thirds before adding to the soup for a more even cooking time.
To make it gluten-free minestrone, you can use chickpea pasta, lentil pasta or a quinoa or brown rice pasta.
Just check the cooking time for the type of pasta you use so you have a general idea of how long it will take to cook in the soup.
Sure! Chickpeas, white beans, black eye peas, pinto beans or even cooked green lentils would work! Simply swap out the can of kidney beans for whatever you have on hand.
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Click here to leave a review.
PrintEasy Vegan Minestrone Soup
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Enjoy a big bowl of this vegan minestrone soup when you want something quick, easy, healthy and hearty! It’s great for cleaning out the fridge and pantry too!
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion, diced, approx. 2 cups (300 g)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 carrots, chopped, approx. 1 heaping cup (150 g)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped, approx. 1 cup (125 g)
- 1 x 28 oz can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, omit if sensitive to spice)
- 1 1/4 cups small uncooked pasta of choice such as bows or rotini (85 g)
- 1 19 oz can kidney beans, drained and well-rinsed (approx. 2 cups cooked beans, 330 g)
- sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- optional, 2 cups of fresh baby spinach or chopped kale
Instructions
- Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery to a large pot and cook over medium heat in 2-3 tbsp of water or broth (or olive oil) for 7-8 minutes, stirring frequently and adding water as needed if it starts to dry out.
- Add the canned diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, beans, broth and pasta and simmer lightly until the pasta is tender and cooked al dente, approximately 10-15 minutes depending on the kind of pasta you use.
- If you want to add some spinach or kale, stir that in now and turn off the heat.
- Season with salt and pepper and either serve right away or store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Storing: Let cool then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge if frozen. Reheat as needed stovetop or in the microwave until heated to your preference.
Substitutions: Use cannellini beans, chickpeas, navy beans or black eye peas in place of kidney beans. Mix and match vegetables: green beans, carrots, celery, zucchini, peas, corn, cauliflower.
Gluten-Free Option: Use your favourite gluten-free pasta such as chickpea pasta, brown rice pasta or quinoa pasta.
If you don’t have dried basil and oregano on hand, Italian seasoning works well.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th of recipe
- Calories: 131
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 250 mg
- Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 27 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 5.5 g
Keywords: vegan minestrone soup, easy minestrone soup
Originally pubslihed September 28, 2018.
Your recipe calls for 4 cups broth but doesn’t specify when to add it. Can you please clarify?
It’s added in step 2. Thank you.
I made this the other night and it was great! We used macaroni since that was what was handy, as well a rehydrated cannelini beans. We added a little sirarcha to our to kick it up a bit and loved it. My kids also liked it blended up since they’re still not fully into chunky soups. Thanks!
★★★★★
Nice! That sounds great. You can’t go wrong with a little sriracha 😉 Glad you enjoyed it!
WOW!! This was really yummy and so easy to make. I added Frontier brand Italian Seasoning Blend and celery to frozen mixed veggies and it turned out great. Plus, it also looked fantastic!
This is really good — super quick and easy and just right on a cold winter’s night — and we’ve got plenty of those here in Boston! Thanks!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it! Agreed – quick, easy and so cozy. Thanks for the review!
Could I substitute garbanzo beans for kidney beans?
Sure. Enjoy!
Just made this tonight . Very good and simple. Liked it alot
Glad you enjoyed it!
Makin this for my vegan daughter. We will also be having some. Looks and smells delicious. Very easy to make.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Deryn,
At which point in the cooking process do you add the dried basil & oregano specified in the ingredients list?
They can go in with the tomato and beans. Enjoy!
Nice, thanks for the quick reply – making this right now!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and my family loves it. I like to add a can of rotel also because I like it spicy and I add zucchini instead of spinach. I also use gluten free pasta. I usually double the recipe because we enjoy it for days after!
★★★★★
That’s awesome! I had to look up what Rotel was..I’d never heard of it! Glad you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for the comment!
Just made this for dinner and it is so simple and very good !! Liked it a lot. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so happy to hear that! Glad you enjoyed it.
This was dinner tonight. Seriously SO good! It’s so flavorful and cozy. I used crushed tomatoes instead of diced which probably changed the consistency a little but I really liked it. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
So glad you liked it, Bethany! Ya, it might have been a bit less thick and chunky with the crushed tomatoes, but other than that about the same.
This recipe is a real winner. Really easy to make it. Hearty and filling. Very much appreciated on this fresh, rainy cold day in Ireland! Thank you so much.
★★★★★
Thank you for the comment! I’m so happy you enjoyed it. I love how easy it is too..and so good!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I love vegan minestrone soup and this one has a completely different flavor palate than those I’ve made! It’s perfect for a week of my cold weather lunches!!
★★★★★
Ooh so glad you liked it! I enjoyed it for days after making it too, it only gets better!
How much beans? It doesn’t say.
Oops. Sorry I missed that! I used one 19 oz can of kidney beans. I’ve added that to the recipe. Thanks.
Omg, this soup looks fantastic! I’m so excited to try it.
It’s great! I hope you enjoy it! Let me know if you make it.
This sounds so delicious!!
It is really good and so easy! Let me know how you like it if you make it!