Jamie's Minestrone Soup Recipe

I absolutely love soup and read all the great reviews for this soup. It defintely didn't let me down. I did make some minor alterations based on the reviews. I used 5 cloves of garlic, 8 cups of chicken broth (instead of water), and 3/4 cup red wine, and the whole bag of baby spinach. I didn't add the kidney beans until the last 10 minutes so they wouldn't fall apart. I cooked the pasta separately and then added it. I used more then a half a cup because I like to see the pasta in my soup. It was a very thick soup even with the addition of all that chicken broth. I cooked it for about 1 hour give or take a little bit. I did think that addition of the parmesan cheese gave the soup great taste. I highly recommend this soup. All the great reviews are right, this soup is great.

I've used this recipe every winter since I found the posting. Jaime's recipe is terrific & I've made several changes which make it more appealing to my family. I omit green beans & replace them with cannellini beans along with the Red kidney beans. I use lots of fresh spinach and cabbage if I have it. Ditalini is our favorite soup pasta, it hold up better than shells. We like lots of veggies so I didn't decrease any amounts of carrots, zucchini or celery. The first stage of sauteing the aromatic veggies is so important. It is the basis for a terrific soup. Thank you, Jaime! This is comfort food at its best.

Fabulous recipe! I did some substitutions though: I used potatoes instead of zucchini, and I added white wine instead of red. I also used italian-crushed tomatoes and only one small can of tomato sauce. This is a great recipe that can easily be modified to suit both your tastes and whatever you have in the cupboard. Husband loved it!

This was the best soup I have ever made! I did make a few changes. First of all, I omitted the celery. I used 5 cans of chicken broth, 2 cans of tomato paste, 1 can of tomato juice and 1 can of V8. Even with this much liquid I still needed to add the 2 cups of water. I used all fresh vegetables. I substituted a squash for one of the zucchini. I also added 1 cup shredded cabbage and 3 red potatoes. Instead of the seashell pasta I choice Ditalini because I prefer a smaller pasta. I did not have fresh basil or oregano on hand so I used Italian seasoning. I cooked it for 2 hours adding the potatoes and pasta in the last 20 minutes. This does make a ton of soup so you could freeze half and save it for another night.

What a fantastic soup! And yes, it does make a *ton*. I cut the recipe in half, and still had a very large pot of soup. I've never been able to resist meddling, so I also cut down the amount of celery, used yellow squash and zucchini both, white beans instead of kidney beans, and ditalini pasta instead of shells. Fresh basil and rosemary added wonderful flavor, this is the perfect vegetable soup. I also added a few drops of lemon juice while it simmered, to freshen the flavors a little. Thank you Jamie!

If using tomato sauce it is more a tomato soup with vegetables than minestrone soup. I replaced a 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce with water and used fresh green beans, adding another 1/2 cup water because the canned beans were undrained. Three zucchini was a lot to add, switching to 1 zucchini and other family favorite vegetables recommended (corn adds color variation). If the broth is too acidic or tangy after 10 minutes of simmering add an 1/8 tsp. baking soda to cut it.

This was fantastic! I changed a few things here and there just because of what I had on hand. I used canned cannelli beans rather than kidney beans. I used a mixture of chicken broth and vegetable broth, replaced some of the tomato sauce with diced tomato. I added a squash in lieu of 2 of the zucchini and I added some red pepper flakes that gave it a bit of a bite. My entire family enjoyed it and I have some in the freezer for cold winter nights. Thanks for sharing this Jamie!

This soup really is fantastic! I was craving a hearty vegtable soup, one that I could make during the day, and serve my family for dinner. This is it! The vegtables were all cooked perfectly, and you can really tweak it for your own taste. I added pasta the meatballs (premade) to my husbands dinner, but I just enjoy the soup itself. Some changes I made- I had no fresh herbs on hand, so I used all dried, an "italin" blend, and some additional parsely and bay leaf. I also added a few grinds of lemon pepper. I used carrots, celery (stalks and leaves) canned kidney beans, white beans, and canned green beans. I didn't have any zuchinni, so I cut 3 small potatoes and used those (with skins). I used one can of beef broth and one can of chicken, instead of water( forgot the wine too!). All low sodium... I think that any changes you make will be great! The base recipe is wonderful also, but we made do with what was on hand. For a final touch, I splashed in some worshirtire sauce. Probably not typical, but it gives the soup a richness and brings everything together. Few quick tips- saute the onions, then add the garlic. Onions need more time to soften, and garlic burns rather quickly. And chopping all those veggies really doesn't take more than 5 mins tops. I saw a few complaints about that-what do you expect? Fresh food takes alitte work!

Delish! Made half a batch, more or less, with all ingredients listed but didn't really measure anything. Used a whole box of low sodium vegetable broth instead of broth plus water and one can of tomato sauce because I didn't want to throw leftover veg broth away in 6 months when I clean the fridge. Sautéed garlic in with carrots and celery. Used frozen green beans because the fresh ones in the store looked disgusting, and added a healthy sprinkle of dried spices since I didn't have fresh. Tripled the wine, drank 2/3 of it while cooking. Had my doubts about simmering baby spinach for the duration since I knew I'd have leftovers, but that was a non-issue. It just sort of melds in to the deliciousness instead of turning into a slimy mistake as I had feared. Threw in the dried up rind of parmesan while I was grating cheese for topping a few minutes before it was done - not sure if that made it extra good, but definitely a good move. Used up some old elbow pasta that was in my cabinet. Great idea to spoon soup over pasta so the pasta maintains its pasta-ness, and grated parm on top was pure yum. Super delicious, nutritious, and adaptable.

Alright, I’m going to join the endless ranks of annoying recipe blog commenters who always tinker with recipes (“this is great, but here’s how I made it even better!”). More on that below. But first, let me just say this recipe, as it is written, is awesome. I’ve started making this every week, doubling the batch. It makes lunches for my whole family for the week. It’s become my Sunday night ritual. It helps that I need a bottle of wine, too. (A little for the soup, a lot for me…) Ok, so how I have made some modifications after a lot of experimenting: —replace the water with more chicken broth for more flavor —add a bit more wine than it calls for —add two cans of tomatoes (stewed or cut, both are fine) —maybe the most important: I use fresh green beans, but I detest the consistency of the beans in a soup like this. They’re too crunchy still—it’s just…odd. So I sauté them for a few minutes in the oil, THEN add the garlic, then the onions, etc. it softens them way up and makes it more appropriate for a minestrone to me. —I add a lot more oregano and basil. I also add red pepper flakes. —I add more pasta. I use the little round ones. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if you make tweaks or not. This soup is fantastic

I've used this recipe as a guide for making minestrone for several years now and it always come out delicious. Make it just as written or swap out ingredients to suit your own taste, it's very adaptable. I like to use chopped cabbage instead of spinach and will substitute navy beans for kidney. Browned sweet Italian sausage adds tons of flavor also.

I made this while visiting family and everyone really liked it. It took awhile chopping as I did it by hand but it was worth it. I also added a Parmesan rind as was suggested.

DELICIOUS!!! Excellent flavor; however, I add 1 pound of sweet sausage to the mix - my Family loves it!

Made it with substitutions and additions: Added cheese tortellini as suggested and also did 2 cans of great northern beans rinsed instead of kidney beans. Added 2 packages of Johnsonville hot Italian suasage, browned separately with skins removed. Did 4 cups of chicken broth instead of 2 and 3 1/2 cups of water because without the extra liquid it was more like chili than soup. It turned out amazing. Also added the Parmesan rinds but ended up taking them out before serving. We all loved it, served with buttered fresh Italian bread for mopping it up.

Trying different pastas, my husband doesn't dig the shells cuz they cuddle up 2 each other 2much. Adding ground turkey meat, sautéed & drained, also making it more of a beef base becuz I've developed a tomato intolerance lately (yeah, that's a thing! So sad cuz I love tomatoes.) I'm thinking up some more variations 2 take this wonderful base 2the next level 4next time. 😋 🥘

delicious

More chicken stock,pinch of salt,two pinches of pepper

Tasty, satisfying and delish.

Fast, tasty, and stress-free — yes.

Such a comforting and homey dish.