Vegetable Minestrone with Parsley Pistou

Vegetable Minestrone with Parsley Pistou is a flavorful and healthy soup that’s perfect for a cozy dinner at home. Made with creamy white beans, fresh herbs and loads of healthy green vegetables, this soup is gluten free and vegan adaptable! 

What is Minestrone and What makes this one so great?

Minestrone is a classic Italian soup, and like all of the best Italian recipes, each cook’s version is slightly different. My minestrone is vegetable forward, with heaps of zucchini, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, green beans, tomatoes and swiss chard, along with fiber and protein packed cannelini beans. It’s the recipe I always make whenever I’ve been indulging a bit too much and need a good reset. It’s chock full of vitamins, minerals, fiber and hydrating liquids, making it an ideal healthy meal that’s as comforting as it is nourishing.

It gets flavor from pancetta, which is a salty, unsmoked Italian bacon, but you can also use smoked American bacon if that’s what’s available to you or what you prefer. You can also leave it out altogether for a vegan / vegetarian soup. Just add a little bit more salt, olive oil and herbs to makeup for it. I also like to add a parmesan cheese rind to the simmering broth to impart even more flavor, but if you’re keeping vegan or just don’t have one on hand, this can be omitted as well. Your soup will still be plenty flavorful.

What really makes my Vegetable Minestrone special, though, is the Parsley Pistou that gets swirled in at the end.

What is Pistou and how to do you make it?

Pistou is essentially the French equivalent of Italian pesto, but unlike pesto it doesn’t contain any nuts or cheese. So why would I make an Italian soup and then top it with a French condiment? Because it’s simpler, easier and in my opinion, just a better fit for this recipe. Pistou sounds like a fancy name, but this is really just a simple, garlicky herb drizzle.

Pistou, like pesto, is traditionally made with basil, but I’ve swapped in parsley here. You can absolutely use basil, but I opted for parsley because it’s so much more prevalent in winter, which is when I typically make minestrone.

You can make Pistou by simply stirring together finely chopped parsley with finely minced or grated garlic, salt and good quality extra virgin olive oil. You can also throw all of the ingredients into a food processor or blender and make it that way, or go the traditional route and pulverize it all with a mortar and pestle. Whichever way you choose to make your pistou, it’s going to add a pungent pop of herby, garlicky oil to the tangy Vegetable Minestrone.

Healthy Bonus: The raw garlic in the pistou is amazing for warding off winter colds and the flu. And no need to worry about garlic breath either – the natural oils in parsley neutralize the sulfurous compound in garlic that makes our breath stink.

How do you make it?

This soup is as easy as sautéing some basic aromatics, opening a few cans and them simmering it all together. But what really makes this soup such a no-brainer is how versatile and adaptable it is. It’s perfect for using up all those leftover bits that I know you have lurking somewhere in your kitchen.

For me, that means the wilted celery in my crisper drawer, a fresh sprig of thyme that dried out on the counter, a handful of stray green beans on their last legs, one of those old Parmesan cheese rinds I’ve been hoarding and whatever greens didn’t make it into yesterday’s smoothie. For you, it might mean something entirely different. Switch it up and use whatever odds and ends you have laying around.

Use my recipe as a guideline, not gospel. That’s what’s going to make your soup special and unique. Like a snowflake!

What about pasta?

Classic Minestrone soup DOES typically include pasta, but I’ve always made it without, mainly because it’s healthier that way. That said, you can absolutely add pasta to this recipe if that’s what you’re into.

It’s best to cook the pasta separately in salted boiling water, then drain and set aside until you’re ready to serve. Add a scoop of pasta to individual bowls and store any leftovers separate from the soup. Pasta will continue to absorb liquid until it basically disintegrates into mush, so if you add it to the soup, not only will it turn mushy and overcooked after sitting, it will absorb all of the broth and dry up the soup.

Since I’ve been trying to keep gluten free as much as possible, I started adding chick pea or lentil pasta to my vegetable minestrone. It does give it a nice texture, and since these pastas are made with just chick pea or lentil flour, it’s no different than adding in the legumes themselves.

This Vegetable Minestrone is so warm, rich and hearty that it makes the perfect backdrop for a bright Parsley Pistou to be swirled in right before serving. Clean out your fridge and make a batch today!

Can’t get enough soup this season? Here are some other Italian favorites to try:

30 Minute Pesto Chicken Kale + White Bean Soup
Black Bean Soup with Bacon + Beer
Ribollita: Tuscan Bean + Kale Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Coconut Curry Noodle Soup with Butternut Squash + Spinach

Vegetable Minestrone with Parsley Pistou

• Author: Coley Gaffney (ColeyCooks.com)
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 60 minutes
• Total Time: 90 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x
• Category: soup
• Method: simmered
• Cuisine: Italian

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Description

Vegetable Minestrone with Parsley Pistou is a flavorful and healthy soup that’s perfect for a cozy dinner at home. Made with creamy white beans, fresh herbs and loads of healthy green vegetables, this soup is gluten free and vegan adaptable! 

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Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

For the Soup:

• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (or more if omitting pancetta)
• 3 ounces Pancetta or 3 slices bacon, diced *see note
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
• 5 stalks celery, diced (about 2 cups)
• 2 medium-large carrots, scrubbed clean and diced (about 2 cups)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 sprig fresh thyme (sub ¼ tsp dried thyme)
• 1 sprig rosemary (sub ½ teaspoon dried rosemary)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 5 cups water
• 1 tablespoon salt, plus more to taste as needed
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 parmesan cheese rind, optional 
• 1 bunch swiss chard, stems and leaves chopped
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 ½ cups diced green beans

For the Parsley Pistou:

• 1 clove garlic, finely minced or grated
• ½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
• ½ – ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil, to taste
• Salt, to taste

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Instructions

Make the Soup:

1. Place a large heavy pot or dutch oven over medium heat and add in the olive oil and pancetta. Cook until the it has given up most of its fat and is just starting to crisp, about 7 minutes.
2. Add the onion, celery and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
3. Add the thyme, rosemary and bay leaves along with the tomatoes, water, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese rind (if using), chard, cannellini beans, zucchini and green beans.
4. Bring up to a simmer, cover and let cook for at least 30 minutes, or longer to let the flavors meld. The Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.

For the Parsley Pistou:

1. Combine the minced garlic, parsley and olive oil in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and let sit for at least 20 minutes to let the flavors meld. 
2. Alternatively, you can add whole ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulse until combined. Or, you can pound everything in a mortar and pestle, but this method takes the longest.

To Serve:

Ladle the minestrone into bowls and serve with parsley pistou on the side along with grated parmesan and  crusty bread.

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Notes

*For a vegan / vegetarian version, you can leave out the pancetta / bacon and the parmesan cheese rind. Just add a little more salt and olive oil to make up for it.

If you’d like to add pasta, cook it separately in boiling, salted water, then drain and keep on the side to add to individual bowls. If you add the pasta to the pot of soup, it will absorb all of the broth and turn mushy.

This recipe is very flexible and adaptable, so use it as a guideline and not gospel.  Throw in some leftover shredded chicken, the rice from last night’s Chinese takeout, a diced sweet potato that’s starting to sprout, or anything else about to go bad in your fridge.

Keywords: pesto, vegetable soup, italian