Last Updated on February 14, 2021

Soups are very comforting! When we’re sick, we crave soup. When it’s cold whether, we crave soup. When we feel down, we crave soup. Soups are the cure for everything! Our take on a popular Italian soup, Minestrone, is basic yet it’s flavorful. It’s clean, warm, hearty, and chunky and best of all, made from scratch with fresh ingredients!

What’s so Special?

We’re sure you’ve tried and/cooked minestrone in the past. So, why try ours? Well, only for two reasons;

• Dried red kidney beans
• Fresh tomato puree

We thrive on cooking meals with less processed, as fresh as possible, as low-waste as possible, with less packages as possible. And best of all, it tasted better with fresh ingredients especially with beans and tomatoes. Yes, it takes longer. Yes, it takes extra steps to cook beans, to puree tomatoes, to wash extra dishes. But we simply can’t agree with the cooking method based on the idea of convenience. Convenience shouldn’t be a measurement when it comes to cooking!

Pasta in Soup 

We love adding pasta in soup. But we really don’t like cooking pastas in the soup as “one pot cooking meal” type of method. The soup gets way too starchy…sorry, it just doesn’t look appetizing to us.

So we use pasta, in this recipe fusilli to be particular, in our minestrone but the pasta is cooked separately. Then take as much as we eat at a time, and add to the soup in the last second just to heat it through. This way, we don’t end up with starchy soup. We even keep the leftovers separate and do the same process. For us, it’s worth the extra steps and the storage space!

Toppings

The soup by itself has plenty of flavors but we also like to add fresh parsley and vegan Parmesan style cheese for extra flavor. If you haven’t tried making your own plant-based nut cheeses, we highly recommend our homemade Brazil Nut Parmesan. It’s super easy to make and you can add any flavor as you like. No nasty tasting “fake-cheese” here!

Feeling Inspired?

Try our soup such as;

Great Northern Bean Soup

Miso Soup with Potato & Onion

Print Recipe

5 from 13 votes

Minestrone

Our take on a popular Italian soup, Minestrone, is basic yet it's flavorful. It's clean, warm, hearty, and chunky, and best of all, made from scratch with fresh ingredients!

*Inactive Time (soaking beans) is not included in Total Time

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 40 minutes mins

Inactive Time8 hours hrs

Total Time1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Course: Appetizers & Starters, Entree, Lunch, Dinner

Cuisine: Italian, Italian Inspired, Vegan

Servings: 6 people

Author: Plant-Based Matters

Ingredients

Soaking Beans

• 2 cups dried red kidney beans
• Water
• Salt

The Rest

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 8 cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
• 2 cups diced yellow onion (1 large yellow onion)
• 2 cups diced carrots (2 carrots)
• 2 cups diced celery (2-3 celery stalks)
• 12 oz green beans trimmed and cut into 3/4 inch
• 2 1/2 - 3 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme
• 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 quarts fresh tomato purée (about 8 medium size tomatoes)
• 2 cups water (plus more if needed)
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
• 8 oz uncooked fusilli (or any short/small pasta of your choice)

Toppings

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Vegan parmesan style cheese (optional)
• Minced parsley (optional)

Instructions

• Place red kidney beans in a large prep bowl. Cover with plenty of water and add a small amount of salt (a few pinches.) Soak them 8 hours or overnight. After soaking, discard the water.
• In a large pot, place the soaked beans and cover with enough water (about 1 1/2 inches above the beans.) Uncover the pot and cook it over high heat to bring it to boil. As soon as it starts boiling, turn off the heat. Use a colander to drain. Give a quick rinse under running water and set aside. Rinse the pot thoroughly and wipe off the water.
• Place the same pot back to the stove. Heat it up over medium high heat. Pour extra virgin olive oil and add garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes until aromatic. Then add mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes until caramelized.
• Next, add yellow onion, carrot, and celery. Cook for 5-6 minutes until softened. Then add green beans, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Season with salt and black pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the red kidney beans, tomato purée, water, and bay leaves. Cover with a lid and turn up the heat to bring to boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat to medium low then skim off the foam. Put the lid back on and let it simmer for 45-60 minutes until beans are tender.
• In the meantime, cook fusilli in a separate pot. Boil water in a medium pot. Cook fusilli in salted water for 11-13 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• Once beans are fully cooked and tender, remove the bay leaves. If it's too thick add more water. Adjust the seasonings with salt and black pepper if necessary. Taste the soup. If it’s too acidic, add sugar to reduce the acidity (optional.) Add the cooked fusilli into the soup just to heat it through.
• Serve the soup in a bowl with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for the finishing touch. To add an extra layer of flavors, top it with vegan parmesan style cheese and minced parsley (optional.)

Did you make this recipe?Mention @plantbased_matters or tag #plantbased_matters!