This is, hands-down, our favorite minestrone soup recipe. It’s packed with veggies, beans, and pasta, all swimming in the coziest tomato-Parmesan broth. We can’t get enough of it.

I love this soup so much. It’s perfect on day one, but somehow it gets even better as the days go by. The trick is to add a Parmigiano Reggiano rind to the broth as it simmers. It melts a bit, seasons the broth, and adds a light cheesy flavor.

Thanks to the beans, tomatoes, loads of veggies, and a handful of pasta, this soup is hearty enough to be a meal all on its own. If you want something even heartier, check out our minestrone soup with sausage or try one of our other veggie soups like this easy vegetable soup.

Key Ingredients

• Vegetables: The heart of any minestrone is a lot of veggies. You can play around with what you have on hand or what’s in season, but in our most made version, we use onion, carrots, celery, green beans, zucchini, and spinach.
• Canned Tomatoes: I’m all about fire-roasted canned tomatoes for this soup. They add a little extra flavor compared to regular tomatoes.
• White Beans: Use whatever white beans you love best. Canned or cooked both work. We usually go for cannellini, navy, or Great Northern beans. That said, kidney beans are popular in minestrone soup, so if you have a can of them, feel free to use them.
• Pasta: I love a handful of dried pasta added to this soup. Go for a smaller shape like ditalini or orzo, or use shells, which trap some of the vegetables inside.
• Stock: I used chicken broth in the photos, but vegetable broth is just as good. If you want to make your own, check out our chicken broth, chicken stock, and vegetable broth recipes.
• Garlic, Tomato Paste, Rosemary, and Parmesan: These are what make the broth so good. Use fresh garlic if you can. Tomato paste makes the broth richer, and a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary makes it aromatic. If you have a Parmesan rind, drop it right into the pot and let it work its magic as the soup simmers. If you don’t have a rind, just stir in some grated Parmesan at the end.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Our Favorite Minestrone Soup

Tip 1: Sweat the vegetables. To remove the raw flavors of onions, carrots, and celery, briefly sauté them in olive oil. After a few minutes, that raw flavor will disappear, and they will smell sweet. We keep the other vegetables to the side for adding later since they do not need as long to become tender.

Tip 2: Build flavor with garlic, tomato paste, and rosemary. Just before pouring in your canned tomatoes, add the garlic, tomato paste, and rosemary. A minute or so of stirring them around the pot toasts the garlic and turns the tomato paste from a bright red to orange, which deepens its flavor.

Tip 3: Make the broth. Now, you can pile in the green beans, zucchini, canned tomatoes, beans, and broth. We drain and rinse our beans before adding them.

Tip 4: Add a Parmigiano Reggiano rind. This is my secret for the best minestrone soup. It works wonders. As the soup simmers, the cheese melts a bit and seasons the broth. Depending on how hard the rind you use is, it may not dissolve completely.

Tip 5: Add the pasta towards the end. So it doesn’t get too mushy, add your pasta when the soup has about 10 minutes left. The veggies only take about 20 minutes, so I usually simmer them for 10 minutes, then add my dried pasta and stir.

Tip 6: Turn off the heat, then stir in the spinach. I love finishing this soup with a generous amount of roughly chopped fresh spinach. It doesn’t take long to cook, so turn off the heat and stir in the spinach. Leave it for a minute or two, and it will be nicely wilted into the soup.

Serving Suggestions

I am perfectly happy to sit with a bowl of this soup and call it a day, but if you are looking for more, I’ve got a few suggestions for you. First off, a slice of homemade focaccia or sourdough with salted butter would be lovely. Then, for something light, try a salad on the side. Some of our favorites include panzanella salad, Caprese salad, arugula couscous salad, and lemon-herb zucchini salad.

More Vegetable Soups

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This minestrone soup recipe with sausage is always a happy sight at our dinner table. It’s packed with loads of veggies and made with a light, cozy tomato-Parmesan broth. It’s so good.

This minestrone is my love language. Made hearty with lots of vegetables, golden-brown sausage crumbles, and the simplest Parmesan-tomato broth (thanks to a Parmesan rind). It’s pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on my face.

This recipe makes a big pot of soup, which is perfect because minestrone gets better the next day. Make it today and enjoy it all week! If you’re looking for more soup ideas, check out our chicken and vegetable soup, Italian wedding soup, and classic minestrone.

Key Ingredients

• Vegetables: The heart of any minestrone is lots of veggies. You can play around with what you have on hand or what’s in season, but we love using fennel, onion, carrots, celery, potato, and zucchini (or yellow squash).
• Sausage: Some minestrone recipes use pancetta, but we love swapping in Italian sausage. It makes the soup extra hearty and adds so much flavor. I usually go for mild, but spicy sausage is great if you like a little heat. You can use bulk sausage or just remove the casings from fresh links.
• Canned Tomatoes: I’m all about fire-roasted canned tomatoes for this soup. They add a little extra flavor compared to regular tomatoes.
• White Beans: Use whatever white beans you love best. Canned or cooked both work. We usually go for cannellini, navy, or Great Northern beans.
• Stock: I used chicken stock in the photos, but vegetable broth is just as good. If you want to make your own, check out our chicken stock and vegetable broth recipes.
• Garlic, Italian Seasoning, and Parmesan: These are what make the broth so good. Use fresh garlic if you can. If you have a Parmesan rind, drop it right into the pot and let it work its magic as the soup simmers. If you don’t have a rind, just stir in some grated Parmesan at the end.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Minestrone Soup with Sausage

Tip 1: Brown the sausage. The first step for this soup is to cook the sausage in a bit of olive oil until it browns and renders its fat. We’ll remove the sausage once it’s browned and stir it into the soup later, but we will keep the rendered fat in the pot for cooking the vegetables.

See all the tiny browned bits? This step makes the sausage more enjoyable in the soup and adds lots of flavor to the vegetables and broth.

Tip 2: Sweat the vegetables. To remove the raw flavors of the onion and fennel, briefly cook them in the rendered sausage fat. After a few minutes, that raw flavor will disappear, and they will smell sweet.

Tip 3: Toast the garlic. Just before pouring in your canned tomatoes, add the garlic, Italian seasoning, potatoes, and zucchini to the pot. A minute or so of stirring them around the pot toasts the garlic and brings out the flavor of the seasoning. We add the potatoes and zucchini at this point because they will have plenty of time to cook once you add the broth.

Tip 4: Simmer until the veggies are tender. This soup does not have a long cooking time. Once you add the broth, simmer for about 20 minutes, which should be enough time for the potatoes and zucchini to become tender.

After pouring in the stock, add a Parmesan rind. As it simmers, it perfumes the broth with a light Parmesan flavor. It’s lovely and one of the best secrets for incredible minestrone soup!

Serving Suggestions

I am perfectly happy to sit with a bowl of this soup and call it a day, but if you are looking for more, I’ve got a few suggestions for you. First off, a slice of sourdough with butter or some garlic bread would be lovely. Then, for something light, try a salad on the side. Fresh Caprese salad is perfect, as is a Caesar salad. And, if you have extra fennel in the fridge, we also love this shaved fennel salad with parmesan!

More of My Favorite Soup Recipes

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