This easy winter minestrone is loaded with cabbage, carrots, cannellini beans, and ditalini pasta, then finished with pesto. It’s a hearty soup that makes it easy to eat your veggies!
This winter minestrone is the soup I want on repeat as soon as the weather gets chilly. It’s loaded with vegetables, cannellini beans, and pasta, and it’s finished with a spoonful of pesto that takes the whole thing to the next level.
What Makes This a Winter Minestrone?
Minestrone is really just an Italian vegetable soup, and the vegetables change with the season. Summer versions lean on zucchini and green beans. This winter minestrone is built on cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, and beans. The rosemary and garlic add flavor, and the pesto at the end adds richness.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Olive oil, celery, carrots, and yellow onion: The classic soffritto base. Cooking the veggies slowly for a full 10 minutes is what builds the flavor, so don’t rush it.
- Dried rosemary: A little goes a long way. If you have fresh rosemary sprigs, toss one in whole and pull it out before serving.
- Garlic: Five cloves. Yes, five. It mellows as it cooks.
- Diced tomatoes: One 14-ounce can, drained. You want the tomato flavor without turning this into tomato soup.
- Cabbage: About half a head, thinly sliced. Savoy is more tender than regular green cabbage, and it practically melts into the broth. Green cabbage works too, it just needs a few extra minutes.
- Vegetable broth and water: Three cups broth, three cups water. Using part water keeps the soup from tasting too salty once the pasta and beans go in.
- Ditalini pasta: The tiny tubes are perfect for soup. Any small pasta shape works.
- Cannellini beans: One can, rinsed. They’re creamy and mild and they make this filling enough for dinner.
- Pesto: A quarter cup stirred in at the end. Store-bought is totally fine or you can make this parsley pesto or walnut pesto.
Tips for the Best Minestrone
- Taste the soup before you serve it. Different broths have wildly different salt levels, so add a pinch more salt at the end if it tastes flat.
- Stop cooking the pasta a few minutes early. Seven minutes on the heat plus five minutes resting is the sweet spot. If you let it boil until it’s fully done, it’ll turn mushy as the soup sits.
- If you want a thicker, creamier soup, blend half the beans with a cup of the broth in a blender or food processor, then stir the pureed bean mixture back into the pot.
- Toss in a parmesan rind. If you have one in the freezer, drop it in with the broth and just take it out before serving. It adds a savory depth that’s hard to describe but easy to taste.
Substitutions and Variations
- Greens: Stir in a few handfuls of chopped kale, spinach, or Swiss chard leaves with the pasta. Kale needs the full 7 minutes, spinach only needs a minute.
- Herbs: Swap the rosemary for a few sprigs of fresh thyme, or add a bay leaf with the broth.
- Beans: Chickpeas or great northern beans work in place of cannellini.
- Pasta: Small shells, orzo, or elbows are all good stand-ins for ditalini.
Storage and Freezing
Leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The pasta will keep soaking up broth as it sits, so add a splash of broth or water when you reheat. If you’re planning to freeze it, cook the soup through step 3 (before the pasta and beans), cool it, and freeze it for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat, thaw it, bring it back to a simmer, and add the pasta and beans fresh. Frozen cooked pasta gets soft and grainy, so this extra step is worth it.
What to Serve with Minestrone
This is a full meal on its own, but I like it with crusty bread and bread oil for dipping or a simple vegan chopped salad. If you want to add protein, try my high protein breadsticks!
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is minestrone vegan? It is if you use vegan pesto and skip the parmesan cheese on top. Trader Joe’s has a great storebought pesto that is vegan!
- What type of cabbage can I use? I used regular green cabbage, but Savoy cabbage can be used as well. It will cook slightly faster.
- Can I make it gluten-free? Yep! Just swap in a gluten-free pasta. This recipe also works with chickpea pasta!
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Description
This easy winter minestrone is loaded with cabbage, carrots, cannellini beans, and ditalini pasta, then finished with pesto. It’s a hearty soup that makes it easy to eat your veggies!
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- Salt and pepper
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced fire roasted tomatoes, drained
- 4 cups (12oz) thinly sliced green cabbage
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup ditalini pasta (about 4oz)
- 1 (14-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup pesto
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the celery, carrots, onion, rosemary, and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes, until softened.
- Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute, then add the tomatoes and cook 2 minutes more.
- Add the cabbage and stir until it starts to wilt, about 3 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and water and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the pasta and beans and cook 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick.
- Take the pot off the heat and let it sit 5 minutes so the pasta finishes cooking and everything warms through. Divide into bowls and top with pesto.