This green minestrone soup is made with vibrant veggies like zucchini, spinach, green beans and peas, along with pasta and beans in a pesto seasoned broth. It's easy to make, super flavorful, and so satisfying!
Is soup season over yet? No way!
The warmer months may signal the end of hearty, heavy soups and stews, but there's always a place for brighter, veggie-packed soups like this green minestrone in my kitchen.
What is green minestrone you ask? It's pretty similar to my traditional vegan minestrone, but with lots of green veggies like spinach, green beans, peas, and zucchini. And whereas classic minestrone is made with tomato broth, this version's broth is seasoned with basil pesto.
A big bowl of this is guaranteed to hit the spot on pretty much any day of the year!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. You could get away with subbing another neutral high-heat oil if you'd like, such as vegetable oil, coconut oil, or canola oil.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Vegetable broth. I used Better Than Bouillon's no-chicken base to make this, but pretty much any veggie broth will work. Use your favorite!
- Beans. The recipe calls for cannellini beans and chickpeas, though you're welcome to substitute other varieties if you'd like. Lentils, navy beans, butter beans, and great northern beans would all work well.
- Green beans.
- Ditalini pasta. Prefer another small pasta shape? Feel free to use it. Small shells, elbow macaroni, and orzo are all good options. Just pay attention to the cook time on the package directions. Ditalini generally takes about ten minutes to cook, so adjust the simmer time up or down if needed.
- Zucchini.
- Baby spinach.
- Frozen peas.
- Fresh basil.
- Vegan pesto. You can use homemade vegan pesto, or store-bought. Sacla and Amore are a couple of brands that make vegan pesto.
- Lemon juice. Stick with fresh lemon juice to give your soup the best flavor. No bottled stuff!
- Salt and pepper.
- Vegan Parmesan cheese. This is totally optional, but makes a great topping for your green minestrone. You can use store-bought or homemade vegan Parm.
- Red pepper flakes. Just use these if you'd like your soup to have a bit of heat.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Heat your olive oil in a large pot. Add diced onion and cook it for a few minutes, until it starts to soften up, then add the garlic and cook it for about a minute with the onion.
Stir in the broth, beans, green beans, and pasta. Raise the heat and bring the broth to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer until the pasta is beginning to soften, but isn't quite done.
Now add chopped zucchini. Stir it into the soup and let it continue to simmer until the pasta and vegetables are fully cooked.
Stir in the spinach and let the soup continue simmering just until the spinach wilts. This should only take a minute or less.
Remove the pot from heat and stir in the peas, basil, pesto, and lemon juice.
Give the soup a taste-test and season it with salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to adjust any other seasonings to your liking.
Ladle the soup into bowls, and optionally top each one with a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover green minestrone soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about three days, or in the freezer for about three months. The pasta will soak up broth as it sits, so feel free to add some more broth or water when you reheat it.
More Pasta Soups
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📖 Recipe
Green Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (15 ounce/425 gram) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce/425 gram) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- 1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
- 2 ounces baby spinach
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
- ½ cup fresh basil, chopped
- ¼ cup vegan pesto
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For Serving
- Vegan Parmesan cheese (optional)
- Red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with the oil and place it over medium heat.
- Add the onion to the pot. Sweat the onion for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until it becomes soft and translucent.
- Stir in the garlic. Cook the garlic with the onion for about 1 minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth, cannellini beans, chickpeas, green beans, and ditalini pasta. Raise the heat and bring the broth to a boil. Lower the heat and let the soup simmer for about 8 minutes, until the pasta has started to soften but is still undercooked.
- Stir in the zucchini. Continue simmering the soup for about 3 minutes, until the pasta, zucchini, and green beans are tender.
- Stir in the spinach and continue simmering the soup just until the spinach wilts, about 1 minute.
- Remove the pot from heat. Stir in the peas, basil, pesto, and lemon juice. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with vegan Parmesan and red pepper flakes, if desired. Serve.
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We were blown away by this recipe. So delicious and love all the green veggies in it
Holy cow, this soup is amazing! I'm not a huge fan of peas so I skipped those and added extra green beans. I used your pesto recipe that's linked here, and it's amazing. Thank you for this awesome recipe! 🙂