Vegan Minestrone Soup

Enjoy a bowl of vegan minestrone soup on a cold evening with crusty bread on the side for a dinner that's hearty, cosy, and made with simple ingredients! This soup is bursting with vegetables and flavour, and you only need around 45 minutes to make it from start to finish. Gluten-free, oil-free.

If I'm not sure what to make for dinner, the answer is soup a lot of the time. More specifically, a wholesome soup made with lots and lots of vegetables. Because after all, the more vegetables the better. And that's why recently, I can't get enough of this vegan minestrone soup.

It's pretty much comfort food at its best. I don't like cold and rainy weather, but I do like the excuse to spend a little bit more time making myself lots of comfort food like this deliciousness. If you also love hearty soups, I couldn't recommend this one more!

About this vegan minestrone soup

Minestrone is a soup of Italian origin. Typically, it's made with lots of vegetables, beans and rice or pasta. There isn't a set list of vegetables that you have to add, which makes it a great meal for using whatever you have in the fridge.

For this recipe, I used onion, carrots, zucchini, red pepper, tomatoes, green beans and celery. So, as you can tell, this soup is packed full of wholesomeness! Oftentimes, potatoes are also added to minestrone. But overall, I love this meal because dinners and lunches with lots of vegetables are my favourite.

I also used gluten-free macaroni pasta. But feel free to use any pasta of your choice. For the beans, I used tinned butter beans. You can either use beans from a tin, or cook your own from scratch ahead of time. Whenever I remember, I actually prefer to cook beans from scratch because in the long run, it saves a lot of money and time.

Crusty bread makes a great side for vegan minestrone soup. You can also add croutons and/or some grated vegan cheese on top!

Ingredients you'll need

• Garlic.
• Onion. Either red onion or white onion will work.
• Fresh cherry tomatoes.
• Zucchini.
• Red bell pepper.
• Carrots.
• Celery.
• Green beans.
• Tinned tomatoes.
• Plant based milk. This makes the soup a little bit more creamy.
• Nutritional yeast. Perfect for a hint of cheesiness.
• Cumin.
• Dried thyme.
• Gluten-free macaroni, or any other pasta of your choice.
• Butter beans, or any other cooked beans of your choice.
• Maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
• Tamari. Use soy sauce if not avoiding gluten, or coconut aminos for a soy-free version.
• Kale. Spinach also works well.
• Salt to taste.

How to make this easy minestrone soup

It's super easy! Firstly, add the garlic, onion, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and red bell pepper to a pan and cook for 5-6 minutes, until the vegetables soften. You can use either olive oil for sautéing, or water if you want to keep it oil-free.

Now add the carrots, celery, green beans and tinned tomatoes. Mix everything together, breaking the tomatoes down using a wooden spoon. Now add the plant based milk, nutritional yeast, cumin and dried thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Pour in the water or veggie broth. Bring to a simmer again, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now add the pasta, butter beans, maple syrup and tamari. Simmer for a further 10-12 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked through.

At the last minute, stir in kale and season to taste with salt. Serve when the kale wilts.

Storting and freezing

You can store this soup in an airtight container for 3-4 days, reheating it on the stove or in the microwave. However, as this soup contains pasta, I would not recommend freezing it.

Other comforting vegan soup recipes

• Spicy butternut squash soup
• Broccoli cheese soup
• Wild rice soup with jackfruit
• Curry soup with tofu
• Chunky potato soup

Let me know in the comments: what are your favourite vegetables to put in soups? If you give this recipe a go, be sure to tag me on Instagram (@ohmyveggies) so I can see your creations, and leave your feedback in the comments below together with a star rating.