The Best Minestrone Soup Recipe (Olive Garden Copycat) (2024)

Published: Feb 16, 2024 by Larisha Bernard · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

If you want the best minestrone soup recipe, then you have found it. Easy, veggie packed, and loaded with flavor. It’s perfect for those cold weather days!

I remember loving the minestrone soup at Olive Garden long before being vegan. Finding out I could still go in and grab a bowl after going vegan was such a win. However, being able to make the best vegan minestrone soup recipe based on a Copycat Olive Garden version is an even better flex.

While it’s always nice to walk into a restaurant and grab food, making it at home is often more flavorful, cheaper, and healthier for you.

Minestrone is a chunky soup with Italian origins. While the Olive Garden copycat recipe is not the same as the Italian versions, there is much crossover. This is especially true because the history and variation of minestrone is vast and there is no set recipe that many chefs go by.

It’s typically made with beans, onions, celery, carrots, leafy greens, tomatoes, stock and parmesan. It’s a true clean-out-the-fridge recipe, where it can be adaptable with what you have on hand.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

🥘Recipe Ingredients

Gather your ingredients!

• Vegetables – The onions, celery, carrots and garlic are the base of our soup and the aromatics of the dish. They add nutrients, flavor, and depth to the soup. Zucchini is also added for more vegetables and a component for the copycat version
• Beans – We are using kidney beans and great northern beans to this dish to keep it similar to the Olive Garden version
• Leafy Greens – The Olive Garden version has kale in it, but we are using spinach. Either works!
• Pasta – small shells are what we are using and what’s in the copycat version.
• Tomatoes – Minestrone is a tomato based broth, so we are using both canned tomatoes and tomato paste for that depth of flavor that we want the tomatoes to bring to this soup
• Brewers Yeast – the Olive Garden version has a yeasty/fermented taste to it when we compared it side by side. We are adding Brewers yeast to give us that same taste. This is optional and can be added to taste.
• Lemon Juice – not only amplifies your other ingredients, but it also helps balance out the flavors

See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.

Substitutions and Variations:

• Vegetables – You can’t go wrong with adding more vegetables to this dish, but also switching it up. Snap Beans, Green Beans, Peas, Mushrooms, Corn, Potatoes, Squash (like Butternut) – whatever your favorites are, feel free to clean out and use up!
• Beans – You can mix up and beans or chickpeas that you enjoy!
• Leafy Greens – Spinach, kale, collard greens or even bok choy will work great in this recipe
• Pasta – you want to keep the noodles small, but any will work like ditalini or elbows

Step by Step Instructions for The Best Minestrone Soup Recipe:

Step 1: In a large pot, over medium heat, add the oil. Once heated, add in onions, celery, carrots, and zucchini. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until the vegetables are softened. Add garlic, stir, and cook for 30 more seconds.

Step 2: Add seasonings and let cook for 30 seconds. Add vegetable broth, water, tomatoes, and tomato paste to the pot. Bring to a simmer.

Step 3: Add the white beans, kidney beans, and pasta. Allow to simmer for 12-15 minutes or until pasta is cooked.

Step 4: Add greens and lemon juice (to taste) and allow to cook until softened and wilted (about 4-5 minutes). Taste and add more seasoning as desired. Remove from heat and serve topped with fresh parsley and vegan parmesan on top.

Recipe FAQs:

Other Vegan Soup Recipes to Consider:

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