Vegan Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
This copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup comes together in about 30 minutes and it cooks all in one pot! This easy soup is loaded with fresh veggies, beans, and al dente pasta in a delicious tomato broth. It’s perfect for meal prep or an easy weeknight dinner!
You Will Love This
- This is one of those perfect meal prep recipes to make on a Sunday night and enjoy all week! It’s loaded with veggies and is super hearty while being totally vegan. The best part is you switch up the veggies based on what you’ve got on hand and use it to clean out the fridge!
- If you loved this veggie loaded soup, be sure to check out my Vegetarian Beer Cheese Soup, my One Pot Vegan Chickpea Soup, or my One Pot Creamy Vegetable Soup!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Onion, Carrot, Celery – This aromatic trifecta is the base for this delicious one pot minestrone soup! If you’re looking to save time, keep an eye out for a pre-chopped mirepoix at the grocery store.
- Fresh Garlic – I like to use freshly minced garlic for this recipe, but if all you’ve got is garlic powder, add 1/2-3/4 of a teaspoon or more to taste.
- Italian Seasoning – I love the versatility of Italian seasoning but if you don’t have any on hand, you can use a mixture of dried oregano, dried thyme, and dried rosemary in its place.
- Zucchini – Fresh zucchini is another way to get extra veggies in this soup. If you don’t have any you can skip it all together or add more beans or spinach instead.
- Green Beans – I like to use frozen green beans for this recipe because we’ve usually got a bag in the freezer. You could use fresh green beans instead. I wouldn’t recommend using canned green beans for this recipe as they will end up getting too mushy in the soup.
- White Beans – If your grocery store doesn’t have small white beans, look for Great Northern beans instead.
- Dark Red Kidney Beans – You could also use light red kidney beans, but I love the color and texture of the dark red kidney beans.
- Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes – If you can’t find fire roasted diced tomatoes no worries – regular will work just fine. You could also use diced tomatoes with basil and garlic mixed right in.
- V8 or Tomato Based Vegetable Juice – Many recipes call for tomato paste to get that tomato flavor in the broth, but I prefer to use V8 juice as it gives the tomato flavor and a slightly heartier broth base.
- Veggie Broth – If you aren’t worried about this recipe being vegan or vegetarian, feel free to use chicken broth in place of the vegetable broth.
- Ditalini – You can use any type of small pasta. I like to use ditalini but small shell pasta works well too!
Instructions
Sauté onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil.
Add garlic, Italian seasoning, and zucchini.
Cook for a couple minutes.
Add green beans, white beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and pasta.
Add vegetable juice and vegetable broth, along with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper.
Stir to combine and add bay leaves.
Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until pasta is al dente. Stir in fresh spinach until it wilts.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese if desired and enjoy!
Tips
- Don’t simmer the soup for too long or it will overcook the pasta. When you’re using a small cut of pasta like ditalini or small shells, they are going to cook super quick in the soup. It will take just a few minutes – 5 at the most – to get the pasta perfectly al dente.
- Switch up the veggies based on your family’s taste! Sometimes we don’t have frozen green beans so I’ll use frozen broccoli or corn instead. I also like to add leftover roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash if I’ve got some in the fridge. This recipe is super forgiving. Just keep the ratios the same and it will taste delicious!
- If you’ve got leftover V8 juice, you can use it to make my One Pot Taco Soup, my Vegan Lentil Tortilla Soup, or my Vegan Black Bean Chili.
Make Ahead, Storage, Freezing, and Reheating
- Make Ahead: This soup is a delicious meal prep recipe because it just gets better with time so you can definitely make it ahead of time. If you know you’ll be enjoying the soup at a later date, you can cook the pasta a minute or two less than al dente as the noodles will continue to soak up the liquid as it sits.
- Storage: This minestrone soup will stay good in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. And the best part is the flavors just get better with time!
- Freezing: You can freeze this easy minestrone soup for up to 3 months in an airtight container, however – if you’re planning to freeze this soup, do not add the pasta! The frozen pasta doesn’t hold up well when it’s reheated in the soup. If you know you’ll be freezing this soup to enjoy later, omit the pasta when cooking it. Then when you reheat and serve the soup, add cooked pasta right to each serving!
- Reheating: If thawing from frozen, allow to thaw in the fridge overnight. Then reheat thawed leftover soup in a small saucepan over medium heat. You’ll need to add a splash of broth or V8 just to loosen up the soup a bit. Heat, stirring frequently until warmed through. Then season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy!
Soup, Salad, and Breadsticks
Recreate Olive Garden’s soup, salad, and breadsticks meal right at home by pairing this easy soup recipe with my:
- Simple Garlic Bread
- Caprese Garlic Cheese Bread
- Cheesy Olive Garlic Bread
- Easy Arugula Salad
- Quick Beet Salad with Feta
FAQ
No! As written, this copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup recipe does not have meat in it. However, cooked ground beef or Italian sausage would be a delicious addition if you want to add some extra protein!
I really try not to call foods healthy or unhealthy. Food is food and everything in moderation is the key! However, this minestrone is literally LOADED with vegetables and swimming in a delicious tomaty broth so if you’re looking for a way to get more vegetables in, this soup will definitely check that box!
Yes! Olive Garden minestrone soup is perfect for folks who are following a vegetarian or vegan diet. It’s loaded with veggies and contains no meat products. Although, I love a hearty serving of freshly shredded Parmesan cheese on top!
Easy Soup Recipes
Did you love this recipe?
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Vegan Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
This copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup comes together in about 30 minutes and all in one pot! It’s loaded with fresh veggies, beans, and al dente pasta in a delicious tomato broth. It’s perfect for meal prep or an easy weeknight dinner!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup sliced carrot
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 small zucchini, halved and sliced
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 1 (15 oz.) can white beans
- 1 (15 oz.) can dark red kidney beans
- 1 (15 oz.) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable juice (like V8 juice)
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup uncooked Ditalini (or small shells pasta)
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cups baby spinach
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Garnish:
- fresh chopped parsley
- Parmesan cheese
- homemade croutons
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat.
- Add onion, carrot, celery, and a couple large pinches of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently for 6-8 minutes.
- Add garlic, Italian seasoning, and zucchini along with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper.
- Cook, stirring frequently for 2 minutes.
- Add green beans, white beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, pasta, vegetable juice, and vegetable broth along with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper.
- Stir to combine and add bay leaves.
- Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
- Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Stir frequently so the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Stir in spinach until it wilts. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with parsley and Parmesan cheese if desired and enjoy!
Notes
- Don’t simmer the soup for too long or it will overcook the pasta. When you’re using a small cut of pasta like ditalini or small shells, they are going to cook super quick in the soup. It will take just a few minutes – 5 at the most – to get the pasta perfectly al dente.
- Switch up the veggies based on your family’s taste! Sometimes we don’t have frozen green beans so I’ll use frozen broccoli or corn instead. I also like to add leftover roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash if I’ve got some in the fridge. This recipe is super forgiving. Just keep the ratios the same and it will taste delicious!
- If you’ve got leftover V8 juice, you can use it to make my One Pot Taco Soup, my Vegan Lentil Tortilla Soup, or my Vegan Black Bean Chili.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of soup
- Calories: 227
- Sugar: 8.7 g
- Sodium: 697.3 mg
- Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.2 g
- Fiber: 8.4 g
- Protein: 8.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I agree with everyone, this recipe is delicious, and the recipe does make enough for a large family or like us multiple meals. Since we are not Vegan’s, I added a pound of Polish Keilbasa to the pot which made this recipe even better for those of us who are carnivores.
That sounds delicious, Susan! Great idea! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
This soup was delicious! The only change I made was to use three cups of the vegetable juice instead of four. Everyone loved it. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I was wondering if you might be able to create a vegan Italian wedding soup recipe. I’m not sure that’s possible, but if it is, I think you’re the one who could do it. Thanks again!!
This recipe is so delicious. I forgot to get the V8 juice so I left that out. It was still really good. I added vegan Italian sausage. We ate it for 3 days. My very picky teenage son loved it so it’s a win for me. I will be making this on a regular for sure. Thank you for creating this recipe.
This is amazing and so perfect with your croutons! Thank you for the great vegan recipes!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed this one. It’s one of our family’s favorites too! Thanks for leaving a review, Christina – I really appreciate it 🙂
Why would you garnish with parmigiana if it is vegan?
Use Nooch. You know, nutritional yeast
Just use vegan Parm. Violife has a great one!
Made it in the instant pot. Six minutes. It was delicious!
super yummy! the recipe does make a VAT of soup though, so if you’re feeding less people, definitely recommend halving it (unless this is your favorite thing to eat!)
Yum!! Made this tonight. I love that it’s fairly chunky, not mostly broth! And the vegetable juice really kicks things up a notch. Also love that it uses mostly canned/frozen ingredients. I also appreciate the step by step pics 🙂 I do have more vegetable juice than I needed, so I love to see the links to other recipes that use it – I’ll have to try one of them soon!