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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
Units
Scale
- 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.
