Easy and delicious Olive Garden Inspired Minestrone Soup loaded fresh veggies, leafy greens and simmered in the most flavorful broth! Easily made in one pot for a cozy weeknight dinner the whole family will love!
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Um so it happened. I’ve heard about this happening before in great detail from others, but never could relate because I hadn’t experienced it before. So what was said horrifying experience??
I dreamt that my blog had been entirely DELETED!! (Gasp!)Yes it was horrible, awful and maybe even a little crazy that I actually dreamed about my blog, but the worst part was…some girl had taken it over and changed my own password! I of course then tried to sue her and decided (in my dream) that this MUST be a dream so I attempted to wake up. When I couldn’t wake up (in my dream) I then came to the realization that this was all REAL and my blog was now lost forever. So long dreams of having my very own cookbook someday or getting published in a magazine…time to actually put in work at my real job. Well thank goodness I actually woke up.
Ok enough about how crazy I am, I did actually make a recipe. And, um, let me just go ahead and say that if anyone has been to Olive Garden and hasn’t tried their minestrone soup yet, well then frankly you just haven’t lived. It’s always my go-to meal anytime we go (that and breadsticks…duh) and let’s be honest, it’s probably the healthiest thing on their menu. Lucky for me it just so happens to be my favorite too.
This dish has such a medley of flavors and the perfect marriage of ingredients. They compliment each other so well and the best part was I made this on Sunday and so far it’s lasted me ALL week for lunch! I get so excited when I find new staple recipes I love that are healthy and super nutritious, I’ll definitely be adding this to my bi-weekly menu. This also freezes really well too if you want to make a few batches to keep on hand…trust me, you’ll want to!To make this dish completely clean and even less calories, feel free to omit the tiny pasta shells. I try to eat clean as much as possible, but I do love pasta from time to time…so sue me. But really, how can you go wrong with all fresh ingredients, tons of veggies and spices such as thyme, basil and oregano? It’s also the perfect little pick-me-up on a freezing cold December day.
Hint, hint.
So I urge you to make some this weekend, I would even go as far to say that this is better than Olive Garden. Yep, totally just went there.
Feel free to prove me wrong.
Olive Garden Inspired Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup zucchini, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cut green beans
- 1/4 cup celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained
- 1 (15 oz) can small white beans, drained
- 1/2 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup carrots, julienned
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1/3 cup small pasta shells
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat and sauté onion, celery, garlic, zucchini and green beans, about 5 minutes.
- Then add vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, beans, carrots, and spices. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, allowing soup to simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Add baby spinach leaves and pasta, cooking an additional 10 minutes, then serve. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! We all loved it, vegetarians and non vegetarians alike!
I had the minestrone last night at Olive Garden and to my surprise, I noticed the recipe had changed a bit. The broth was darker and a little oilier and there were fewer vegetables than normal. So today, I went in search of the recipe, found this one by (lucky) accident and am making it tonight! BTW, I love the look of this website and the photos of the soup are stunning. I will definitely return to see what else I can find. Thank you 🙂
Just made this-It’s delicious and easy–my favorite kind of recipe!
Made this for my wife for lunch today. It was a perfect choice for a rainy 61* day in norcal. This is a really tasty simple soup recipe. Thanks for sharing#
This soup looks yummy, having company over for dinner this Sunday will have this soup to start a wonderful evening with friends, thank you for pinning it.
This soup is very good. I have made it twice and loved it both times.
This was delicious! My boyfriend who is picky and doesn’t like healthy things loved it and said it tasted just as good Olive Garden’s if not better. Super easy to make and very tasty.
I cannot pass up the chance to say how delicious this recipe is! I really appreciate recipes where the vegetables cook right into the broth so no vitamins are lost. I am making a double batch to freeze and also share with friends who are having a baby in a few weeks. I’m going to omit he shell pasta during the initial cooking and give them a bag of shells on the side to cook when they warm it up. This way the pasta won’t be over cooked. Thanks for this great recipe. It’s quickly becoming a staple!
Love your recipes, maybe I’m missing something though and someone can set me straight but I can’t see how many people the recipes serve in total. I can see other great facts like serving size and cals etc. But can’t see how many each recipe will serve.
It would also be great to see whether a recipe is freezable or not.
I’m often making for one and don’t want to waste such tasty food so being able to adjust a recipe smaller (or bigger for guests) or freeze the leftovers is viral information for me. Please consider it.
Yes this soup would freeze well and certainly makes enough servings! You can find the servings of all the recipes at the top of the recipe portion of every post where it says “yields.” This particular recipe yields 8 servings, hope this helps! 🙂