Minestrone Soup II

This is a favorite in our household--we've tried lots of other minestrone recipes before, but none as delicious as this!

I tried this and it is marvelous! I am making it again today and instead of bacon I am using ham and turkey carcasses I saved in the freezer. I boil them (for at least 2hours slowly) and they make a rich broth from which to make this soup. Thanks Ms Satler for your recipe ideas!

I am about to make this soup again. I just decided to post a review and rating of this recipe because I thought it was a great and easy soup that anyone can prepare and serve with confidence. I really enjoyed making it and thought it made a really easy and enjoyable home cooked soup. Try it if you haven't!

Please be aware: to make this soup properly it is a lot of work! I used a inner ham bone for stock, and then added the can of Beef stock. It is delicious, but I suggest somewhat more italian herbs, because it was kind of flat. Make sure you buy fresh parmesan cheese, not the prefab stuff. It makes a huge difference.

I made the soup exactly as written. The flavor s absolutely wonderful and it's chock full of goodies! However, it does make quite a large quantity. I went through two crock pots, finally putting everything in my largest stock pot, before I found something that would contain all of the ingredients. Unless you've got a stock pot, as opposed to a standard dutch oven, the quantity as written might create a headache. Tasty, but a headache.

Pretty good! I, however, had to alter the recipe just slightly. 6 slices of bacon, 1 cup of cooked ground beef, 4 carrots, 4 stalks of celery, 1/2 onion, 2 zucchinis, 1 (10.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes, 1 can (10.5 oz) of water, 2 cans chicken broth, 1 package of onion soup, and 2 tbsp of savoury seasoning! Simmered for an hour and it was delicious.

This recipe makes a lot of soup! I used a 6 1/2 quart stock pot, and it was almost to the rim. If you choose this recipe be sure to fry the bacon, brown the hamburger, and chop the veggies ahead of time, so you can throw it all together before dinner. Otherwise you will be watching this pot for a while.

Awesome!! My uncle and aunt, who are both 80, said it was the best minestrone soup they ever had!! Thanks

My husband and stepdaughter are SO picky and they LOVE this soup. And it is even more flavorful after it sits in the pot for a couple of days! Enjoy!!

A "recipe" for minestrone would really be impossible to create, since there is no right or wrong in how one prepares it. It is simply a thick soup of mixed vegetables and pasta, sometimes with meat, most often not. Any kind of beans, pasta or vegetables are fine - it's merely a matter of what's in your garden, fridge, or what you like. Today I made my own stock with soup bones and meaty beef shanks, so I didn't use any ground beef. I used small seashell pasta, tomato sauce I had put up myself, and Swiss Chard from my garden - as well as the other vegetables called for in this recipe, of course! I also added fresh garlic to the vegetables. The canned French onion soup, granted, was an unconventional and unusual addition, but you know what? It was good! What this MUST have (unless you're weird like my husband and hate it) is a good sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan or Romano. It's just not the same without. Good road map for minestrone, Ann Satler! That's a difficult one to put down!

ok, being Italian, I not only love minestrone, but I also am not big on measuring. so...1 cup of onions, carrots, and celery? No, I put in more, and I cut big not diced. So, I cooked the soup about 1/2 hour for the first part, not 15 minutes. Also, no chic peas in minestrone, use cannelloni beans please. I also added cooked broccoli that I had left over. It just needed more veges. Oh, and I used 1/2 lb. of Ditilini pasta, Not Spinach pasta! Cooked halfway, then put in the soup and continue to cook till pasta is done! More creamy this way! Cut bacon into 1" pieces. Do not discard the bacon grease, it needs it! I also use 3/4 lb meat. And a full bag of fresh spinach not 2 cups! Do not add salt, the onion soup and broth has more than enough, not to mention the cheese you put on top! salty enough. And yes, I will make it again! The recipe is good, just needs tweaking and way more than 30 minutes to cook! One more thing, use diced tomatoes, the stewed are just way to big!

Very good Soup. Easy to make, can be modified to your taste, and it's great on a cold evening. It has a lot of flavor. I added extra vegetables as suggested. I have passed this recipe on to several other people and can recommend it to anyone that likes Minestrone.

I was skeptical... but took a chance and wow! it's a winner. My husband loved it as did I. The only change I made was to use stew meat instead of ground beef. Now it's a weekly dinner with a basket of multi-grain bread from the bakery, and a glass of red wine. Thanks so much.

My husbands from an italian family and very picky about his minestrone soup and we both love this recipe! I make it just as the directions call for and its excellent!

delicious! i loved this recipe because it is tasty, makes a full soup pot, and is so flexible you can throw in just about anything. i used marinara sauce instead of the puree, diced tomatoes with green chiles, no bacon, ground turkey, radishes, doubled the onions and the zucchini. simple and a great way to clean out the fridge!

I was looking for a soup that was packed with vegetables and was still substantial enough for dinner for my husband. This soup really surprised me. It had a lot of flavor! My husband went for seconds so that is always a good sign. I added 1 lb of beef chuck instead of hamburger meat cut up into bite size pieces. I will definately make this again!

Unbelievable!! The only thing I would change is cook pasta separate and serve it in each individual bowl as you dish the soup out. Otherwise the pasta gets mushy from sitting in the soup too long. Way to go!! this is the best minestrone there could possibly be!

What a great soup on a cold winter evening. I put the tomatoes, zucchini and added half of an anahiem peper into a food processor and put that into the soup. It's the only way to get my kids to eat the zucchini or and tomatos. I don't care for garbanzo beans so I put in a can of white beans (drained) and a can of white Kidney beans (drained). I also put in italian sausage instead of ground beef. I will absolutely make this again.

My family has a very unusual Thanksgiving dinner. We all make soup and I have made this soup for the last 3 years and they love it. My family is very large, about 30 immediate members, and I only have to double the recipe because it makes so much. And my kids love to help me make it too!

I made this soup and changed a few items because I did not have them. It was soooooooo.......good. The bacon gave it a great flavor. I added baby portabella mushrooms and small shell noodles. My kids loved it! I did not have garbanzo beans, but I think the shell noodles made a good substitute.

I made this soup for my family, and they all loved it. I will definately make it again!!!

Oh my goodness gracious this is such a good recipe. Not being a fan of tomato based soups I was hesitant to try it but thank goodness I did because I loved it! It was also a big hit with the rest of the family. At first, the smell of the soup was not appealing but as I let it simmer and let all the flavours infuse, the whole house filled with an amazing aroma. I did add a bit more pasta and simmered for a half an hour more, so it was more like a stew than a soup. It was perfect on a cold winter’s night and we ate with gusto! We added some shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream to change it up the next day. So yummy! This is a good soup to have on hand and add to your lunches. I would never get bored of this soup.

This is a great base recipe that is very versatile. I made several changes based on what I had on hand, and it was delicious! I needed to use up a 48 0z container of tomato juice, so that was most of my soup base, along with 1 can of whole tomatoes in puree (crushed), about 2 cups of water with beef soup base, and more like 1/2C red wine. I just had a farm club delivery with zucchini and kale, so I used those with celery, carrots, and lots of fresh thyme, oregano, basil and parsley, and a bay leaf. I used some bacon lardons and kept the bacon fat in and used about 4 oz. of ground turkey. I used kidney beans. I cooked small shell pasta separately about half way through, and just add some of that to each bowl. Topped with some pecorino romano, this is a thick, hearty, nutrtitious meal!

The best Minestrone

I made this soup the other day and thought it was very good. My only problem is when I make soup, it turns into a stew instead. I used 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage as that is what I had on hand. I used cut spaghetti and white kidney beans. I also used baby spinach. When I cook with a red sauce I generally add a pinch of sugar to take away some of the acidity. Will be making this dish again.

It was better than I expected. I love it when I find new ways to get veggies in my diet.

Wow! Very delish!! Best Minestrone ever!! I don't think That I would search for other recipe on this soup!! I adjusted some on this recipe. I used some EVOO instead of bacon s drIpping. I didn't use bacon and celery. I used 1 lb. of ground beef and 1/2 cup of chopped onion. I cooked onion first for few minutes, then added beef. At last minute, I added garlic. Speak of seasonings, I only used dried oregano, kosher salt, & fresh black pepper. I added 1/2 tsp. of Zesty Seasoning Blend and 1/2 tsp. of Tastefully Simple Onion Onion. Instead of french onion soup, i used half packet of onion dip powder. Red wine was a key to this soup. I didn't use spinach, spinach pasta, zucchini, and parsley at all. I used julienne cut carrots, chickpea, and dried macaroni at last 20 minutes. I increased the heat bit and let it boil gently in the cover. So, the pasta was cooked perfectly. We sprinkled the soup with Romano cheese. It even tasted better on next day!! Less liquid due to the absorbing by the pasta, they turned into a stew. Perfect soup for cold days!!

I made this soup today and my family loved it. I didn't have some of the ingredients so improvised on the vegetables and it still came out great.

Very good recipe. I ended up adding a 1 lb package of frozen vegetables and no zucchini. I had cooked about 1/3lb of ring pasta in the soup pot. The soup got rave reviews from the whole family. Will definately make this again. I also made the soup in an 8qt stock pot, and it was just the right size.

Very good. I used a pound of ground italian sausage instead of the hamburger and bacon. 10 minutes in the Instant Pot and dinner was done (for 2 days!).

I followed the recipe and enjoyed it a lot

Cooked this recipe for a house filled with carnivorous middle-aged men who refuse to eat vegetables and it was a hit! I used spicy italian sausage and bacon, as well as a plethora of veggies from my refrigerator and added little red potatoes (I didn't have any beans). I was very pleased with the taste; it came out perfect! Totally worth the time :D

Great and easy meal! I used frozen italian style meatballs because that is what I had on hand and added a can of kidney beans (rinsed). Also I didn't have fresh spinach so used a half box of frozen chopped spinach. Excellant! My husband calls it Maxi-stone instead of mini-strone!

Great and simple

I used this recipe as a base as I wanted the Bacon in it and substituted Chicken Italian Sausage for the Ground Beef as another reviewer suggested. The Chicken Italian Sausage soaked up most of the Bacon Fat which was fine with me. I saluted Onion, Celery and Carrots as well and then added Green Beans and Shredded Cabbage and New Potatoes as well as fresh garlic, Tuscan Italian Seasoning, 1 Quart Chicken Stock and 1 Quart Vegetable Stock with salt and pepper to taste. I used jarred Cannelloni Beans at the very end and I cooked Elbow Macaroni separately and added this to the bottom of the bowls as well as Coarsely Grated Parmesan and fresh Flat Leaf Parseley. It was Wonderful. My Husband loved it !!!

this is absolutely spectacular! and all the fresh veggies came out perfect. I was a little shocked about the French onion soup I must admit, but it added an awesome flavor boost. not hard or too time consuming either. I ate both with parmesan and without, it was great without but amazing with. it will be a staple in our house from now on, thanks for the recipe!

This is good! I served it to 3 critics in my family. I used the pkg. of onion soup, varied the tomatoes/water, chicken broth (not beef), and turkey bacon. Served it with crusty whole wheat and parmesean. It makes a lot too which is great! I added the zuccini, beans, and spinach last but probably should have added them a good 30 min. before serving , they were aldente but fine!

I enjoy soup for dinner,so when i saw this recipe and I had all the ingredients tried it. I left out the puree added 1 can of toms. 1 box of beef broth and pureed some roasted red peppers in the blender and it still is great.Oh I also used frozen meatballs instead of gr. beef and leftover cooked pasta . Still really good

I made this yesterday; craving comfort food during this New England cold spell. It's a very hearty soup!! I did alter it a bit because I had a pot of homemade sauce on the stove cooking at the same time. So I substituted my sauce for the tomato purée.

This was very good! The only thing I will do differently next time is to double the initial cooking time to 30 mins ( the carrots weren’t done enough) and cut up the stewed tomatoes more .

I followed the directions to make this soup and was very pleased with the results. My family gobbled it up. As indicated by other reviews, this recipe makes a lot of soup. So make sure you have plenty of hungry mouths to serve.

Best Minestrone I have ever made!!!!

Shem was just "meh" but I loved it

One of the best soup recipes I've ever made. Makes a lot of soup but freezes wonderfully, I put it in small bowls to use for lunch. Only changes I made were navy beans instead of garbanzo and a different type of pasta so just use any of your favorites and the soup will be perfect.

Excellent recipe It is also great for using as a reference as far as seasonings are concerned for messing around with and creating your own recipe.

I loved it, she tastes wonderful!!!

I did a little improvising as to what I had on hand, but omitted the ground beef, as that would be vegatable beef soup. I did add some wine, not the onion soup, and used red kidney beans instead of garbanzo's (it's what I had). You could add more veggies, but this is a pretty spot on recipe. Makes enough for 2 adults and 4 teenage boys! This will be my go to recipe for Minestrone, without the beef stock (I used au jous) and bacon, it wouldn't have this wonderful depth of flavor! It can't miss.

Very good recipe. It wasn't the traditional recipe of Minestrone soup that we've had before, but it turned out great! I did add some garlic powder, and I left out the fresh spinach because there wasn't any at my grocery store. We'll be making this again!

Great ingredient list. Easy to prepare & make it your own. Very hearty.

Delicious! Are it for 3 days and yummy each time. Add a second cup of noodles to it. We replaced the noodles with medium shell noodles. And they were so soft and good in it!

I left out garbanzo beans and used a full pound of beef.

I made this for a Super Bowl party and it was widely enjoyed. This recipe makes a lot of soup! I used cannelloni beans instead of chick peas, added extra beef broth, and used no ground beef. Instead I cooked a pound of bacon, drained and crumbled it, then added to the soup. Delish! The parmesan cheese make a delightful addition at the end.

My 5 year old said "You can make this soup every day mom". Therefore worthy of the 5 stars. I made mine on the stovetop, was in a hurry, so I fried finely diced onion and celery, grated the zuchini and carrot, omited the bacon and pasta, and forgot all the tomatoes! Was still very good, but the broth was a touch strong for my tastes. I'm sure adding the tomatoes would have helped with that.

I made this for a Super Bowl party and it was widely enjoyed. This recipe makes a lot of soup! I used cannelloni beans instead of chick peas, added extra beef broth, and used no ground beef. Instead I cooked a pound of bacon, drained and crumbled it, then added to the soup. Delish! The parmesan cheese make a delightful addition at the end.

I did not have the bacon, hamburger, or red wine - but the soup was still excellent. It does make a lot, so might make only half a recipe next time