This hearty soup is a great 'warm you upper' for a cold winter night! Served with fresh grated Romano cheese and oven warm Italian bread, it's a hit any night of the week. Mangia!
I really enjoyed this soup & will make it again. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I only used 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes & it was spicy enough for my family. I think 3/4 tsp. would have been way too spicy for us. I used frozen corn, 6 oz. bag of fresh baby spinach, and substitued 15 oz. of crushed tomatoes as I prefer this to the diced ones. I also cut up some left over cooked whole wheat angel hair pasta which I added when heating it up. As minestrone usually has some beans in it, I'll probably add some cannellini or navy beans to the soup the next time, either in addition to or instead of the chicken.
Read MoreI felt this soup was okay but needed something. I just don't know what and everyone who reviewed seemed to love it as is.
Read MoreI really enjoyed this soup & will make it again. The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that I only used 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes & it was spicy enough for my family. I think 3/4 tsp. would have been way too spicy for us. I used frozen corn, 6 oz. bag of fresh baby spinach, and substitued 15 oz. of crushed tomatoes as I prefer this to the diced ones. I also cut up some left over cooked whole wheat angel hair pasta which I added when heating it up. As minestrone usually has some beans in it, I'll probably add some cannellini or navy beans to the soup the next time, either in addition to or instead of the chicken.
This soup is soooo flavorful, the sherry makes a huge difference in the flavor so don't leave it out or use the cheap stuff. I made it exactly how it is written but will add an extra can of corn next time (and there will be a next time) cause my family liked the texture and sweetness the corn gave the soup.
One word: DELICIOUS! I didn't have mushrooms but didn't miss them one bit. I had a can of quartered artichokes which seemed too big so I chopped them up. I didn't want to have soup with huge chunks plus I was 'hiding' them from my husband who says he doesn't like artichokes. Served with some hearty bread and he and I both absolutely loved it even after I fessed up to the ingredients! I used frozen corn and fresh spinach. Can't wait to eat the leftovers already!! Thanks for a great soup recipe that I plan to use regularly!
Love it! This soup is great for our cold winters!! I has just the right zip in the flavoring ...I even like a little tobasco sauce dotted inmy bowl. MMMMmmmm! I had leftover chicken to use up and keep most if the other ingredients on hand so I made it almost exactly as stated (no corn). My family loved it. Thanks momomany!
It was great! I left out the mushrooms, used cous cous instead of orzo and fresh spinach instead of frozen. It was easy, tasty, and colorful but a bit salty.
The soup is even better the second day or third day. I used the fresh spinach and left out about 2 cups of water from the chicken broth. Also added a can of black beans it added a lot of flavor.
The only thing I did different was add some basil and oregano as another reviewer suggested and I definitely think it needed it. All in all is was very tasty and I will make again. This soup made the house smell fabulous while it was cooking.
Very good and very easy. This made a ton! I froze a majority of it for another dinner. I followed the recipe as is and it is a very hearty, filling soup. Some crusty bread is all you would need to go with it!
Delicious! I used stewed tomatoes instead of dices, added a can of Italian green beans and some herbs. I will be making this often!
I agree it does make a lot of soup, but it was so delicious and it was a very beautiful and colorful soup in it's presentation. I don't think I would substitute rice for the orzo in this soup. The romano cheese and good bread is also a must.
I felt this soup was okay but needed something. I just don't know what and everyone who reviewed seemed to love it as is.
excellent!!!! sprinkled romano cheese over top.....soooo goood!! this will be a regular for us :)
Delicious and I like the heat that the red pepper flakes adds. I didn't change anything and wouldn't in the future. It makes a ton of soup but it should freeze well.
Good and healthy soup. I thought it was missing something - not sure what. It makes a ton of soup. I gave some to two friends and they thought it was delicious.
I just made this for the second time. We love it, just as is. I've learned that we especially like chicken shredded in soup, so I sauteed two breasts, whole, in olive oil, garlic and a few red pepper flakes for 5 minutes each side, then covered for 15 minutes with about 1/2 inch of water. It is so good!
This soup was EXCELLENT! In order to clean out my cabinets I added extra corn, white beans, and a 6 oz can of tomato sauce.
Great for a cold day - nice texture, flavor, and color! Next time I may add even more veggies to make it a little thicker/heartier. Thanks!
We liked this fine, but it didn't seem especially unique. It did make a LOT! Almost too much for my soup pot. I ended up serving it over the rice, instead of putting it in the pot.
Giving it a four because it could have used a bit more flavor - although I don't know off hand what I would add. I did make some modifications - sodium free broth and only 1/2 tsp of crushed pepper. The quartered mushrooms seemed really large when I put them in raw but they got smaller as they cooked. Also the artichoke hearts seemed very large when poured out of the can but were tender to bite into when the dish was served. I cubed the chicken quite large so the larger mushroom chunks and artichoke hearts didn't seem out of place. I made it for someone who doesn't care for hot tomatoes but the tomatoes got eaten anyway because they were small compared to many of the other components. It is a very beautiful dish and I'm excited about the left overs.
What a great flavor! I will definately make this again. Try a little freshly grated parmesan cheese on top-yummy!
my family plus my in-laws absolutely LOVE this soup! i have made it a number of times--with or without beans, i only had cream of spinach once and that even worked. . .we usually top it with parmesan and mozzarella cheese and serve with a side of fresh warm bread! yum-delish! we love it so much that it is in my dinner rotation over the autumn, winter and going into spring months! thank you so much sharing momomany!!!! update: we were craving this soup one evening but i didn't have quite enough chicken (about 2 cups), added 1 tube of jimmy dean's hot sausage. . .yum! family raved!!!! love it:)
On a whim, I made this recipe for a casual dinner party and it was really delicious. I think it was the artichoke that caught my eye, but I loved it because it's a hearty winter meal. I took someone's suggestion and added some white beans. I will make this again and again. Thank you! Thank you!
An easy, hearty veggie chicken stew. Easy to substitute with the vegetables you have on hand. The artichokes make the dish.
This was amazing! I don't like spinach so I left it out and added green beans instead, and I also added an extra can of tomatoes because after one, the sauce didn't really have a tomatoey taste that I was looking for. It made enough to last 2 weeks, and was absolutely delicious!
This was a great use of leftover chicken. I modified a bit based on what I had in my cupboard and went with canned mushrooms, artichokes, corn, frozen broccoli, and kidney beans. I didn't have any chopped tomatoes so I used a can of crushed and it was great. I had no orzo so I used rice. I kept the chili at 3/4 of a tsp and it was just right. This was a huge recipe. I think I may do it in the slow cooker next time if we are out and running around. Nice to come home to a hearty soup like this.
This recipe is fantastic! It's the first recipe I ever made with one of my now favorite ingredients- dry sherry! Love all the ingredients and the sherry just gives it depth of flavor. Love this! I always make this when artichokes go on sale!
Love artichokes, loved this soup.
I loved this soup! I did make a lot of changes just due to my tastes. I used three quarts of broth due to adding a lot of ingredients first of all. I also omitted the corn (just thought that was odd for minestrone) and exchanged white wine for the sherry. I used fresh spinach and instead of regular mushrooms I added a package of pre-sliced baby portabellas. Finally I added a can of garbanzo beans and some extra seasonings of basil and oregano. This is a great base recipe and easy to change to suit your family. My husband loved it and both of us took the leftovers in our lunch the next day!
This looked like it would be one fantastic recipe, and it sure is! My husband and I will dip in tonight, and we're feeding this delightful concoction to 5 college kids tomorrow. Because there was fresh spinach and corn on hand, those were used instead of canned and frozen. I also doubled the orzo, knowing we were feeding all those boys. That little "soupcon" of sherry and those hot pepper flakes are lipsmackers. This recipe will be handed off to our two married daughters, and will be a "regular" in our house. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe. To borrow from a commercial, this is "mmmmmm, mmmmmmm good!"
Very good! It has a wonderful flavor! I forgot to buy frozen spinach, so I used frozen green beans. This is a very hearty soup...I added another 1/2 quart of chicken broth.
I read many of the other reviews before making this dish. I only had three thin chicken breasts, added some sautéed chopped portabella mushrooms and sliced white mushrooms, used the half mayo/sour cream suggestion and added a little oregano, onion powder and garlic powder for seasonings instead of the garlic pepper. It turned out wonderful and will make this again. The basic recipe is a good one to get you started.
I made this soup for my husband and myself, it was way too much food but it lasted a long time in the fridge and my hubby keeps eating it - he says it's great! I like the idea of artichokes in this soup, a nice twist. Will definitely make it again some time!
This is a great soup recipe! I made a few changes: omitted the sherry (didn't have it on hand), replaced the water with chicken stock, used fresh spinach instead of frozen, used 2 chicken thighs (cubed very small), used canned sliced mushrooms, used artichoke hearts from a jar, added celery and carrots, used a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, and used ground red pepper instead of crushed. It made a very large batch of soup, but my family loved it!
Everyone couldn't get enough and it is easy to make and freezes well if you don't like leftovers.
It was so yummy! Low fat and full of veggies! I added kidney beans, used fresh spinach and Italian tomatoes because I didn’t have regular. This would be great without pasta or rice!!!! It is a favorite of mine! I even put it all together in my instant pot.
I made approximately 1/2 the amount of everything as there are just two of us and our freezer is full of wild meat. It was, to me, a bit bland so I added juice from the jar of artichoke hearts to "brighten" it, used merlo wine because that's what I had, as with lima beans instead of spinach. I used just a "tich" of red pepper flakes and added hot sauce to my bowl. I left the artichoke hearts whole as I love matzah (sp? ball soup with the matzahs floating around. I really liked it. Very different and that's fun.
The only thing I did different was add some basil and oregano as another reviewer suggested and I definitely think it needed it. All in all is was very tasty and I will make again. This soup made the house smell fabulous while it was cooking.
