Minestrone soup. Bring home the taste of Rao's Vegetable Minestrone Soup today. Bring high-quality ingredients and flavors to your pantry. Minestrone is a thick, mixed vegetable soup using almost any combination of seasonal vegetables.

A huge success with the family and guests. Add more tomato paste for a thicker, more stewlike minestrone. I also added a can of green beans, used kidney instead of cannellini beans, and used shredded spinach instead of cabbage. You can cook Minestrone soup using 13 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Minestrone soup

You need 2 tbsp of olive oil.
It's 1 of medium onion diced.
It's 2 of large carrots peeled and chopped.
You need 2 stalks of celery chopped.
Prepare 1 clove of garlic minced.
You need 1 bag (5 oz) of fresh baby spinach washed and trimmed.
You need 1 of large russet potato peeled and cubed.
Prepare 1 can (14 oz) of diced tomatoes.
It's 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
It's 1 can (15 oz) of kidney beans.
It's 4 (14 oz) cans of low sodium chicken stock.
You need 1 cup of short cut pasta.
Prepare 6-7 of basil leaves.

Essentially, minestrone is a thick, hearty variety of vegetable soup, thanks to the addition of beans and sometimes pasta or rice. Tomatoes, carrots, onion, and celery are usually included, with other vegetables added at the cook's discretion. Minestrone soup is an Italian classic! This version is made with cannellini beans, chicken stock, cabbage, potato, zucchini, carrots, plum tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese.

Minestrone soup step by step

In a large heavy bottom soup pot heat the olive oil on medium heat and sauté the pancetta until crispy, just a couple minutes. Once the pancetta is crispy remove from the pan and set aside..
Add the chopped onion, carrots and celery and sauté until the vegetables start to cook down and caramelize about 3 minutes, add the potato and garlic and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, you want all the vegetables to get a golden brown color all over..
Add the kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato puree and the chicken stock, place a lid on the pan turn the heat to medium high and cook for 30 minutes..
When all the vegetables are cooked (mixture should be slightly thicker) season with salt and pepper to taste and add the pasta (cook the pasta according to package instructions) when the pasta is about 2 minutes away from being done add the spinach and basil, cook just until the spinach is wilted . Serve with good crusty Italian bread and add some shredded Parmesan cheese if you'd like.
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Photography Credit: Elise Bauer Pancetta (optional) - since minestrone is a vegetable soup it's a perfect meal for lent. So pancetta, guanciale or lard cut in cubes is completely optional, but it gives an incredible rich, intense flavor to the veggies as if they were cooked in meat stock (which by the way is also an option). Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, tomato paste and a pinch of salt. Reheat the soup, thinning it with water as desired. Serve the soup with the Parmesan, the bruschetta , and the sausages.