Vegetable Minestrone
A generous vegetable and bean soup with a handful of pasta, built on a proper soffritto. The kind of pot that stretches further the next day.
By Vegan Cook. Published 5 August 2026
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 1onion, diced
- 2carrots, diced
- 2 stalkscelery, diced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1courgette, diced
- 1 cupcooked kidney or cannellini beans
- 1 cupchopped tomatoes
- 4 cupsvegetable stock
- 1/2 cupsmall pasta (ditalini or macaroni)
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1 tspsalt
- 2 tbspfresh basil, to finish
Cookware
- Large soup pot
Method
Read each step end-to-end before starting.
- 01
Make the base
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook for 8 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and oregano and cook 1 minute more.
- 02
Build the soup
Add the courgette, chopped tomatoes, beans, stock and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
- 03
Cook the pasta separately (or not)
Stir the pasta directly into the soup and simmer for the time given on the packet, about 10 minutes. If you plan to keep leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl instead, because pasta left in the soup overnight swells and soaks up all the liquid.
- 04
Finish
Taste and adjust salt. Stir through the fresh basil off the heat and serve with a drizzle of olive oil.
Allergen profile
Every recipe here is fully plant-based. Cross-contamination risk depends on your kitchen, so check all packaging.
Swap note
Contains gluten from the pasta. Use gluten-free pasta or leave it out and add extra beans to adapt.