Classic Minestrone Soup Recipe With Bacon
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Hearty minestrone soup recipe is a perfect winter soup. This Italian vegetable soup is filled with healthy vegetables, homemade bone broth, and bacon. Not only is it good for you, it’s good for your soul.
There is nothing I like more than snuggling up on the couch with fuzzy socks, a blanket, my hubby, Olive (the rescue pup), and a warm bowl of soup (I’m actually doing all these things while this post is being typed :).
Whether it be chicken lentil soup, or potato leek… doesn’t matter to me. It’s all delicious. Give me all the homemade broth.
Actually, I may just have a soup obsession, which I see nothing wrong with. My hubby on the other hand is the soup scrooge.
I will make a huge batch and he will maybe have 2 bowls of it. But even though he is not a soup fan he still really likes this minestrone soup with bacon.
Who could blame him… there is bacon involved.
Minestrone soup is probably my absolute favorite soup of all time. Comforting bowl full of delicious vegetables
Tips For Making Minestrone Soup
- Use fresh spinach or kale. Kale will need to cook a little longer than the spinach.
- This soup freezes well. Allow it to cool completely in the refrigerator, then store in half gallon mason jars or in gallon freezer bags.
- Make homemade broth in the Instant Pot. I make this recipe every week.
- You can add noodles to make this a more filling soup. I like to cook my noodles separate and add them to each bowl of soup. This is so the noodles don’t absorb all the broth.
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Tools you may need:
Large stock pot or dutch oven
Cutting board
Knife
Instant Pot if making homemade broth.
Minestrone Soup FAQ:
What is the difference between minestrone and vegetables soup?
Vegetable soup can contain any mix of vegetables, whereas minestrone is made with Italian vegetables like zucchini, tomatoes, spinach or kale, and cannelini beans.
What goes with minestrone soup?
Minestrone soup is a light brothy soup so crusty bread or homemade dinner rolls with some butter tastes amazing. It would go amazing with a green leafy salad or a grilled cheese sandwich.
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Is This Recipe Whole30, Paleo, And Gluten Free?
Yes! As long as the bacon doesn’t contain sugar, and you don’t add cheese this recipe is Whole30 and Paleo. If you are just gluten free you could add gluten free noodles to it and use whatever bacon you have.
Could this be made vegetarian?
Leave out the bacon and saute the veggies with a little oil instead. Swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth and there you go! That is all it takes.
What is minestrone soup made of?
Onions – add so much flavor to soups. Dice really small if you are not a fan of onions.
Carrots – I like to use large carrots and leave hearty sized chunks in the soup. The texture of the carrots adds so much to this soup.
Celery – classic soup ingredient that add a lot of flavor.
Potatoes – makes this soup heart and filling. Use a potato with a thin skin like red, gold, or Russet potatoes so you can just chop and add, no peeling required.
Bacon – prosciutto is also commonly used in this Italian soup, but it can be expensive and hard to find so I like to use bacon.
White beans or kidney beans – I prefer the size and flavor of Great Northern Beans
Zucchini – slice slightly thicker and don’t overcook so they don’t turn into mush.
Spinach or kale – you could even use frozen. If using frozen, use less (probably around half) than you would fresh.
Broth – I like homemade chicken broth, but you could also use vegetable broth.
Seasonings – See recipe. If you don’t have all of these individual spices, use 1 Tbs Italian seasoning blend.
Salt – salt to taste. This will depend on how much salt your broth has (if it is store-bought or homemade) and how you like your soup.
How To Make This Minestrone Soup Recipe + Video
- In a large stock pot cook bacon until 75% done. While the bacon is cooking, start chopping the vegetables.
- Remove bacon and leave the bacon fat in the pot.
- Add in onions and cook until onions are translucent.
- Add chopped carrots, celery, potatoes, and canned tomatoes.
- Chop bacon and add to soup.
- Mix in the rest of the ingredients (except the spinach or kale and zucchini), cover, and bring to a boil.
- Turn heat down to simmer and simmer for at 15-20 minutes.
- 3-5 minutes before the soup is done, add in zucchini and fresh spinach or kale. We don’t like overcooked and mushy zucchini so I like to only let this cook for a few minutes. Overcooked zucchini will just turn into mush and skins.
- Serve. Top with some shredded Parmesan cheese, and serve with crust sourdough bread.
More of our favorite soup recipes:
- Chicken and Rice Soup: Easy 10 Minute Recipe
- Sausage Potato Soup {Instant Pot}
- Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Chicken Lentil Soup: Easy Weeknight Soup
- Baked Potato Soup Recipe
Minestrone Soup Recipe
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Please and thank you.
Hearty Minestrone Soup with Bacon
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Ingredients
- 3 slices of bacon
- 1 onion diced
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 2 carrots chopped
- 3 large potatoes chopped
- 28 oz diced tomatoes in juice
- 15 oz canellini or white beans drained and rinsed
- 1 zucchini chopped
- 8 cups of bone broth preferably or chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tbs crushed rosemary
- 1.5 tbs basil
- salt to taste
- 2 cups fresh spinach or kale - optional
Instructions
- In a large stock pot cook bacon until about 75% done and set aside.Leaving the bacon fat in the pot cook onions until they are translucent.Add in carrots, potatoes, and celery.Mix in the rest of the ingredients (except the zucchini and spinach/kale), cover, and bring to a boil. Chop bacon and add to soup. Turn heat down to simmer and simmer for at 15-20 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are fork tender.5 minutes before the soup is done add in fresh spinach/kale and zucchini. Cook until zuchini starts to soften.
Nutrition
This post was updated October 2019
Love the addition of bacon
Everything is better with bacon! Glad you enjoyed it.
Amazing and easy recipe that is hardy and healthy for the body!!
Thanks Sophie! So glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic recipe (as always)!!!
Just about to make this for my other half’s birthday dinner but I was wondering if I could use turkey bacon instead.
It contains less sodium so is a little healthier (she’s on a diet…again!)
Keep up those awesome recipes coz I’m always looking for inspiration in the kitchen:)