• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Seasonal guide
  • All produce
  • About
  • Subscribe

Ask the Food Geek logo

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Seasonal guide
  • All produce
  • About
  • Subscribe
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Seasonal guide
  • All produce
  • About
  • Subscribe
×

Home » Winter » Winter minestrone soup with pesto

Modified: Mar 31, 2022 by Vee

Winter minestrone soup with pesto

The point of this minestrone soup is to make use of your favorite fall & winter veggies, or just use up what you have on-hand. It's very flexible, letting you use any of the following:

  • Butternut squash, or your favorite winter squash
  • Carrots or parsnips
  • Sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, or celeriac
  • Spinach, kale, or shredded brussels sprouts

The amount of each vegetable is also very flexible. The recipe provides some guidelines, but you can easily stray from them. Below the recipe is a guide on the different vegetables you can choose from, how to make ahead, store leftovers, and additional nutrition info.

A bowl of minestrone and a side of bread

Winter minestrone soup with pesto

Vee
Print Pin it Rate
Prep Time15 mins
Calories250
Servings8 1.5 cup bowls

Swap in your favorite winter vegetables, learn more below the recipe card.

Prevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients
  

Aromatics

  • 2 tablespoon bacon fat (or butter, see note)
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 3 stalks celery
  • 4 cloves garlic

Soup ingredients

  • 6 medium carrots (or parsnips)
  • ½ butternut squash, peeled (or about 1 lb of any winter squash)
  • 1 medium sweet potato, peeled (or regular potato, or celeriac)
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme (or substitute 1½ teaspoon dried)
  • 1 teaspoon salt (more or less depening on sodium level of broth)
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper (or red pepper if preferred)
  • 1 parmesan rind (optional)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 26 oz can of diced tomatoes
  • 6-8 cups chicken broth
  • 15 oz can of cannellini beans rinsed and drained
  • ½ - ¾ cups dry small pasta, like ditalini (see note for small pasta types and measurements)

Finishing touches

  • 8 oz spinach (or kale or shredded brussels sprouts)
  • ½ cup dry white wine (any non-sweet white wine or vermouth you would drink)
  • 2-3 tablespoon pesto

Want to see how many calories each ingredient contributes to your bowl of soup?

Instructions

Prep produce

  • Cut the onion and celery into a small dice, and finely chop the garlic. Cut the carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potato into bite-sized pieces for soup. Roughly chop spinach (or kale, stems and ribs removed).

Make the soup

  • Cook aromatics, about 10 minutes: Heat 2 tablespoon bacon grease (or butter) in a large soup pot (minimum of 6 quarts, see note). Add the diced onion and celery, cook until it smells good and the onions turn translucent (about 6-8 minutes). Add the garlic, thyme, and 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Cook 2-3 more minutes until it smells good. (The oils in thyme are fat soluable, so cooking them in fat before broth is added intensifies the flavor).
  • Add more vegetables & broth, cook 20 minutes: Add the diced carrots, butternut squash, sweet potato, can of diced tomatoes, 6 cups of broth, Parmesan rind (optional), and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are almost soft (they will continue to cook after adding the pasta).
  • Taste, add salt as needed, remove herbs & Parmesan. At this point, give it a taste and add salt if needed. Remove the thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and Parmesan rind.
  • Add beans & pasta, cook 8-10 minutes: Add the can of beans and dry pasta. Cook as long as pasta package indicates.
  • Thick vs thin soup: at this point, the soup is probably pretty thick. Add more broth if you want a thinner soup.

Almost done! Add finishing touches

  • Add spinach & wine: cook until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.
  • Add pesto to the pot or add about 1 teaspoon to each bowl when served.

Notes

Butter or bacon grease: I usually buy bacon and cook it the night before, saving the bacon fat for this soup. It adds depth but doesn't add a noticeable bacon flavor. If you don't want the fuss, butter is a good substitute, followed by olive oil.
Pasta: you want about 2 cups of cooked pasta in the end (give or take, based on your preferences). You can cook the pasta in a separate pot if you're worried about measurements. I like to cook it in one pot to save on dishes. Below is a list of the approximate amount of dried pasta needed to make 2 cups cooked.
  • Ditalini or tubetti (my favorite for this soup): ½ cup dry
  • Elbows: just shy of 1 cup dry
  • Orzo: about ¾ cup dry
Soup pot: the standard dutch oven size is 6 quarts. This recipe will fill it to about 1-2 inches from the top, so anything smaller won't work.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Winter minestrone soup with pesto
Amount per Serving
Calories
250
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
6
g
9
%
Saturated Fat
 
2
g
13
%
Cholesterol
 
4
mg
1
%
Sodium
 
1322
mg
57
%
Potassium
 
1013
mg
29
%
Carbohydrates
 
41
g
14
%
Fiber
 
8
g
33
%
Sugar
 
8
g
9
%
Protein
 
9
g
18
%
Vitamin A
 
20618
IU
412
%
Vitamin C
 
47
mg
57
%
Calcium
 
184
mg
18
%
Iron
 
4
mg
22
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Which vegetables should you use?

Whatever vegetables taste best to you will make a soup that you really enjoy. That said, the vegetables do impart flavor (or lack of flavor) into the minestrone.

  • Butternut squash has a classic winter squash flavor (and one of my favorites for this soup)
  • Kabocha squash and any winter squash is also delicious (avoid spaghetti squash since the texture won't quite work out).
  • Sweet potatoes lend their slightly sweet and earthly flavor to the soup.
  • Yellow waxy and russet potatoes add nice substance, but not a lot of flavor. This is ok, however, if your other vegetables carry the flavor.
  • Celeriac (also called celery root) can be used in place of potatoes (or in addition to). They taste like a cross between potatoes and celery, lending a great flavor to this soup.
  • Parsnips are slightly nutty - it doesn't make the soup taste nutty, but it is noticeably more 'complex.' You can also try roasting parsnips in the oven before adding them to the soup for a caramelized sweetness. (If you do this, add them toward the end (after the pasta is almost done cooking), so they don't get mushy.
  • Carrots are a classic minestrone addition. No need to peel before adding to the soup, just be sure to scrub them clean.

Finishing touches: spinach, kale, or brussels sprouts

If you have any on hand, use them. Otherwise, take your pick based on your favorite flavor.

  • Spinach wilts quite a bit and adds a very subtle flavor.
  • Kale holds it shape and retains a very slight crunch. Any time of flat-leaf or curly kale work.
  • Brussels sprouts are a great option as well. You can even pan-fry them in some bacon grease or olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, before adding to the soup. If you do pan-fry, add them to each individual bowl for a fun garnish, instead of wilting them into the big pot of soup.

Winter produce guides you might like

These produce guides help you pick out the best produce, how to store them for a longer shelf life, along with other tips & recipes.

Winter squash in season
Pumpkins, butternut & other winter squash
Sweet potatoes
When is celery root in season? How to pick the best ones and store them.
Celery root (celeriac)
Brussels Sprouts in Season
Brussels sprouts
When are parsnips in season? Pick the best ones and store them right to last even longer.
Parsnips

More nutritional information

While calories are not a perfect measure, I like to use them for their relative value. A soup with 600 calories is very different than a soup with 300 calories. I also find it helpful to put specific ingredients into perspective, like 'how many calories does the pasta add to this soup?' (39 calories, by the way).

Knowing these things lets you customize the recipe to meet your dietary goals. To help with this, I've listed the calories for each ingredient, per serving (a 1.5 cup bowl).

Calories by ingredient (per serving of soup)

IngredientCalories per bowl
Bacon fat31
Onion, celery, and garlic10
Carrots19
Butternut squash25
Sweet potato24
Parmesan rind3
Diced tomatoes16
Chicken broth9
Cannellini beans38
Pasta39
Spinach6
Wine12
Pesto15
Calories per ingredient for Minestrone

Calories for substitutions

Since this minestrone is pretty flexible, I also wanted to provide calorie information for other vegetables & ingredients you might swap in. I used the same quantity of the vegetable as the one you might swap it with, then calculated the calories per bowl (for a fair comparison).

Other vegetables (swap)Calories per bowl
Celeriac (for sweet potato)5
Russet potato (for sweet potato)14
Parsnips (for carrots)34
Brussels sprouts (for spinach)11
Kale (for spinach)14
Butter (for bacon fat)25
Olive oil (for bacon fat)30
Calorie information for ingredient substitutions

Make ahead & leftovers

All of the vegetables can be cut in advance and stored for several days in the fridge in an airtight container.

  • Store diced onion and celery together (garlic needs to be separate), since they are added in the same step.
  • Store the rest of the veggies that simmer in the soup together: carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, parsnips, celeriac, etc in another container together
  • Spinach, kale, and brussels sprouts are best washed the day you make the soup, so they don't get moldy in the fridge. However, if using kale, you can destem them and chop it ahead of time. Brussels sprouts can be shredded ahead of time.

Leftovers

I eat this soup leftover all of the time, but mostly because I have a night off from cooking. Here is the reality with minestrone leftovers:

  • The flavor doesn't get better with time (like it does with chili and some stews)
  • The greens can get a bit wilty
  • The noodles get much bigger as they sit and soak up the extra liquid
  • The soup is thicker and sometimes needs to be watered down with extra stock (and diluting the flavor as a result)

When reheated, the leftovers are good, but not great. But there are ways to make the leftovers as good as the first day.

How to have better leftovers

There are a few things you can do to fix these problems if you plan on leftovers. Let's assume you want to save half for another day:

  • At step 4, under "Make the Soup" - add the beans, but not the pasta. Stir in the beans (no need to cook them).
  • Ladle half of the soup into another pot / container. Set aside to cool, store in the fridge.
  • Continue making the soup that's still on the stove:
    • Add half of the noodles.
    • Add half of the "Finishing Touches"
    • Serve
  • To reheat your leftover soup the next day(s):
    • Reheat the soup on the stove until boiling, reduce to a simmer
    • Add the remaining half of the noodles and cook
    • Add the remaining half of the "Finishing Touches"
    • Serve

Did you make it? What veggies did you use?

Leave a comment and let us know what vegetables you used and how it turned out. Others will come across them and really enjoy the extra opinions.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Ask me anything

I do a lot of research about produce to figure out why some fruits & veggies taste good and others bland. I also dig into the science of why some recipes work and others don't. No question goes unanswered, and I'm here to share the results with you.

January image with citrus fruits

The best (and worst) apples for pie

apple pie on a pile of red and green apples

The type of apple used to make your pie actually matters. So why do some apples make the best pies, but other varieties yield disappointing results? It comes down to their flavor, acidity, and texture after being cooked in a hot oven. I can confirm that these characteristics can greatly vary from one variety to...

Read More

Fresh fig banana bread

Fresh fig banana bread with a fig syrup swirl

A seasonal banana bread recipe with a homemade fig-maple syrup swirled into the batter that tastes like fig newton filling. This bread is a perfect way to use seasonal figs this summer and fall, even if they are slightly under or overripe. The recipe requires some extra steps to cook the maple-fig syrup, but it's...

Read More

Farmers market apple butter (Instant Pot)

apple butter recipe in the instant pot and canned

After using almost 100 pounds of apples to test apple butter recipes, I've found the best apple varieties, cooking methods and ingredients to produce the best results. Best apples: McIntosh for their cider-like flavor and smooth consistency with cooked Best cooking method: pressure cooking for its ability to caramelize the sugars Best flavor tip: keep...

Read More

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up for produce guides!

Contact

  • Contact

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.