MINESTRONE SOUP RECIPE | easy vegetable soup

Hello, my friends, it's Dani, and today I'm showing you how to make a classic minestrone soup. Now, I grew up eating minestrone soup. It's a hearty vegetable soup that is really easy to make and super family-friendly. Now, traditionally, minestrone soup is a soup that you would make with all the leftover vegetables that you had on hand. So it's a really flexible recipe. Feel free to use what you have or to change the ingredients up a bit depending on the season. So I'm gonna start by chopping up one onion. You're gonna need half an onion if it's a large one or a whole onion if it's a little bit smaller. Now, I find the easiest way to do this is to trim off the stem end and then slice the onion in half. Gently peel back the skin and lay it flat on the flat surface, and then I come across and create some horizontal slices, and then I make some vertical slices. So I'm making like a tic-tac-toe board. Then you just go over the top and slice down, and you've got yourself an easy-peasy chopped onion. Then I also need one cup of chopped carrots. I just peel off the skin, trim off the ends, and then what I like to do is slice the carrot in half horizontally, then vertically once and again, and then across for a chop. I just find that this is the easiest way to work with it. Then I also need one cup of chopped celery. Trim off the edges, and what I like to do, you see I did it with the carrots as well, is I like to slice the stalk in half first, and then vertically down the middle, and then go into the chop. It's just easier to handle that way. And then finally, a few cloves of chopped up garlic. Easiest way to peel your garlic, bring your knife over the top, bang it with your hand. You're gonna see that that skin pops right off, and you can easily remove it from the garlic. Then you just go ahead and chop the garlic up, and your garlic's ready to roll. And my first round of veggies are ready to go. So into a nice large pot, I'm gonna heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. I've got that over a medium heat, and once the oil is heated, I'm gonna add in the onion, the celery, and the carrots, along with a pinch of salt to help pull out the moisture from the vegetables. Now I'm gonna hold off on the garlic because the garlic tends to burn if you get it into the pot too early. So I'm just gonna give that a stir and let all these veggies cook for about eight to 10 minutes until they're nice and tender, and the kitchen is super fragrant. In the meantime, I am gonna prep the second round of vegetables for the soup, starting with my potatoes. So you're gonna want one pound of potatoes. I'm using a Yukon Gold potato. They're really light and super creamy, but honestly, you could use any type of potato you have on hand. Even sweet potatoes would work in this recipe. Then we need three cups of Savoy cabbage. So I'll start by trimming off the bottom of the cabbage. Slice the cabbage in half. Then you come right to the center, and you just wanna bring your knife on a diagonal on each side of the core here, and you'll see that the core pops right out. Then I like to slice it down the middle so the cabbage strands aren't super long, and then come over the top, and we're just gonna make nice thin slices. And last but not least, I've got one medium-sized zucchini. Trim off the edges, and then I'll just quarter that up. Back over at the stove, I'm ready for my garlic. So into the pot, I'll give that a stir. It really just needs a minute or so before you're ready for your spices. So I'm adding in one bay leaf, one teaspoon of dried oregano, and then one teaspoon of poultry seasoning. I love using poultry seasoning whenever I want to use dried thyme because poultry seasoning is really a combination of dried thyme and sage and marjoram and a little bit of black pepper and onion powder. And a lot of people buy it at the holidays, and then they don't use it for the rest of the year, so it goes to waste. So adding it into recipes that call for a little dried thyme is the perfect time to put it to use. I'm gonna give this one more hit of salt and a little bit of black pepper. You always wanna season as you go. And then I'm gonna give it a mix, make sure all of those veggies are coated in the spices, and we are ready for our second round of vegetables. So into the pot goes our potatoes, that sliced cabbage, and the zucchini, along with a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes and four cups of low-sodium broth. Now, I've always made minestrone soup using a chicken broth, but if you wanted to keep the soup vegan or vegetarian, you can easily swap in some veggie broth here. I'll turn up the heat, let everything come up to a boil, then I'm gonna reduce it down to a low heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, partially covered. So you just wanna pop the lid on, but not all the way on because we wanna let all of that steam escape from the pot. Quick side note. So whenever I make this soup, my husband and I really enjoy it just the way it is, but the kids like it with pasta. So I personally don't like putting the pasta into the soup because it gets really mushy, it absorbs all the moisture, and then it's not very good. So I always make it on the side. So I recommend, if you wanna add pasta to the soup, pick a pasta that is small, that can fit on your spoon. I've got a brown rice elbow here today. Cook it on the side, and then when you're ready to eat, just spoon it in the bottom of the bowl and ladle the soup right over the top. Once all of those flavors have come together and the veggies are nice and tender, we're gonna finish this off by adding in one can of cannellini beans that I've drained and rinsed, along with a couple big handfuls of baby spinach. This is a really easy way to work some dark leafy greens into the soup, and then a handful of parsley. Again, just a really easy way to add a nice, light, fresh flavor to the soup. Once the greens have wilted down and the beans are warmed through, this soup is ready to go. So I'll just give it one last stir, remove it from the heat, then place some of that pasta into the bottom of the bowl, if you're gonna have the pasta, and then ladle the soup right over the top. I love to finish this with a little bit of fresh Parmesan cheese and a bit of red chili flakes over the top for a little more flavor and just a kiss of heat. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. This minestrone soup, it's so warm, it's so hearty, that is to die for. This is comfort food at its best, and it makes such a great family meal. Plus, it's perfect for meal prep. If you decide to give this soup a try, do me a favor and snap a picture and then tag me on Instagram. I love when you share your clean and delicious photos with me. It completely makes my day. And remember, all of my recipes are available to print on my website, cleananddelicious.com. This way, you can keep all of your favorites on hand when you want them. If you enjoyed this video, would you please do me a favor and take a moment to like, subscribe, and share it with anybody else you know who wants to eat well, cook more, and feel great. I'm Dani Spees. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you back here next time with some more clean and deliciousness. Cheers. Three cups of... Then I have three cups of thinly, ready, boom. Then I have one Savoy cabbage. I'll slice that in half. Ready? Then, then, whoop.