This thick and chunky minestrone soup has nine different kinds of vegetables in it – nine! – and that’s not even counting the V8 juice in the broth. The variety of vegetables adds great flavors and textures in addition to nutrients – this is the healthiest soup I make, and a fan favorite. (John is a dutiful veggie eater who cares about the health benefits of getting a few servings a day but rarely gets excited about vegetables – this soup is an exception.)
Five of the nine are sauteed before adding the liquid ingredients; the tomatoes, kidney beans, green beans and corn drop in later.
I’m not a snob about using homemade chicken broth here. I do make homemade* when I have enough chicken bones saved up (I keep a zip-lock bag in the freezer and add to it whenever I make bone-in chicken). I always keep a couple of boxes of Kitchen Basics brand broth in my pantry, too. I can’t honestly say I can taste the difference in a soup like this, with all the other flavors going on. (In a clear soup like chicken noodle, the flavor of the broth is more important.) But if you have made homemade broth, make sure to use the fat (schmaltz) that rises to the top of the broth as it cools – it’s culinary gold. Here, I use the schmaltz to saute meat and the vegetables. If you didn’t make homemade broth and don’t have schmaltz, use olive oil for this step.
Swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth if you prefer for a delicious vegetarian version. Or go in the opposite direction and add either chicken meatballs (above) or ground beef (below) to nudge this already-hefty soup into hearty stew territory.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- Minestrone keeps well in the fridge for 5 days, so make it ahead or keep leftovers within that time frame. (Just be sure to store the pasta separately so the pasta doesn’t absorb liquid from the soup – that makes the pasta mushy and the soup too thick.) You can also freeze the soup for up to 3 months.
*Making homemade broth is easy:
- Fill a large (8-quart) soup pot with loosely piled cooked and/or raw chicken bones (carcasses from carved roast chickens, backs cut out from whole chickens you’ve cut up for parts, bones from breasts you’ve boned to make cutlets, etc.).
- Tuck in a large onion (halved but not peeled), 2 stalks of celery (snapped in half crosswise), 2 carrots (unpeeled, halved crosswise), a few sprigs of fresh thyme and/or a handful of parsley (stems and leaves), 6 whole peppercorns and 1 teaspoon of salt. If you keep a tube of tomato paste around, squeeze in about a teaspoon – this won’t add tomato flavor, just an unidentifiable richness that improves the broth. However, it’s not worth opening a whole can of tomato paste for this small amount, so skip it if it’s not convenient.
- Fill the pot with cold water to come up to the top, or almost to the top of the bones – they’ll break down as they cook so don’t worry if a few awkward pieces are sticking up over the surface of the water at first. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 or 3 hours, turning and pushing down on the bones as they break down. The longer you simmer, the more the flavorful and rich the broth will be.
- Dump the pot out through a colander set over a large bowl and discard all the solids. Strain the broth again through a fine mesh sieve into a large liquid cup measure or bowl. Chill for several hours or overnight until the fat rises to the top. Skim the fat off the top and use it in place of butter or olive oil to brown vegetables or chicken, or stir it back in to the broth to enrich it.
- Depending on how long I’ve cooked it and how much it has simmered down, I usually get between 6 and 8 cups of broth from this recipe. Don’t be surprised when you find that the broth has thickened to a jello-like consistency when it’s cold – this is from the marrow in the bones. The broth will thin out again when heated.
Minestrone
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons schmaltz (chicken fat) or extra virgin olive oil
- One pound of 85% lean ground beef, or one 12-ounce package fully cooked Italian-style chicken meatballs (optional)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded, cored and diced
- 1 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash, quartered lengthwise and then sliced into ½-inch pieces
- 24 ounces V8 juice
- 2 cups chicken broth (homemade or boxed)
- One 15-ounce can kidney beans (red or dark red), drained and rinsed
- One 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 4 ounces small pasta (such as ditali, elbows or orzo)
- 3 ounces fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch pieces (about ¾ cup)
- ¾ cup corn (frozen, canned or fresh)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Directions
- Step 1 If you’re going to use either ground beef or chicken meatballs, heat a soup pot over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the fat (olive oil or schmaltz.)
- Step 2 If using the chicken meatballs, pat them dry with paper towels and cut each meatball in half. Brown the ground beef or meatballs until well browned. Remove the meat or meatballs to a plate.
- Step 3 Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of fat to the pot. (If you’re starting here, heat the pot over medium heat and add all 3 tablespoons of fat.) Add the diced onion, carrot and celery to the pot , along with a couple of generous pinches of kosher salt and black pepper. Saute the vegetables until they’re just starting to get soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and oregano and cook 1 minute more.
- Step 4 Add the red pepper and zucchini, season with salt and pepper, and saute the vegetables for another 3 to 5 minutes until the peppers and zucchini start to get soft.
- Step 5 Add the V8 juice, chicken broth, kidney beans and diced tomatoes with their juices. Raise the heat to medium high and bring the soup to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Step 6 Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add a handful of kosher salt and the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente, for the amount of time indicated on the package. Drain the pasta and set it aside.
- Step 7 Add the green beans and corn to the soup along with the reserved ground beef or chicken meatballs if you’re using them. Raise the heat to bring the soup back to a simmer, then reduce back to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the green beans are just tender.
- Step 8 Stir in the basil, and taste and adjust the seasonings.
- Step 9 Sprinkle a small handful of the reserved pasta into each serving bowl and ladle the soup over the pasta. If you’re not planning to eat all the soup right away, store the soup and pasta separately.
