How to Make the Olive Garden Minestrone Soup Recipe At Home
One of your favorite dishes, when you venture out, may be the Olive Garden Minestrone Soup, one of four of their classic soup dishes paired with breadsticks, salads, and starters to entrees. The flavors in this soup are so good that many home cooks have taken their hand at trying to replicate the Olive Garden Minestrone Soup Recipe. Below are the ingredients you need, the steps to cook this soup, and the different options based on your home cookware.
What Makes the Olive Garden Minestrone Soup Recipe Great?
A delicious blend of pasta and veggies, this soup is great for most diets and can be served to guests who are either vegetarian or vegan when they come to your home. The broth is tomato-based, so it is almost lost having a delicate pasta dish in soup form.
Adding garlic bread or knots when serving is phenomenal, or you can pair it with a crispy Italian salad to balance the flavors. While there isn’t any meat in this soup, it is hearty enough to be a full meal, bringing in plant-based protein and a collection of different veggies. The nutritional value that comes from this soup makes it one of the healthiest to enjoy, even if you are not feeling the best.
Gathering Your Ingredients
If you want to embody the full flavor of this Olive Garden Minestrone soup recipe, you must grab fresh ingredients from your market or garden and allow it to cook properly.
- Six diced Russet potatoes
- One chopped butternut squash
- One cup of chopped leeks
- One diced onion
- Two diced carrots
- One cup of chopped kale
- Three stalks of chopped celery
- One tablespoon of minced garlic
- Two small chopped zucchinis
- One drained can of Northern beans
- Two cans of diced tomatoes
- Six cups of vegetable broth
- One tablespoon of Italian seasoning
- One cup of dry pasta noodles
- Four cups of water
- One tablespoon of olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
While you may have some of these seasonings at home, you must head to your local market to get the remaining ingredients. If you have a local farmer’s market nearby, that would be an even better option to consider.
Substitutions
If there are some veggies on this list that you do not like, then you can omit them. While all of these make a delicious Olive Garden Minestrone recipe, they are not all required, especially if you have a few small picky eaters who may not enjoy things like leeks and kale.
You can also sub out some of the veggies, like sweet potatoes for Russet potatoes or navy beans instead of great Northern beans if that is all you have. If you are desperate or do not want to make a second trip to the market, you can use canned carrots or squash, but remember that the texture will be very different. You may have to adjust your broth and water levels to decrease sodium.
Start Building Your Soup
First, you want to grab everything you need, including your large stock pot, lid, and spatula to stir. Grab out your ingredients with your chopping board, colander, and cutting knife; it is time to get to work.
1. Prepare Your Veggies
First, you must wash your fresh veggies well in the colander with cold water and get the excess dirt off them. Once they are clean, peel your carrots and potatoes before dicing.
Set them aside and chop your celery, zucchini, squash, kale, leeks, and onion. You want to dice everything evenly so that they will cook simultaneously. Open your cans of beans and tomatoes. Drain the beans and leave them in the can until you are ready for them.
2. Start Cooking
Add your large soup pot to your burner and turn the heat to medium. Add in the olive oil first, and let it get warm. Once it starts to heat up, add in your carrots, celery, and onions. Use your spatula to stir them well, and let them cook for about four minutes. They will have softened a bit, and you can add the other veggies. The minced garlic, zucchini, and butternut squash are next.
3. Add it All In
Once these veggies have softened, add the tomatoes and canned Northern beans to your pot. Dump in the dried herbs, Italian seasonings, and leeks, mixing as you go. Once they are all blended, add your broth and turn your burner up to medium-high heat. Stir in your ingredients and let the soup reach a rolling boil.
4. Add the Pasta
Once your soup has reached a steady boil, add in your cups of water and your dried pasta to the soup. Please give it a mix and let it get back up to boiling. This should only take about two minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Simmer and Serve
Once your Olive Garden Minestrone recipe reaches the boiling temperature for a second time, turn the burner down to simmer and put the lid on your soup. Turn your time to ten or fifteen minutes and let the soup blend and the pasta reach that desired al dente texture.
After your pasta is ready, ladle it into soup bowls and serve to your diners until they are full. Go ahead and turn your burner off. If you have toppings for the soup or a side dish to go with it, make sure they are served that dish at this time, as well.
Store Your Leftovers
When everyone has eaten all the Olive Garden Minestrone they want, you can store the cooled leftovers in the fridge for up to four days. Any leftovers after that time should be tossed to keep from getting sick. Because of the fresh veggies used in this soup, you do not need to freeze it. The soup will turn to mush when you thaw it back out and will not taste good at all.
Topping for Your Soup
For those who want a bit spicier soup, having some hot sauce or red pepper flakes available allows them to add just enough to their bowls, mix, and enjoy. If you have some cheese lovers in the house, offer shredded Parmesan cheese to top off the soup and give it a creamier flavor as they eat.
Make it Your Own
If you want to make this soup fewer calories, you can opt for either noodles or pasta to reduce the overall starch. Also, some of those veggies have lots of fiber, like carrots, so you can add more to the soup or less, depending on your preference.
