This spring minestrone recipe is made with a light tomato-parmesan broth and spring veggies! It's inspired by Marcella Hazan's alla Romagnola style minestrone, so it's simmered with potatoes for starch instead of pasta. Fresh, ready in under an hour, and perfect for chillier spring days when you want something warm yet light.
I've been reading Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan lately (if you're an avid cookbook reader like me, highly recommend), and when I came across her minestrone, I was immediately intrigued. I'd always made it a certain way, and here she was with this incredibly simple version that didn't even have pasta.
For the record, I love pasta. Deeply. But seeing Marcella's more traditional version without it inspired me to take a few liberties with minestrone. I especially love that she uses potatoes, and I wanted to keep that hearty, satisfying feel. Since I'm always adapting recipes with the seasons, I leaned more into spring produce for the other ingredients (peas, kale or spinach, dill).
Her version also simmers for 2+ hours, while I like to stay within the 25-30 minute range to keep the total recipe time under an hour, with the more tender veggies and herbs getting stirred in right at the end so they keep their color and bite.
The result is what I consider one of the best minestrones I've made: a light tomato-parmesan broth, lots of color and variety, and something that feels perfect for those in-between spring days when it's still a little chilly, but you're craving something brighter than a winter stew.
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What Makes a Good Minestrone
After making minestrone for years... I've got some opinions.
- Broth. I prefer a lighter broth in minestrone, especially in spring. So instead of using tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes, I use whole canned tomatoes that I crush with my hands (more juice + tomato chunks, less thick saucy tomato base).
- Parmesan rind. If there's one thing you can do to level up a minestrone, you need to simmer a parmesan rind in with the soup. Heavenly smells and tastes guaranteed. (Side note: keep this in your back pocket for other soups - I use it in my rosemary chicken and white bean soup every time!).
- Beans. Not required, but I love minestrone when it has three distinct beans. The size, texture, and color difference is amazing! I often use a combo of the following: lima, garbanzo, Scarlett runner, cannellini, butter beans, cranberry beans.
- Thickness. Marcella says minestrone should be thick, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Using dried beans: I often prepare dried beans in advance when I'm making minestrone! Especially when I want a larger, meatier, or locally grown dried bean, I find more varieties dried vs. canned. Rancho Gordo beans are excellent, and Meadowlark grows the best beans locally in the Midwest.
Step-by-Step Visual Overview
- Step 1: Sauté aromatics in a generous amount of olive oil for 10 minutes over medium-low heat. You want them to be soft but not browned.
- Step 2: Add potatoes and sauté for another 5-7 minutes.
- Step 3: Crush whole canned tomatoes using clean hands, and add one cup to the soup (reserve the rest) along with broth, beans, salt, and pepper. Bring soup to boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
- Step 4: Add peas, kale (or spinach), and stir into the soup to break down and cook. Remove the soup from heat and shower generously with finely chopped dill and parsley. Ladle into bowls and serve with lemon and grated parmesan.
Using the Rest of the Crushed Tomatoes
Typically whole peeled tomatoes come up 28-ounce cans, sometimes 15 ounces. I like to dump the entire can into a bowl, crush the tomatoes by hand, then measure out one cup for the soup. The rest can be reserved for another use, such as my five-ingredient marinara sauce.
Sustainability Tips
- Use it up! Soup is a great opportunity to use up some food haunting your fridge. Do you have some spinach, collards, or arugula? Cooked grains like rice, farro, or even pasta? Toss it in, and add more liquid if it gets too thick.
- Parmesan rind - We talked about using it for flavor, but it's also a great way to use the whole piece of cheese instead of throwing part away.
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Made this minestrone soup recipe? I'd love to hear how it turned out! Leave a ⭐️ rating and comment below, and follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and my newsletter for more everyday seasonal recipes.
Print📖 Recipe
Springtime Minestrone Soup with Potatoes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This spring minestrone is light, brothy, and packed with seasonal vegetables and fresh herbs. Inspired by Marcella Hazan, it uses potatoes for a hearty feel and comes together in about 50 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, quartered and thinly sliced
- 3-4 carrots, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups diced red or gold potatoes
- 1 cup canned whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand (see step 2)
- 3 cups beans of choice (see notes)
- 4 cups broth (chicken or veggie)
- 1 parmesan rind
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups chopped kale or spinach
- 1 cup peas, shelled fresh or frozen
- Chopped dill and parsley
- Juice from 1 lemon
- For serving: shredded parmesan, crusty bread, olive oil, lemon
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Instructions
- Sauté aromatics. Preheat olive oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and garlic. Reduce heat slightly to medium-low and sauté for 10-12 minutes until very soft. Be sure not to brown (add more oil or water if needed to prevent browning). Add the potatoes and sauté for another 5 minutes.
- Crush tomatoes. Pour the entire can of tomatoes into a large bowl. With clean hands, squeeze the whole tomatoes so they crush through your fingers. Measure out 1 cup for the soup, then reserve the rest for another use.
- Simmer. Add the cup of crushed tomatoes, beans, broth, parmesan rind, salt, and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce it to a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
- Stir in remaining veg. Stir in the spinach (or kale) and peas until they break down. Turn off the heat and generously shower with chopped dill and parsley, plus fresh lemon juice squeezed directly into the pot. Ladle into bowls immediately and top with shredded parmesan, drizzles of olive oil, and bread and lemon wedges on the side.
Notes
- Beans. I love using 2-3 different beans for varied texture and color. If you prefer canned, just find two 15-ounce cans if your favorite: butter beans, cannellini, kidney, garbanzos. I often combine canned and dried, simmering a pot of cranberry beans or Scarlett runner beans beforehand.
- Storage & freezing. Store this soup in an airtight container for up to five days, or freeze for up to three months.
- Greens. Use whatever greens are growing, especially if you can get some locally. Spinach, collards, chard, and kale are all favorites!
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 40
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 hearty bowl
- Calories: 261
- Sugar: 8.2 g
- Sodium: 1105.8 mg
- Fat: 5.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 44.5 g
- Fiber: 13.8 g
- Protein: 11.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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