The Best Ever Minestrone Soup

A one-pot beautiful meal and exactly what I need today!  Standard once a month dinner in my house, kids love and devour it with no complaints… the bonus is it’s loaded with so much veg, and my method is super easy pulsing most of it in the food processor to avoid spending ages chopping!

Smoked bacon is sautéed to give the most amazing salty umami to the soup; added to this are onions, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, cabbage, and tomatoes, all cooked until soft.  A good quality chicken stock is then poured into the vegetables and simmered for an hour for all the flavours to develop.  Finally, freshly chopped parsley and some tomato purée bring the whole soup together beautifully.  I serve it in individual bowls with loads of grated parmesan, which melts inside the steaming bowl oozing with every spoonful.  Just pass me the crusty baguette right now, so I can dunk!!! 

All the veggies can be switched to what you have in the fridge, and all the ingredients are pretty basic pantry items.

This quantity makes a HUGE STOCK POT amount as I always make loads to batch freeze!  If you want a smaller amount, then it’s easy to adjust the recipe accordingly.

The Best Ever Minestrone Soup

Serves: 12 Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cooking Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes 1 Hour 10 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

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Ingredients

• 500g Bacon
• 1 Onion large, chopped fine
• 4 Celery stalks
• 4 Carrots medium, peeled and chopped into large
• 2 Leeks medium, outer parts discarded, washed thoroughly, chopped into large pieces
• 4 Tomatoes large, chopped fine
• 4 Garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ Green Cabbage shredded
• 3 tbsps Soup pasta
• 1.5 litre Chicken Stock
• 500ml Water
• 3 tbsps Tomato Purée
• A small handful of fresh parsley chopped fine
• Salt
• Pepper
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese for topping

Instructions

1. Chop the bacon into small pieces separating the fat from the meat, set it aside
2. In a food processor, pulse the onion, celery, carrots, and leeks separately, not too small, and set aside in bowls.
3. Heat a saucepan and cook the fat pieces of the bacon for a minute first to release the oils.
4. Add the remaining bacon and sauté until cooked but not crisp
5. Add the onion and garlic, cook for a minute, then add the celery, leeks, and carrots and continue to cook for another 5 minutes
6. Add the tomatoes, combine well, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, occasionally stirring until the vegetables have become slightly soft
7. Add the stock and the water and bring to a boil
8. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for 1 hour
9. Add the shredded cabbage, tomato purée, and soup pasta, cook for another 15 minutes.
10. Stir in the parsley, taste, and season with salt and pepper
11. Pour into individual soup bowls sprinkled with lots of parmesan cheese and a crusty baguette

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Would love to hear your feedback! If you make this recipe, please tag me on Instagram @zarskitchen.