It’s hard to not go overboard when you’re at Olive Garden. From the Never Ending Pasta Bowls to the all-you-can-eat breadsticks and tiramisu for dessert, it’s pretty much a carbapalooza. Luckily, for people who want a lighter option, there’s Olive Garden minestrone soup.
This healthy, hearty vegetable soup is easy to replicate at home using a few pantry staples and fresh produce from your grocery store or farmers market.
How to Make Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
This recipe makes 6-8 servings. Pair each bowl with copycat Olive Garden breadsticks!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup sliced celery
- 1/2 cup chopped carrots
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1/3 cup tomato paste (about half of a 6-ounce can)
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can dark kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 small zucchini, halved and sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 3/4 cup small shell pasta
- 2 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Tools You’ll Need
Directions
Step 1: Saute the soffritto
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots (aka soffritto or mirepoix).
Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Season the vegetables with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
Step 2: Caramelize
Add tomato paste (here’s what to make with the leftover tomato paste), stir to coat the vegetables, and caramelize for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
Step 3: Add broth and tomatoes
Add the diced tomatoes and vegetable broth to the pot. Bring to a simmer.
Step 4: Toss in beans and pasta
Add the white beans, kidney beans and pasta to the pot. Simmer for 6-8 minutes until pasta is almost al dente.
Step 5: Stir in greens
Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the spinach, green beans and zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the spinach is wilted and veggies are tender-crisp.
Editor’s Tip: If you prefer your zucchini and green beans to be extra tender (no crunch) you can add them to the soup when you add the beans and pasta to extend their cooking time.
Step 6: Garnish with fresh herbs
Garnish the soup with fresh basil and parsley, ladle the soup into bowls and top generously with Parmesan cheese. We recommend serving a slice of Olive Garden chocolate lasagna for dessert.
Tips for Making Minestrone Soup Just Like Olive Garden
Here are our favorite tips for making the best Olive Garden minestrone soup from scratch!
Vegan Minestrone Soup
Vegans rejoice! You can order Olive Garden minestrone soup when dining in or ordering curbside since it is now prepared entirely vegan. You can also easily make this minestrone soup recipe vegan by choosing vegetable broth over chicken broth and omitting the final sprinkling of Parmesan cheese at the end.
Minestrone Soup with Meat
While Olive Garden minestrone soup is made vegan in the restaurant, you can certainly make yours meaty at home. Stir in some cooked ground Italian sausage, sliced spicy chicken sausage or even cooked shredded chicken for extra protein.
The Best Vegetables for Minestrone Soup
While the recipe, as it is written above, uses the same ingredients as Olive Garden’s minestrone soup recipe, don’t be afraid to change things up based on what you have in the refrigerator. Minestrone soup has traditionally always been made with whatever in-season produce is on hand (like this bread soup) so don’t hesitate to stir in some sliced yellow squash, eggplant, kale, butternut squash or potatoes.
Just keep in mind that some vegetables may take longer to cook than others, so you may need to add them earlier in the cooking process to ensure they’re tender for serving.
To blanch or not to blanch?
That IS the question. To preserve the vibrant green color of the green beans and zucchini, you may blanch the vegetables first before adding them to your soup.
To blanch the vegetables, add them to a pot of boiling, salted water for 1-2 minutes before plunging them into an ice bath. The ice bath halts the cooking process and stops enzyme actions in the vegetables which can cause their color to fade.
It’s a totally optional step (one that Olive Garden always skips) but it makes for a more vibrant and colorful homemade minestrone soup.
Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
I tasted a similar soup at Olive Garden and wanted to see if I could re-create it myself at home. Here's the delicious result! It's wonderful on a chilly evening. —Jaclynn Robinson, Shingletown, California Check out even more of our copycat Olive Garden recipes.
Inspired by: House Salad
For an Italian twist on salad, I mix greens with red onion, mushrooms, olives, pepperoncini, lemon juice and Italian seasoning. Add tomatoes and carrots if you like. —Deborah Loop, Clinton Township, Michigan Love their dressing? Pick up a bottle of Olive Garden's Signature Italian Salad Dressing online.
Inspired by: Minestrone
This soup was created to accommodate a few of my dinner guests who were vegetarians. It was so good, we all enjoyed it. This can also be cooked on the stove for two hours at a low simmer. —Donna Marie Ryan, Topsfield, Massachusetts
Homemade Alfredo Sauce
When I found out I had celiac disease and couldn't have fettuccine Alfredo, I was determined to figure out a way to re-create it. I mix this homemade alfredo sauce with gluten-free multigrain pasta, but you can use any style of pasta. —Jackie Charlesworth Stiff, Frederick, Colorado
Inspired by: Zuppa Toscana
I let my young son pick out seed packets and he chose kale, which grew like crazy. This hearty soup helped make good use of it and rivals a restaurant version that we love. —Michelle Babbie, Malone, New York
Inspired by: Marinara Dipping Sauce
When my tomatoes ripen, the first things I make are BLTs and this homemade spaghetti sauce. —Sondra Bergy, Lowell, Michigan
Inspired by: Pasta e Fagioli
This chunky soup is good to the last spoonful. It's my go-to recipe because it's so hearty and we all always want more. —Penny Novy, Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Inspired by: Breadsticks
A cheesy, saucy pasta dish is comfort food at its finest, but the breadsticks are the star of the show. This easy recipe is your secret to freshly baked breadsticks that are every bit as buttery, garlicky and melt-in-your-mouth tender as Olive Garden’s. Enjoy them before the meal with a fresh salad or save them until the end to soak up leftover sauce from your entree. Psst: We'll show you how to make Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits.The post How to Make Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup appeared first on Taste of Home.
source https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/copycat-olive-garden-minestrone-soup/
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