Easy Minestrone Soup with Alphabet Pasta

How to Make Easy Minestrone Soup

I make all of my soups in a 5 quart Cuisinart enameled cast iron dutch oven. That's a mouthful. It's my favorite pot for soup though with its heavy bottom and nothing ever sticks to it. You can use something similar, or your favorite soup pot.

Heat your pot over medium and add a tablespoon of cooking oil. When it's hot, add the mirepoix (carrot, celery, onion mix - see tip below) and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until the mixture is softened.

Add all of the other ingredients (the tomato paste, tomato passata, stock, chickpeas, homemade Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, sugar, zucchini, and pasta). Bring to a boil, then leave at a simmer until pasta is cooked. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Can I make any substitutions?

Yes. Check below for substitution ideas.

Chickpeas

Use a different bean for the chickpeas if you want to. Kidney beans would be nice.

Zucchini

If you or your kids don't like zucchini, swap in some green beans, peas or kale.

Alphabet Pasta

Use the pasta shape you prefer. I love the Alphabet pasta because I think it's so fun for kids. Other shapes ideas would be:

• the classic Ditali
• Macaroni
• Fusili
• Orecchiette

Making Homemade Soup Easier

Shortcuts for making homemade soup

This little shortcut will make your soup-making prep a bit quicker and easier. Instead of chopping and measuring onions, celery and carrots – which I use to start most of my soups – I now buy a mix that's frozen and pre-diced. It still only contains vegetables and nothing weird so I totally feel comfortable using it in my homemade meals. It just cuts some of the prep time out. If you can find bags of frozen Mirepoix (carrot, celery, and onion) at your grocery, I totally recommend trying it, you'll have soup going in no time!

Also, that's what I call for in this soup and most of my upcoming soups. If you don't have that mix, just chop up equal-ish amounts of carrot, celery, and onion and measure it all together. It'll be fine.

I also use store-bought stock when I don't have any homemade. I always use the one with no salt added, so that I can control that myself.

Recipe

Easy Minestrone Soup with Alphabet Pasta

Jacqueline Piper

5 from 1 vote

Easy and delicious Minestrone Soup, finished in under 30 minutes. This tomato-based soup is full of flavor with Italian Seasoning, zucchini, and chickpeas. Use Alphabet pasta for a quick kid-friendly dinner.

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Prep Time 2 minutes mins

25 minutes mins

Total Time 27 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

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• ▢ 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• ▢ 3 cups mirepoix (carrot, celery, onion)
• ▢ 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
• ▢ 600 ml tomato passata
• ▢ 4 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock or water for vegetarian)
• ▢ 1 540 ml 19 oz can chickpeas
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Homemade Italian Seasoning
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon granulated white sugar
• ▢ 1 medium zucchini (quartered)
• ▢ ¾ cups dried pasta (alphabets or other small shapes)

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Instructions

 

• Heat oil over medium. Add mirepoix. Cook about 8-9 minutes, until softening.
• Add the rest of the ingredients.
• Bring to boil, then simmer about 10 minutes, or until pasta is done cooking.
• Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Notes

I use a frozen bagged mirepoix to make prep quicker.  If you don't have that, just measure the same amount of a mixture of chopped carrot, celery and onion.

I use bottle tomato passata because it's nice and smooth.  You swap tomato sauce or crushed tomato.

 

Nutrition Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate. Values vary based on products used.

Read our full Nutrition Disclaimer.

Keyword dinner, easy, italian seasoning, minestrone, soup, tomato, vegetarian

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Italian Seasoning Mix

Gather up these 7 spices and make your own Italian Seasoning. Easy spice mix to make and store in your pantry, and easy to add more of whatever spices you like the best. No salt added so your dishes can be seasoned as needed.

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