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This Vegan Minestrone Soup is made in one-pot with loads of fresh veggies, pasta and beans. Have this cooking for dinner or meal prep in just 10 minutes. Gluten-free option, Oil-free option.
This Vegan Minestrone Soup is as quick and easy as it gets! It’s made in one-pot, is packed with wholesome ingredients and plant-based protein, and is hearty enough to serve as a full meal. Celebrate soup season with the ultimate vegan recipe!
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A Veggie-Loaded Remedy for Chilly Days
This classic, homemade soup is the perfect chilly day remedy. It’s tasty, cozy, and hearty. Plus, I’ve made it even easier and hands-free by making it a one pot meal in the Instant Pot! Try this Instant Pot minestrone soup for a quick and easy meal prep, busy weeknights, or a great way to use up seasonal vegetables.
And in case you don’t have an Instant Pot or aren’t a fan of pressure cooking, I’ve also included stovetop instructions in the recipe notes! It’s pretty much the same easy process, just a little more hands-on.
Ingredients for Vegan Minestrone Soup
Homemade Minestrone Soup is made with just 11 pantry-friendly, affordable ingredients. To make this soup recipe at home you will need:
- The classic aromatics – chopped onion, garlic, carrots, and celery ribs (essentials in the best soup recipes!).
- Savory tomato base – diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and vegetable broth. For a spicier minestrone, use fire-roasted tomatoes If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend giving my Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth (Using Scraps) a try.
- Beans – Dark red kidney beans are the most popular choice, but white beans such as navy beans or cannellini beans (white kidney beans) will work too.
- Pasta – My favorite to use is elbow, but any short cut pasta will do.
- Fresh green beans – For a hearty bite! You can also swap the green beans out for another veggie of your choice, or add more in. Zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, and even broccoli florets would be great here.
How to Make Vegan Instant Pot Minestrone Soup
- Using the “Sauté” setting, warm the oil in the Instant Pot, then cook the onions until golden.
- Add the garlic, celery, carrots, and Italian seasoning and sauté until the garlic is fragrant.
- Stir the tomato paste in, then mix in diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, and water to make a delicious tomato broth.
- Add the beans, pasta, and green beans. Cancel the “sauté” mode, then cook on manual high pressure for 5 minutes.
- Release the pressure immediately once the timer goes off. Cool the soup for 5 minutes.
- Serve in individual serving bowls and garnish as desired.
If you’d like to make this on the stovetop, skip down to the notes section in the recipe card for full instructions.
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Use a short cut pasta. Varieties such as elbow, macaroni, ditalini or shells will cook best and are easiest to stir into your vegan minestrone soup. Longer pastas such as spaghetti are more likely to stick together and are difficult to cook evenly in 1 pot recipes.
- Check that your Instant Pot valve is set to “Sealing.” This valve is located on the Instant Pot lid and can be set to either “sealing” or “venting.” In order for the pot to properly come up to pressure, it must be set to sealing.
- Stir well before pressure cooking. If there are any bits of garlic, pasta or vegetables stuck to the bottom of the pot it can trigger a “burn” warning and prevent the pot from coming to pressure.
Serving Suggestions
Vegan Minestrone Soup makes for a delicious main dish or side dish that can be served for both lunch or dinner. This soup is well-balanced and hearty enough to serve on its own garnished with vegan parmesan, fresh parsley or basil, red pepper flakes, black pepper or as desired. To make more filling, serve with crusty bread, garlic bread or a simple side such as Everyday Kale Salad or Rainbow Veggie Sandwiches with Hummus.
If you’re looking for more cozy soup recipes, you’ll also love this Vegan Zuppa Toscana, Classic Lentil Soup and this One-Pot Vegan Chicken Noodle Soup!
How to Store Vegan Minestrone Soup
Leftover vegan minestrone soup will keep best in an airtight container or glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Before storing, allow the soup to cool completely to room temperature.
Putting hot food inside the refrigerator can cause the internal temperature of the refrigerator to rise and potentially spoil foods inside. Allowing it to cool also helps prevent condensation from building – especially important when freezing to avoid freezer burn.
Reheat leftover soup in the microwave, on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot using the “Sauté” setting. If frozen, allow the minestrone to defrost for 1-2 days before reheating as usual.
If the pasta absorbed a majority of the broth, add additional veggie broth before reheating to thin the soup out again.
Substitutions and Variations
- Oil-free option: Replace the olive oil with ¼ cup of water or vegetable broth during step 1. Add more as needed to prevent sticking.
- Gluten-free option: Use gluten-free pasta. From experience, rice or corn based gluten-free pastas tend to hold up better and cook more similarly to wheat based pastas.
- Broth options: If you have a vegan “chicken” broth, feel free to use it in place of the vegetable broth. Or, if you are sensitive to sodium, use a low-sodium vegetable broth.
- Homemade Italian seasoning option: If you do not own an Italian seasoning blend, replace it with ½ teaspoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, and 1 teaspoon dried basil.
- Stovetop variation: Follow recipe steps 1 and 2 in the recipe card cooking over medium-high heat, then add the beans and green beans to the large soup pot. Bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, add the uncooked pasta and simmer until tender. The timing will vary depending on the type of pasta used. Start checking for doneness at the minimum cook time listed on the pasta box.
Recipe FAQs
Although similar, minestrone soup is typically made with additional beans and pasta, whereas vegetable soup is often just broth and vegetables.
Sauté the aromatics slowly with a little bit of fat (oil). This builds an incredible foundation to the recipe and is what gives soup richness and depth of flavor.
Unlike “cream” based soups such as Creamy Parsnip Soup or Vegan Potato Soup, minestrone soup is meant to be on the brothier side. However, tomato paste helps thicken the tomato broth and if you want your soup even thicker, you can add up to ¼ cup more pasta.
Classic versions of minestrone are often served with dairy parmesan or simmered with a parmesan rind in the broth. They can also be made with chicken broth, making them neither vegan or vegetarian. With a few simple swaps, this version is 100% plant-based.
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
One Pot Vegan Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil optional, see notes
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 3-5 cloves of garlic diced
- 2 ribs of celery sliced
- 3 carrots sliced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 3 ounces salt-free tomato paste
- 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes fire-roasted or regular
- 4 cups vegetable broth homemade or store-bought
- 4 cups water
- 2 15 ounce cans red kidney beans drained and rinsed; about 3 cups (480g)
- 1 cup dry pasta of choice gluten-free if necessary
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cut green beans
- fresh basil and dairy-free parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Aromatics: Turn the Instant Pot on to the “Saute” setting and warm the oil in the pot. Add the yellow onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden. Add the garlic, celery, carrots, and italian seasoning to the pot and sauté for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Broth: Stir the tomato paste into the vegetables until evenly incorporated, then add the diced tomatoes, broth, and water; mix well.
- Cook: Add the beans, pasta, and green beans to the pot. Press “Cancel” to stop the Saute mode. Close the Instant Pot, set the valve to “Sealing”, then cook on Manual High Pressure for 5 Minutes.
- Serve: Immediately release the pressure from the Pot once the timer goes off (cover the valve with a kitchen towel to prevent splatter). Remove the lid and let the soup cool for 5 minutes, then ladle into serving bowls and top with fresh basil and dairy-free parmesan, or as desired. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to two months.
Recipe Notes
- Substitutions: if you do not own an Italian seasoning blend, replace it with ½ teaspoon dried oregano, ½ teaspoon dried thyme, and 1 teaspoon dried basil
- Oil-Free: replace the oil with 1/4 cup (60 ml) water or vegetable broth when sauteéing the vegetables, adding more as necessary to prevent sticking
- Stovetop Instructions: Follow steps 1-2 as stated above. Add the beans and green beans to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Once the soup comes to a boil, add the uncooked pasta and simmer until tender. This will vary based on the type of pasta used – start checking for doneness at the minimum cook time listed on the pasta box.
i am planning on making it this week but wanted to double it and the website is not allowing me to do this.Can you check this out asap.
I will look into it, thanks for letting me know!
This was delicious! I added some chopped zucchini, frozen green beans and frozen spinach. I used whole wheat shells for the pasta. I ended up adding so many veggies (and a little more broth) that I’m glad I made it in our 8 quart instant pot. We ate it with some crusty sourdough and it made a great dinner. Thank you for the recipe.
This soup is so comforting but also feels wholesome, the perfect combination if you ask me! 🙂 I didn’t have any Italian seasoning on hand so I used a mixture of dried parsley, basil, and oregano and it turned out fine. All of the veggies were cooked perfectly and I enjoyed the delicious savory flavor the tomato paste adds. I topped mine with chopped basil and freshly ground black pepper. Thank you Caitlin! This soup is a keeper.
Actually easy to make and tasted great. Used can of white beans and frozen broccoli instead of kidney and green beans. Thanks for sharing.
Nice improvising! Thanks for making it!
Mine came out looking a lot more watery than the pics, but that’s okay, it was still great! I used 1 can white beans and 1 can black beans because that’s what I had but next time I definitely won’t be replacing kidney beans. I also threw in some spinach at the end and topped with nutritional yeast. The time it takes to come to pressure and cook is the perfect amount of time to make some garlic bread! Make this, y’all!
Did you use pasta as well? Sometimes (depending on the pasta) it will absorb some of the water. Glad you liked it!
Do you drain the can of diced tomatoes?
Nope! Just throw it all in!
Hi Caitlin! I can’t wait to try this! Have you tried this out with dried kidney beans instead of canned? And how would this affect the cooking time in the Instant Pot? Thank you!!
I made this tonight! Delicious! Parmesan cheese on top is a must! Love your IP meals 🙂
Glad you’re liking the Instant Pot recipes! They now have their own section!