Olive Garden Minestrone Soup is the perfect soup for when wanting a light and filling meal. It’s easy to make, and it is perfect for those who follow a vegetarian diet.
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Olive Garden Minestrone Soup Recipe
Everyone loves minestrone soup, and this copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup recipe is very simple to make at home – it does not require much work.
Just let everything simmer away and dinner is served! Plus this is a great soup to hit the spot at any time of the year. A light soup for summer or a steaming hot bowl on a cold day. It doesn’t hurt that this soup is not only tasty but also very colorful!
The flavors smell so wonderful while it’s cooking. If you have kids, you’ll receive a What smells so good? when they rush in from school.
Olive Garden Soups
One of my favorite spots for soup and salad is the Olive Garden. I am addicted to their salads, and they also have the most delish soups! Every time I eat at the Olive Garden I order the soup, breadsticks, and salad.
I just never get tired of their minestrone soup; it’s my absolute favorite! This homemade version is easy to put together and is a great way to get your family to not only eat their veggies but also enjoy them! Serve your soup with garlic knots or some crusty bread for a complete meal.
What is in Olive Garden Minestrone Soup?
Every time I visit the Olive Garden, I have to get the minestrone soup. It’s full of great flavors and textures, yet it’s light enough that I still have room for the main course.
I love this copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup recipe because it’s loaded up with some of my favorite veggies – zucchini, spinach, carrots, green beans – with pasta and beans in a savory tomato broth.
How to Make Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.
- Add onions, celery, carrots, zucchini, garlic, and salt.
- Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the vegetables turn color and soften.
- Add canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf.
- Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.
- Add white beans, kidney beans, green beans, zucchini, and pasta.
- Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the pasta and vegetables are tender.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with parsley if desired.
Recipe Notes and Tips
Here are a few tips for making this soup:
- Try to cut all the veggies more or less the same size so that they cook at the same rate.
- You can use fresh or frozen green beans, whichever you prefer.
- It’s ok to change up the veggies depending on what you have on hand or what’s in season. Other great veggie options are russet potatoes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, leeks, kale.
- To get rid of all that extra sodium, be certain to drain and rinse your canned beans before adding them to the soup.
- This is a vegan soup that is hearty enough to serve as a main course, but if you’d like more protein, add some pieces of cooked Italian sausage. You can make up a big pot of this tasty soup ahead of time.
- You can freeze this soup, but keep in mind that the pasta and vegetables may be a little softer after thawing and reheating.
Please feel free to send me a comment on this soup. I always want to hear from my readers. And, be sure to take a look at more copycat Olive Garden soup recipes.
How long is homemade minestrone soup good for?
Now that you have made a large batch of minestrone soup, you have two choices, enjoy it quickly, or freeze it. This soup will stay fresh in your refrigerator for up to 4 days. If you still have a lot leftover, you can freeze this soup.
Can you freeze minestrone soup?
Yes! You can freeze it for up to 3 months. I recommend defrosting completely before heating up gently in a pot over low to medium-low on the stovetop. I like to freeze this soup in either vacuum-sealed bags, or glass containers.
Is minestrone soup vegetarian?
All minestrone soups may not be vegetarian. This recipe is vegetarian, we start with vegetable stock and we only add vegetables to this recipe. So this recipe is vegetarian, vegan, and perfect if you want a low-fat or gluten-free diet.
What can you serve with Olive Garden Minestrone soup?
I recommend some homemade hot bread or salad to go along with this soup. Why not try the Olive Garden Salad Dressing or some Homemade Olive Garden Breadsticks?
Best Minestrone Soup Recipe
If you are anything like me, you will be dipping into this pot of soup before it has even finished cooking. You will be breathing in the enticing aroma and you won’t be able to resist.
Add a sprinkling of parmesan and some warm, crusty bread, and you’ve got a quick dinner that everyone is sure to love.
Try these great Olive Garden copycat recipes!
- Shrimp Alfredo
- Gorgonzola Alfredo
- Fried Mozzarella
- Olive Garden Cheese Ravioli
- Crispy Chicken Fritta
- Olive Garden Italian Dressing Recipe
- Shrimp Caprese
- Olive Garden Cheesecake – Pumpkin
- Peaches and Cream Cheesecake
More Soup Recipes
Make garlic parmesan hot wings as an appetizer to enjoy before the soup. The soup also goes well with this shrimp taco recipe.
Be sure to check out more copycat favorites and the best restaurant soup recipes.
Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup white onion diced
- 1/2 cup celery diced
- 1/2 cup carrots peeled, diced
- 1 zucchini diced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 14 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 32 ounces vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 15 ounces canned small white beans drained and rinsed
- 15 ounces canned kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen green beans You can use fresh
- 1/2 cup small shell shaped pasta
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.
- When oil is hot add onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Add a pinch of salt to help the vegetables sweat. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the vegetables turn color and soften.
- Add canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and bay leaf to the pot. Bring to a boil and turn down to simmer.
- Add white beans, kidney beans, green beans, zucchini, and pasta. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the pasta and vegetables are tender.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- If desired, garnish with parsley.
JustinGef
Great soup! My whole family loved it.
Gary S Hand
Made this recipe for 80 in one batch. Because everything goes in one pot, it is very scalable. Got rave after rave.
Stephanie
Oh wow, that is awesome 😉 So glad it worked well for you!
Kiley Jones
This is the best minestrone recipe ever! It’s great when you are stuck at home.
Diane Kelly Lea
It’s a cold and rainy day here in Maryland and the forecast is for more of the same for the next couple of days. I was craving minestrone and I love Olive Garden so I googled the recipe. I’m so happy to have found your website! I made your OG minestrone and the OG Chicken Gnocchi- my daughter’s favorite. Both turned out as good as OG maybe even better!! Thanks!
Jennifer Erdmann
This is the best recipe for minestrone I have tried. Everything about this is absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing!!!
Stephanie
I am glad you liked this one!
Kate
You fail to mention when to add zucchini. Please correct.
Stephanie
Thank you for spotting my error, much appreciated.
Lucy
Hi. Ingredients say veg stick, directions say broth. I’m making now and bought veg stock. Which is it please? I can’t wsit till done. I’m cooking pasta separate then adding. Thank you!
Stephanie
The vegetable stock should be used if you want it to be vegetarian. Chicken stock also works well.
Tonya
it was just what I was looking for so amazing.
Andrea L Smith
This was absolutely “the bomb”. I doubled the recipe but used beef broth and tomato sauce instead of paste.
Terri
I loved this recipe. I added a parmesan rind with fresh green beans & fresh roasted tomatoes. Thank you very much.
Stephanie
What a great idea for adding the parmesan rind. I need to try that next time!
granny
I added some mild Italian sausage and it was wonderful—even better than the Olive Garden’s!!!
Karolyn Simpson
I used to love the Olive Garden Minestrone soup, but it has changed and is not any good now. Many, too many beans and the flavor is not as good as years before. A few beans OK, but they have totally ruined a really good soup with far, far too many beans. I will not order the Minestrone soup at Olive Garden.
Stephanie
I am really sorry you are disappointed in the current Olive Garden soup offering, at least when you cook at home you could remove beans from the soup if desired. I’ll mention it to the Olive Garden next time I am in!
Linda Slager
I agree about the soup at Olive Garden. The one in our area decided to add a lot of spices to the soup. The broth was brown instead of red and the taste was off.. I wrote to OG and they wrote back and said they would look into the problem. The next time I went back the soup was back to it’s wonderful red broth self. I guess a chef decided to add his own ideas to the original recipe. If it’s not broke don’t fix it!
Laura
and WHERE ARE THE ITALLIAN GREEN BEANS they used to use??! LOVE THEM/cannot find them!
Sommer
Love to make this for my whole family! An easy way to get the kids to eat their veggies!
Sam
I am so happy to finally have this recipe. It worked perfectly on my first try. So GOOD!
Toni
I loved it! Such an amazing meal any night of the week!
Frank
I served this to my card group, they loved it, and asked if I bought it at the Olive Garden.
Tanya
This soup is total comfort food!!
Suzy
This is such an easy recipe to make for the family! We love it!
Liz
I added some mild Italian sausage and it was wonderful—even better than the Olive Garden’s!!!
Joanne Palomino
Seems wonderful! Think we could add some diced chicken to give it some more protein?
Stephanie
I think you could add some cooked diced chicken if you wanted, some meatballs would also be really tasty.