Minestrone Soup – A Slow Cooker Recipe

This is a meatless recipe for Minestrone soup made in a slow cooker.   The soup is easy to make and loaded with vegetables, protein rich beans, all slow cooked in a rich vegetable stock.  It will cook, unattended, for about 8 – 9 hours, freeing up your time so you can go about your daily routine uninterrupted.  You can prepare and cook the soup the morning of, or prepare the ingredients the night before and simply refrigerate it.  The next day all you need to do is add the stock to the crock and cook.

For my soup, I add onions, celery, carrots, green beans, garbanzo beans, cannellini beans, yellow squash, fresh spinach, and escarole.  The soup is brought together with canned fire roasted tomatoes, wine, vegetable stock, and a few other choice ingredients.  The canned beans I use are an organic brand and are low in sodium (read the labels and shop for beans with the lowest sodium count).  I use an unsalted brand of vegetable stock which gives me the ability to control the amount of sodium in the soup.   I chose to use Pino Grigio white wine in this recipe, but you can substitute it with a dry red wine of your choice, either way it will be delicious.  I pre-cook some of the ingredients prior to cooking everything in the slow cooker; refer to the cooking instructions below.

I add cooked multigrain pasta separately and added it at the end.  Even better, you can add the pasta to the individual bowls at the time of serving.  Most recipes will instruct you to cook the pasta in the soup.  It has been my experience, that the pasta, prepared this way, absorbs too much of the liquid, so I choose to cook mine separately.  Not only does it absorb too much liquid, but the pasta will become mushy when cooked in the slow cooker. 

 

Enjoy!

Minestrone Soup – A Slow Cooker Recipe

 

Makes 8 – 10 hearty servings

Crockpot Size: 7 or 8 quart Slow Cooker

 2 Tbls. Extra virgin olive oil

1 Large Sweet onion; diced small
2 Cups Celery; diced small (about 4 ribs)
1 Lb. Baby carrots, cut into ½ inch pieces
3 Cloves of garlic; chopped
2 Tsp. Dried basil
1 ½ Tbls. Dried thyme leaves
1 Tsp. Dried oregano leaves
½ Tsp. Poultry seasoning
½ Tsp. Mrs. Dash-Original spice blend
½ Tsp. Cracked black pepper
¼ Tsp. Sea salt (fine grind)
3 Dried bay leaves
½ Cup Pinot Grigio, white wine, or dry red wine
2 Tbls. Tomato paste
1 14.5-ounce can Fire roasted diced tomatoes, unsalted
Pinch of white sugar
1 Cup Frozen green beans; thawed, drained and cut into ½ inch pieces
1 14.5-ounce Can Cannellini beans; rinsed and drained (look for low sodium-usually organic)
1 15-ounce Can Garbanzo beans; rinsed and drained (look for low sodium-usually organic)
2 Small Crookneck yellow squash, or zucchini; peeled, quartered and cut into 1 inch pieces
½ Lb. Fresh baby spinach
1 Small bunch escarole; remove the root end and chop into 1-2 inch pieces
2 (2 inch long) pieces of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese from the rind end; diced into ½ inch pieces
64 Ounces (2 one-quart containers) of vegetable stock, unsalted variety
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 Cups Cooked multigrain, or whole wheat elbow macaroni; cooked and drained – or any short-cut pasta, such as ditali (Cook the macaroni separately, DO NOT cook the pasta in the soup!)
Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (optional)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the onions and celery; sauté for 3 minutes.  Then add the carrots and garlic; then stir in the basil, thyme, oregano, poultry seasoning, Mrs. Dash seasoning, black pepper, salt and bay leaves; continue to sauté another 5 minutes, or until the carrots begin to soften. 

Add the white wine to the mixture, and cook another 5 minutes.  Turn the heat up to medium-high and  stir in the tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and sugar; bring to a slow boil, cooking and stirring every so often for another 3 minutes.

Layer the ingredients in the slow cooker...

Begin by adding the cooked tomato mixture in the bottom of the crock, then add the green beans, add the cannellini and garbanzo beans, add the squash, add the spinach, finally top everything with the escarole.  Scatter the pieces of cheese rind over the escarole, and push them down into the greens, just a bit.

 

If you are starting this the night before and planning to cook the soup the next morning, it is at point you can cover the crock and place it in the refrigerator.  Do Not use this overnight method if you do not have a removable crock.  You may damage the slow cooker, as condensation can build up in the refrigerator; refer to the manufactures instructions for more information.  Without a removable crock, simply chop and prepare all the ingredients and store in the refrigerator for assembly the next morning. 

 

Otherwise, pour the stock slowly into the crock, taking care not to create an overflow of stock.  Place the crock in the cooker and cook on low heat for 8 – 9 hours.  When cook time is reaching the last hour of cooking, test the carrots, if they are still a little hard, turn the heat up to high and cook for the remaining hour.  Stir, remove the bay leaves, and adjust the seasoning, if needed, with salt and pepper – you are ready to serve.

Or, if you have prepared the ingredients the night before, take the covered crock (or separate containers of ingredients, assemble in the crock as instructed above) out of the refrigerator

and set it on the counter for about 45 – 60 minutes.  Then place the crock in the cooker and add the stock.  See the above paragraph for cooking instructions.

When the soup is done and you are ready to serve, ladle the soup into the bowl.  If you did not add the cooked pasta to the crock of soup, you will add a small amount to each individual serving bowl. Top with a small amount of grated cheese – if desired.

Place the leftovers in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.  The soup retains its flavor making it a great day two leftover meal.