Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

This Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup is thick, comforting, and packed full of vegetables! It’s so flavourful and easy to make, and it’s the perfect way to warm up on a cold day! Watch the VIDEO below to see how I make it, and don’t forget to scroll down to the end of this post for the full printable recipe!

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Happy January everyone! It’s been hard not to notice that almost everyone in North America has been dealing with a major cold snap over the last several weeks. Fortunately for us, our Romanian winter this year has been VERY mild and even balmy some days…today was 7 degrees Celsius!!  The kids have been jumping on the trampoline and riding bikes this week, and it’s the middle of January!!! I’ll be honest, this is the only winter I’ve ever experienced such warm temperatures in January – since I hail from the miserably cold Canadian prairies, after all –  and I’m absolutely loving it. The only drawback was the whole non-white Christmas thing, but I got over that in a couple hours and haven’t looked back!

Of course it still cools down at night and we get a bit of frost and snow every now and then, just enough to make it feel like winter for a few hours every morning (only because I have to scrape my car windows before driving the kids to school), so we’re still enjoying all the warm and hearty winter soups we do every January, like this Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup!

I’ve been absolutely loving this Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone soup lately and I’m excited to be sharing it with you today! It’s SUCH an easy recipe with a fun little trick that makes this soup perfectly thick and almost stew-like (which my husband enjoys!) – I learned this trick from one of my favourite YouTubers Entertaining with Beth –  and it’s one of those super healthy soups I always feel so good about making for my family.

This Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup is absolutely PACKED with every kind of vegetable you can imagine, and it’s easy to customize to your family’s tastes and preferences – add a little more vegetable stock if you like a “soupier” consistency, and feel free to change up the beans or the veggies, and even add a little shredded chicken if you’re not into the whole vegetarian thing.

The flavours of this Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup are spot on, and it’s one of those recipes I just keep coming back to again and again and again. And check out the “notes” section of the recipe card below for the stovetop directions if you don’t have a slow cooker or prefer making your soups on the stove. I make this Minestrone recipe in my slow cooker about 80% of the time and in my favourite Dutch Oven on the stove top the other 20%. It’s perfect either way and it’s goes great with a few slices of crusty Italian bread for dipping!

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I hope you enjoy this Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup recipe as much as we do! Let me know in the comments below, what’s your favourite cold-weather hearty soup recipe?

Looking for even more delicious soups? Before you grab the recipe for this Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup, check out these delicious soups I have linked below!

This Best Ever Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup recipe is perfect for cold weather and sick days!!

My readers LOVE this Crock Pot White Bean French Onion Soup recipe! It’s one of my most popular recipes!!

This Crock Pot Potato Bacon Leek Soup is a family favourite!!

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Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

This Best Ever Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup is thick, comforting, and packed full of vegetables! It's so flavourful and easy to make, and it's the perfect way to warm up on a cold day! 

Course Dinner, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American, Healthy, Italian, Mediterranean

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Chrissie

Ingredients

• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 1 cup kidney beans (canned)
• 1 cup white beans (canned)
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 cup red potatoes, chopped, skins on
• 3/4 cup green beans (cut, frozen)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (canned)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 6-7 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup dried pasta noodles (fusilli, macaroni, or small shells)
• parmesan cheese (for serving)
• fresh parsley (for serving)

Instructions

1. Add the zucchini, beans, carrots, onion, celery, potatoes, green beans, garlic, spices, salt and pepper, canned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and vegetable stock to your slow cooker and stir well to combine. Depending on the size of your slow cooker and how thick you like your minestrone soup, add between 6 and 7 cups of stock (I usually add about 6 at first and sometimes add up to 1/2 cup more).

2. Add the lid and cook on high for 4-5 hours, stirring once or twice. The soup will thicken slightly as it cooks (thanks to the starch in the potatoes!).

3. Add the pasta and cook for 15 more minutes or until the pasta is al dente.

4. Serve with some grated or shaved parmesan and some freshly chopped parsley.

Recipe Notes

This soup works well cooked in a Dutch Oven pot on the stovetop. Simply add some olive oil to the bottom of the pot, saute the onions, carrots, celery and garlic for a few minutes, and then add the remainder of the ingredients as directed. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and continue simmering until the soup thickens up slightly and the vegetables are tender. Add the pasta as directed and serve.