Vegetarian minestrone soup

Vegetarian minestrone soup is my meat free version of the classic Italian soup, minestrone. It is quick and easy to make and is perfect for chilly autumn or winter days.

This homemade soup is delicious served for lunch with a handful of croutons, fresh crusty bread or focaccia.

It is packed with healthy ingredients and makes the most of seasonal vegetables. The selection and quantities of fresh vegetables can be varied depending on what is in season and what you have to hand but be sure to include tomatoes and don't skimp on the sage.

For a vegan minestrone use a vegan cheese or omit the cheese altogether.

If you are looking for other vegetarian soup recipes you may also like to try winter vegetable soup or carrot and cardamon soup. Both of which are simple to make and packed full of flavour.

The quantities in this minestrone soup recipe are sufficient for around 4 servings.

Ingredients for vegetarian minestrone soup

• 1 small carrot - carrot add flavour, colour and texture to the soup.

• About ½ a stick of celery - celery is a great soup ingredient as it adds flavour and texture.

• 1 leek - you could substitute onion if you prefer.

• About ¼ of a courgette - also known as zucchini. Cut into chunks before adding to the other soup ingredients.

• Green beans - use around 6 fine green beans or 2 to 3 runner beans.

• 80g broad beans - or other types of firm beans such as edamame beans or kidney beans.

• 4 teaspoons dried sage - I prefer to use dried sage for this recipe but chopped fresh sage leaves could be used, or a mixture of dried and fresh sage. Alternatively, you could substitute dried Italian seasoning.

• 400g tin chopped plum tomatoes - if you only have tinned whole tomatoes simply chop into chunks before adding to the other ingredients. Do not blend the tomatoes as it is better to have some chunks of tomato in your soup.

• 30g soup pasta - soup pasta comes in various shapes, check the cooking time on the packet to make sure the pasta isn't overcooked. Add the pasta and cook until it is al dente. If you don't have soup pasta you could use spaghetti broken into short pieces.

• About 350 ml vegetable stock - adjust the quantity to make your soup the thickness you would like.

• A dash of olive oil - this is used to partly cook some of the vegetables before adding the rest of the ingredients. I prefer to use extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to add to the Mediterranean flavours.

• Salt and pepper - season to suit your own taste.

• Grated extra mature Cheddar cheese - this can be omitted if you don't want to add cheese to your soup. For a vegan minestrone soup use a vegan cheese or omit the cheese.

How to make minestrone soup

Dice the carrot, chop the celery, slice the leek, slice and quarter the courgette and cut the green beans into short lengths.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the carrot, celery, leek and courgette and cook until soft. Remove from the heat and add the sage.

Add the chopped tomatoes, green beans, broad beans, vegetable stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer over a low heat for around 30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. If using an Aga the pan can be placed in the simmering oven for around 1 to 2 hours.

Add the pasta, stir, and simmer the soup with pasta for around 10 minutes until the pasta is al dente.

How to serve

1. Top your chunky soup with grated cheese just before serving.
2. Serve your homemade minestrone with hot with fresh crusty bread, croutons or focaccia.

Tips

1. If you wish to prepare in bulk, the minestrone can be prepared without the pasta and cheese and stored in the fridge for up to a couple of days. Add the pasta and continue as above before serving.
2. For a vegan minestrone soup simply omit the cheese or use a vegan cheese.

Other vegetarian soup recipes

Other easy lunch ideas