Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup

It’s hard to not go overboard when you’re at a place like Olive Garden. From the Never Ending Pasta Bowls and the all-you-can-eat breadsticks to tiramisu for dessert, it’s pretty much a carbapalooza. Luckily, for people who want something lighter, there’s Olive Garden minestrone soup.

This hearty vegetable soup is easy to replicate at home using a few pantry staples and fresh produce from your grocery store or farmers market.

Ingredients for Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup

• Vegetables: There is no shortage of vegetables in this copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup recipe. Visit your local grocery store or farmers market and pick up celery, an onion, carrots, garlic, zucchini, green beans and spinach. Yup, this soup contains all of them!
• Italian seasoning: Minestrone is an Italian recipe, so it’s traditionally seasoned with herbs and spices that are common in Italian cooking. We decided to use an Italian seasoning blend to keep things simple and to mimic the taste of Olive Garden’s minestrone as closely as possible.
• Diced tomatoes: Use plain diced tomatoes, or choose fire-roasted diced tomatoes for a bit of smokiness.
• Chicken broth: Be sure to grab a reduced-sodium chicken broth. If you forgot to pick reduced-sodium broth, omit the salt from this recipe or season the soup to taste.
• Beans: Drain and rinse one can of kidney beans and one can of cannellini or white kidney beans.
• Pasta: Small pasta shapes, no bigger or smaller than the size of the beans, are ideal for soup so the pasta can fit on a spoon. Small shells and elbow-shaped pasta are best.
• Herbs: Herbaceous, bright and a little floral, fresh parsley and basil will awaken the minestrone and taste as fresh as a garden.
• Parmesan: Grate the Parmesan yourself to bring out the cheese’s freshest, truest flavor.

Directions

Step 1: Saute the soffritto

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Heat the olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook until the vegetables are slightly soft, four to five minutes. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and cook until they’re fragrant, one to two minutes.

Editor’s Tip: The combo of onion, celery and carrots is also known as mirepoix, while the Italian soffritto adds garlic.

Step 2: Add the tomato paste

Stir in the tomato paste and cook until it’s bubbly, one to two minutes.

Step 3: Add the broth and tomatoes

Add the diced tomatoes and the chicken broth. Bring the soup to a simmer.

Step 4: Toss in the beans and pasta

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Stir in the white beans, kidney beans and pasta shells.

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Simmer the soup until the pasta is almost cooked, six to seven minutes.

Step 5: Stir in the greens

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Stir in the zucchini, green beans and spinach. Cook the soup for an additional two to three minutes, or until the vegetables are crisp-tender and the pasta is al dente.

Editor’s Tip: If you prefer your zucchini and green beans to be extra tender (no crunch) you can add them to the soup when you add the beans and pasta to extend their cooking time.

Step 6: Garnish the minestrone

Stir the fresh minced basil and parsley into the soup. Garnish it with Parmesan and if desired, additional minced fresh basil.

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Recipe Variations

• Add some spice: If you like a little kick, shake some crushed red pepper flakes into the soup when you add in the Italian seasoning. You can also set out a bottle of hot sauce on the table and let people spice up their own servings.
• Make it meaty: Olive Garden minestrone soup is made vegan in the restaurant (though our recipe contains chicken broth and Parmesan), but you can certainly make yours meaty at home. Stir in some cooked ground Italian sausage, sliced spicy chicken sausage or even cooked shredded chicken for extra protein.
• Change the veggies based on the season: While this recipe uses the same vegetables as Olive Garden’s minestrone soup recipe, don’t be afraid to change things up based on what you have in the refrigerator. Minestrone has traditionally always been made with whatever in-season produce is on hand, so don’t hesitate to stir in some sliced yellow squash, eggplant, kale, butternut squash or potatoes. Just keep in mind that some vegetables may take longer to cook than others. You may need to add them earlier in the cooking process to ensure they’re tender for serving.

How to Store Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup

Cool any leftover soup slightly, then transfer it to airtight containers. This soup can be refrigerated for up to four days. The pasta will soak up the broth over time, so you may have to splash a little extra broth into the saucepan each time you reheat the soup.

Can you freeze copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup?

Yes, and it’s easy to freeze minestrone! Allow the soup to cool to room temperature, then transfer the soup to resealable storage bags or into airtight containers. Freeze it for up to three months. Thaw the soup overnight before reheating it gently in a saucepan.

Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone Soup Tips

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How do I serve copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup?

The best way to serve this recipe is by sticking with the theme and recreating Olive Garden’s soup, salad and breadsticks deal at home. Bake up our spot-on copycat Olive Garden breadsticks recipe, and toss together the famous Olive Garden salad and dressing to balance out the carb-heavy meal.

If this soup is only a starter to your meal, follow it with easy dinner recipes like baked fish, a perfectly cooked cast-iron steak or this aptly-named lazy lasagna.

Can I make this recipe gluten-free? What about vegan or vegetarian?

You can absolutely change this copycat Olive Garden minestrone soup recipe to fit your dietary needs.

To make it gluten-free, simply use gluten-free pasta and make sure that all the packaged goods are certified gluten-free.

For a vegetarian version, swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth. Take it a step further and make it vegan by also omitting the grated Parmesan cheese. You can use nutritional yeast in its place if desired.