Minestrone with White Beans

Name: Minestrone with White Beans
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil; 1 (about 150 g) onion, finely diced; 2 carrots, diced; 2 sticks celery, diced; 3 cloves garlic, chopped; 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes; 1.2 l vegetable stock; 2 tins (800 g) cannellini beans; 1 (about 250 g) courgette, diced; 150 g green beans, cut short; 150 g small pasta

A long-cooked soffritto, two tins of cannellini with half of them crushed to thicken the broth, and small pasta cooked in the soup itself. One pot.

VeganMeal prepFreezer friendly

A deep bowl of chunky vegetable soup with white beans, small pasta shapes, diced carrot, courgette and green beans in a cloudy tomato broth, a drizzle of olive oil on top.

Servings: 4
Total time: 45 min
Hands-on: 20 min

What you need

Large pot
Wooden spoon

Ingredients

3 tbspolive oil
1 (about 150 g)onion, finely diced
2carrots, diced
2 stickscelery, diced
3 clovesgarlic, chopped
400 gtinned chopped tomatoes
1.2 lvegetable stock
2 tins (800 g)cannellini beans— drained and rinsed — about 480 g
1 (about 250 g)courgette, diced
150 ggreen beans, cut short
150 gsmall pasta— ditalini or broken spaghetti, weighed dry

How to make it

Cook the onion, carrot and celery in the olive oil over low heat for 12 minutes until completely soft and sweet, with no colour. In a soup with this few ingredients, the soffritto is not preparation — it is the flavour.
Add the garlic for a minute, then the tomatoes, and cook them down for 5 minutes until they darken.
Crush half the beans roughly with a fork and add all of them with the stock. The crushed half dissolves into the broth and gives the soup body, which is the difference between minestrone and vegetables floating in stock.
Simmer for 15 minutes, then add the courgette and green beans and cook 5 minutes more.
Add the pasta and cook it in the soup for the time on the packet. Cooking it separately loses you the starch, and the starch is what makes the last spoonful as good as the first.
Season hard with salt, pepper and a splash of red wine vinegar, and finish each bowl with olive oil. If you are keeping it for later, cook the pasta separately for those portions — it keeps swelling overnight.

Per serving, roughly

Energy: ~390 kcal
Protein: ~16 g
Carbs: ~52 g
Fat: ~8 g

These are estimates calculated from standard ingredient values. Your numbers will shift with the exact products you buy and with how generously you fill the plate — oil, sauces and cheese move them the most.

Variations

With Parmesan

Simmer a Parmesan rind in the soup and grate 20 g over each bowl. About 80 kcal and 7 g more protein per portion — and no longer a plant-based dish.

Summer version

Swap the carrot and celery for 300 g of fresh peas and broad beans added in the last 5 minutes. Lighter and greener, roughly the same figures.

Coach's tip

A whole pot of vegetables in a form people actually finish, at 16 g of protein and 52 g of carbohydrate per bowl. It works as a rest-day main, and as a starter the evening before a long session when you want the carbohydrate without a heavy meal.

More recipes

Other recipes worth a place in your week.

MealsPumpkin & Red Lentil SoupPumpkin roasted rather than boiled, blended with red lentils, ginger and coconut milk into a soup thick enough to stand a spoon in. It freezes perfectly.MealsLentil BolognesePuy lentils cooked down with a proper soffritto, red wine and a long simmer until the sauce clings to the pasta. Nothing here pretends to be mince.MealsChili sin CarneTwo kinds of bean, charred peppers and a spice base of smoked paprika and cumin. Half an hour of simmering that tastes like a whole afternoon.

General information only, not medical or nutritional advice. If you have a health condition, an allergy, or specific dietary needs, talk to a qualified professional.

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