Best Kale Minestrone Soup Recipe

This is THE BEST minestrone soup recipe ever. It's made from a super flavorful tomato base, Tuscan kale, white beans, and loaded with vegetables then topped with a simple basil pesto. It's an easy to make and healthy weeknight dinner recipe!

I have to be honest with you. Until I came up with this minestrone recipe, I didn't really like minestrone soup. If it was the soup of the day option I would never ever ever order it.

Whenever I've eaten minestrone soup, it was always kind of meh. You know, full of soggy pasta, limp spinach, and overall lacking in flavor. I figured that it didn't have to be this way so set out to make the best minestrone soup recipe.

Not to brag (ok I'm bragging) but THIS is the best.

What makes this the best minestrone soup recipe:

• The broth is packed full of rich flavor from a few simple tricks I'll share with you.
• It's topped with a simple basil pesto which adds a bright splash of freshness.
• Creamy and delicious white beans.
• Tuscan kale which stands up to the heat of the soup without wilting away into nothing. I'm looking at you, spinach.
• Soft and creamy red potatoes which fill you up and taste WAY better than pasta in soup.

How do you make minestrone soup from scratch?

Don't worry, making minestrone is SUPER easy.

1. Saute some onions, garlic, and carrot.
2. Add tomato paste, broth, a bunch of veggies, and a few spices to the pot.
3. Simmer simmer simmer.
4. Throw in some kale and a little lemon juice and Voila! You've just made minestrone soup!

How do you make the best minestrone soup?

I'm glad you asked, my friend. I have four little tricks that will up your game. Big time.

Trick #1: Caramelize the tomato paste. This is a little trick I use all the time. Cooking the tomato paste until it darkens and becomes sweet smelling adds so much extra flavor to the recipe.

Trick #2: Parmesan cheese rinds. (If you're vegan, skip this trick. Otherwise, read on!) Whenever I get to the end of a brick of parmesan cheese, I take the rind and put it in a bag in my freezer. When I make soup recipes (like this one!) I pull out a couple and toss them in the pot. They add a ton of depth to the soup.

Trick #3: Lemon juice. A squeeze of lemon juice at the end really brightens and freshens up the minestrone. Don't skip it!

Trick #4: Pesto. Like the lemon juice, adding a dollop of fresh basil pesto to your bowl breaths life into the minestrone. Of all the tricks, this one makes the biggest difference.

What vegetables to put in minestrone soup?

Since this is a kale minestrone soup recipe, you're going to want some kale. It's more common to use spinach, but spinach gets weird in hot soup. Kale softens but doesn't disappear into a soggy mess. Kale for the win!

I like to use tuscan kale, but curly kale works great, too.

Minestrone soup is really flexible and you can use the veggies you like or what you have on hand. You want to aim for about 4 cups of vegetables, not including the potatoes.

Some common vegetables to put in minestrone soup are:

• Onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers
• Zucchini or yellow summer squash
• Green beans, split peas, snap peas, or frozen peas
• Broccoli, asparagus, or cauliflower
• Spinach, kale, swiss chard, or collard greens

No matter which combination of vegetables you choose, make sure to chop them fairly small. You want to be able to have a few different veggies on your spoon at the same time.

One pot dinner recipes (like this minestrone soup!) are the best this time of year. They warm you up and take the chill out of the season.

And like chili and curry, soup gets better after a day or two in your fridge. Do you hear what I'm saying? That's right … Meal Prep!

Make a big batch of this tuscan kale minestrone and take it for lunch this week/ quickly warm it up and love dinner time.

PS. Serve this with some well-buttered crusty sourdough bread and a glass of red wine. ← trust me on this one!

Favorite one-pot cold-weather recipes:

• Autumn Roasted Pumpkin Curry
• Easy Vegetarian Chili
• Curried Quinoa Vegetable Stew
• Vegetable Asian Stir Fry Noodles
• Creamy Coconut Lentil Curry
• Easy Palak Paneer

Remember to subscribe to THE ENDLESS MEAL'S NEWSLETTER for FREE to get healthy and delicious recipes each week + our cookbook! 

Easy Vegetarian Soup Recipes:

• Coconut Curried Cauliflower Soup
• Cashew Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Roasted Broccoli Soup with Lemon Tahini Cream
• Coconut Red Lentil Peanut Soup
• Revitalizing Ginger Coconut Lentil Soup
• Detox Sweet Potato Soup with Salty Almond Croutons

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Kale Minestrone Soup Recipe

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 40 minutes mins

Total: 45 minutes mins

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This is THE BEST minestrone soup recipe ever. It's made from a super flavorful tomato base, Tuscan kale, white beans, and loaded with vegetables then topped with an easy to make basil pesto. It's an easy to make and healthy weeknight dinner recipe!

6 servings

Ingredients

Kale Minestrone Soup

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 medium onion (minced)
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• ▢ 2 large carrots (minced)
• ▢ 5.5 ounce can tomato paste
• ▢ 4 cups vegetable broth
• ▢ 3 medium red potatoes (diced)
• ▢ 2 stalks celery (diced)
• ▢ 1 zucchini (diced)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon each: oregano, thyme, black pepper
• ▢ 28 ounce can whole tomatoes
• ▢ 15 ounce can white beans (drained and rinsed)
• ▢ 8 ounces kale (removed from stem and chopped)
• ▢ Juice from ½ lemon
• ▢ Sea salt (to taste)

Easy Basil Pesto

• ▢ 2 ounces basil (about 1 cup, loosely packed)
• ▢ 2 ounces parsley (about 1 cup loosely packed)
• ▢ ¼ cup pine nuts (cashews or almonds work great too)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ Juice from ½ lemon
• ▢ 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese OR nutritional yeast

Instructions 

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and carrots and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots and onion start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook it until it is sweet smelling and starts to darken, about 3 minutes.
  1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 medium onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 large carrots, 5.5 ounce can tomato paste
• Add the vegetable broth, potatoes, celery, zucchini, black pepper, oregano, and thyme to the pot. Pour the juice from the tomatoes into the pot then use your hands to crush the whole tomatoes before adding them to the pot. If you're using the parmesan rinds, add them to the pot now. Bring the pot to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes.
  4 cups vegetable broth, 3 medium red potatoes, 2 stalks celery, 1 zucchini, 1 teaspoon each: oregano, thyme, black pepper, 28 ounce can whole tomatoes
• While the soup simmers, make the pesto. Add all the pesto ingredients to a small food processor and pulse until mostly smooth.
  2 ounces basil, 2 ounces parsley, ¼ cup pine nuts, 2 tablespoons olive oil, Juice from ½ lemon, 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese OR nutritional yeast
• Add the beans, kale, and lemon juice to the soup and let the kale wilt and the beans warm through. Season to taste with sea salt. Serve the minestrone topped with the pesto.
  15 ounce can white beans, 8 ounces kale, Juice from ½ lemon, Sea salt

Notes

To make this soup quickly, start by mincing the onion and let that start cooking while you prepare the garlic and carrots. Then chop the remaining veggies while the carrots and onion cook.

Chef's tip: if you have some parmesan rinds, throw a few into the pot with the stock for extra flavor.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serving = ⅙ of the recipe (about 2 cups), Calories: 369kcal (18%), Carbohydrates: 57g (19%), Protein: 15g (30%), Fat: 12g (18%), Saturated Fat: 1g (6%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Sodium: 1870mg (81%), Potassium: 1907mg (54%), Fiber: 11g (46%), Sugar: 13g (14%), Vitamin A: 10116IU (202%), Vitamin C: 100mg (121%), Calcium: 228mg (23%), Iron: 7mg (39%)

© Author Kristen Stevens

We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.