1,557 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Minestrone

Name: Minestrone
Prep time: 2 h 19 min
Cook time: 1 h 11 min
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 6 people
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 200 g white beans; 200 g peas; 4 spring onions (scallions); 2 tomatoes; 200 g green beans; 2 courgettes; 2 carrots; 2 turnips; 2 potatoes; 200 g green asparagus spears; 6 tablespoons olive oil; 2 litres water; 2 chicken stock cubes; salt; pepper

Minestrone is a traditional Italian soup. It is made with a mix of vegetables and a poultry stock. It is quite simple to make, but preparing all the vegetables takes time.
There are doubtless as many minestrone recipes as there are Italian cooks, but here is my version.

191 K 4.3/5 (29 reviews)

3 hours 30 min. difficulté

Average

10.80 €

6 people

15 Ingredients

Last modified on: May 29^th 2011

For 6 people, you will need:

1 200 g white beans
2 200 g peas
3 4 spring onions (scallions)
4 2 tomatoes
5 200 g green beans
6 2 courgettes
7 2 carrots
8 2 turnips
9 2 potatoes
10 200 g green asparagus spears
11 6 tablespoons olive oil
12 2 litres water
13 2 chicken stock cubes
14 salt
15 pepper
Total weight: 4,970 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 2 hours 20 min.

Cooking: 1 hour 15 min.

All in all: 3 hours 30 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1

The day before, put 200 g white beans to soak overnight if you are using dried beans. For fresh ones this isn't necessary.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 10 min.

Shell 200 g peas, or use frozen ones.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 10 min.

Peel, wash and chop 4 spring onions (scallions).

Stage 4 - ⌛ 20 min.

Peel 2 tomatoes and cut into quarters.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 10 min.

Wash 200 g green beans, cut off the ends and cut into pieces.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 30 min.

Prepare 2 courgettes in small pieces.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 40 min.

Peel and wash 2 carrots, 2 turnips and 2 potatoes, cut into small pieces.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 20 min.

Peel and boil 200 g green asparagus spears in salted water until just tender, but still with some crunch.

Stage 9 - ⌛ 20 min.

Throw away the water that the beans have soaked in and replace with salted water, Boil until they are cooked but still slightly firm.

Drain.

Stage 10 - ⌛ 1 min.

Pour 6 tablespoons olive oil into a large pan over medium heat. When hot, add the chopped onions, salt, pepper and cook while stirring for 1 minute.

Add the turnips, carrots and potatoes. Stir to mix well.

Stage 11 - ⌛ 5 min.

Add the courgettes, haricot beans, green beans and asparagus. Stir to mix well and cook together for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.

This preliminary cooking of the vegetables in oil is important to add flavour to the minestrone.

Stage 12 - ⌛ 35 min.

Moisten with 2 litres water and add 2 chicken stock cubes.

Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and leave to simmer gently until all the vegetables are well cooked.

Stage 13 - ⌛ 10 min.

Then add the tomatoes, check seasoning and leave to cook for a further 10 minutes.

Stage 14

Serve hot on its own, or accompanied by slices of toasted bread spread with pesto, or a little grated Parmesan.

Remarks

Ideally a minestrone should include at least 5 vegetables, but they can be any you choose, so you can vary this recipe in both ingredients and proportions.
You can also add a cupful of rice along with the vegetables. There are those who consider that this should replace the haricot beans, but I think it's good with both.

Minestrone is even better reheated the following day.

Keeping: Several days in the fridge.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	60 RDI=20 %	260 RDI=20 %	110 RDI=20 %	2,170 RDI=110 %	9,080 RDI: 110 %
Per 100 g	1 RDI=0 %	5 RDI=0 %	2 RDI=0 %	40 RDI=2 %	180 RDI: 2 %
Per person	9 RDI=4 %	40 RDI=4 %	20 RDI=3 %	360 RDI=20 %	1,510 RDI: 20 %

How much will it cost?

For 6 people : 10.80 €
Per person : 1.80 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Bouquet garni

Used very frequently in French cuisine, a secret of French chefs, it adds flavour to a lot of recipes, and it's easy to prepare. The basic principle is to make a small bundle of herbs, bind them in green leek leaves and to tie it up, so that the whole thing can be removed and discarded easily after cooking.

March 21^th 2017438 K3.5 15 min.

How to succeed in making sabayon (syllabub)

A sabayon is a delicious and delicate preparation based on egg yolks and sugar, with a liquid added (wine, alcohol, fruit juice, etc), which is then whipped in a bain-marie until it is both light and smooth. Usually sabayon is sweet (syllabub), but you can make it savoury, in which case there is only egg yolk, salt, and the chosen liquid, which could be stock, reduced wine, roasting juices, etc... This recipe is for a...

November 12^th 2017957 K 54 20 min.

Express chilli con carne

This is a really express recipe, a "true" chilli is longer and more difficult to do.

February 21^th 2011412 K3.8 35 min.

How to prepare egg glaze

Bakers and pastry chefs use a glaze ("dorure" in French - the same word as for gilding) made with whole full eggs, beaten in a blender. This is used with a brush on pastry that would not naturally brown during cooking ( October 17^th 2018341 K4.3 2 min.

Profiteroles

Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.

October 13^th 2010328 K 14.5 1 hour 35 min.