Minestrone alla Genovese

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Minestrone alla genovese is a beautifully simple and hearty vegetable soup cooked with parmesan rinds and enhanced with a swirl of pesto genovese. It’s warm and comforting enough for a fall evening but still light enough for a spring dinner.

This minestrone recipe uses green beans, zucchini, and leafy greens like kale or chard, making it a perfect backdrop for the basil pesto. These are traditional vegetables often used in an Italian minestrone soup but can be customized depending on what you have in your fridge or freezer!

This Genoa-style minestrone is differentiated by the presence of basil pesto, which hails from the Liguria region of Italy. It brightens and elevates all the vegetables and creates a fresh, herbal flavor.

Green beans and potatoes are often found in Ligurian recipes and are both included in a minestrone alla genovese. Many of the vegetables in this recipe are green and quintessentially spring, which pair perfectly with the basil pesto.

Another reason Genovese Minestrone differs from other versions is that it does not use a soffrito, meaning the recipe does not require you to sauté a mix of onions, carrot and celery. We just toss all the vegetables into a pot, cover with water, and cook!

It may seem too simple or like the soup will be bland, but don’t worry! Using a wide variety of fresh vegetables helps to create a deep, earthy soup. Also, by cooking them in as little water as is necessary prevents the soup from becoming too brothy or watery and concentrates their flavor.

Ingredients

Onion
Carrots
Celery
Leek
Potatoes
Dried beans (kidney, cannellini, or Great Northern)
Butternut squash
Green beans
Zucchini
Dried thyme
Peas, fresh or frozen
Leafy greens (spinach, kale, or chard)
Parmesan rind
Basil pesto

I know this seems like a lot of different vegetables, but don’t worry! Minestrone is totally customizable and a mix of frozen and fresh vegetables can be used. Use more of one and less of another. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand and try different combinations of vegetables and greens. See Tips and FAQs for substitution ideas!

Don’t throw away your parmesan rinds! They add a beautifully rich umami flavor to soups and bean dishes. And make sure it’s from a real wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano – you can tell from the letters stamped on the rind. The rind is actually just dried cheese that has formed naturally during the cheesemaking process as the wheel ages. There’s no wax or sealants on a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano. Wheels have to be aged at least 12 months but you can also find some aged 24 and 36 months.

Step by Step

Preparing Genovese minestrone is made even easier because there’s no soffrito, meaning there’s no sauteeing of vegetables. We simply add them to a pot with water and cook!

Add the vegetables: onion, carrots, celery stalks, leek, potatoes, squash, green beans, and zucchini, along with the beans to a large soup pot.

Cut vegetables into roughly the same size so they cook evenly – smaller cubes for a smoother, more homogeneous soup, and larger cubes for a chunkier soup.

Pour in water, covering the vegetables by about 5cm. Season with the dried thyme, salt, and pepper. Turn to high heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer.

Add the parmesan rind. Continue to cook for about 45-50 minutes, or until the beans are cooked. (If using canned beans, soup only needs to cook 20-25 minutes, until vegetables are tender.)

The goal is to cook this soup until all the components are cooked but not mushy. We want to keep as much of the fresh taste and color that we can!

Add the peas and leafy greens and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt if needed. Add more water if the soup is too thick or depending on the consistency you most prefer.

Optional: Take a few ladles of soup out and puree in a stand blender or with an immersion blender. Return to pot.

Serve soup hot and top each bowl with a heaping tablespoon of pesto, swirl it into the soup, dissolving the pesto into the broth.

Tips and FAQs

What is minestrone?

Minestrone is an Italian mixed-vegetable soup that is long-simmered and thickened with beans or potatoes. There is no official recipe and preparations can vary depending on the region or the season. However, there is always an emphasis on using seasonal vegetables and many have a tomato broth base. The soup usually starts with a soffrito, a sauteed mix of onions, carrot and celery. Minestrone can also have small pasta added at the last stages of cooking.

Substitutions

Other veggie ideas:

winter squash / pumpkin
yellow squash
parsnips
cauliflower
eggplant
tomatoes

Feel free to substitute vegetable broth in for some of the water, but I wouldn’t recommend chicken broth as the flavor might be too strong.

Variations

Try adding a short pasta, like ditalini or orecchiette, during the last 15 minutes of cooking. You only need about 100g as it plumps up when it cooks!

For a vegan minestrone, remove the parmesan rind and pesto!

Storage

Leftover soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days (I think the flavor is even better the next day!)

How to Freeze

Let the soup cool completely before transferring to an airtight container. Freeze the soup for up to 3 months.

Leftover pesto? Try making an asparagus pesto tart!

Serve Minestrone alla Genovese as part of an Italian soup and salad lunch, along with a Tuscan farro salad or roasted artichoke and mozzarella salad.

Don’t forget the side of bread! Semolina focaccia is a perfect pesto pairing!