Heart-warming Southern comfort cuisine Compatible with cornbread dipped in hot water! If you like, use beef smoked sausage.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ cups chopped onions
- 4 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
- 4 (15 ounce) cans mixed vegetables, with liquid
- 2 (16 ounce) cans kidney beans, with liquid
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, with liquid
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 ¼ teaspoons garlic powder
- 4 teaspoons dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup canned garbanzo beans, drained
- 4 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- In a large stock pot over medium heat, stir and cook onions in butter until soft. Add broth, mixed vegetables, kidney beans, tomatoes, spinach, and tomato paste; simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove about half of the vegetables to a blender or food processor, reserving liquid in stock pot. Puree the vegetables until smooth and return them to stock pot.
- Stir in garlic powder, parsley, salt, pepper, basil, macaroni, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, garbanzo beans, and heavy cream; cook for 1/2 hour, stirring frequently. Pour into bowls and sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 587 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 43 g |
| Cholesterol | 138 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 14 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 24 g |
| Sodium | 1592 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 41 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
excellent
True to the recipes name, it is the best darn minestrone soup around. There isn’t one person that has tasted this soup that hasn’t asked, no begged for this recipe. I am a native Detroiter and proud of it. I have had the original lellis minnesrone and I think this recipe is even better than theirs.
My girls (ages 5-18) love minestrone soup. Well, they love my Mom’s minestrone soup. I didn’t have her recipe on hand so I put this one together instead. It didn’t go over well. And my kids aren’t picky. I liked it which is why I didn’t give it one star. But even I had to admit I didn’t like the hard chickpeas. I’m curious why those get added for only 30 minutes at the end. They were very hard. No one likes that.
Excellent soup for a winters day. Made it exactly as the recipe denotes and the whole family loved it. Get your biggest soup pot out as this recipe makes plenty.
I use half and half and only put in about half of that! no need for all those calories, it’s soooo good.
Makes a nice amount to eat when ready and some to store in the freezer for a later date. Yummy x 5
Best Minestrone Soup in the world. Not for dieters but FABULOUS and a real crowd pleaser. Very similar to Lelli’s Restaurant’s famous house soup (Farmington Hills, MI). Highly recommended and YUMMY!!
Perfect creamy minestrone soup! Even my picky ten year old will eat it – it’s that good! Serve it with a little grated parmigiano-reggiano and some crusty bread and you have the perfect fall meal! Thank you for this recipe!
Delicious. Made a half recipe and it was good for two adults for two meals. Had to adapt half recipe to French ingredient packaging; 1 package 600g mixed vegetables. 1 can 400g garbanzo beans (pois chiches), cancel kidney beans, 33cl heavy cream (crème épaisse), added extra elbow macaroni.
1/2 made a ton, yummy
I followed the basic recipe with modifications on quantity for our taste and preference. This is what I did: Frozen peas and corn, fresh carrots and beans, didn’t have any spinach, only 2 Tbs. butter to cook onion in, diced tomatoes v/s whole, 3tsp garlic, 3tsp parsley, the whole can of garbanzo, and only 1 cup heavy cream (4cups seems like WAY to much). All other ingredient quantities the same and I did puree half the veggies. Very happy with the flavor, maybe I’d add more S&P. I cooked the noodles separate based on another review but in the end combined it and have yet to eat the leftovers to see if it is too mushy.
I used only 4 tablespoons of butter to sauté the onions. It doesn’t need more than that. I also only used a half cup of cream–again–it doesn’t need all that cream to make it rich. A cup could be added to make it creamier but it’s not necessary. I also added a half teaspoon of oregano. You may have to add sea salt depending on the type of broth used. I’ve made it with chicken stock, and I’ve made a veggie stock version. I used the diced canned tomatoes as I like smaller tomato chunks, and I have used the seasoned ones. I served mine with homemade garlic Parmesan croutons.
WOW, one reviewer said this soup was better the next day, so I’m making it now for guests to have tomorrow. I halved the recipe, as another reviewer said it makes a tremendous amount. I am only up to simmering the soup at this point. If it tastes just half as good as it already smells….it will be a BIG hit!!! It’s killing me, I’m dying to dunk a piece of bread in it, but it’s not ready!! I will be back with a final review after my guests have eaten it! So far YAY!!
Best soup recipe ever!!!!
Really Delicious amazing soup! I halved the recipe since I’m only feeding three, & only used 1 cup of cream & 1 TBSP butter to cut down the fat. Still came out plenty creamy and full of flavor.(Also threw in a handful of chopped kale). Yummy!….will be making this again soon! Thanks for sharing!
Really good recipe. Didn’t puree any of the veg. A nice change of pace from traditional minestrone soups.
The favorite soup in our house and very similar to Lelli’s which is great because it’s expensive there and I’m always left wanting more. I omit the butter and throw the onions in with the veggies. I use frozen veggies and half the amount of fat free !/2 &1/2. Pureeing the veggies is the key to this soup. No need to cook it so long – I do the whole thing in 30 min. Keeps well and always disappears within 3 days. A sure crowd pleaser.
Your recipe is wonderful. I did make a few changes as others, used less butter, added garlic to the onions and used frozen veggies (can’t eat a vegetables from a can.) Really enjoyed NOT having to spend a half hour chopping veggies. Very good, thanks for sharing.
Your recipe is wonderful. I did make a few changes as others, used less butter, added garlic to the onions and used frozen veggies (can’t eat a vegetables from a can.) Really enjoyed NOT having to spend a half hour chopping veggies. Very good, thanks for sharing.
awesome!
I am familiar with Lelli’s restaurant – and their minnestrone is VERY good. This recipe was great & very similar – my relatives thought it was even better! I added 3 cloves of garlic to the sauteed onions and added white northern beans instead of garbonzos. Also used frozen mixed veggies instead of canned. Used only 2 cups of cream – that seemed to be plenty. This recipe does make a LOT; however, I froze half and will get two meals from the batch. Blending the veggies is key. Very, very delicious!!