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Question by Lisa Lisa: Question about recipes for Minestrone soup, need some advice from soup “chefs”?
I have a very specific question about the process of making a great Minestrone soup. I found this great “CopyCat” recipe for the Olive Garden’s Minestrone soup.
Their soup has a lot of flavor in it, and their broth is thin- which is the way I like it. The recipe calls for canned diced tomatoes- and a copy of the instructions are below. My question is, how do you cook the tomatoes so that they will create a thin broth?
Should I puree them first? I don’t want a chunky broth, I understand the additional ingredients will make it hearty, but I know at the “Olive Garden” the broth itself is nice and thin.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced white onion (about 1 small onion)
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup frozen cut italian green beans
1/4 cup minced celery (about 1/2 stalk)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
4 cups vegetable broth (Swanson is good *note: Do not use chicken broth!*)
2 (15 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained
2 (15 ounce) cans small white beans or great northern beans, drained
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup carrot, julienned or shredded
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups hot water
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup small shell pasta
Directions
1Heat three tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot.
2Saute onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent.
3Add vegetable broth to pot, plus drained tomatoes, beans, carrot, hot water, and spices.
4Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
5Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency
Best answer:
Answer by Kacey D
i use to work at the olive garden… and whenever i made ministrone i added the tomatoes near the end… they didn’t really cook… just got warmed up by the broth… there is usually enough liquid in the can to keep things light.. that’s a really close recipe…but there is also a touch of red wine that the olive garden puts in..
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I didn’t have a potato so I use a cup of instant potato flakes instead I
put it in right before I blended it up and it came out very good thank you
I love soup and I will be making this in the future hopefully with a real
potato next time but the instant ones did the job
I make it with greek yogurt and shredded lowfat cheese instead of the half
and half. Boom!
Making this soup right now. Smells great so far. No doubt it will be
delish. Hope Joe had a good time down here in Maryland. It has been so
cold!!!
cream of mushroom soup pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I was trying to think of easy, healthy lunches to take to work and I think
this is going to make the rotation! I’m going to make a great big pot on
Sunday night so I can get several meals out of it. It looks absolutely
delicious!
This came out great!
Looks so delicious! i have to make it soon!
Making it now! I know my family is going to like it! Thank you Laura :-)
Could I like this even though I’m really not fond of broccoli at all..? bc
some recipes turn things you don’t like into delicious meals :p
Hello can you please please please please make corn soup
Gordon Ramsey also has a AMAZING broccoli soup.
You make me smile. Thank you. :-)
Soup is delicious and insanely EASY!
Thanks Laura!
made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious!!
Thx for this easy recipe. Made it today :)
Loving these light recipes!!! :)
Laura I made the soup it was excellent, fast easy creamy perfect for these
days when we had this arctic blast of cold air hit us in Atlanta. My first
time making it. I usually got to Panera and get theirs gotta say this
homemade was pretty good. Keep up the good work :)
Looks sooo good! Gonna make it today! Thanks Laura you’re the best !
really good recipe <3
I’m gonna try this soup this week. I don’t like celery so I’m thinking
about substitute the celery with leek. Would that work?
Are there any healthy substitutes I could use instead of the cream? Thanks!
Laura “just a little touch of salt” throws the hole salt cup into the food
lol
All of that broccoli is edible. You don’t have to discard anything.
I just died and went to broccoli soup heaven! My tip add 1 or 2 tablespoons
of oatmeal! My grandma does it in every soup and it’s delicious and makes
it extra creamy!
can you please make delicious cream of vegetable soup?? thanks !:))
Pureeing the tomatoes is an option if you don’t want chunks of them in your soup, which I assume is what you meant by not wanting a “chunky” broth…it may thicken it up some, though. Either way, you can just add more vegetable broth to thin the soup out (without taking away any flavor) any time you’d like.
The minestrone is chunky anyway with all those beans and chopped zucchini and the pasta. Diced tomatoes are usually small diced anyway, so adding a tin of tomatoes wont make much difference to the minestrone’s chunkiness, just adds another dimension of taste not to mention the goodness of tomatoes.
Tomatoes don’t really cook down into a puree unless you mash them, so add them as stated in the recipe. If you add closer to the end, you’ll have undercooked tomatoes mixed with the cooked vegetables.
Add more water to the pot as its cooking if you’re finding that the broth is becoming too thick for your liking.
I always just pour the whole thing in. I’ve never had broth thicken on me for no reason.
Try following the directions exactly, but reserve the tomato liquid from the can. If your soup starts getting to be too thick, pour in as much of the liquid as you need.
Good luck. (And I am totally going to try this recipe.)