Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

This tasty slow cooker minestrone soup combines fresh vegetables like green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, and spinach with Great Northern beans, dark red kidney beans, and pasta. This classic Italian soup slow cooks to perfection in a well-seasoned tomato broth.

This is one of our favorite slow cooker recipes. This hearty, wholesome soup is flavorful and beautiful with a colorful array of vegetables.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

See the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients.

• Green beans: I use fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces. You can use cut frozen green beans, but add them in the last 30 minutes of cooking.
• Marjoram: I use it instead of oregano because it is milder, less pungent, and sweeter. You can substitute oregano.
• Vegetable broth: Preferably low-sodium.
• Diced tomatoes: I love fire-roasted diced tomatoes, but you can use any diced tomatoes.
• Beans: Use cannellini, Great Northern, garbanzo, navy, or red kidney beans.
• Pasta: Ditalini is a very small, tube-shaped pasta, traditionally served in minestrone. You can substitute small shells, elbow macaroni, or orzo.
• Baby spinach: You can use regular spinach, but remove the large stems and coarsely chop it.

How To Cook Minestrone Soup In A Slow Cooker

This is a summary; for the complete list of ingredients and instructions, see the recipe card below.

1. Sauté the onions, celery, and carrots in a large skillet. Reduce the heat to low and add the garlic, thyme, and marjoram. Cook for a minute while stirring. Add the mixture to the slow cooker.
2. Whisk the tomato paste with a little vegetable broth. Pour in the remaining vegetable broth and stir in the tomato paste mixture, bay leaves, green beans, tomatoes, and beans.
3. Cover and cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or low heat for 6-8 hours.
4. Add the zucchini and the pasta in the last 30 minutes, cover, and cook on high.
5. Add the spinach in the last 5 minutes and cook until wilted.

Culinary Pointers

• Peel the carrots so that the bright orange color pops. Food should look pleasing.
• If you don’t like a vegetable, replace it with something you do. For instance, you could replace the spinach with kale; if so, add the kale about 30 minutes before serving.
• Resist the urge to lift the lid of the crock pot. Every time you lift the lid, it adds 15-20 minutes to the cooking time.
• Crock
• Remove the bay leaves from the soup before serving. They have sharp edges, and they could pose a choking hazard.

Perfect Pairings

• garlic knots
• potato bread
• Italian chopped salad
• cottage cheese bread
• garlic bread
• drop biscuits
• Caesar salad
• dinner rolls

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