Minestrone Soup with Orzo and Kale
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Minestrone Soup with Orzo and Kale is a hearty, healthy, and delicious Tuscan Bean Soup recipe often served during the cooler months in Tuscany.
If you love minestrone, you may also love Italian Minestrone Soup with Crispy Pancetta or this Ribollita Bean Soup recipe.
What to Love About This Nourishing Soup
Packed with fresh vegetables, hearty beans, and pasta, this soup recipe is a perfect warm-up at the end of the day, whether that was a cold, blustery day or a day spent on the ski slopes.
Much like our always-popular, personal favorite, the Ribollita soup recipe, this is an Italian comfort-food classic that's easy to make and utterly delicious.
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History of Minestrone Soup
The earliest origins of minestrone soup predate the Roman Empire, an era when the local diet was primarily vegetarian and plant-based.
Plentiful ingredients included onions, lentils, cabbage, garlic, broad beans, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus, and turnips.
Dishes began to change in the 2nd century B.C. after Rome conquered Italy, and improved road networks that brought a diversity of products and "flooded the capital and began to change their diet, and by association, the diet of Italy, most notably with the more frequent inclusion of meats, including as a stock for soups."
Key Ingredients
Specific ingredient measurements are found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. This is an ingredient summary of what you'll need.
- Smoked pancetta: You can also use bacon if you prefer
- Aromatics: Onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes
- Fresh Vegetables: Carrots, celery, cabbage, baby kale leaves, and potatoes
- Canned diced tomatoes (fire-roasted, stewed, or plain)
- Canned pinto beans (or cranberry beans)
- Butternut squash (frozen or fresh) or substitute sweet potatoes
- Stock (vegetable, chicken, or beef)
- Pasta: Dry orzo pasta
Ingredient Notes
- Pancetta: Smoked pancetta is a delicious addition to this soup. If that isn't easy to find, you can swap Italian sausage, Prosciutto, a thinly sliced Italian ham, or even bacon.
- Minestrone Soup Beans: The most popular Minestrone Soup beans in Italy are either white beans (cannellini) or Bortolotti (cranberry) beans. While I love cranberry beans, they weren't available at the market. A close substitution would be canned pinto beans, which is what I've used here.
- Soup Base: The soup is broth-based. Use your choice of either vegetable, chicken, or even beef stock for the soup.
Kitchen Equipment Needed
You will need a large soup pot. I love an enameled Dutch Oven because it's heavy and distributes heat well, but any large soup pot will work.
The recipe is fairly easy, but you will need to chop onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, and potatoes. So a good quality chef's knife is helpful.
How to Make Minestrone Soup with Orzo and Kale
This comes together in about 40 minutes and is packed with nourishing vegetables and delicious flavors.
- Step 1: Sauté the onion, carrots, celery, and chopped pancetta until soft. Add the chopped cabbage, kale, potatoes, and butternut squash; sauté for 2 minutes.
- Step 2: Stir in the drained canned tomatoes (or 2 fresh chopped tomatoes) and garlic, and stir into the vegetables.
- Step 3: Pour in the stock plus 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the vegetables are soft, stir in the drained canned beans and dry orzo. Continue cooking until the pasta is tender, about 7 minutes more.
How to Serve Minestrone Soup with Orzo and Kale
Ladle ample amounts of soup into bowls and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, additional pinches of red pepper flakes, if desired, and fresh parsley. Thick slices of beautiful Italian bread are also delicious!
More Soup Recipes to Try
- Light and Fresh Spring Soups
- Irish Vegetable Potato Leek Soup
- Finnish Salmon Soup (Lohikeitto)
- Grandmother's Tomato Potato Soup
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Minestrone Soup with Orzo and Kale
Ingredients
- 5 ounces smoked pancetta finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (15-oz) canned diced stewed tomatoes undrained
- ½ green cabbage chopped
- 2 cups baby kale chopped
- 6 ounces butternut squash frozen or fresh, cubed
- 2 potatoes (russet, gold, or red), cubed
- 4 cups stock vegetable, chicken, or beef
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 cup dry orzo pasta
- 1 (15-oz) canned pinto beans drained and rinsed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- For serving: Parmigiano-Reggiano and fresh parsley
Instructions
- Heat a heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat and add olive oil. To the pot, add onion, carrots, celery, and chopped pancetta; cook until soft and beginning to brown. Then stir in tomatoes (or 2 fresh, chopped tomatoes) and garlic; sauté for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped cabbage, kale, potatoes, and butternut squash; sauté for 2 minutes. Then stir in the undrained tomatoes (or 2 fresh, chopped tomatoes) and garlic; sauté for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Stir in the stock plus 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the drained canned beans and orzo pasta. Cook until the pasta is soft, about 7 minutes. Add more water or broth as needed to achieve consistency.
- Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. A slice of beautiful Italian bread is also delicious!
Video
Notes
- Storage: This minestrone soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Beans: Cannellini or cranberry beans are traditional, but pinto beans work beautifully as well.
- Make it Vegetarian: For a vegetarian version, simply omit the pancetta and use vegetable broth.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
So good!
Recipe was delicious. I made a couple of changes to mine. I eat a plant based diet so I swapped out the Pancetta for vegan sausage (Field Roast Italian). I also replaced one of the potatoes with a couple of diced parsnips since I had them on hand and wanted to use them up.
Delicious!
I love your substitutions- it’s a great soup for parsnips! I’m going to remember that idea. Thanks for trying and letting me know ❤️❤️!