Italian Minestrone Soup with Crispy Pancetta
Italian Minestrone Soup with Pancetta is a super easy and even quick vegetable soup to make when you're craving healthy, hardy but simple food. Rustic and easy to make any day of the week.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 123kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 to 2 pancetta slices or bacon slices
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh
- 1 large carrot quartered and thinly sliced
- 1/2 small leek halved and thinly sliced (white and pale green parts)
- 1 celery rib thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock
- 1/4 cup dry small pasta
- 2 cups baby spinach
- grated Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottom saucepan or small Dutch oven. Sauté the onion, garlic, and pancetta until softened, stirring frequently.
- Add the thyme, carrots, leek, celery, tomato paste, and broth to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the dry pasta and cook for another 6 to 8 minutes, or until al-dente. Stir in the spinach and cook another minutes until wilted.
- To serve, ladle the soup into soup bowls with toasted Italian bread and grated Parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 0.2mg | Sodium: 1007mg | Potassium: 284mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 4604IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg