Slow cooker minestrone
A big, colorful pot of vegetables and two kinds of beans that simmers all day in tomato broth, with pasta and spinach stirred in at the end.
- 460 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $1.79 a serving
- 270 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz
- 2 vegetable bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 cup medium pasta shells
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan (optional)
From your pantry
- 4 cups water
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leave
Each serving has about 270 calories, 14 g protein, 54 g carbs and 2 g fat, and costs about $1.79 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No zucchini? Yellow squash works.
- No kidney beans? Pinto beans or black beans work.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, carrots, celery and zucchini, the garlic, and and both cans of beans.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Put the vegetables, garlic, beans, green beans, both cans of tomatoes, water, bouillon cubes, Italian seasoning and bay leaf in the slow cooker and stir.
Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours or HIGH for 3½ hours.
Timer: 420 min
Turn to HIGH, stir in the pasta, cover and cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pasta is tender.
High heatTimer: 22 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Stir once halfway so the pasta doesn’t clump on the bottom.Stir in the spinach until it , pull out the bay leaf, and taste for salt.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan.
Dolly’s tip: For leftovers that aren’t mushy, store the soup and any extra pasta separately.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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