Soup season is one of my favorite times of the year. Once the weather cools down, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find a pot of soup on our dinner table once or twice a week. And while I have recipes I come back to again and again, I’m not particularly interested in making them exactly the same way every time.

This minestrone is a perfect example. It’s hearty and full of vegetables, beans, pasta and potatoes, with pancetta adding a little richness and Parmesan on top to finish it off. But the best part about minestrone is that you really don’t have to follow the recipe perfectly. In fact, I usually don’t.

Have an extra zucchini that needs to be used? Throw it in. A handful of green beans? Absolutely. Carrots that are starting to look a little questionable in the back of the refrigerator? Add them.

That’s one of the reasons I love soup. It gives you permission to cook with what you have rather than making another trip to the grocery store. And somehow, even when the ingredients change a little, you still end up with a warm, hearty pot of soup that brings everyone to the table.

Why I Love This Minestrone

This is the kind of dinner that checks a lot of boxes for me. It’s a complete meal in one pot. It’s full of vegetables without feeling like you’re eating a bowl of vegetables. The beans, pasta and potatoes make it filling enough for hungry kids, and the pancetta gives the broth a depth of flavor that makes the whole thing taste like it has been simmering much longer than it actually has.

It’s also incredibly easy to stretch. If another person is staying for dinner, add a little more stock. Toss in another can of beans. Add another handful of pasta. Soup is very forgiving when you need to make room for one more.

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Hearty Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• ¼ pound pancetta, chopped
• Olive oil, as needed
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 (15-ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 2–4 cups diced zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini; green, yellow, or a combination)
• 2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup small-shaped pasta
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
• Olive oil, for serving

Instructions

1. Add the chopped pancetta to a large soup pot or Dutch oven with a small amount of olive oil. Cook for about 3–4 minutes, until the pancetta begins to brown and render its fat.
2. Add the garlic, onions, celery and carrots. Sauté until the vegetables begin to soften.
3. Stir in the Italian seasoning, white beans, diced tomatoes, zucchini and potatoes.
4. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the soup to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer for approximately 12–15 minutes, or until the potatoes are beginning to become tender.
6. Add the pasta and continue cooking until the pasta and potatoes are tender. If the soup becomes thicker than you like as the pasta cooks, add a little more chicken stock.
7. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
8. Ladle into bowls and serve with grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

Don’t Have Pancetta?

Use bacon. That’s actually written right on my original recipe, and it’s exactly the kind of substitution I make all the time. Pancetta adds wonderful flavor, but I’m not making a special trip to the grocery store because I don’t have it. If there’s bacon in the refrigerator, bacon goes in the soup.

And if you want to leave the meat out altogether, you could do that too. I’d simply add a little extra olive oil when sautéing the vegetables and make sure the broth is well seasoned.

Use the Vegetables You Have

This might be the most important instruction in the entire recipe:

Add whatever vegetables you have in the refrigerator.

The carrots, celery, onions, zucchini and potatoes make a great starting point, but they don’t need to be a rule. Green beans would be delicious. Add spinach or kale near the end. Have half a yellow squash left from another dinner? Throw it in. You can also adjust the amounts. If you only have one zucchini instead of four cups, don’t let that stop you from making dinner. The soup will be fine and maybe even better.

A Note About the Pasta

Because the pasta cooks directly in the soup, it will continue soaking up broth as it sits. That’s wonderful for flavor, but it also means leftover minestrone will probably be considerably thicker the next day. Just add a splash of chicken stock when you reheat it until it reaches the consistency you like. And if you’re making the soup well ahead of time, you can cook the pasta separately and add it to individual bowls instead.

What to Serve with Minestrone

Honestly, this soup doesn’t need much. A generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan, a drizzle of good olive oil and some warm crusty bread make a pretty perfect dinner.

For a crowd, I’d put a big pot of minestrone in the middle of the table with bread, Parmesan and a simple salad and call dinner done.

Make the Recipe Work for Your Table

I think sometimes recipes make us believe cooking has to be more precise than it really does. There are certainly times when measurements matter. But a pot of minestrone isn’t one of them. Use the vegetables you have. Substitute bacon for the pancetta. Add more broth when another person stays for dinner. Taste it before you serve it. And don’t worry if this week’s pot doesn’t look exactly like the one you made last month. That’s the beauty of soup!