Italian Chicken Soup Minestrone

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An Italian chicken soup minestrone made from scratch can warm up any cold winter evening. Made with plenty of fresh vegetables, Borlotti beans, and homemade chicken stock, you can eat it as it is with some toasted bread or adding some pastina.

Jump to:

• Minestra, minestrone, or zuppa
• Authentic Italian minestrone soup recipe
• Do not add pasta or rice while cooking it
• Shortcuts to make a minestrone
• What you should not do
• How to make Italian Chicken Soup
• Alternative options and more shortcuts
• How to serve it
• How to store it
• Other types of Minestrone
• More soup recipes you may like
• 📋 Italian Chicken Soup Minestrone

Minestra, minestrone, or zuppa

Minestra, minestrone and zuppa are 3 different ways of defining an Italian soup. They are always served at the beginning of the meal as a Primo piatto.

This is how they differ:

• Minestra is a watery vegetable and/or meat soup with the addition of rice, pasta spelled, barley or pulse. It is considered a poor people dish and the name minestra originated from “ministrare” meaning shared/served by the head of the family. You can find on the blog Minestra Primavera made with broad beans, peas, artichokes, and lettuce.
• Zuppa is also a vegetable and/or meat soup but it is never served with rice or pasta. Instead, it is usually served with bread or croutons and as they absorb the liquid, a zuppa tends to be creamier than a minestra. On the blog, you can find a Spanish soup called Salmorejo, a summer version of the Tuscan Pappa al Pomodoro, tomato soup.
• Minestrone, which means large minestra, has a more consistent and rich composition than a minestra with the addition of beans and/or potatoes which arrived in Italy with the discovery of the new world. This Italian Chicken Soup is a minestrone and it can also be served with pasta or rice. You will find more information below.

Authentic Italian minestrone soup recipe

Is this an authentic Italian minestrone soup recipe? No, because minestrone is not an exact recipe, it varies with the season, the region and your mood.

Anything can go into a minestrone, the more the merrier!

However, there are some important rules to earn the name Minestrone:

1. Always use the vegetables that are in season
2. Include beans or potatoes to make it creamier
3. If you are using dried beans, soaked them in water overnight
4. Pulse and vegetables may require different cooking times. Do not cook them all at once but paste them according to their cooking time. Vegetables should not be too mushy or undercooked. Generally, you would need to add beans, potatoes, and solid vegetables like broccoli, carrots, and zucchini first, leaves-vegetable ( like chard, spinach, cabbage) on the last 3 to 5 minutes of cooking. Seasoning at the end.
5. You can season with herbs, extra virgin olive oil, fat (butter or lard), Parmesan, or Pecorino cheese. However, they should be added carefully nor too abundant to overtake the flavor nor too scarce. You need to find the right balance.
6. You can add pasta or rice (minestrone Milanese) but read further before you do.

NB: in the step by step video below I cook the vegetables together all at once as I bought a bag of a prepared chopped mix of fresh vegetables for minestrone. I bought it at a market in Italy, the mix of vegetables was already selected and chopped for a uniform cooking time. The Borlotti beans were fresh and in small quantities and the carrots were chopped in small sizes. The minestrone was ready in 20 minutes.

Do not add pasta or rice while cooking it

I never add pasta or rice in the main pot of a minestrone because if you have leftover the pasta and the rice will absorb all the broth becoming mushy and soggy.

Cook the pasta or the rice separately, and add them to the serving plate. You can use pastina or small pasta like ditalini.

If you want to add them to the minestrone and cook it with the vegetables, make sure you don’t have leftovers.

Leftovers minestrone with soaking pasta is uneatable (at least for us Italians).

Shortcuts to make a minestrone

To save time when making a minestrone I have 2 tips:

1. I always have a supply of frozen stock in the fridge (chicken stock and brows stock) stored in small containers (1 quarter- 1 lt / 1/2 quarters – 500 ml). I can quickly defrost one and use it in the minestrone. I make it with the pressure cooker and it only takes 30 minutes to make. You can find the recipes on the link above.

In fact, during winter I often have a boiled chicken I used to make the stock and need ideas on how to use up the meat. You can read the article: 5 Quick and Healthy Dinner Ideas: Boiled Chicken Recipes

2. In Italy, it is very common to find already cleaned and chopped vegetables at the market stand. The ortolano (greengrocer) would use his spare time at the market stands to clean and chop the vegetables which he/she can then sell at a slighter higher price. A win-win for everyone.

If that doesn’t happen at your farmer market you may suggest it. However, I did it once in a remote farmer market in the South of Italy and received a disappointed look from a lady implying: “Are you so lazy you cannot chop them yourself?”

What you should not do

To make a good minestrone, make sure you follow all the rules above. In addition I would suggest the following:

• Do not use unsalted stock, even if you add the salt after it is not the same. I never use unsalted stock in my cooking
• Do not use frozen vegetables, they will be soggy and mushy
• Do not use canned vegetables, they have no flavor
• If you don’t have time to chop fresh vegetables and cannot find them already chopped at your store, you will be better off buying a fresh already made minestrone as it is probably tastier than one made with canned vegetables

How to make Italian Chicken Soup

1. Stir fry in the pan the chopped onion
2. Add the borlotti beans and any vegetables that require a longer cooking time, stir for a minute to absorb the flavor of the stir-fried onion
3. Add the chicken stock and let it boil for 15 minutes 
4. Add the rest of the leaves vegetables and boil for 5 more minutes

5. Add the shredded chicken at the end, enough time to warm it up
6. Transfer on a serving bowl and serve piping hot

Alternative options and more shortcuts

• it is not necessary to stir fry the onion, I do it as it adds flavor. You can also stir fry a mix of onion, celery, and carrot (mirepoix)
• you can chop your vegetables so that the cooking time is more or less equal and you can put all the vegetables in the pot at once
• add some tomato sauce to give color and flavor
• you can add any other meat stock: beef for stew, lamb, sausage, ham. Whatever meat stock you are using a bone will add much more flavor than just plain meat. Always make the stock before as a bone stock will need to cook for hours, not the minestrone. I make my meat stock in the pressure cooker and it only requires 30 minutes
• a minestrone can be vegan, it is not necessary to add meat and you can cook it in vegetable stock made with onion, carrot, and celery.
• for an added flavor, you can boil with the vegetables a piece of Parmesan rind

How to serve it

This Italian chicken minestrone should be served piping hot, you can either add some pasta or rice or just serve it with a slice of rustic bread.

I do not add pasta or rice directly in the main serving dish, as I mentioned above.

Each one can drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and some Parmesan cheese in their own bowl. Spicy olive oil would be the perfect finish for those who like hot chilly.

Usually, in Italy, we would serve it as a first dish Primo Piatto, before the main.

However, as it is a complete meal, it can be served as a main dish for a light dinner.

In Italy, we may just serve some cold meat and cheese after an abundant minestrone to end the meal with an extra treat.

How to store it

A minestrone soup should be stored in the fridge once cold. It can last a few days and the flavor will get better every day. No pasta or rice soaking in it.

If you make a large quantity you can freeze it. I like to freeze it into portions so I can defrost only the amount I need.

If I want to cook some pastina with it once it defrosts, I will make sure there is enough liquid so the pastina can boil in the stock for at least 5 minutes without the soup becoming too dry.

Never freeze a minestrone with pasta or rice.

Other types of Minestrone

Here are some other classic minestrone:

• Minestrone alla Milanese: with lard, pork and rice
• Minestrone alla genovese: pesto is added at the end
• Minestrone Maritata: wedded minestrone when vegetables and different type of meats are married together

More soup recipes you may like

• Seafood Chowder Recipe Served In A Bread Bowl
• Chayote Squash Mousse Carbs And Dairy Free
• Fresh Tomato Soup Salmorejo No Cooking
• Roast Pumpkin Soup Served In A Pumpkin
• Romanesco Soup With Spicy Sausages

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