Packed with with zucchini, spinach, carrots, garlic and herbs, and served with tender lentil balls, this vegan summer vegetable minestrone is a tasty and nutritious soup. It can easily be made gluten-free by using any gluten-free pasta.
This summer vegetable minestrone is dead easy. Like in my chicken-less tofu noodle soup, the veggies and pasta all cook together in the same pot. If you’d like to make lentil balls to serve in the soup, they’ll require a couple more dishes.
What’s the difference between a summer vegetable minestrone and the regular kind? Technically nothing. The definition of minestrone is pretty loose, although you commonly see it made with tomatoes. Because I wanted to highlight the zucchini, spinach, and lemon flavors here, I didn’t add any this time.
It might not look like much but when you cut into a lentil ball and let its flavors melt into the soup, really exciting things happen to this summer minestrone. My better half has called it a top recipe of 2018, and it’s hard for me to disagree.
Minestrone is often already vegan, or trivially made so with some standard pantry swaps like veggie broth. I highly recommend unlocking umami powers by garnishing with some hemp parmesan or other vegan parmesan analogue. The lentil balls are also quite umami, so don’t be shy with adding them!
Vegan Summer Vegetable Minestrone
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 yellow or white onion diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced or thinly sliced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 7 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 4 oz elbow pasta (1 heaping cup) (or other pasta shape; gluten-free if needed)
- 2 medium zucchini halved or quartered and sliced
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 recipe lentil balls (optional accompaniment, see notes)
- hemp parmesan (optional, for serving)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a stockpot. Add the garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is starting to become tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the thyme, pepper, chili flakes, and bay leaf, and cook until fragrant, about 60 seconds.
- Stir in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Add the pasta, reduce the heat to a steady simmer and cook until the pasta is al dente (about 10-12 minutes, depending on the choice of pasta shape). Add the zucchini and simmer for another 2 minutes.
- Stir in the spinach and lemon juice, and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes more. Add the parsley and season with additional salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Adapted from Damn Delicious (non-vegan recipe).
I'm Shannon, the writer and photographer of Yup, it's Vegan! I'm a morning person based in Baltimore, USA. My mission is to create healthy plant-based recipes that anyone would enjoy, using seasonal produce with inspiration from global flavors.
Brent Kim says
This is easily one of my all time favorites! My sweetie and I were attending a potluck and hosting a holiday party on two consecutive days, so I made a double batch. I wanted to get a head start on preparing, so I made the hemp parm and lentil balls the day before the first event and refrigerated them. Just to mix things up, for the parm I used a mix of hemp and walnuts. The recipe was a huge success, everyone loved it and asked for seconds (and thirds)!
Bethann says
Hi Shannon, I know it’s not summer anymore but we made this delicious soup and loved every bite! I am a zucchini and lemon lover, can’t resist them even in the cold! It was both fresh and nourishing at the same time, and feels like a canvas for adding other new flavors (or even tomatoes ;))
Kari @ bite-sized thoughts says
What a great twist on regular minestrone. I love the summer make over!