Hearty veggie-packed vegan minestrone soup. This delicious soup is the best comfort food. High in protein and fiber and a perfect 1-pot meal.
This vegan minestrone soup came about from a reader suggestion (love those, keep ’em coming!) and I am now a huge fan of minestrone soup.
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, because I have never had this before.
Of course I’ve heard of this soup, and maybe I’ve had a packet version before or something, but a hearty wholesome homemade version like this? Never.
And it is so delicious and absolutely worthwhile to make. It’s definitely going to become a regular thing in our house.
It’s extremely easy to throw together, consists of really simple ingredients, and it’s a full meal.
This is more of a main course than an appetizer, you have everything but the kitchen sink in this soup. It’s got beans and rice and all kinds of veg. It’s a totally well balanced meal in one pot.
It’s also more like a stew than a soup. You’ll be shocked and stunned by how tasty it is.
You’ll also love our vegan corn chowder, our vegan chicken noodle soup and our vegan zuppa toscana.
How To Make Vegan Minestrone Soup
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
You start by throwing some chopped onions, crushed garlic, dried oregano, dried thyme and dried basil into a pot with some olive oil and sautéeing until the onions are softened.
Then you add in some chopped celery and carrots, sliced mushrooms and kidney beans into the pot and toss that all up together.
Then you add in some canned chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable stock, water and soy sauce and bring that all to the boil.
When it’s boiling, you throw in some brown rice, turn down the heat and leave it to simmer for around 35 minutes until the veggies are soft and cooked and the rice is cooked.
Then you add in some baby spinach and stir in until just wilted. Add in a little coconut sugar to balance out the flavors perfectly, add salt and pepper to taste and you have a perfect pot of soup!
Chef’s Tips
The mushrooms add some delicious umami flavor as does the soy sauce, and the tomatoes with the vegetable stock create a delicious broth.
That being said though, this is not a super broth-y kind of soup. As I mentioned above, it is really like a soup/stew.
If you want it to be thinner, you can add in an extra cup of water or vegetable stock. Just keep an eye on it and if it’s thicker than you’d like you can add in some more water or stock at any stage.
It also thickens up the next day so the next day it is even more like a stew, but oh wow, it is so tasty. You can always add more water when reheating it the next day if you want to thin it out.
Some minestrone soup recipes use pasta instead of rice, but I really like rice for this as it really creates a wonderful heartiness. But if you do want to use pasta instead, that is an option too.
Storing and Freezing
Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for up to a week in a sealed container. This soup also freezes very well for up to 3 months. Just thaw it in the fridge and then reheat on the stove.
More Vegan Soup Recipes
- If you love potatoes (and who doesn’t) then our creamy vegan potato soup is going to be right up your street. As will our vegan potato leek soup and our vegan sweet potato soup.
- Our vegan butternut squash soup is made with roasted butternut and is thick, creamy and divine, and our vegan pumpkin soup is so easy you’ll want to make it almost every day.
- Our vegan lentil soup is perfect for when you want something high in protein and super hearty and our vegan cauliflower soup is so thick and creamy you can barely believe that cauliflower is the main ingredient.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 1 teaspoon Crushed Garlic
- ½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ½ teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1 teaspoon Dried Basil
- 3 Stalks Celery Chopped
- 2 Large Carrots Chopped
- 2 ½ cups White Button Mushrooms (240g) Sliced
- 2 (15-ounce) Cans Kidney Beans Drained
- 14 ounces Canned Chopped Tomatoes (400g)
- ½ cup Tomato Paste (130g)
- 5 cups Vegetable Stock (1200ml)
- 2 cups Water (480ml)
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 cup Uncooked Brown Rice (185g)
- 3 cups Baby Spinach (90g)
- 1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar
- Salt and Pepper To Taste
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a pot with the chopped onions, crushed garlic, oregano, thyme and dried basil and sauté until the onions are softened.
- Then add in the chopped celery, carrot, sliced mushrooms and kidney beans and toss with the onions and spices.
- Add the canned chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable stock, water and soy sauce. Bring to the boil.
- When boiling, add in the uncooked brown rice and turn down the heat to a simmer, cover the pot and leave it to cook for around 35 minutes or so until the veggies and rice are cooked.
- Add in the baby spinach and stir in until just wilted.
- Add the coconut sugar and stir in. Taste test and add salt and pepper as needed.
Video
Notes
- Use a gluten-free soy sauce or tamari if you want to make this entirely gluten-free.
- You can use a mix of brown and wild rice in this soup as well, that’s also really tasty.
- Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for up to a week in a sealed container. This soup also freezes very well for up to 3 months. Just thaw it in the fridge and then reheat on the stove.
2nd time making this delicious soup. Very quick and easy!
Thanks Kerri!
Dear Alison,
Thank you so much for this recipe, it looks wonderful. I have just couple of questions before preparing this fantastic food! You mentioned that this recipe requires 1/2 cup of tomato paste. Could you please clarify, did you really mean the tomato paste or was it supposed to be a tomato sauce instead? Paste is very thick and recipes usually require just couple of spoons max. Could I substitute the paste with the sauce instead? And lastly, how can I substitute mushrooms in this recipe? Would zucchini or red pepper work just fine or is it better just to skip them? Thank you so much in advance!
Hi Diana, it is definitely tomato paste, the concentrated stuff. 🙂 You could substitute for tomato sauce but it won’t have all the flavor it is supposed to. You can totally use zucchini in place of the mushrooms that would work great. All the best! 🙂
I loved loved loved this minestrone. My granddaughter just gave it a 10/10 and she’s 16????. I made a few substitutions…added red potatoes for the rice, daikon for the mushrooms and Bragg Liquid Aminos (less sodium) for the regular soy sauce. Served with Italian Paesano fresh bread. Thank you for all your outstanding recipes.????❤️????????????
RoSe
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful review! xo
What can I subsitute coconut sugar with? Will brown sugar work?
Brown sugar is fine! 🙂
My husband and I both loved this soup. My husband said he had 5 bowls of it immediately after it was finished. So hearty and full of flavor. I used fresh herbs and Collards instead of spinach just because I have them in the garden. Skipped the mushrooms. We will be making this recipe over and over!
So happy to hear it was a hit Joan! Thanks so much for your lovely comment! 🙂
Can you leave the brown rice out and substitute it directly with pasta? How many ounces would you recommend? I’m guessing you would boil it first and then add, and that you wouldn’t have to cook the veggies as long if there wasn’t rice in there. Thank you!
Hi Vivi, you can use pasta, but you would use the same amount (1 cup) of uncooked pasta and add it the same way you would the rice. Small shapes of pasta are going to work best here. It won’t necessarily shorten the cooking time, but just keep an eye on it.
I will do that! Thank you!
Just made this soup today – only had one can of kidney beans, so used a can of those and a can of chickpeas. Then had only half a pack of mushrooms so added a small zucchini. Finally, subbed the rice for 3/4 cup quinoa…otherwise followed the recipe exactly and it was fabulous!! So easy! Will be making this again 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your adjustments and the awesome review. xo
Could I use regular white rice instead?
Hi Ebba, sure! It might shorten the cooking time slightly, when the veggies and rice are cooked then it’s cooked. Usually white rice cooks a bit faster than brown. 🙂
Can the mushrooms be left out? My husband does not like them.
Sure!
My family and I love this soup and many other awesome recipes. Thank you so much for wonderful recipes to feed my family xo
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much Elaine! xo
Fantastic recipe! This soup is so flavorful and delightful! I think minestrone is my new favorite soup! I left out the mushrooms and swapped rice for tri-colored vegetable fusilli pasta. As you suggested I added the pasta same as the rice and it cooked beautifully. Since I was using larger pasta I put in 5oz instead of 1 cup This ended up being perfect. Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Wonderful! So glad it worked out great, thanks so much for updating us and the great review! 🙂
My wife and I just recently became vegan, and we tried out this recipe. Needless to say, it turned out great! The both of us enjoyed it very much, but just as mentioned in the post, it is more of a soup/stew texture. Still, it is extra delicious! Thanks!
So glad you both enjoyed it! And congrats on going vegan! Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome rating. 🙂
Looks good. Will definitely give it a try.
This was a delicious everyday soup! It was very filling. Thank you!
So happy you enjoyed it, thanks Kim! 🙂
First soup I’ve ever made and can’t believe it’s vegan, it tastes and smells great. Thank you for this 🙂
Awesome! So pleased to hear that, thanks Kemi! 🙂
WOW!!! There is no words to describe how delicious this soup tastes.
I love it…
So happy to hear that Victor! And I completely agree, this soup is too good! 🙂 Thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
This recipe looks awesome but the sodium content is very high for one serving.
A few ways to reduce the sodium is to make sure to use low sodium or no salt broth, beans and tamari. I do plan on making this with those changes in mind.
Hi Dina, yes indeed, vegetable stock and soy sauce are higher in sodium, if this is a concern, then definitely use the low sodium options. All the best! 🙂
Me entusiasmo con el libro pero solo hablo español. Gracias de todos modos.