Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup with Cannellini Beans
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This recipe for Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup with cannellini beans is a delicious flavorsome soup that is just the ticket for cold winter evenings. It tastes even better the next day, so be sure to make extras for leftovers!
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Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions and to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required as well as understand the steps and timings involved.
Minestrone is a thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice, sometimes both. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes.
Wikipedia
If you have a gluten-free diet then a traditional minestrone is off the table for you as they usually contain pasta.
However, this recipe for gluten-free minestrone soup is one you can enjoy without worry!
It’s still full of yummy flavors with herbs, garlic, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, and parmesan. But instead of the pasta, quinoa is a tasty and satisfying addition in this recipe.
You could of course use gluten-free pasta, but I think the quinoa is a interesting twist.
If gluten-free eating is not a concern for you, but you’d like to leave out the pasta, you could use pearl barley to add texture to the soup.
The cannellini beans make this soup filling, and minestrone is the type of soup that you could enjoy as a meal in itself!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
You may have some of the ingredients for this recipe in your kitchen already – the full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed for this recipe have been listed below and linked to Amazon if available online.
- Tomato Paste – also known as tomato purée
- Canned Tomatoes – crushed or chopped, depending on what type you can get in your area.
- Canned Cannellini Beans
- Quinoa
- Bay Leaves
- Parmesan Cheese Rind – don’t throw these rinds away when you have finished the cheese, they add a delicious savoriness to soups and stews!
- Italian Seasoning – if you can’t find this ready mixed, simply mix together equal parts of dried basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, and thyme. You can also add a pinch of garlic granules or powder as well as red chili flakes.
This recipe uses American cups. They’re a handy piece of kitchen equipment to have along with a kitchen food scale. Having both in your kitchen means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog as I use both cups and weighted measures.
What is Quinoa?
Quinoa (pronounced keen-waa) is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and dietary minerals in amounts greater than in many grains.
Wikipedia
More Gluten-Free Recipes
Here are some more gluten-free recipes that you may like to look at next:
- Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Dressing
- Gluten-Free Gazpacho Recipe with Chickpea “Croutons”
- Delicious Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe
More Soup Recipes
Looking for more soups? Check these recipes out next (may not be gluten-free):
- One-Pot Easy Beer Cheese Soup Recipe
- Hearty Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Curried Butternut Squash Soup – Slow Cooker Recipe
I’ve got more Easy Soup Recipes for you to enjoy – right click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one!
How To Store Minestrone Soup
If you’ve not eaten all of the soup and need to store it for another time you totally can!
- Refrigerator Storage – allow the soup to cool for 30 minutes (and no longer than 2 hours) before transferring to an airtight container and placing it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freezer Storage – cool soup as above, and place in the fridge until completely cooled. Transfer soup to an airtight freezer-safe container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow the soup to thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
To reheat, place a portion of soup in a saucepan over medium-low heat and gently simmer until hot. You can also reheat the leftover soup in the microwave until heated through.
How Do I Make Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, instructions, and demonstration photos. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup
This recipe for Gluten-Free Minestrone Soup with cannellini beans is a delicious flavorsome soup that is just the ticket for cold winter evenings.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 medium carrots, diced
- 2 large celery stalks, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 cups chicken broth/stock
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 (14 oz / 400g) can crushed or chopped tomatoes, with liquid
- 2 (14 oz / 400g) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup quinoa, rinsed and drained*
- 2 large bay leaves
- 3” / 7cm chunk Parmesan cheese rind
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1-2 oz / 30-60g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic.
- Season with salt and black pepper, to taste, and stir to combine.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies become soft and aromatic, approximately 4-5 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, cannellini beans, quinoa, bay leaves, and Parmesan rind.
- Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and add more salt and black pepper, if desired. Stir to combine. For a thinner soup, add additional chicken broth.
- Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and gently simmer until the quinoa is cooked through, approximately 15-20 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped spinach and parsley. Simmer just until the spinach wilts, approximately 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from heat and discard the bay leaves and remaining cheese rind.
- Serve immediately sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Potential for gluten cross-contamination exists
with quinoa. If this is a concern, either eliminate completely, or replace with
buckwheat or gluten-free pasta.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1458Total Fat: 90gSaturated Fat: 47gTrans Fat: 3gUnsaturated Fat: 30gCholesterol: 266mgSodium: 6684mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 6gSugar: 5gProtein: 95g
This site uses Nutritionix to provide estimated nutrition. Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You could serve a smaller portion of this soup as a starter/appetizer at a dinner party, or as a main dish with bread and salad.
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal! Not all may be gluten-free.
- Appetizer: Amazing Roasted Garlic Hummus Dip Recipe
- Main Dish: Sheet Pan Roasted Rosemary Lemon Chicken Recipe
- Side Dish: Rustic Roasted Potatoes with Garlic, Rosemary & Lemon
- Side Salad: Giant Couscous Antipasti Salad
- Beverage: Sparkling Cranberry Orange Ginger Mocktail
- Dessert: Pumpkin Mousse Recipe with Maple Whipped Cream Topping
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!