Slow Cooker Spring Vegetable Minestrone
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 stalks of celery diced
- 3 carrots peeled and diced
- 1 large can 28 oz of diced tomatoes
- 2 15 oz cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 4 cups stock chicken or vegetable
- 2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- pepper to taste
- 8 oz noodles small shells, elbows, etc.
- ½ lb asparagus spears stems removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup of frozen peas
- 1 6 oz bag of baby spinach
- 1/3 cup grated or shredded Parmesan plus more for topping
Instructions
- Place the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, tomato, cannellini beans, stock, water, and basil into the slow cooker. Give it a good mix. Cook on low for anywhere from 4 to 7 hours.
- About 15 minutes before serving, add the noodles and asparagus and give it a good stir. Then, 5 minutes before serving, add the frozen peas and spinach. Stir in the Parmesan cheese. Taste for seasonings and add more salt and pepper, if you need it. Serve immediately with additional cheese on top.
Notes
This recipe makes a lot of soup! If you don’t like your noodles getting too soggy in leftovers (personally I kind of love them when they get mushy), then you can cook the noodles separately and add them as you want them.
If you want to make this with whole wheat noodles, then add the noodles in 20 minutes before the time is up, rather than 15.
If you want to make this with whole wheat noodles, then add the noodles in 20 minutes before the time is up, rather than 15.