Chef Pablo's Restaurant Recipes

Restaurant Recipes from KFC, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and more



Olive Garden™ Minestrone Soup Recipe


Olive Garden™ Minestrone Soup Recipe

Rate this recipe:

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (580 votes, average: 3.40 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

On a cold winter night, you can make up a batch of the hearty soup for dinner. There’s nothing like the aroma of this soup when you walk in the house from a cool evening out.

Olive Garden™ Minestrone soup not only tastes amazing, it leaves you feeling quite full. One of the most searched for restaurant recipes, you’ll be proud to serve this to your family or friends. This isn’t the quickest recipe, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

I heard the real secret on this is to add a bit of red wine to the stock.  I didn’t put that into the “official” recipe, but you can feel free to experiment.

Recipe

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small minced white onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 cup frozen cut Italian green beans
  • 1/2 stalk minced celery
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cans (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained
  • 2 cans (15 oz) great northern or small white beans, drained
  • 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrot
  • 2 tablespoons minced parsley
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 3 cups hot water
  • 4 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 1/2 cup small shell pasta

Measure olive oil into a large stock pot and heat on medium.

Put the onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini into the pot and saute for about 5 minutes or until the onions become see-through.

Add the vegetable broth, drained tomatoes, beans, carrots, hot water and spices to the pot.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the spinach leaves and the pasta and cook for an additional 20 minutes.


Print This Recipe Print This Recipe

Get the latest recipes by email:

Delivered by FeedBurner





21 Responses to 'Olive Garden™ Minestrone Soup Recipe'

  1. Gizella - December 12th, 2008 at 10:22 am

    I need to convert your recipe for minestrone from olive garden to feed 50 – 100 people. Do you have that conversion recipe?

  2. Patch - December 12th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    Wow!! This is for about 8 servings. So, I would just multiply everything above by about 10. That will give you enough for 80 people. Keep in mind, this is going to change the cooking times a bit. Cooking the garlic, onions, beans and zuchini will take a little longer than 5 minutes.

    Once you get it to a boil, you should be able to simmer for just 20 minutes. Remember, it’s going to take a LOT more eat and a lot longer to get it to a boil. You may want to do this in batches, unless you have industrial equipment.

    Hopefully this help. Let me know how it turns out.

  3. Janet Seymour - September 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am

    This is the best Minestrone soup ever. It was easy to make and I give it the highest rating. I will make it again and again and again, ect. THANK YOU!

  4. Terri - November 9th, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    This was absolutely fantastic! Easy, delicious and filling. As good as the one at Olive Garden.

  5. Jen - November 18th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Isn’t there cabbage (or some other roughage) in Olive Garden’s version? I have eaten this soup THOUSANDS of times and swear there is. I am excited to try this recipe. I have been looking online for a LONG time to find some version of it…Thanks!!

  6. Dina - January 5th, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    Great recipe! Just finished a bowl and my 5 year old son is yelling out ‘MMMM THIS IS SO GOOD!’ I did add some cabbage which is in the OG soup, and I liked the smaller cut tomato and celery rather than the chunks that OG serve. I could only find canned Italian green beans, but they worked fine.
    I will definitely make this again! Thanks!

  7. valerie - January 6th, 2010 at 12:06 am

    i am looking forward to making this recipe..i have recently purchased a slow cooker and would like to make this recipe in it…any suggestions for cooking time?
    thanks.
    valerie

  8. Julie - August 8th, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    Delicious! My entire family loves this, even my usually meat-eating husband! Rave reviews from him and my 7 & 3 year old boys. And very much like Olive Garden’s recipe : )

  9. helen - August 27th, 2010 at 10:04 am

    This recipe is awesome! Took me a few months to figure out that secret taste..I’ve added a few different red wines from red cooking wine to chianti! But just last week I realized..it’s Sherry that makes this recipe perfecto! Also, I leave out the green beans & spinach because I don’t like them and it’s still great! A favorite even for my carnivore husband :) Filling & perfect for company! Serve with some rolls :)

  10. joleen - September 23rd, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Delicious this tastes just like olive garden. I suggest not draining the tomatoes and putting at least 2 cans. I believe only one can of each type if bean is perfect. Great recipe.

  11. Tina - November 10th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    Great recipe! Used Pomi Italian tomatoes and that made all the difference. Used chicken stock rather than vegetable stock and less water.

  12. Amy - February 3rd, 2011 at 7:44 pm

    This soup was absolutely delicious!!! When it said it tasted like Olive Garden I thought, “Yea…we’ll see!” But I was shocked that it actually did! My husband LOVED it, and he usually does not like soup w/ veggies in it! Finally found something that taste amazing and is so healthy! And if it’s a hit w/ my 7 yr old picky eater, you know it has to be good!

  13. Meeta Kamani - February 15th, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    Lovin it!!! This was one of the best soup recipes ever! Still I would prefer less spinach, but even with that it was good.

  14. patti - February 28th, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    Best I’ve tasted and easy to make…..5 stars!!!Excellent!!!!!!!!!!

  15. Sophie - March 26th, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    I have made this several times and it just doesn’t have the tart tanginess of the Olive Garden restaurant’s, but it is still delicious and we love it.

  16. laurie - April 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am

    This is fantastic. I made it with sherry, 1/2 cup of cabbage (no spinach), 2 cans of tomatoes, chicken stock instead of veggie broth, and it was much better than I anticipated. 5 Stars!!! Can’t wait to make it again. Thanks for all those suggestions. When they are all put together – Voila, Magnifique!!!

  17. patti - April 16th, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    This soup is so good…..the best part is that its so easy! I make it all the time now…..I don’t like many veggies and now I feel like I’m being good eating this delish soup. The kids are even fooled!

  18. Grace - June 14th, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    I have make this recipe several times because it is worth it. After sharing with other ladies here at the retirement community, they too love it. This is by far the best soup that I have ever tasted. Some of the other comments stated that this recipe was not as good as that of the Olive Garden. I disagree, this recipe is better.

  19. Chef B - July 5th, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    I used to work there — yes it has cabbage and the wine is a marsala red wine. I too omit the spinach.. but the tang is the wine.. :)

  20. Clifton - August 20th, 2011 at 7:38 pm

    I dont like olive gardens soup, it doesnt have any meat in it. “Disappointed.”

  21. Shar - November 15th, 2011 at 10:07 am

    How much wine do you add?


Leave a Reply