Chicken minestrone soup takes minestone, everyone's favorite Italian soup, from a light meal to a hearty one. With tender chicken and delicious vegetables, this delicious, comforting soup is easy to make. Just one pot, and cooks in thirty minutes.

Two bowls of chicken minestrone soup and two silver spoons. — Delicious, hearty soup

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Classic minestrone soup is one of my favorite soups.The word "minestrone" simply means "thick vegetable soup". It usually includes a variety of fresh vegetables, beans, and pasta. This is a comforting and hearty soup that I'm making even heartier with the addition of juicy chicken.

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Why you'll love this recipe:
Ingredient Notes:
How to make chicken minestrone soup
Tip
Variations:
Storage
Serving Suggestions:
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Minestrone soup in colorful patterned bowls. — A warm bowl of healthy goodness

Why you'll love this recipe:

Easy: This chicken minestrone soup recipe requires very little effort. It's a complete meal in only one pot, and it takes 45 minutes from start to finish.
Family friendly: This comforting soup is a yummy meal that the whole family will love.
Versatile: This is a good minestrone recipe even if you leave out the chicken. You can use your favorite vegetables, beans and pasta.
Healthy: This flavorful chicken minestrone soup is chock full of fresh veggies, healthy beans and protein. It's a delicious way to get your vegetables.

Ingredient Notes:

Some of the ingredients for making the minestrone soup.

Chicken: Boneless skinless chicken breasts work best for this chicken vegetable soup. However, you can also use boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Chicken broth or vegetable broth: Look for low sodium chicken stock or broth so that you can control the sodium content.
Vegetables: Onion, celery and carrots are essential. This recipe also includes green beans, zucchini, and baby spinach. Other delicious veggies you can use are yellow squash, kale, cabbage, or Swiss chard.

More of the ingredients for this recipe.

Canned diced tomatoes: Look for reduced-sodium, or no salt added tomatoes.
Italian seasonings: I use my homemade Italian seasoning blend (it's so easy). But you can buy an Italian seasoning blend, or use a combination of oregano, basil and thyme.

Beans; White beans (cannellini beans, navy beans, or white kidney beans), and red kidney beans. This recipe is using canned beans. You can use dry beans but you'll need to cook them first.
Short pasta: Ditalini pasta, small shells, or small elbow macaroni will all work. Use gluten-free pasta if needed.

How to make chicken minestrone soup

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat.
Add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cook for another minute, stirring.
Add the chicken stock, diced tomatoes and their juice, white beans and kidney beans. Bring to a boil.
Add the chicken pieces, zucchini, green beans, and pasta. Boil gently until the pasta is al dente, about 8 minutes, or according to package directions.
Remove from heat, stir in the basil, and adjust for salt and pepper if needed.
Serve hot in bowls, topped with parmesan cheese.

The four steps for making chicken minestrone soup. — Simple step by step

Tip

Make this recipe even easier by using rotisserie chicken or leftover cooked chicken. Just add the cooked chicken in the last few minutes of cooking time.

Variations:

Gluten Free: Use gluten-free pasta, or omit the pasta. Add potatoes if you're still wanting carbs. If you use gluten-free pasta, it will usually have a longer cooking time, so just keep that in mind.
Change the protein: Use Italian sausage, ground beef, or shredded beef instead of chicken. This is a good soup for using leftover turkey, too!
Change the beans: I've made this soup with pinto beans, great northern beans, cannellini beans, even chickpeas. They're all good!
Vegan: Omit the chicken and use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth for a vegan option.
Parmesan rind: Minestrone is a great way to use the rinds from parmesan cheese. Put the rind in at the beginning and let it simmer while the soup cooks. The parmesan adds even more flavor to the delicious broth.
Tomato paste: Add ¼ cup of tomato paste along with the broth and tomatoes to deepen the tomato flavor and slightly thicken the soup.
Add spice: I like to add a pinch of red pepper flakes along with the seasonings.

Storage

Fridge: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.

Freezer: This soup is perfect for freezing. Except for the cooked pasta, which will change in texture when frozen. If you plan to freeze minestrone, I recommend saving the addition of pasta until serving, Freeze the soup in freezer safe containers for up to three months. When you're ready to use it, defrost the minestrone in the fridge overnight. Reheat, and cook a fresh batch of pasta separately to add at serving time.

Reheat: Reheat your healthy chicken minestrone soup gently over low heat on the stove top or in the microwave.

A bowl of chicken minestrone soup and a small dish of grated cheese.

Serving Suggestions:

Chicken minestrone soup is a hearty meal by itself. But, it's nice to serve some garlic bread, breadsticks, or dinner rolls alongside. Or try my zucchini fritters.

It can also be part of a bigger meal served with a salad, sandwich, or pizza.

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Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating in the comments below and let us know how it turned out. Did you make any changes? We would love for you to share and your feedback is important! Thank you for visiting The Food Blog!

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4.98 from 39 votes (24 ratings without comment)

Chicken Minestrone Soup