Easy Springtime Crockpot Minestrone.
I have a few bones to pick with the universe.
And by the universe, I mostly mean the weather. So totally cliche, right?
Wait. Oh wait. This is bad… I mean, really bad. That I’m talking about the weather again? I feel like a complete loser, but it might just be because the only real human interaction I’ve had over the last three days has been that weird middle-aged woman reading an audio book in multiple voices that are freaking me out and my mailman who was forced to bang on my door for like 14 straight minutes because I was blasting Paula Abdul’s Rush, Rush so loudly that I couldn’t hear a thing and he obviously knew someone was home. We’ve since developed a relationship of sorts.
Can either of those be considered human interaction? Please say yes. In other words, I perfected a zillion (literally, obviously) batches of whole wheat cinnamon rolls. Which would be amazing except for the whole having to eat a zillion batches of cinnamon rolls thing.
I think I’ll sleep on the treadmill tonight.
It’s just that right now it seems like we skipped right over Spring… went directly from winter to almost summer. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to go lie outside and toast myself like a crouton… but I’m kind of only into that if there is water around. In other words, my perfect temperature is say, 63 degrees. Maybe even a little lower. Why did we have to skip that lovely temp? I dig all the seasons and appreciate them for the time when they should be here (for, like a few months), but can this crazy climate start taking it’s meds. Can’t we just be normal for a hot sec, where it’s not 21 degrees last week and 81 inside my house yesterday?
I’m also wondering why must I find a pretty, watercolor pillow I like online at Anthropologie that costs about $500. Right next to the lamp with ugly birds on it that is also ludicrously priced. I’m pretty sure I could paint something similar to both with my eyes closed, so yeah, I may work on that today.
And why must cheese have calories? The least the universe could do is make the good stuff (like fontina) magically have LESS calories without resembling the lovely texture of plastic.
Oh and the biggest thing I’m so annoyed with right now is that lots of cute crop top type things are apparently back in style, like Kelly Kapowski type crop tops and I am most definitely too old to wear that stuff. But when they WERE in style before, I was way too young. The real question is why does the universe hate me?
To deal with the insanity that the clouds above are tossing our way, last week I made some soup that screamed springtime when it decided to snow after the first of April. Those are not my kind of April showers, but whatever. I had recently bought three bunches of super thin asparagus (my fave) and was going to shove spring inside anything I could get my hands on.
This soup is embarrassingly easy. Throw half the junk in the crockpot, set it, come back and throw the other half in before you eat. I make a humongous (props to you, spellcheck, for recognizing such a fab word) batch, freeze half (which I never do, so you know it’s good) and keep the other half on hand for lunches or dinners. Or until I forget about it and have to throw it out three weeks later. I even did this whole makeshift pot pie thing one day too.
This is making me feel better about all the cheese.
Springtime Crockpot Minestrone
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 (28 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
- 2 (15 ounce) cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
- 3 cups water
- 8 ounces of uncooked ditalini pasta
- 12 thin asparagus spears, stems removed and cut into thirds
- 1 cup of frozen sweet peas
- 1 (6 ounce) bag of fresh spinach
- 1/3 cup freshly grated romano cheese + more for topping
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add diced onions, garlic, carrots, the whole can of diced tomatoes, cannellini beans, stock and water to your crockpot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, stirring once or twice if you can.
- About 10-15 minutes before serving, add in asparagus (I like mine with some crunch, add it earlier if you want it softer), spinach, peas and pasta. Cook on low for another 10-15 minutes then stir in grated cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired. I used about a 1/2 teaspoon of each, but it will depend on the sodium levels in your stock, tomatoes, etc. Serve immediately with additional cheese on top!
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
…and the cinnamon rolls.
227 Comments on “Easy Springtime Crockpot Minestrone.”
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Would this recipe work without the beans and peas? It sounds delicious!
Yes it does I made mine without beans. But kept the peas and added in capsicum. Tasted great
Can you help me out with something? I followed your recipe to a tee and right when it was done I had a cup and it was perfect. Crockpot was off and I left it on the counter for a bit until it was dinner time. Now that I’ve come back to it all the broth is gone and the macaroni is beyond mush. I will have to throw it all out. I’m so bummed. How can I prevent this? Put it straight in the fridge? Advice?
Thanks!!
Whenever I have pasta in a dish like this I always cook it separately and only enough for that meal. Or if I do have more left over, I toss it with some olive oil and put it in it’s own container. I found that keeps the pasta from becoming mushy since it’s not sitting in all that liquid. That way you don’t have to pick out all the mushy pasta or throw out any leftovers.
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Is it OK to cook on high?
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Just made it. Deelish! Thanks – an easy tasty recipe. I cheated and did it in an hour on the stovetop. So good.
How long did you cook everything for? I am keen to do this as well
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I just bought all the ingredients for this recipe and I’m pretty excited. On another note I think we are weather sisters. I hate the heat! Around 60 ish is perfect but I live in coastal Georgia so it’s always summer here. Bleck. Thanks for the recipe and the laughs.
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Hello! Loving this recipe, I’m planning on trying it out at university! I was wondering though, what size is your crockpot? The one I have is 3.5ml so I don’t think it’ll be big enough for all the ingredients. Sorry if you’ve said already but I haven’t seen anywhere, so I thought I’d just ask . :)
3.5ml? I don’t think you will fit anything a teaspoon is only 5ml LOL 3.5 litre slow cooker is fine that’s what I use.
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Directions say 4-6 hours, but the total time at the top says 6-8 hours. Which is correct? Looking forward to trying it. Thanks!
Easy yet healthy recipe. Thank you.
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What size crockpot are you using for this recipe?? I am only through the first half of ingredients (and only 4 cups of the 6 cups of liquid called for) and my pot is spilling over. Bummer ~ transferring everything to the stove which totally defeats the purpose of using this recipe.
I added a tsp each of dried basil and oregano to give it the traditional italian flavor. I also made the noodles separately so they wouldn’t get too soggy.
I forgot to mention how much we liked it and will certainly make it again! :-)
Oh, and we also left out the cheese and it was still delicious.
Oh, this looks amazing! I’ve been hunting for crock pot meals without meat for my family and this is so going into rotation.
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I made this last night, but with a couple of necessary and preferential alterations:
1: I used cheat broth – water with soy sauce, since I have allergies to regular broth but no real time to make homemade broth. If anyone is interested, the ratio is like 4% soy/96% water. Just enough to darken it and flavor it but without there being an overpowering soy taste.
2: The allergy that is the issue is onion, so I omitted that.
3: I hate asparagus, so I omitted that.
4: Our store did not have fresh Romano, so I had to use the shelf-stable Parmesan Romano that I found. This “looked” soggy but actually still worked with the soup and heightened the flavor.
5: I couldn’t find the past suggested and since I have kids, I used Radiatori instead – it worked just as well and the kids loved it. My older son calls it the rib-cage pasta.
6: Seeing some of the other comments on here, I added a pinch of Italian seasoning.
7. I don’t care for cannelloni beans, so I used one can of Lima beans and 1 can of garbanzo beans.
8. I used baby carrots – I am lazy and didn’t want to have to cut up the carrots!
7: Finally, I cooked this on high instead of low. I don’t know if it’s because it was the first time using my crock pot, but after 1.5 hours on low, the soup was barely warm. Four hours on high got it cooked.
In the end… and this is the truth: this is the best homemade soup I’ve ever had. I am a fan of Campbell’s cream of mushroom and because of the preservatives, I’ve tried MANY recipes and because of my allergies to other soups, I have made dozens of recipes. I make a mean broccoli cheddar soup but it’s FULL of fat. I wanted something healthy and I didn’t think this would turn out well, knowing my luck.
I was SO wrong. I ate 2 big bowls and wanted more but at that point, I was mischievously full.
I have 4 kids – 8, 6, 5 and 3. All of them are picky eaters and I totally thought they wouldn’t eat it . Yet… 3 of them wolfed down their cup of soup and slurped up the broth greedily. I am VERY impressed. My 6 year old was wigged out by the carrots but they ended up being her favorite and my 5 year old, who hates spinach, told me that this couldn’t be real spinach because it was yummy.
Thank you so much! I will be using this recipe A LOT.
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I never leave reviews for anything, but felt compelled to for this recipe. I have been using my slow cooker for years, and this is far and away my favorite dish that has ever come out of it. The veggies are delightfully crunchy, and I was astonished at how much flavor it has with only salt and pepper for seasoning. So happy I came across this recipe and gave it a try!
I skipped the crockpot and just made this on the stove – really good! Thanks for posting. :)
I just made this recipe and my two-tear-old son and I absolutely love it. The only change we made was to add Parmesan rinds while it was cooking, and we subbed green beans for the asparagus. My son rarely eats vegetables, so thank you for this recipe. We will definitely be making it again!
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Great recipe! Just don’t substitute regular pasta for pow gluten free lentil pasta it comes out tasting strange!
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Replaced the cannellini beans with some canned chickpeas I had in my cabinet and substituted some parm to go on top. Absolutely delicious! I’ll definitely be making again :)
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Very good! I might add chicken because I did not have any asparagus and it is missing something to chew on. Although as a light soup it is also really good!
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Fantastic Recipe!!! We made this yesterday to pair with a frozen and pizza salad night LOL it definitely upgraded the meal! Accidentally forgot the ditalini soooo I improvised with dinosaur shaped noodles LOL (I posted on IG and tagged you as well :) ) But super good and since it is only my fiance, my 1-year-old daughter, and I, it made for a decent amount of leftovers for lunches at work this week. Win-win!! Definitely recommend this recipe to any others visiting your site and wanting to try it out. :-)
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