Most classic Italian minestrones are made with vegetables, including beans, and short pasta, such as ditalini or elbow macaroni, in a tomato base. Typical vegetables include cabbage, zucchini, carrots, onions, celery, eggplant, and greens. But it’s not unusual for recipes to include a little meat, especially chopped pancetta or prosciutto, or simply bacon fat for sautéing the vegetables.
This recipe uses a few, simple ingredients to keep the minestrone light but hearty with the addition of a little chicken sausage. Fresh kale gives it a deep, earthy flavor, and packs a lot of nutrition as well.
This quick, cook-friendly soup makes it easy to put a healthy, flavorful dinner on the table in very little time.
Easy Minestrone with Chicken Sausage and Kale
Serves 4-5
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dry ditalini, or other very short pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 lb sweet Italian chicken sausages (about 3 small links)
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 small celery ribs, thinly sliced
- 1 28-oz can stewed tomatoes, with juice
- 1 tsp dried basil
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 cups (packed) chopped fresh kale
- 1 15.5-oz can cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained
Preparation
- Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water 6-7 minutes, or about 2 minutes less than package directions recommend. (The pasta will finish cooking in the minestrone broth.) Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the oil. Pinch the sausage from the casings in small chunks and add to the pot. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery and stir well to combine. Break up any larger chunks of sausage with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
- Cook the sausage mixture until the vegetables begin to soften and the sausage is just cooked through, 5-6 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes with their juice and dried basil to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon as they cook, 3-4 minutes.
- Add the chicken broth, kale, and beans to the pot and stir well to combine. Bring the minestrone to a slight boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer slowly for 15 minutes.
- Add the cooked pasta to the pot and stir until hot throughout, about 2 minutes. Re-season with salt and pepper, if desired.
- Divide the minestrone among 4-5 shallow bowls and serve.
Pamela Steed Hill - Pamela Steed Hill is an editor, freelance writer, and home cook. She has published over 250 food articles and recipes online.
