This Vegan Wedding Minestrone is a cross between minestrone and Italian wedding soup.
(Did I mention it’s vegan?)
Vegan Wedding Minestrone
I couldn’t decide which soup to name it after.
So I named it after both. Here’s why Vegan Wedding Minestrone is my new favorite soup:
It's Hearty
This Vegan Wedding Minestrone soup is packed with Beyond Meat Sausage (I use Hot Italian), gnocchi (I use mini gnocchi when I can get it), and cannellini beans.
These three ingredients are filling on their own. But they’re even more filling when put together in a soup like this one.
It's Healthy
In addition to the hearty ingredients above, this Vegan Wedding Minestrone soup includes some of my favorite vegetables: tomatoes, shredded carrots, peas, and kale.
The kale is added at the very end of cooking, and wilts into the soup. Unlike spinach, kale is a very sturdy green, so it doesn’t get soggy in the soup.
It Tastes Good
The tomato base of this soup perfectly complements all the hearty and healthy ingredients.
A little bit of flour added around the middle of the cooking time thickens the soup and makes it a bit creamy and extra delicious.
Make Vegan Wedding Minestrone!
The only way to make this Vegan Wedding Minestrone better is to serve it with Parmesan toast. (I’ve included my very simple recipe for Parmesan toast below.)
A bowl of warm soup is the perfect meal for a cold day. We’re having a lot of cold days right now because, you know, it’s winter.
So make my Vegan Wedding Minestrone this week!
A Few Things!
This soup calls for peas. Be sure to use frozen peas rather than canned peas. Frozen peas taste much more fresh than canned peas (Of course, if you have fresh peas, you can use them.) Add the frozen peas at the end of cooking, with the kale, and the peas will be warmed through by serving time.
This recipe makes a lot of soup. You’ll most likely have leftovers. If the soup thickens too much overnight, simply add water to the soup before reheating over the stovetop.
It will depend on how much soup you have leftover, but I would start by adding one-half cup to one full cup of water. Stir the water in, reheat the soup, and add more water if the soup is still too thick.
Vegan Wedding Minestrone with Gnocchi
Ingredients
For the soup:
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp onion salt
- 3 links Beyond Meat Sausage, I use Hot Italian
- 16 oz tomato sauce
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 15 oz can cannellini beans
- 2 Tbsp parsley, freshly minced
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 ½ - 2 cups kale
- 1 cup peas, frozen
- 500 grams gnocchi, I use mini gnocchi
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch of pepper
For the bread:
- 3-6 pieces of sourdough
- Olive oil, for drizzling
- ½ cup Parmesan, freshly grated
- Fleur de sel, for sprinkling
Instructions
Cook the onion and garlic
- To a large soup pot, add 2 Tbsp olive oil, the onion, garlic, and ½ tsp salt. Turn the heat on to medium-high, and cook for 5 minutes. Flip everything with your spatula occasionally to keep the onion and garlic from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Add the Beyond Meat
- Now add 2 Tbsp water to deglaze the pot, then add the Beyond Meat Sausage, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp Italian seasoning, an additional ½ tsp sea salt, and 1 more Tbsp water. Stir everything together, and cook for 5-6 minutes. Flip the sausage frequently with your spatula to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, and cannellini beans
- Now add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, the cannellini beans, 2 cups vegetable broth, 2 cups water, the parsley, and an additional ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp Italian seasoning, ½ tsp onion salt.
- Stir everything together, turn the heat down to medium, and bring the soup to a boil. This should take about five minutes.
Whisk the flour and milk
- While waiting for the soup to boil, add 1 cup milk and the flour to a small mixing bowl. Carefully take 2 Tbsp of the soup broth from the pot, and add it to the bowl with the flour and the milk. Whisk everything together with a fork until the flour is mostly dissolved into the liquid. You may need to use your fork to mash some flour lumps apart.
- Once the soup is boiling, add the flour/milk/broth mixture to the soup, and the final 1 cup of milk. Stir it all in until incorporated, and, keeping the heat on medium, bring the soup to a boil once more.
Add the peas, kale, carrots, and gnocchi
- One boiling, add the final ½ tsp salt, a large pinch of pepper, the sugar, peas, kale, carrots, and gnocchi. Stir everything together, and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Let the soup rest for 10 minutes, then taste. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
Make the toast
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Lay 3-6 pieces of bread out on an oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle the bread with the freshly grated Parmesan.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes.
Broil the toast
- Now turn the heat up to broil, and broil the toast for 1-2 minutes. Turn the oven light on and watch the bread so it doesn’t burn.
- Once the cheese and bread are slightly golden, remove the bread from the oven.
Serve and enjoy
- Serve the toast and soup together. Enjoy!
10 Responses
When two already great soups meet together to create something utterly delicious and enjoyable! 🙂 Great combination of flavours and textures, and I’m really intrigued by those mini gnocchies.
Thanks Ben! The mini gnocchi is such a great size for soups. 😋
This sounds delicious! I love that you’ve paired it with toasted bread: that sounds like a match made in heaven.
Thanks Jeff!
I made this last night and it was incredible! The proportions of everything are perfect. This recipe is getting added to my regular rotation. ❤️
I’m so happy to hear the soup was a hit! Thanks for making it, and for commenting!
The family’s new favorite soup. We eat meat, but I decided to try the beyond meat sausage. Wow! It’s great, and absolutely amazing in this soup!
So happy you experimented with Beyond Meat sausage Kim! It’s the best sausage out there. Thanks for making the soup!
This was my Christmas Day dinner! It was amazing! I seriously devoured my entire bowl. It was soooo good! I used regular Italian sausage and it was still good. I omitted the carrots and used extra chopped kale. I love how nutritious this soup is. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Hi Kate, thanks so much for making the recipe, and for Christmas dinner no less! I am so happy you enjoyed it! That’s great to hear that the recipe works with regular sausage as well. I’m with you on the kale! I can never get enough. 😋. Thanks for commenting Kate, and thanks again for making the soup! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!