Olive Garden Minestrone Soup Copycat {Slow Cooker}

By dpearce

Ingredients

• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 cup diced celery (3 stalks)
• 1 cup diced carrots (2 carrots)
• 1 cup diced yellow onion (1 small)
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried crushed rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 1/3 cups diced zucchini (1 small)
• 1 1/3 cups shell pasta
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can white navy beans or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5 oz) can Italian green beans, drained
• 2 cups slightly packed chopped fresh spinach
• Finely shredded Romano cheese, for serving (Parmesan works too)

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 380mins
Adapted from cookingclassy.com

Preparation

Step 1

Add vegetable stock, water, tomatoes, celery, carrots, onion, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and sugar to a slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook on low heat 6 - 8 hours or high 3 - 4 hours.

Add in zucchini, pasta, garlic, kidney beans and white beans and cook on high heat and additional 30 - 40 minutes until pasta is tender. Stir in spinach and Italian green beans and cook several minutes until heated through. Serve warm topped with Romano cheese.