# Slow Cooker Minestrone

Cannellini beans, tomato, carrot, celery and courgette cook 6 hours on LOW into a vegetable-heavy minestrone, with the pasta cooked separately.

 

 

 ![Slow Cooker Minestrone](https://irenpins.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Slow_Cooker_Minestrone_Soup_070e5d36.webp)  

 [Print](#wpzoom-recipe-card-slow-cooker-minestrone) 

  

 

 

 

## Slow Cooker Minestrone

Recipe by Iren Pavlenko

 

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0.0 from 0 votes ** 

Course: Main CourseDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

6

hours 

Cannellini beans, tomato, carrot, celery and courgette cook 6 hours on LOW into a vegetable-heavy minestrone, with the pasta cooked separately.

### Ingredients

- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cans (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained
- 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
- 5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
- 1 parmesan rind
- 2 courgettes, diced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup small pasta, cooked separately

### Directions

- Heat the oil and soften the onion, carrots and celery for 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic for 30 seconds and move everything to the slow cooker.
- Add the beans, tomatoes, broth and Italian seasoning.
- Tuck in the parmesan rind.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours.
- Add the courgettes and cook 1 hour more.
- Stir in the spinach for the last 10 minutes.
- Remove the parmesan rind.
- Cook the pasta separately and add a spoonful to each bowl.
- Finish with olive oil and black pepper.

 

### Notes

 

Keep the pasta separate in the refrigerator too, or it swells. Soup keeps 5 days and freezes for 3 months without the pasta.

 

  

## Why the pasta is separate

 

Pasta left in a hot soup keeps drinking broth and swells into mush. Cooking it on the side and adding a spoonful to each bowl keeps the minestrone clear and the noodles firm.

 

The parmesan rind melts slowly and gives the broth a deep depth.

 

## Slow Cooker Minestrone: swaps

 

Kidney or white beans can replace cannellini. Green beans work in place of courgettes. If you have no rind, stir in grated parmesan at the end. Do not add the spinach early, because it turns dull and slimy.

 

Small shapes like ditalini work best.

 

## Serve and keep

 

A slice of crusty bread and a drizzle of olive oil finish the bowl. Freeze the soup without the pasta, and keep any cooked pasta in its own container in the refrigerator.

 

## A mistake to avoid

 

Adding the courgettes at the start. They turn soft and watery over a long cook. The card adds them in the last hour for a reason. Do the same with the spinach, and your minestrone keeps its fresh color and texture.