Fall Minestrone Soup made with butternut squash, hearty kale, root veggies and a robust vegan broth. This Autumn Soup is hearty and satisfying, nutritious and delicious. Plus, it’s an easy vegan soup recipe that’s meal prep and budget friendly!
The fall harvest is loaded with winter squash that is perfect for making vibrant and satisfying autumn soup recipes. The obvious is pureed butternut squash soup, but this easy, chunky meatless minestrone is another great way to enjoy butternut squash in soup.
Vegan minestrone soup is loaded with seasonal veggies like squash and kale, carrots and parsnips, plus beans for plant based protein and a delicious easy homemade vegetable broth for great taste in every bite of this autumn soup. Finally, a plant-based dinner that everyone loves!
Ingredient Notes
- Beans: These add plant-based protein and fiber that will help regulate blood sugar and promote satiety. Good choices include pinto beans, kidney beans, chickpeas, white beans…basically whatever you have in your pantry.
- Butternut Squash: Any winter hard squash you have, like acorn squash, kabocha, hubbard squash or pumpkin will work well in this recipe. You can also use sweet potatoes or yams.
- Vegetable broth: I make easy homemade vegetable stock and keep it in my freezer for easy soup prep. If you buy already made veggie stock, make sure to read the ingredient list on the label carefully to avoid highly processed vegetable oils and excess sodium.
- Pasta: I used Jovival Brand Grain-free Casava elbow pasta. You can substitute with any pasta that meets your dietary needs, but be sure to cook it separately and for less time than the package calls for.
- Kale: Opt for hearty greens like chard, collard greens, red or green curly kale, lacinato kale or turnip greens that won’t totally fall apart when cooked.
More on Kale in Soup Recipes
- Fall Harvest Minestrone is a good way to eat seasonal while keeping in mind the energy available from greens to balance that out.
- Tuscan Kale (also known as Lacinato kale and some people call it dinosaur kale) isn’t as fragile as other greens that won’t do well with the dropping temps….plus it is loaded with nutrition.
- Kale is a significant source of Vitamins K, C and B6. It is also a good source of Thiamin, Riboflavin and iron.
- I like that it’s hearty enough to add to a soup. I don’t like soggy greens in soup, but a tuscan kale that’s wilted? Sign me up!
How to make it
Start by dicing the onion, thinly slicing the celery, carrot, parsnips. and finely grating the garlic with a microplane or use a garlic press.
Trim a thin slice off the top and bottom of the squash. Cut in half, then scoop out the seeds (a grapefruit spoon makes this easy) and use a vegetable peeler to easily take the skin off.
Place halved squash, cut side down for stability, on a cutting board and make ¼″ lengthwise slices. Turn and cut in the other direction for small cubes.
Heat a dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion in olive oil or veggie broth until it begins to soften. Then add carrot, celery, parsnips and spices. You may need additional salt if you used my no-salt veggie broth recipe.
Continue to cook and stir until veggies are tender. Use veggie broth 1 tablespoon at a time to keep vegetables from sticking. Use a microplane or garlic press right over the pan to add the garlic. Stir well and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Pour in diced tomatoes with their juices, add winter squash and bay leaves.
Pour in veggie stock. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile make pasta in separate pot, cooking for 2 minutes less than the directions call for.
Cook until squash is tender, about 20 minutes, then add cooked pasta, drained beans and roughly chopped beans.
Stir until everything is heated through and kale has wilted. Taste for seasoning. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper for a bit of heat, or a bit more salt to taste.
Debra’s Pro Tips:
- Cook the pasta al dente so it doesn’t become mushy when added to the soup. Start testing 2 minutes before package directions call for, especially if using gluten-free pasta.
- Use my easy recipe for homemade vegetable broth to control how much salt is in your soup. If you use boxed veggie broth, this may not be a low sodium soup recipe.
- For a spicy minestrone, sprinkle in some crushed red pepper, or cayenne pepper. A squirt of sriracha works well too.
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📖 Recipe
Fall Harvest Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 carrots peeled, and thinly sliced
- 2 stalks celery thinly sliced
- 2 parsnips peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 Tablespoon Italian spices any combo of oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, parsley, rosemary
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 butternut squash peeled, seed and diced. About 3 cups diced
- 1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 14.5-oz can kidney beans
- 8 cups veggie stock
- 2 bay leaves
- ¾ cup dried pasta*
- 2 cups chopped kale thick ribs removed
Instructions
- Prepare veggies. Dice onion and celery. Peel and dice carrots and parsnips. peel squash and dice. Peel garlic cloves. Wash, de-stem and roughly chop kale.
- Heat dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Saute onions in veggie broth or olive oil until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add carrots, celery, parsnips, Italian spices and salt. Cook, stirring for about 2 minutes. Add veggie b roth 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed, to keep pan from becoming too dry veggies from burning.
- Use a microplane to zest garlic into pot and mix well. Immediately add the diced tomatoes, squash, bay leaves and stock so that garlic doesn't burn. Mix well, bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until squash is tender.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions—al dente–I used a casava flour gluten-free pasta and cooked for 8 minutes. If you want to cook the pasta in the same pot as the soup, add an additional 2 cups of liquid (more broth or even water is fine).
- Stir in the pasta and beans to heat through. Turn off heat, add kale and continue to stir as it wilts.
- Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.
- Soup will stay good in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Liquid will absorb as soup sits so be prepared to add more stock as needed.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Elly McGuinness
Yum. ..I love all your recipes Debra – they are always so colourful and of course healthy!
Debra Klein
Thanks Elly for being a devoted reader!
Lara
Wow! Such a rich colorful soup! Gona try it for my cold! Love itt
Debra Klein
Just what the doctor ordered!! Feel better soon.
Deborah Malgeri
This was delicious. A nice change from my go to recipe. Will definitely add it to my list of vegan options.
Debra Klein
Great…glad you enjoyed this vegan minestrone soup.