Slow Cooker Pesto Minestrone Soup - 365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking

This green minestrone soup is chock full of goodness. It includes kale, zucchini, orzo, ditalini, lentils, mushrooms and flavorful pesto. Every single bite of this soup you eat will leave you saying “mmmmmm!” This is seriously my new favorite soup ever! Try it, I think you’ll agree.

Slow Cooker Verde Minestrone Soup--this is seriously so amazing! Fairly healthy too!

Slow Cooker Pesto Minestrone Soup that will knock your socks off!

Well, some days you’ve got and it and some days you don’t. Today, I got it, baby! This soup left me doing a little happy dance around my kitchen. My husband was working from home and I ladled a bowl of soup for him. He was super thrilled and kept commenting on how awesome this soup was. “Can I take the rest to work tomorrow for lunch?”

Crock Pot Pesto Minestrone Soup that is chalk full of kale, mushrooms, lentils and pesto.

The reason that this soup is so good is that it has an awesome broth (thanks to the delicious pesto) and it is completely packed with delicious textures. I started out with sauteed onions, to ramp up the flavor. Then I added in some cubes of pork loin. If you want, you could definitely use another type of meat or make it meatless. I then added in green lentils, mushrooms, pesto and broth. After the soup slow cooked for a few hours, I added in kale and zucchini and pasta.

Slow Cooker Pesto Minestrone Soup...great flavor with lots and lots of texture.

Ladle the soup into a bowl and top with Parmesan cheese. It is perfect for a cool day but it’s not heavy. In fact, this soup is pretty healthy! I am definitely going to be making this soup again soon. I would be proud to serve this soup to company or bring to a neighbor.

Slow Cooker Pesto Minestrone Soup--a healthy and totally delicious soup!

Recipe for Slow Cooker Pesto Minestrone
Soup

Makes 8 servings

Ideal slow cooker size: 6 quart

Cooking time: 4 hours

1 small onion, diced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb pork loin, cut into cubes (or you could use chicken or no meat at
all)

7 cups water

6 tsp chicken bouillon (3 tsp Shirley J chicken bouillon)

1/2 cup green lentils

1 cup orzo, uncooked

1/2 cup ditalini pasta, uncooked

2 cups white mushrooms, sliced

1 cup basil pesto, divided

1 medium zucchini

1 bunch of kale

Parmesan cheese, for topping

1. Heat olive oil in a frying pan
over medium high heat. Add in onions and sauté until
soft and translucent (about 5 minutes). Add onions to slow cooker. Alternately,
you can combine onion and oil in a microwave safe dish and microwave 5 minutes,
stirring every 90 seconds.

2. Cut pork loin into bite size cubes and add to slow cooker (I browned mine with the onions but
honestly I don’t know if that step is really necessary…you decide).

3. Add water,
bouillon, lentils, and mushrooms to the slow cooker.

4. Add in 1/2 cup
of the basil pesto and stir into the slow cooker.

5. Cover and cook
on LOW for about 4 hours or on HIGH for about 2 hours. The pork should be
cooked through and the lentils should be tender.

6. Add in the ditalini pasta and the orzo pasta. Turn the slow cooker ot high. Slice up
zucchini into small bite size pieces. Add into the crock.

7. Slice up kale
into bite size pieces (leaves only, no ribs or stems) and add into the slow
cooker. Stir in the rest (1/2 cup) of the pesto.

8. Cook on HIGH for
another 10-15 minutes, or until pasta is cooked through. Ladle into serving bowls and top with Parmesan
cheese.

P.S. Have you got my new cookbook yet???

Comments

Leslie says
January 21, 2017 at 6:18 pm

I have made this soup twice. It’s delicious. I add 2 additional cups of water and 2 teaspoons of bouillon because I like it a little more soupy. Also, I cook on low for 3 hours, not four, because the pork was overcooked on 4 hours. But man, this is an excellent recipe that’s nutritious and filling. Thanks!

- Karen says
  January 23, 2017 at 10:24 pm
  
  Thanks Leslie! So glad you like it 🙂
  
zxcvb says
October 14, 2015 at 4:03 pm

Can you cook on low for 8 hours if you are cooking the meat fully before adding it to slow cooker?

- karenbellessapetersen@gmail.com says
  October 16, 2015 at 8:48 pm
  
  you can but I would not add the pasta and orzo in because it will turn to mush by the end of 8 hours. you can add that in fully cooked at the end or add it in 1 hour before serving uncooked! good luck!
  
Kathy says
February 13, 2015 at 7:04 am

I really want to make this. I'm fairly new to slow cookery. How long would I put in Italian chicken sausage?…

- karenbellessapetersen@gmail.com says
  February 14, 2015 at 9:16 pm
  
  Kathy, I would cook the sausage and add it in the slow cooker with everything else. Then cook as per the directions above. It should be good!
  
mari says
November 16, 2014 at 10:55 pm

The flavors in here were delicious! I had the unfortunate result of mushy pasta though. Maybe next time I won't put the elbow macaroni (it's all I had) into the crockpot so soon. :)! Will definitely be making a second time.

Heather S. says
October 27, 2014 at 7:25 pm

Im making this right now! Since I'm gluten free, I used 1 cup GF pasta, 3/4 cup lentils, and eliminated the orzo. I also used ground italian chicken sausage (since I had it on hand) instead of the pork loin. Cant wait to taste it! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂

- karenbellessapetersen@gmail.com says
  October 31, 2014 at 8:31 pm
  
  How did it turn out? The chicken sausage sounds great!
  
Jodee Weiland says
October 27, 2014 at 4:13 pm

This soup looks both delicious and healthy! What a great soup to warm up your day…thanks for sharing!

- karenbellessapetersen@gmail.com says
  October 31, 2014 at 8:30 pm
  
  you're welcome! hope you like it 🙂

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