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.
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| 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?”
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.
Soup
all)
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.
honestly I don’t know if that step is really necessary…you decide).
bouillon, lentils, and mushrooms to the slow cooker.
of the basil pesto and stir into the slow cooker.
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.
zucchini into small bite size pieces. Add into the crock.
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.
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???
So good! Could you instant pot pressure cook this? You could also saute in the same pot that way
Yes you could. But I would not pressure cook the pasta. The lentil will need about 10 minutes and if you put pasta in there from the beginning it would not turn out.
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!
Thanks Leslie! So glad you like it 🙂
Can you cook on low for 8 hours if you are cooking the meat fully before adding it to slow cooker?
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!
I really want to make this. I'm fairly new to slow cookery. How long would I put in Italian chicken sausage?…
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!
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.
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 🙂
How did it turn out? The chicken sausage sounds great!
This soup looks both delicious and healthy! What a great soup to warm up your day…thanks for sharing!
you're welcome! hope you like it 🙂