A hearty and delicious Slow Cooker Beef Minestrone Soup full of flavour from the fresh thyme, seared beef cubes, tomatoes, cannellini beans and cabbage. Come home to the fragrant aroma of beef soup filling the air and sit down to a hot mug of soup!
Slow Cooker Beef Minestrone Soup
Cold weather always means comfort food and any time I can use my slow cooker to do the job for me, I am one happy girl.
You won’t believe how quickly this Slow Cooker Beef Minestrone Soup comes together. Sear the meat in advance, toss chopped onions into the pan to soak up the beef drippings, glaze with beef stock, pour it all into the slow cooker and turn it on.
What to serve with soup
If you have big eaters in your family you may want to serve this soup with fresh bread or buns to mop up any extra broth. I love adding parmesan to my soups as it adds a great salty umami flavour you don’t expect.
If you are more of a soup and salad person, a simple green salad on the side is lovely.
PRO TIPS:
- Season beef with salt and pepper and sear in a hot pan to lock in flavour.
- Use whatever small soup noodle you like. We also like to use Ditali.
- We always cook our pasta separately and add to soup when serving. This ensures the noodles do not soak up all the broth.
- You can use canned diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. Both are delicious.
- Use fresh grated asiago to replace parmesan.
- Use fresh thyme whenever possible. Toss in entire sprig, you can fish out the sprig along with bay leaves before serving.
Want to warm up with other tasty soup recipes? Check these out:
If you made this recipe tag Wanda Baker on Instagram and hashtag it #bakersbeans or #wandabaker
Ingredients
- 1 lb beef stew meat
- olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 small onion chopped
- 6 cups beef broth
- 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp hot sauce
- 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups napa cabbage chopped
- 1 15 oz can cannellini or white navy beans, drained & rinsed
- 1/2 cup zucchini shredded
- 1 1/2 cup cooked macaroni
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Season your beef with salt and pepper. In a skillet over medium high heat, add a little oil and sear your stew beef in small batches. Transfer to slow cooker.
- Add chopped onions to hot pan and let cooking stirring regularly for about 3-4 minutes. Add broth into pan and scrape up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Poor all in slow cooker.
- Add thyme, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, tomatoes, cabbage and beans.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. 30 minutes before you are ready to eat stir in zucchini.
- Cook your pasta in salted water, drain and set aside.
- Remove bay leaves and any thyme sprigs from soup. Ladle into bowls, add a small scoop of cooked noodles. Top with fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese.
I only need to buy a couple more ingredients to make this beef minestrone soup this week. Making some rolls to go with it. Can’t wait to try it!
Fresh rolls would be awesome with this soup!
Looks delicious. Can’t wait to try this one!
Hearty and comforting!
I love slow cooker soups! I think they are so much easier and so flavorful- have never tried minestrone soup in the slow cooker though, and now I will! Thanks for the wonderful recipe
Hope you enjoy the soup!
I love minestrone, love the beef addition in here. Such a comforting dish for this time of year.
Definitely screams cold weather comfort food!
It’s my favorite soup! Looks so good and comforting.
Getting my slow cooker out for this one!
Delicious comfort food!
I make a lot of soups yet never made this one, and I know my husband would love it. Trying!
Funny, mine does too!
So satisfying and comforting! The perfect dish for the freezing cold weather we are having this week:)
I like how you think!
Yum! Perfect comfort food and you are so right about the parmesan – a GREAT addition to this soup.
With this winter cold snap we need all the comfort food we can get!
Minestrone is one of my family’s favourite soups, and I can’t wait to make it in the slow cooker now. Thanks for sharing, Wanda!
The Slow Cooker makes the house smell great! Hope you enjoy!
Love a hearty meal like this. I will have to add this into our rotation, thanks for sharing.
It’s the best kind of comfort food on these cold winter days!
I love this slow cooker recipe that I don’t have to watch the stove! I can smell it already!
Easy peasy!
Made this minestrone recipe last week for my husband and he absolutely loved it!
Good to hear!
This sounds delicious! I really want to use my slow cooker to make more soups.
I am totally in agreement!
When do you add the beans?
Hi, I would add the beans when you add the cabbage. Thanks!