Low FODMAP Minestrone Soup
An Italian vegetable soup to suit all seasons. Lots of chunky veggies, pulses, leafy greens and bacon, simmered in a tomato broth. It cooks in one pot, comes together in an hour and is a complete meal in a bowl. This is hearty enough to satisfy as a main course, even without bread!Before you startFollow the instructions below to make the most efficient use of your time. You can do much of the prep while other ingredients are cooking. The prep time stated above is the initial chopping before cooking starts
Servings: 8
Equipment
- large saucepan or stockpot (at least 5 litre capacity)
Ingredients
- 80 g streaky bacon
- 300 g carrots about four medium
- 80 g celery about ½ stick (note)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 350 g potatoes two medium
- 250 g zucchini/courgettes two medium
- 400 g canned whole peeled tomatoes
- 2 Litres veg/chicken stock (note)
- 60 g short-grain rice such as arborio (about 4 Tablespoons)
- 425 g no-salt canned cannellini beans (about 250g once rinsed and drained)
- rind from a piece of parmesan (note)
- 50 g kale (a large handful)
- small handful basil leaves
To serve:
- olive oil to drizzle
- parmesan cheese finely grated
Instructions
- Bacon, Carrots & Celery - chop these into similarly- sized pieces. Set the bacon aside.80 g streaky bacon300 g carrots80 g celery
- Render Bacon - put the bacon into a cold large saucepan/stock pot (no need for oil). Turn the heat up to high and cook until much of the bacon fat has melted and the bacon is starting to brown. Stir often to prevent it sticking.
- Sauté Celery & Carrot – add the oil to the pot, then the celery and carrots. Cook over low-medium heat for about 20 minutes (lid on), stirring often, until tender. While they’re cooking, peel and chop the potatoes and zucchini. Aim for a similar size to the ingredients you chopped before. Tip the canned tomatoes into a large bowl and crush by hand (note). Don’t throw away the can before using a little of the stock to swill it out a get every drop of tomato out. Add this to the rest of the tomato.3 Tablespoons olive oil350 g potatoes250 g zucchini/courgettes400 g canned whole peeled tomatoes
- Potato, Zucchini & Tomato - once the celery and carrot are tender (and not before!), you can proceed! You should be able to smoosh a piece of each between your thumb and finger. Then, add the potato, zucchini and crushed tomatoes to the pot.
- Stock, Rice, Beans & (optional) Parmesan – add these to the pot and stir through.2 Litres veg/chicken stock60 g short-grain rice425 g no-salt canned cannellini beansrind from a piece of parmesan
- Simmer - keeping the lid off, gently simmer soup for about 20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the potato is soft. You can prep the kale and basil while you’re waiting.
- Kale - make sure you remove any thick stalks from the kale so that only the curly leaves remain. Finely shred the kale, making sure the strands aren't too long. Stir through to wilt and warm through. This only takes a few minutes. Season the soup to taste.50 g kale
- To Serve - finely chop the basil and stir though. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan (if using).small handful basil leavesolive oilparmesan cheese
Notes
Celery - if you want this soup to be low FODMAP, the celery needs to be limited to 80g in total. This is equivalent to 10g per serving, the low serve limit of FODMAPs for this food.
Stock - if you're using my vegetable stock paste, you'll need 4 tablespoons of paste with 2 litres of water. You can add these separately to the pot and simply stir through.
Make Ahead/Freeze
This tastes better made a day or two in advance and kept in the fridge. It freezes really well too - freeze in portions for up to 3 months in a well-sealed container.