Got leftovers from pasta night? No problem. In less than 30 minutes, you can transform them into this delicious Quick Minestrone.
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What do you do when you’ve got the leftovers of a spaghetti dinner? Well, besides having spaghetti again?
Making the most of last night’s supper is a great way to make the most of your dollar. Not only are you being a good steward in not wasting the food, but you’re also saving money by stretching that meal and the effort it took to make it the first time.
In the case of leftover spaghetti, you can:
- heat and reheat
- bake a Frittata di Spaghetti (a spaghetti omelette)
- make baked spaghetti
- or turn it into soup!
You can transform almost any leftovers into a great tasting soup. Really, you can. Try Thursday Night Soup to get you started.
Quick Minestrone – a great way to use up leftovers
My solution to my leftover spaghetti dilemma was to make quick minestrone. I call it Quick Minestrone because it really does take just a few minutes to pull together since the pasta, sausage, and sauce are already made.
If I were a different kind of food blogger I might have used a different cooked pasta, like a shell. It would have been prettier. But I’m not that blogger. I made a choice between pretty and “using what we got”.
If you’re going to make this soup without the leftovers (which you can totally do), consider using a smaller, prettier pasta. If you’ve got spaghetti, just chop it into bite-sized pieces.
What is minestrone?
Minestrone is a thick, Italian soup made with vegetables and pasta. It commonly includes beans, carrots, and tomatoes. Vegetarian and meat-based versions are both possible.
What is the difference between minestrone and vegetable soup?
Minestrone includes beans, potatoes, pasta, and sometimes rice, while Vegetable Soup often is limited to just veggies.
How do you make quick minestrone from stratch?
Often a slow-simmering soup, this version of minestrone takes some shortcuts using cooked pasta and a previously simmered sauce to achieve a similar depth of flavor.
- Combine the bolognese and stock. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the longer cooking vegetables, the potato and carrot. Simmer until tender.
- Stir in the peppers and beans and allow these to cook for a bit longer.
- Stir in the leftover pasta and the kale.
- Adjust the seasonings and serve.
Is it expensive to make your own soup?
This Quick Minestrone is made from some basic ingredients, including leftovers that might otherwise go to waste. That right there tells you it’s going to cost less than other options.
For the sake of argument, let’s see what this would cost made with ingredients bought at a midrange grocery store with regular, non-sale prices:
- bolognese – $2.80 ($4.19/24 oz)
- potato – $0.87 (per potato)
- carrot – $0.25 (per carrot)
- bell pepper – $1.49 (per pepper)
- garbanzo beans – $0.99 (per 15.5 oz can)
- spaghetti – $0.50 ($1.00/lb)
- seasonings – $0.05
This batch of soup that serves 8 costs about $6.95 or 87 cents per serving. A can of mediocre minestrone soup costs $2.29 or $1.15 per serving.
As is, this is an incredibly affordable dish, so just think of the possibilities for saving money! You can further reduce the cost of the dish by shopping the sales, cooking dried beans, and making your own meat sauce.
Do you need special equipment for making quick minestrone?
Soup has been on the menu plan of good cheap eaters for centuries. While you really only need a sturdy pot, it is helpful to have this equipment:
- Lodge dutch oven – I love this pot for soup making as well as for baking!
- plastic cutting board
- chef’s knife
- wooden spoon
- soup ladle
If you prepare this recipe, be sure to share a picture on social media and hashtag it #GOODCHEAPEATS. I can't wait to see what you cook up!
Quick Minestrone
Ingredients
- 6 cups water or broth
- 2 cups bolognese
- 1 russet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 carrots peeled and sliced into rounds
- 1 bell pepper (any color) (for ⅔ cup chopped)
- 1 can garbanzo beans drained
- 4 cups spaghetti cooked and chopped
- 3 cups kale (chopped)
- coarse salt
- black pepper
- paprika
Instructions
- In a large stockpot combine the water and pasta sauce. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the potato and carrot and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the pepper and beans, and cook another 5 minutes.
- Stir in the noodles and kale and cook another 5 minutes until the kale is wilted and the noodles are hot.
- Adjust seasonings to taste, using salt, pepper, and paprika. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on January 3, 2013. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Diane Cirelli
I have been using leftover pasta and meatballs and/or sausage to make Minestrone soup. I use about 4 cups of pasta with sauce, I use whatever meat I have leftover, cut in bite size pieces, 2 cans white beans with liquid, 6 carrots sliced or a bag of presliced carrots, 1 carton of chicken or beef stock, 2 cups of water, 1 bag frozen chopped kale or spinach (either works fine) and 1 medium diced onion sautéed in a little roasted garlic olive oil.
Saute onion in oil til translucent, add 2 cups of and simmer carrots until just soft, chop the spaghetti into bite size pieces, chop the meatballs and sausage into small pieces about 1/2”.
Some of the water will boil out when cooking the carrots, this is fine. Now, add all of the other ingredients and allow to simmer until hot.
Serve with grated Parmesan or Romano chees and crusty bread. This is a crowd pleaser.
Marsha N
WOW, THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I followed the recipe almost exactly using Jessica’s recipe for bolognese (highly recommend). Since I didn’t have any cooked pasta on hand, and being a tad lazy, I put the uncooked pasta in with the vegetables and I may have put in too much as my end product was more like stew than soup, although still delicious! Also the garbanzo beans I had on hand were in a light curry sauce which I did not drain. This recipe is definitely a keeper! My husband also commented on how good it is.?
Jessica Fisher
Thanks so much for leaving the review, Marsha. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Rebecca
This is what we are having tonight. Food is tight so I’m mixing up something I really don’t have to stress about. And this seems perfect, im just going to do a couple things different. I’ll post it later to share.
Jessica Fisher
Great! Glad you like it!
Jessica HK of Blog-Inspired Cooking
I made your Minute Minestrone soup and it was excellent, my husband and I both loved it. Thanks for the inspiration! I loved that it was a great way to use up a partial jar of spaghetti sauce, I always seem seem to put those in my fridge and then never figure out what to do with them, so they get moldy and gross and we need to throw it away.
I posted about my version of the soup on my blog
http://bloginspiredcooking.blogspot.com/2013/01/quick-minestrone-soup.html
Cheri A
Brilliant!! I have a little leftover spaghetti and some sauce leftover from Monday night. I think I’ll make some soup today. 🙂 I
Kristen
This was okay. It was a neat way to use up leftover spaghetti sauce (exactly what I was looking for). However, the broth was not flavourful enough. I chose the water + pasta sauce. Next time I’ll definitely choose the broth instead of water. The amounts of spices were not given so I under-estimated by mistake. I added 1/2 teaspoon of each (salt, pepper and paprika). I will add more salt next time. The broth will also help with that. My kids recommended that next time we use red or white kidney beans rather than chickpeas. I was okay with the chickpeas. Maybe 1/4 cup of Parmesan added?
Jessica Fisher
Sounds like a good start, Kristen. Minestrone often does have kidney beans, so if that’s what your kids like, definitely give it a go. I’m glad to see you making it your own!
Jada
Gonna have to try that one! My husband loves Minestrone.
I may not blog everyday of the challenge, but I did today!
http://jadaswanson.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/creamy-roasted-red-pepper-feta-sauce-w-farfalle-and-italian-sausage/