Three Bean Tortellini Minestrone
This post was sponsored by READ Salads. Thanks for supporting brands I love that make this blog possible!
Pretty much every day in the winter I come home from work craving soup. Even though we live in South Carolina, where our winter is probably most people’s fall, I’m kind of a baby when it comes to cold weather. Having something cozy that’s been simmering all day is my favorite way to warm up. Or, even better, having something that tastes like it’s been simmered all day, but only takes about 30 minutes to cook. Enter the recipe I’m sharing with you today – three bean tortellini minestrone.
This recipe for three bean tortellini minestrone gets it’s simmered all day flavor thanks to the addition of READ’s 3-Bean Salad. The green beans, wax beans and red beans in sweet and tangy dressing adds major depth of flavor to the soup. Plus, it’s an easy way to add more veggies without having to chop them! I’m a big fan of using canned vegetables for convenience, especially when it’s been awhile between trips to the grocery store. Being prepared with pantry items you can throw together to make easy, tasty and satisfying dinners makes life a whole lot easier. Check out READ’s website for more recipe inspiration for simple serving suggestions for their canned bean salads and German potato salad.
For this recipe, I partnered with READ to share a meatless recipe using their bean salad. According to the Washington Post, over 22.8 million people are flexitarian, which means they primarily eat vegetarian, but will also eat meat in smaller amounts. I probably fall into this category - I appreciate the environmental and health benefits of eating less meat, and the fact that it costs less at the grocery store…but also I love bacon. The cool thing about flexitarian is that there’s no strict definition, so you get to make individual choices that best serve you. For me, that means planning mostly meatless meals during the week, along with one or two recipes with chicken, meat or fish, and having the pantry ingredients on hand to whip up easy meatless dinners on a whim, like this three bean tortellini minestrone.
My other trick for creating a 30-minute soup with a simmered all day flavor is adding a parmesan rind to the broth. It’s an optional addition, but it adds a real depth of flavor and umami to the broth. Whenever I use up a chunk of parmesan, I throw the rind in the freezer to use in flavoring broths instead of throwing it out.
By the way, are any of you anxious about the idea of using canned food because of sodium content? Don’t be! More recent research has put the old recommendations into question. One study, the PURE analysis, suggests that extremely low sodium diets may be harmful, and that the average sodium intake appears to be safe. When you think about the sodium in canned foods in the context of a dietary pattern rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and other fresh foods, it can be a helpful way to season food without adding additional salt. For example, this soup just uses a pinch of salt with the vegetables to help them sweat.
What I love about this recipe is that even though it’s vegetarian, it doesn’t feel like it’s vegetarian. So if you’re cooking for a family that will normally turn up their nose to anything meatless, this might be a recipe that wins them over. With the cheese tortellini and red beans from READ’s 3-Bean Salad, it’s also packed with protein.
If you’d like to make this recipe yourself, I’ve partnered with READ to offer my reader’s a chance to win a family pack of READ salads and a $50 gift card to purchase the rest of the ingredients (or whatever you want!). Just enter in the rafflecopter below by Monday the 10th at noon eastern time!
3-Bean Tortellini Minestrone
Serves 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 peeled garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 carrots, trimmed, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice
1 parmesan rind (optional)
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
10 ounces refrigerated cheese tortellini
2 14-ounce cans READ 3-Bean Salad, drained and rinsed
2 cups baby spinach
Jarred pesto, for serving (optional)
Instructions:
Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic with a pinch of salt and saute until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in dried herbs and black pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add carrots, celery and zucchini with another pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp tender, about 5-7 minutes.
Pour in canned tomatoes with their juice and add parmesan rind if using. Cook on medium heat about 10 minutes, until most of the tomato juice has evaporated. Pour in vegetable broth and bring to a boil. When boiling, add tortellini and cook 2 minutes until tender. Stir in 3-bean salad and spinach and cook 1 minute to warm through.
Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve immediately, garnished with a dollop of pesto if desired.
More easy soup recipes you’ll love:
Butternut Squash Tortilla Soup
Simple Roasted Cauliflower Apple Soup
Instant Pot Mushroom Barley Soup
