Name: The Best Quinoa Minestrone
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil; 4 oz pancetta; 2 cups carrots (peeled and chopped, about 3 carrots); 1 cup celery (chopped, about 2 stalks); 1 large russet potato (peeled and chopped); 1 large yellow onion (diced); 5 cloves garlic (minced); 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 1/2 teaspoon dried basil; 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper falkes; 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes; 8 cups chicken broth; 1 bay leaf; salt and black pepper (to taste); 1 cup uncooked quinoa; 1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed); 1 (10 oz) bag baby spinach (roughly chopped if desired); 1/2 cup pinot grigio; 2 tablespoons pistachio pesto; shredded parmesan cheese (optional); baguette (for serving)

This quinoa minestrone is so healthy, full of flavor, and loaded with pancetta, vegetables, quinoa, pesto, and white wine!

Let me be obnoxious for a second and tell you that I am now obsessed with quinoa minestrone.

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Today’s recipe was the result of leftovers, but it honestly made one of my new favorite dinners! On Tuesday, I made those dark chocolate chunk quinoa granola bars. Yesterday, I made roasted pistachio pesto. I had JUST gone to the grocery store, so I didn’t feel like going back. What could I make for dinner that was 1. healthy and 2. used quinoa and leftover pesto? The result was quinoa minestrone and it was better than I ever could have imagined!

Like. I can’t stop thinking about it.

Trevor and I have been eating like complete crap lately. I take full responsibility for it, although Trevor does nothing to stop me 😉

Funnily enough, even though I’m in the kitchen 7 days a week, sometimes there is literally nothing in the fridge for dinner. As I told you in my post about soft pretzel rolls, with Trevor working so much lately, I’ve been in the kitchen baking. Cookies, those golden oreo blondie peanut butter cup bars from my birthday, and these really awesome cupcakes that I’m posting tomorrow!! Eek! I can’t wait.

So desserts covered. I got that down pat.

But here’s nothing for dinner! With nothing in the fridge, I’ll either make cheese quesadillas, or we’ll order pizza (because we needed snacks for The Bachelor, ok!) or Indian, or we’ll go out for Mexican night. The restaurant always knows if it’s been a long week if we come in any day other than Friday. 😉 Since becoming a full time food blogger, my appreciation for going out to dinner and getting take out has grown immensely. THANK YOU to anyone who has ever brought food to my door or a margarita to my table. I love you.

But enough is enough, Jennifer! You’re a food blogger for gosh sakes, suck it up and get back into the kitchen! Plus, providing Trevor with nutritious and delicious foods, he’ll have more energy, work harder, and be done sooner?? 🙂

That’s why I decided on making quinoa minestrone and I know I say this a lot, but holy yum this is SO good. I’m not exaggerating when I say that as this soup was simmering away, I was constantly taste testing. Although, Trevor pointed out that it’s not taste testing when you’ve eaten a whole bowl’s worth out of the soup pot! #noregrets

Start by prepping your pancetta and vegetables. Cut the pancetta into medium sized chunks (larger than bite sized, because they’ll cook down in the pan) and roughly chop some carrots and celery. I like chopping my carrots and celery into bite sized pieces, because I don’t like huge chunks in my soup. Then peel and chop a large russet potato. I keep these chunks larger, because they break down a lot in the soup. You can use the photos as a reference for the size of my vegetables! Next, dice some yellow onion and mince some garlic.

Throw some olive oil in a large stock (or soup) pot and let it warm up over medium heat. Once warm, add in the pancetta and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally, until lightly browned. You can give it a taste test, too if you want – it’s soooo salty and yummy!

Then, add the onions, carrots, celery, and potato to the pot and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Again, stir occasionally. In the last 30 – 60 seconds, add in the garlic and spices. Today, I used dried thyme, basil, and red pepper flakes for juuuuust a little kick.

Now add in some canned tomatoes, chicken broth, and a bay leaf. Give it a quick stir and season with salt and pepper. Don’t season too aggressively, because the pancetta and chicken broth already have salt. You can add more later on, if necessary!

Bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 10-12 minutes. Then add in the dry quinoa and cook for another 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the quinoa is cooked.

Now discard the bay leaf and add in some beans. After I tasted this, I thought it honestly could not get any better. But then you know what I did? I added in white wine and some of that pistachio pesto from yesterday. It was a flavor explosion in my mouth.

Remove the soup from the heat and stir in an entire bag of baby spinach. At first, I thought that there was going to be too much spinach, but as you stir, it continues to wilt. I chose to add in the leaves whole, which Trevor really enjoyed, but next time, I would give them a rough chop before adding them into the soup!

Re-season with salt and pepper and place back on the stove to warm it back up, if necessary!

If I haven’t convinced you enough to make this quinoa minestrone soup, let me be more clear…

This soup is ridiculously healthy and flavorful! It’s full of veggies, and the quinoa has health benefits of it’s own and really adds such a unique texture to the soup. When you’re sitting down to eat this quinoa minestrone, you’ll have forgotten about the pancetta, and then you’ll get a little piece and it’s like opening a present on Christmas Day – it’s salty, a little chewy, and the flavor is unlike anything else. And just when you thought this quinoa minestrone couldn’t get any better you taste the really amazing white wine and pesto broth that rounds the whole dish out.

Now if you really want your mind blown, before serving this, cut up a crusty baguette and smother it in the pistachio pesto. Then take it and dip it into the quinoa minestrone to soak up with white wine, tomato-y broth and you’ll be in food heaven in no time!