Giada's Winter Minestrone

Giada de Laurentiis shows us an easy one-pot version of an Italian classic—a hearty minestrone soup stocked full of winter vegetables and nutrients!

In this installment of Giada At Home, our favorite Italian chef shows us a quick and simple minestrone soup that she likes to whip up on winter days.

Minestrone soup is ubiquitous in Italian cuisine, but it’s pretty easy to make a bland or boring version of this classic soup. Learn how to make this quick and easy recipe and you’ll never have to eat minestrone from a can ever again!

Giada de Laurentiis kicks up the typical minestrone flavor with pancetta and Swiss chard, a popular ingredients in Mediterranean cuisine. Swiss chard’s dark leaves are packed with nutrients, antioxidents, and flavor that gives the minestrone a hearty winter feeling.

Giada also uses a cannellini (white bean) and beef broth puree to add another level of flavor and thickness to the broth.

For her final secret, Giada adds a Parmesan rind saved from daily cooking. Even though you can’t grate and eat the rind, you can add it to soups and stews; melt it in the final stages of cooking the minestrone. The cheesy taste will be subtle, but does add a special flavor that would be missing otherwise!

The best part of this minestrone recipe is that you can make it in one-pot (easy clean up!), and you can save the leftovers for lunches and light dinners. You can even place a portion of it in a plastic or glass container and freeze for even further down the road.

Giada’s Winter Minestrone Ingredients: