This Slow Cooker Hamburger Minestrone is loaded with fresh vegetables, ground beef, and pasta. This hearty, comforting soup is a meal in itself. Slice a loaf of crusty bread, pour a glass of wine, and dinner is served!
As soon as I feel even the slightest chill in the air, I feel compelled to get soup on our menu. I rotate through my easy soup recipes for cozy meals about once a week during the fall and winter months and I couldn’t be more happy to do it! Soup has always been one of my very favorite things to cook and to eat.
I’m particularly fond of this hearty, soul-satisfying Slow Cooker Hamburger Minestrone.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- The addition of ground beef and pasta make it substantial enough to serve as a main course.
- The slow cooker method is exceptionally easy and mostly hands off.
- It’s a wholesome meal, chock-full of fresh veggies and beans.
- It’s so comforting and super family-friendly.
Ingredient Notes
- Ground beef – I use 90% lean ground beef.
- Onion – A sweet, yellow onion
- Carrot
- Zucchini
- Celery
- Minced garlic
- Beef broth – Low sodium is the best choice for most recipes and especially soups.
- Crushed tomatoes – A large can of Italian seasoned crushed tomatoes. These already seasoned tomatoes add a boost of flavor in addition to the dried seasonings added to the soup.
- Dried basil, oregano and thyme – Dried seasonings are more intense and hold up well in slow cooker recipes.
- Dried bay leaf
- Canned cannellini beans – These large white beans are commonly found in Italian recipes like minestrone. They have a wonderful creamy texture and great flavor.
- Canned kidney beans
- Ditalini pasta – I absolutely love this little pasta! It’s shaped like tiny little tubes and is exactly the right size for adding to soups without overpowering it.
- Extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese.
How to Make Slow Cooker Hamburger Minestrone
- Cook and crumble the ground beef in a skillet, seasoning with salt and pepper as it cooks. Drain well and add it to the slow cooker along with the onion, carrot, zucchini, celery, garlic, beef broth, crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano, thyme, and bay leaf. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.
- After the initial cooking time, add the beans, uncooked ditalini pasta, and Parmesan. Cover and cook on high for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pasta is al-dente.
Canned beans should always be added to slow cooker recipes towards the end of the cooking time. They are fully cooked and can take on an unpleasant texture if cooked too long. The same goes for dry pasta which only requires a short amount of time to cook to a perfect al dente texture.
I love to garnish individual servings with some generous shavings of Parmesan.
For a nutritious variation, stir in a big handful of raw baby spinach at the end of the cooking time. Allow it to lightly wilt for just a couple of minutes and serve.
Storage Tips
Transfer leftovers to an airtight container and refrigerate promptly. Leftover Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup should be consumed within 3 to 4 days. For longer storage, see the freezer instructions below.
Make it a Freezer Meal
Slow Cooker Hamburger Minestrone freezes well for an easy meal on a busy day.
- Allow the soup to cool, then spoon it into freezer-safe plastic storage bags.
- Remove as much air as possible, seal the bags, and label them with the contents and date.
- Lay the bags flat in a single layer in your freezer until frozen solid. After frozen, they can be stacked to save space.
Allow the frozen soup to thaw safely and completely in the refrigerator overnight and then reheat gently on the stove on in the microwave.
Soups that contain pasta will thicken a good amount upon resting. Add additional broth or water to thin to the desired consistency when reheating.
Serving Suggestions
For a super easy meal, just warm some French bread or serve this Hamburger Minestrone with crackers. Want more? Here are some great side dish ideas.
- Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins
- Cheater Garlic Bread
- Jiffy Mexican Style Cornbread
- Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots
This soup is consumed with gusto in our house. I hope you love it as much as we do!
Slow Cooker Hamburger Minestrone
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef, I use 90% lean
- ½ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup diced sweet yellow onion
- 1 cup peeled and chopped carrot
- 1 cup chopped zucchini
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 4 cups low-sodium beef broth
- 28 ounce can crushed Italian seasoned tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 15 ounces canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 15 ounces canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup ditalini pasta, uncooked
- ½ cup grated Parmesan, plus additional, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over MEDIUM heat. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring to break it up. Season with salt and pepper and cook until no longer pink. Drain off as much of the grease as possible and transfer the cooked beef to the slow cooker. Add the onion, carrot, zucchini, celery, garlic, beef broth, crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano, thyme, and bay leaf to the slow cooker with the beef. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on LOW 5 to 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.
- After initial cooking time, add the beans, ditalini pasta (uncooked), and Parmesan. Cover and cook on HIGH for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until pasta is al-dente.
- Garnish individual servings with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Allow the soup to cool, then spoon it into freezer-safe plastic storage bags.
- Remove as much air as possible, seal the bags, and label them with the contents and date.
- Lay the bags flat in a single layer in your freezer until frozen solid. After frozen, they can be stacked to save space.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
This post was originally published on February 12, 2016. It has been updated with new text and images.
More Cozy Soup Recipes
Hello,
Does this recipe make a full crock pot?
You can watch the video at the end of the post to see how full my 6-quart slow cooker is. Hope this helps!
I was wondering the same thing. I found a recipe to season up regular canned tomatoes. For 28 oz. you add:
1/2 teaspoon Minced Garlic.
1/2 teaspoon Salt.
1/2 teaspoon Basil.
1/2 teaspoon Oregano.
1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes.
I chose to omit the red pepper flakes. My family didn’t know the difference
Can you make it without the Hamburg for vegetarians? Thanks.
Made this yesterday and it was a great success; even with my 12 and 15 year old who are normally anti-veggies. They are in the phrase where if one likes the meal, the other hates it. It was nice to find something they both enjoyed🥳. Super easy to prep especially since my slower cooker has a sauté function and I always have diced onion on had. I added extra carrots and zucchini to make up for the lack of celery, which nobody in my family likes. I also added a can of diced tomatoes. It made a lot and,under normal circumstances, I will probably cut the recipe in half. However we are stuck at home all day so the leftovers will be used for lunches this week. I just got your cookbook and am looking forward to some more great recipes!
This recipe is SO good. I made a couple of modifications based on what I had on hand. Instead of browned beef I used half of a leftover meatloaf, crumbled up. (I found this recipe after seeing minestrone soup as a suggested use for meatloaf.) Then I switched in Great Northern beans since my family prefers them. And, since I had it, I threw in a small parmesan rind and a splash of red wine for flavor. The ditalini needed a little extra time so it took 4 hours on high. All four of us loved it and this is going into the recipe folder. Thank you!
Any reason I cannot make pasta separately and add at serving time? I am making this soup to be part of a meal train for someone going through cancer treatment. Thinking since pasta sucks up liquid, maybe sending the pasta alongside may be better?
Hi Phyllis. You could absolutely cook the pasta separately and add it later. You are right in assuming the pasta does absorb some of the liquid when the soup is refrigerated although adding a little extra water or broth when reheating will solve that problem. Best wishes to your friend.
How about using an instant pot?
Hi Sally. Pressure cooking is a completely different method with very specific requirements so I never suggest trying to use a pressure cooker for a recipe written for a slow cooker. Instead, it’s best to look for a recipe specifically written for the method of cooking you’d like to use.
This looks appetizing to me. I’ve had bariatric surgery and can only eat about 6 oz of soup, so I would have to freeze small containers of it. Do you have any advice? I’m having trouble getting protein down because meat seems distasteful to me, but this soup has a pretty good protein hit between the ground beef and beans.
Hi Ruth. I think this soup would freeze very well. If you can only eat a small amount at a time, I’d recommend dividing into portions before freezing. I really hope you love the soup and you are feeling better soon. 🙂
this is a go to favorite for our family 🙂 I omit the zucchini and add in potatoes instead 🙂 for a husband who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, this is right up his alley 🙂 all the kids even the ones who are picky eaters always ask for seconds 🙂
Can I use the regular can of tomatoes cause I don’t any of can Italian tomatoes?
Who makes these neat crock pot liners?
Haven’t seen them where I live ??
They are Reynold’s Slow Cooker Liners and they are available in most grocery stores but you can also order them on Amazon. (affiliate link)
Found this while looking for a recipe for soup to take to a neighbor who just lost her husband. This looks wonderful! In the past, I’ve made Pasta E Fagioli and froze it pasta & all. While it was ok, the ditalini ended up being little bits of pasta when thawed. It didn’t affect the flavor, but presentation was not so great. I think I will make this and leave out the pasta for any that is to be frozen. Then when I thaw it, I will add pasta as needed. Here in Ohio, we are expecting a “respectable” amount of snow this weekend and I know of no better way than to celebrate with hot soup and good bread! Thanks for the posting. I also want to look up the other soups you mentioned. I am loving making all kinds of soups this year.