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!
My Chicken Minestrone Soup is another wholesome, delicious choice!
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.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Satisfying: The addition of ground beef and pasta make it substantial enough to serve as a main course.
- Easy: The slow cooker method is exceptionally easy and mostly hands off.
- Healthy: It’s a wholesome meal, chock-full of fresh veggies and beans.
- Family-Friendly: It’s so comforting and people of all ages will love it!
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.
Pro Tip
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
Video
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.
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
I’ve been using the Reyonds Crockpot Wrap for a while now. They are very useful in quick clean up.
This recipe is delicious!!! Serve it with a salad and a loaf of Italian Bream……perfect for cold winter evenings!!!!!
I love finding new recipes for my slow cooker. This sounds really delicious!
Soups like this just warm me up and with all this chilly weather this is needed! Plus slow cooker dinners are a no brainer 😉
First of al,l I love all the ingredients in this soup, such great flavor. Second of all, I never use the crock pot without one of those liners. They are totally worth it.
Those liners save the day! I am always up for trying ANY recipe with the word “legendary” in the title. 🙂
This looks so hearty and delicious! I am always looking for new slow cooker soup recipes, thank you!
This soup look delicious and super easy. Love that it’s made in the slow cooker.
I recently started using these liners and I’m obsessed! This soup is just what I need with this weather
They are pretty awesome, aren’t they? The soup definitely hit the spot for us. Thanks, Lauren 🙂
This recipe looks fantastic!! I am going to make this recipe using lean ground chicken or turkey and I will try some organic vegetables. My hubby and I love using our crockpot for delicious and healthy recipes!!
It will be fabulous with either, Kim! Enjoy 🙂
This looks SO good, and I want to make it for my family this week.
I’m just questioning cooking already-cooked hamburger, for 7+ more hours in the slow cooker. What is the reason for that? Doesn’t the burger get overcooked, or tough, or something?
You definitely want to cook the beef and drain off the grease before adding it to the slow cooker. All slow cookers vary but the cooking range is 3 to 4 hours on HIGH or 5 to 7 hours on LOW – it will need that much time to cook and soften the veggies and the beef will be just fine. I had a fabulous result at this cooking time but I always suggest that you make adjustments to the power level and cooking time based on your experience with your own appliance.
Whoooooaaaaa, yeah! Not working nights anymore, definitely gonna ask wifelet to whip this up for me, slow cooker meals like this are right up her alley.
Thank ya, ma’am. Thank ya verry much!
He’s back! You should definitely have her give this one a try RL, it’s a good one. It’s good to hear from you 🙂
Finally got to try this, was SO GOOD, perfect meal for a fall day!
Thanks, Valerie!
It’s one of my favorites, RoadLord. So glad you enjoyed it!
This minestrone soup looks fantastic! I haven’t tried those Reynolds slow cooker liners yet, but will definitely have to give them a try since I hate cleaning my slow cooker! 🙂
You definitely should, Danae! Thanks so much 🙂