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 live in a fairly small town and was only able to find Colavita Ditali. The recipe calls for Ditalini. I figured that was close!! Would it need a longer cooking time since I assume it might be larger than the Ditalini. I’m making this tomorrow for guests and it sounds very delicious!!! I’m looking forward to tasting it!!
Hi Kay. Yes, if the pasta is larger it will take a bit longer to cook. I would recommend adding the pasta 45 minutes to an hour before you plan to serve. You’re find to add the beans at that time too.
Going to try this recipe. I’d like to try vegetable broth. Do you think it would work?
Tried this recipe today, and we all loved it. I did use chicken broth, as that is what I had on hand. I didn’t use zucchini, as I didn’t. I added another 3 cups of broth after adding the beans and macaroni, and salt and pepper to taste at that point.
As an environmentalist? I hate those danged liners. More plastic trash when my old stone crock cleans beautifully with very little effort.
I accidentally added the beans at the beginning of the cooking time. Do you think the soup will still turn out okay? Or do I need to scratch this dinner plan?
Hi Melanie. I think it will be fine. Try to reduce the overall cooking time as much as possible. As soon as those veggies are tender enough you’ll be good to go. It’s preferable to add the beans toward the end of the cooking time but I think you’ll still have a delicious meal.
Soup was excellent had no.problem with prep time.
Could you please tell me what the serving size is for this recipe.
Personally, I think I would hold back on the zucchini until I add the beans and pasta. I can’t stand mushy zucchini. Otherwise, it looks like a really good recipe.
Hi Terri. Mushy zucchini is not a good thing in my book either but I’ve never found it to be overcooked. I hope you enjoy it if you decide to try it!
I have a Type 1 diabetic daughter. We carb count. Would you know the nutritional value of this recipe?
I currently don’t include a nutritional breakdown on my recipes so I recommend running it through one of the many free nutritional calculators available online.
Prep Time is way off. It takes me 10 minutes to assemble the ingredients, then the prepping which can go up to 45 minutes.
Hi Betty. The prep time includes the amount of time it took me to chop the veggies which is pretty much the only prep needed for this recipe. I included everything else, from cooking the beef through the rest of the recipe, in the cooking time.
agree with Betty! no way 10 minutes to line the crockpot, open cans, rinse beans, peel onion, garlic, wash peel and chop rest of vegetables, measure spices, heat oil,cook and drain ground beef. will take 10 minutes just to gather the ingredients from pantry spice cabinet and fridge even though all next to each other. Guessing you have a prep person has it all lined up on your counter washed ready to chop, crockpot pre-lined etc.
Hi Carmen. I chop my veggies while the beef is cooking, stopping to stir it occasionally. You can also prep the veggies the day before if you’re looking to save time. The time calculated for prep assumes you have all of your ingredients ready to go and doesn’t include the time gathering them from the pantry.
Love this soup. Thank you.
Made this last week… Big hit with the whole family. Not a fan of chunky vegetables so I shredded them… It was awesome!!! I have been using the crockpot liners for years. LOVE them!
That’s awesome, Michelle. Good tip on the veggies for those with little ones who might be wary of them. Thanks for the feedback 🙂
This looks so good! I want it now! I’m hungry!