Slow Cooker Creamy Minestrone Soup is the perfect warm-you-up-meal you’ll enjoy through the winter months. This Minestrone Soup is healthy and hearty and made with no cream!
A Perfect Minestrone Soup
Slow Cooker Creamy Minestrone Soup is a meal we make as our backup dinners all winter long because it’s hearty, healthy and despite tasting creamy it actually contains no cream at all in it! The secret to this minestrone soup is in the cannelini beans! 
Minestrone Soup to Warm the Soul
Fall cooking to me is all about meals that help warm you up from the inside out. I know, I know, I live in California. That makes me even more sensitive to when the weather cools down since we’re used to it staying so warm.
I immediately reach for soups or stews or basically any meal I can put in a bowl, grab a spoon and curl up with a blanket while eating. One of my friends, April from Mama Loves Food, has the most amazing Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup that I am enjoying as I am typing this. That tells you how much I love slow cooker soups!
Healthy Creamy Minestrone Soup
This Slow Cooker Creamy Minestrone Soup is the perfect mix of flavors and it actually gives you the feeling you’re eating something indulgent while you save those calories for your upcoming holiday parties!
The only indulgent ingredient in the soup is the Parmesan cheese which means you can throw caution to the wind and add that handful of cheese. 
How to Make Minestrone Soup Creamy without Cream
The way we make this minestrone soup creamy is by taking a whole can of white beans and pureeing it in the food processor before adding it to the slow cooker. This faux cream is pumped up by a showering of Parmesan Cheese.
A Note about This Minestrone Soup
You can certainly make this soup for holiday parties or potlucks, the only thing I will caution you to do it make sure you add in the ingredients in the order written below. The pasta, zucchini and spinach need far less cooking time than the rest of the ingredients. If you were to add them all at once you’d have pasta that has melted into a mess and yellowed zucchini and spinach.
Keep the flavors bright by adding them in the right order and you’ll absolutely love this light yet hearty minestrone soup! 
Tools used to make this Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup:
Slow Cooker: I have a collection of slow cookers and 9 times out of 10 I’d recommend my All-Clad one with the aluminum insert. When it comes to soups I actually reach for my porcelain insert slow cooker for gentler cooking.
Food Processor: I love buying kitchen electrics and I have my fair share of expensive ones, but when it comes to food processors I stand firmly in the camp of you ABSOLUTELY do not need to go expensive. I’ve had my same one, from Hamilton Beach, since 2005 and it has never failed me.
Tomato Paste: I used to buy cans of tomato paste but buying it by the tube creates a lot less food waste and the flavor of this tomato paste is absolutely perfect and strong!
Slow Cooker Creamy Minestrone Soup
Ingredients
- 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 ounces parmesan chunk , cut into 1" chunks
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 3 medium carrots , diced
- 3 stalks celery , diced
- 1 medium yellow onion , diced
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 leaves bay
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 can (15 oz) can red kidney beans , drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) can great northern beans , drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) can cannelini beans , drained and processed until smooth in your food processor
- 2 medium zucchini , diced
- 6 ounces ditalini or elbow pasta
- 1 cup green beans cut in half
- 3 cups baby spinach
- Parmesan Cheese for serving
Instructions
- Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, parmesan, vegetable stock, water, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, oregano, rosemary, and bay leaves, Kosher salt, black pepper, kidney beans, great northern beans and pureed cannelini beans to a slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
- minutes before you are ready to serve, turn the slow cooker to high heat if it wasn't already on high heat.
- Add in the zucchini and pasta.
In the last five minutes (20 minutes after adding the pasta and spinach) add in your green beans and spinach and stir.
- Serve with additional Parmesan cheese.
Have you ever popped this soup in the freezer? Recipe says it makes 16 servings.. which is good (and a lot) but I’d like to know if it freezes well.
Thanks!
I haven’t tested it yet but I think with a few changes, it would work. I would suggest changing the pasta to possibly a rotini which is less likely to stick together. Also if you want to avoid some of the soggy vegetables during freezing, I’d recommend swapping out the zucchini for a vegetable that freezes better or even just leaving it out. Let me know how it turns out if you decide to try it!
I’m normally cooking for one, so I like to make a full batch of something in the crock pot and then freeze individual portions for an easy reheatable meal later. How would you suggest I do that with this soup? I would think freezing and then reheating the pasta and some of the later veggies might make it soggy…
Yes, it may make the pasta swollen and a bit soggy. If you want to avoid some of the soggy vegetables I’d recommend swapping out the zucchini for a vegetable that freezes better or even just leaving it out. With the pasta, I would probably switch to a shape less likely to stick together, maybe a rotini?
This looks delicious and cheesy, yum!
Thanks Lauren!
Anytime I can make a soup in my slow cooker is a good day!
I couldn’t agree more!
With all the bone chilling cold we are having right now, THIS would be a great way to warm up!
This soup looks and sounds amazing! Perfect for the weather!
I love making minestrone on a cold day but have never made it in my slow cooker – what a great idea!
This sounds fantastic! I need to make it after Christmas!
Incredible looking soup….love the Parm shards on top, too! Sharing on FB and on a Facebook page.
Thank you Dorothy!