Slow Cooker Minestrone with Tortellini
Italian sausage, crushed tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and two kinds of beans slow-cooked all day into a deeply flavourful minestrone, then finished with zucchini, green beans, and spinach. Ladled piping hot over freshly cooked tortellini — a proper feast from a single pot.
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage, cooked
- 2 cans (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
- ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
- 8 medium red potatoes, diced
- 3 large carrots, diced
- 5 stalks celery, diced
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 can (15 oz) dark red kidney beans
- 1 can (15 oz) great northern beans
- 1 cup zucchini, sliced
- 1 cup frozen green beans
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups tortellini
- fresh parmesan, to garnish
- Cook the ground Italian sausage in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks, until browned and no longer pink. Drain well and set aside. While the sausage cooks, dice the potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, and zucchini into roughly similar-sized pieces so they cook evenly.
- Lightly grease the inside of a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Add the cooked sausage, crushed tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, diced potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and bay leaves. Pour in the vegetable stock and water and stir gently to combine. Cover with the lid.
- Cook on high for 3–4 hours, or on low for 6–8 hours, until the potatoes and carrots are completely tender and the broth has developed a deep, rich colour. The long, slow cooking is what melds all the flavours together — don't rush it. Remove the lid and discard the bay leaves.
- Add the drained kidney beans, great northern beans, sliced zucchini, frozen green beans, and spinach. Stir to combine and cook on high for a further 30 minutes until the beans are warmed through and the spinach is completely wilted into the soup.
- About 10 minutes before serving, cook the tortellini separately according to package directions until al dente. Drain well. To serve, place a portion of tortellini in the bottom of each bowl and ladle the hot minestrone generously over the top. Keeping the pasta separate prevents it from absorbing too much broth and becoming soft if you have leftovers. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan.
Chef's Note: The key to this soup is patience — specifically, letting the broth cook long enough for the tomatoes, sausage, and vegetables to genuinely meld together rather than just sitting alongside each other. The sun-dried tomatoes in oil are doing more work than you might expect: they dissolve slowly into the broth, adding a concentrated sweetness and umami depth that fresh or canned tomatoes alone can't achieve. Don't skip them.
The most important serving tip is to always keep the tortellini separate from the soup until the moment of plating. Tortellini absorbs liquid rapidly and will turn bloated and soft within 20–30 minutes in a hot broth. Store any leftover soup and pasta in separate airtight containers — the soup keeps beautifully in the fridge for 4–5 days or the freezer for up to 2 months, and reheats straight from frozen in a pot over medium heat. The pasta should be freshly cooked each time.
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