This summer vegetable soup recipe is a simple way to use up fresh zucchini, yellow summer squash and carrots. Combined with white beans, pasta and pesto, this minestrone-style soup cooks in minutes. The formula for the soup is perfect for improvising. Go ahead and swap out the vegetables to suit your tastes or what you have on hand!

A bowl of vegetable soup with ditalini pasta, carrots, zucchini and summer squash with a spoon and grated cheese on the side.

When it comes to summer soups, the Italians seem to have it figured out. Mixed vegetable soup, or minestrone, can be made with just about any combo of seasonal vegetables.

Next to my version of a classic minestrone soup, an all-year-round favorite, this recipe is a light and delicious alternative when you add produce that’s abundant in the summer time.

There aren’t really any rules when it comes to making soup. Summer is the optimal time to enjoy certain ingredients, like super-sweet tomatoes, which make sense to turn into something like a Tuscan-style pappa al pomodoro soup.

Vegetables for summer soup:

Fresh summer produce on a linen napkin, showing a bunch of leeks, carrots, fennel bulb and green and yellow summer squash.
  • Zucchini: Use green and/or yellow squash, cut into chunks.
  • Carrots: Although they’re available year-round, young summer carrots are the sweetest.
  • Fennel bulb: I happen to love the taste of fennel (I prefer its delicate flavor to celery), and the feathery fronds are a pretty, flavorful garnish. You can replace it with the same amount of celery.
  • White beans: I use either canned white beans, but if you have more time, cook a batch of cannellini beans from scratch or use freshly podded summer shelling beans, such as cranberry beans or butter beans.
  • Sweet corn kernels (1-1/2 cups)
  • Trimmed and sliced fresh green beans ( 1-1/2 cups)
  • Fresh torn spinach leaves (2 cups)
A bowl of vegetable soup with ditalini pasta, carrots, zucchini and summer squash with a spoon and grated cheese on the side.
A bowl of soup made with chunky summer squash, carrots, fennel and white beans.
5 from 1 rating

Summer Vegetable Soup with Zucchini and White Beans

Karen Tedesco
This summer vegetable soup recipe is a simple way to use up fresh zucchini, yellow summer squash and carrots. Combined with white beans, pasta and pesto, this minestrone-style soup cooks in minutes. The formula for the soup is perfect for improvising. Go ahead and swap out the vegetables to suit your tastes or what you have on hand!
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Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
 

  • ¼ cup (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 leeks, white part only, quartered lengthwise and sliced (to make 1-1/2 cups sliced)
  • ½ cup (80 g) chopped onion
  • 1 fennel bulb (fronds reserved for garnish), tough outer skin removed, finely chopped or substitute celery
  • 4 carrots, sliced into thin coins (to make 1-1/2 cups sliced)
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 cups (265 g) cannellini beans, cooked, or 1 drained 15-ounce can
  • Kosher salt
  • 6 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 small zucchini or summer squash about 1-inch diameter , quartered lengthwise and sliced
  • 1 cup (168 g) uncooked ditalini or other soup pasta shape
  • ½ cup Italian parsley leaves
  • ⅓ cup (80 g) basil pesto sauce
  • ½ cup (50 g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
 

  1. Pour the oil in a large saucepan or pot and place over medium heat.
  2. Add the leeks, onion, fennel or celery, and carrot. Cook until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently so they don't brown.
  3. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the cannellini beans, 6 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a simmer, then adjust the heat to low and continue to simmer for 15 minutes, with the pot partially covered.
  4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a separate pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and reserve.
  5. Stir the zucchini into the pot and cook 1 or 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the cooked pasta and parsley.
  6. Taste and season with more salt as need. Serve the soup garnished with chopped fresh fennel fronds (optional), a spoonful of pesto and the cheese.

Notes

  • I originally made this vegetable soup without tomatoes, but it tastes fantastic with 2 cups of fresh or canned chopped tomatoes added to the pot.
  • Use other veggies: After cooking the vegetables for the base of the soup in step 2, (leek, carrots, fennel or celery) add a total of 3 cups your choice of vegetables and cook until tender (vegetables like corn and spinach will be cooked in just a minute or two.)
  • To freeze, cool the soup completely before portioning into containers. Freeze for 2 months.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 602kcal Carbohydrates: 74g Protein: 21g Fat: 26g Sodium: 899mg Fiber: 11g Sugar: 11g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

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