Crock Pot Minestrone with Cubed Beef

Crock Pot Minestrone with Cubed Beef is a one-pot meal that feeds a crowd. This Italian-inspired soup recipe uses beef stew meat for a hearty minestrone packed with vegetables and beans.

Why I Love This Recipe

• It serves a crowd.
• Dump and Go. Fix it and then forget it!!!
• Warm and hearty on a cold winter day.
• Easily customized.
• The leftovers get even better as they sit in the refrigerator.

Crock Pot Minestrone with Cubed Beef Recipe

I am always looking for new recipes to use beef stew meat.  My go-to recipe is Mom’s Beef Stew, but it’s nice to change it up every now and again.  So when I found this Slow Cooker Minestrone with Cubed Beef recipe, I knew it was a winner.

When I’m struggling in the dinner department, I lean towards soup. First off, my kids are soup fanatics, and we all know how important it is to find recipes kids will eat.  Secondly, soup is cheap, filling, and it makes a large quantity.

This minestrone soup recipe is modified from Fix-It and Forget It, Slow Cooker Recipes.  I made it on one of the first cold fall days.  I love throwing everything into the slow cooker in the morning, and then having dinner all ready in the evening.  This recipe made enough to feed both my family, and my parents with leftovers for my lunch on Monday.

Looking for other beef stew meat inspiration? Try our Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup, Instant Pot Hawaiian Beef, and Sunday Dinner Beef Tips. Our friends have some good beef stew meat recipes too:  Stew Meat Chili, Instant Pot Beef Stew, Crock Pot Stew Meat and Mushrooms, Slow Cooker Beef Stew Rice, Hearty, Healthy Beef Stew.

Should I use raw pasta or cook pasta in crock pot recipes?

My view on this question has changed over the years. I used to add uncooked pasta to soups and other crock pot recipes during the last 30-45 minutes of cooking. However, I found that this would leave the pasta with a gummy texture. Now, I cook the pasta to just al dente on the stove in a large pot of boiling water. Then, I drain well and add it to the crock pot recipe. I still add it the last 30 minutes of cooking, but it’s just so that it gets warmed up and some of the flavors absorb into the pasta.

Ingredients

• Cubed Beef (beef stew meat)
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Water
• Crushed tomatoes
• Beef bouillon
• Onion, chopped
• Minced garlic
• Dried basil
• Dried parsley
• Dried oregano
• Frozen diced vegetables (corn, peas and green beans)
• Garbanzo Beans
• Red Kidney Beans
• Uncooked Macaroni

How to make minestrone soup in crock pot?

Step by Step Instructions

1. Season beef with salt and pepper; cut into smaller chunks if desired.
2. Add all ingredients except garbanzo beans, red kidney beans and dry macaroni to the crock pot insert. Stir well.
3. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
4. In a large pot of boiling water, cook macaroni until al dente, drain well.
5. Add drained beans and cooked and drained macaroni, and cook for an additional 30 to 45 minutes or until macaroni is cooked through.

Storage Instructions

Let leftovers cool completely. Transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator.

For the full recipe steps and ingredient amounts for slow cooker classic minestrone, scroll to the bottom of this post. 

Recipe FAQs

• If you want additional flavor to this slow cooker minestrone soup in the crock pot, sear the beef cubes in oil in a skillet before adding to the crock pot insert.
• I prefer to cut the 1-inch cubed beef into smaller pieces to make the meat equal in size to the veggies and beans.
• Season the cubed beef with salt and pepper before adding to the crock pot.
• Try serving this Slow Cooker Classic Minestrone topped with grated Parmesan.
• Another easy soup using beef stew meat is our Beef and Barley Soup recipe.

Recipe Variations

• If you prefer a chunkier, hearty minestrone, consider adding a second bag of frozen, mixed vegetables, an extra pound of beef or additional cans of beans to the crock pot.
• Switch up the frozen veggies. Try zucchini, potatoes, carrots, corn, spinach, etc.
• Use any type of small pasta instead of macaroni.
• Other varieties of beans can be used such as cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, Great Northern beans.
• Ground beef can be substituted for cubed beef in this classic minestrone recipe.
• Beef stock or beef broth is perfectly suitable to be substituted for the water and beef bouillon. Vegetable broth or chicken broth would work too.
• Use a Italian seasoning blend if you have that on hand.
• Replace crushed tomatoes with any other canned tomatoes such as diced tomatoes.
• Garnish the bowl of soup with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Other Favorite Soup Recipes

If you follow us regularly, you’ll notice that we love soups. Here’s a list of all our favorites:

Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup (#1 shared recipe on the blog!)

Mom’s Wild Rice and Broccoli Soup

Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

Broccoli Cheese Soup with Sausage

Crock Pot Hamburger Vegetable Soup with V8

What does minestrone taste like?

Minestrone is a hearty soup with Italian flavors of tomato and herbs such as basil, thyme and rosemary.

Kitchen Utensils Needed for This Recipe

• Large Crock Pot
• Can Opener
• Saucepan
• Colander
• Large spoon or ladle