Minestrone soup is a classic Italian soup that’s great for a cold day, but it can be hard to know what to serve with minestrone soup.
The truth is that the best way to think about what goes well with minestrone soup is to think about the ingredients in the soup itself. You’ll want something that complements those ingredients.
Deciding on What to Serve with Minestrone Soup
Minestrone is a tomato-based soup that has a ton of flexibility in what it should include. The biggest piece of advice I can give you over all the other tips in this article, is keep it Italian.
If you’re using an Italian recipe for minestrone, don’t try to pair with blatantly non-Italian cuisines such as Indian, Thai or Chinese.
Some recipes call for beans such as cannellini or even navy beans to thicken the soup. You can also use different vegetables such as chopped green beans, carrots, and chunks of zucchini.
Because of the wide range of ingredients you can use in minestrone, there is no one perfect answer I can give you.
If you include meat in your minestrone, this may impact any meat options for side dishes or a main dish. You don’t want the flavors to clash so keep that in mind.
However, I will help you determine a few basic side dishes, breads, and even drinks that you can serve with this popular Italian soup.
Breads & Crackers that go well with Minestrone Soup
Serving bread with a soup is a must, right? Whether you choose a soft artisan bread or a crusty one, that’s up to you. Some people like hard bread, others like soft.
Go with what works for your personal tastes.
I would go with either French bread or authentic Italian bread.
- Garlic bread or crostini both pair well with minestrone soup. They are great for dipping or even as an appetizer before serving the soup. The garlic in the bread will compliment the garlic in the soup.
- Breadsticks, especially soft garlic breadsticks, are a great addition to this Italian soup.
- Grissini – these are like a cracker turned into breadstick! They are long and crispy like a cracker but long like a breadstick.
- Grissini are super easy to make. These are more for appetizers and snacks but are still a good accompaniment to an Italian soup.
Side Dishes to Serve with Minestrone
If serving minestrone as a light lunch, you don’t need much more than some bread to go with it. However if you’re serving it as a main meal, you’ll want to make sure you have some good side dishes to go along with it.
Besides bread, here are some other ideas:
- Salads are always a good option. If the soup has a lot of vegetables in it already, you can easily get by with a simple tossed lettuce Italian salad. Serve with an olive oil and vinegar dressing.
- Pasta is another idea that can be used as a side dish or you can use the pasta as a main dish and minestrone as a side. But any type of pasta would work, except don’t go with an alfredo sauce. Keep to a tomato sauce to compliment the tomato in the minestrone.
- Grilled cheese sandwiches. The cheese and toasted bread add a great compliment to this soup. Although grilled cheese sandwiches aren’t Italian, they match delightfully, especially if you add a slice of tomato inside the sandwich.
- Pizzas will always work well too due to the tomato sauce. However, you can serve a white pizza that features vegetables and greens such as arugula or spinach.
- Stuffed mushrooms is a nice side dish or appetizer.
Drinks to Serve with Ministrone Soup
Wine is always appropriate for minestrone soups, and when the occasion calls for it, here are some Italian wines you can look for.
- Pinot Grigio is a light, dry white wine. It’s great for pairing with lighter dishes, especially if your minestrone isn’t a super hearty dish.
- Chianti is a medium-bodied red wine that pairs well with bolder flavors like onion and tomato which are common ingredients in this soup.
- Wine is such a personal choice, and there is no right or wrong answer in my opinion. If you like it then use it. However, a dry or semi-dry red or white wine will complement the heartiness of this dish.
To Serve or Not To Serve
Knowing what to serve with minestrone soup really boils down to how you plan on using the minestrone . Whether it’s a hearty soup, light soup, vegetarian or meat-filled, choose side dishes that compliment the ingredients used.
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