30 Minute Orzo Minestrone Soup

30 Minute Orzo Minestrone Soup is hearty, nutritious and packed with your favorite Italian flavors.  The beans provide protein, the vegetables provide vitamins and the cheese provides calcium.  This is a 30 minute meal the whole family will love.  

I have always loved minestrone soup.

When we took our trip to Italy a year ago I fully expected to eat a few bowls of my favorite Italian soup.  To my surprise I did not eat one bowl of it over the six days we were there. It was no where to be found.

Does that ever happen to you when you travel to a new country? You have perceptions of the dishes and foods you will find and that is not always the case.  I assume a lot of that has to do with the region of the country you are in but I still find it surprising.

This also happened to me the first time I went to Mexico.  I walked into a restaurant  thinking I would be eating the traditional taco and chips and salsa I ate at home.  This was not the case and again the food was different (and by different I do not mean bad but even better then we make it in America ).  The flavors and ingredients were the same but the way some of their dishes were prepared was different then the American way of making Mexican food.

30 Minute Orzo Minestrone Soup is similar to the traditional minestrone soup you probably eat but with orzo pasta instead of the larger pastas. This is one of my favorite hearty yet light and nutritious soups.

To give the soup some extra flavor and creaminess I add 1/2 of a cup of parmesan cheese.  Another option would be to add a parmesan rind to the soup, letting it simmer, and removing the rind before serving. Adding parmesan cheese to this soup is optional and not necessary. The soup will still have a lot of flavor without it.

For the soup lovers you can easily double this recipe. This soup lasts a few days in the refrigerator and makes great leftovers.

For more delicious soups check out my Soups Pinterest board!

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Enjoy!

Julia