Stanley Tucci’s One-Pot Soup Recipe Is the ‘Greatest Culinary Invention'

Oct 15, 2024

It's a family-favorite, ready in about 30 minutes.

Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images

It may be starting to feel like soup season to you, but for actor and home cook Stanley Tucci, any day is a good day for a bowl of the comfort food. Tucci has shared quite a few soup recipes over the years—like his pasta fagioli, the pea soup he pairs with grilled cheese, and even an Italian string bean soup he eats in the summer.

And, after reading his new book “What I Ate in One Year (and related thoughts)”, which is available starting Oct. 15, it’s clear that Tucci likes soup just as much as pasta—which he once told Allrecipes he eats practically daily. He mentioned “soup” 42 times throughout the food diary—and in all four seasons.

“I am a soup lover. To me soup may be the greatest culinary invention. It can be made with two ingredients or two hundred twenty-two ingredients. It can be served hot or cold. It can be cooked fast or slow. It can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It can be simple or complex. It comforts, it soothes, it refreshes, and it restores. Soup is life in a pot,” Tucci writes.

However, despite his love for Italian egg drop soup and potato-leek soup, there’s one recipe that he actually shares in the book. And, if you know Tucci, you know getting a full recipe out of him with measurements and everything is a rare occurrence. So, which dish gets the honor? It's none other than the minestrone soup he mentions eating multiple times throughout the year.

Simon & Schuster/Allrecipes

Tucci first mentions the veggie-packed soup in January, when he says he makes a big pot of it to bring to his dressing room on set. That must happen pretty frequently because the actor recently shared a video of himself eating a steaming bowl of the minestrone in his trailer in between takes.

Tucci then made the soup again in May—which is where he shares the “hearty” and “healthy” recipe in the book. Then again in October—when he eats a bowl of leftovers at 10:30 a.m.—and, finally, again in November—when he adds strained marinara and an extra Parmesan rind.

The Tucci Minestrone, as it's called in the book, seems to be a Tucci family favorite, as every time it’s mentioned, it’s always in “a big pot” or being made at the request of Felicity, Tucci's wife (and Emily Blunt's sister).

So, if you’re looking for an easy, one-pot soup that comes together quickly and is packed with veggies and beans, here is Tucci’s minestrone soup recipe.

Bailey Fink

This recipe was developed by Stanley Tucci for "What I Ate In One Year (and other related thoughts)" and shared courtesy of Simon & Schuster.