Pasta Fazool, otherwise known as pasta e fagioli, is a hearty and rustic Italian soup that is bursting with flavor and texture. This Italian pasta soup is a simple dish made with sausage, pasta, and beans, but the combination of ingredients creates a rich and complex taste that is both satisfying and comforting.
A note from me - It is not the authentic version but my take on the famous Italian soup that our family love. A hearty medley of veggies, sausage and beans with pasta, it is not like any other dish and is something between a hearty stew and thick soup.
You'll definitely appreciate more of my favorite Italian-style recipes such as Italian Sausage Soup and Chicken Gnocchi Soup on his blog.
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Why You'll Love This Pasta Fazool Recipe
- Quick and easy - Simple pantry staples, inexpensive ingredients, and everything is cooked in one pot (except pasta) and dinner is ready in less than 1 hour.
- Rich and flavorful - This broth is a flavorful combination of tomato sauce, veggies, and Italian herbs, with just the right amount of spices to awaken your taste buds. To get the flavor right, I recommend using all the ingredients listed in the recipe and not substituting any of them.
- Best Comfort food - It's a classic American Italian comfort food that will never get old. Cozy up with a bowl of this hearty soup served with crusty bread. Delicious in every bite!
🛒Ingredients
- Beef - beef, pork, bacon, pancetta, ground chicken or turkey, or Italian sausage - all work great in this hearty soup. For the broth, also any meat, vegetable, or chicken broth is fine. Just make sure it is low-sodium.
- Small Pasta Shape - any small pasta will work here. Whether you are gluten-free or not, there are plenty of choices. Ditalini, orechiette, small shells, cavatelli. Ziti, rigatoni, and fusilli are also great choices but are larger.
- Vegetables - Just like in a classic Minestrone, a good variety of veggies is essential for this recipe to work. The best part is that you can use up any leftover veggies that are sitting in your fridge. Zucchini, carrots, celery, onion, and crushed tomatoes are more common for Pasta Fagioli Soup. But you can mix up a bunch of other vegetables like mushrooms, broccoli or cauliflower, snow peas, green beans, and bell peppers.
- No meat option - For the vegetarian version omit the beef and broth. Use more beans or cooked lentils(not red ones as they will become too mushy in the soup unless you are ok with that) instead for added protein and vegetable broth. Pan-fried tempeh could be a great substitution to ground beef here.
- Creamy Beans - Essentially, the Pasta e Fagioli recipe is pasta and bean soup. This means that these two are the most essential ingredients in this dish and can't be substituted with anything. The beans bring their own unique flavors to the mix, adding depth and richness to the dish. You can, make it with any bean type or completely without beans but it wouldn't be pasta Fagioli anymore.
- I’ve used canned white beans (such as cannellini beans and Great Northern beans. Butter beans can be used too) and red kidney beans (light or dark red kidney beans) in this pasta Fagioli soup. Borlotti beans, black eyed peas and pinto beans are other our favorites. Drain and rinse them well to remove the high-sodium content.
- Tomato puree or sauce - I used rich tomato puree without any add-ons and crushed tomatoes (you can use diced tomatoes too). If you don't have one of these you can substitute one of these with a good quality Italian tomato paste.
For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down where you'll find the recipe card.
✅ EXPERT TIP The canned beans add convenience but you can use dried beans that will need to be soaked in water overnight.
🥘 Instructions
Italian soups are pretty much straightforward when it comes to cooking. Saute the meat, add veggies and pour in the broth, and cook! You'll love how easy this soup is.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and brown beef over medium-high heat.
Drain excess fat and transfer to a plate, set aside.
In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon oil and cook onions, carrots, and celery, over medium-high heat until tender about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds more.
After that, add Italian herbs, sugar, salt, black pepper, and beef. Cook for a couple of minutes until all are combined.
Add beef broth, tomato sauce, water, and canned tomatoes.
Simmer and bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce the heat to medium-low heat. Cook until vegetables are tender but not overly soft.
Meanwhile cook the ditalini pasta according to the packaging directions (cook until al dente).
Stir in the cooked pasta to the soup, white beans, and kidney beans. Taste for seasoning.
If the soup seems to be too thick, you can thin it out with some water or broth.
Allow cooking 1 minute longer. Stir in parsley, and serve warm with grated Romano or Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
📋Tips
- If you plan to freeze this soup, it must be done without the cooked pasta. Cook everything as directed in the instructions but don’t add the pasta. Pasta will become thick, and large after freezing and will become mushy after reheating.
- It is better to eat this soup in one sitting. Pasta will continue to absorb in the soup as it rests in the fridge.
- Make it gluten-free by using gluten-free noodles instead, short small pasta types are best here.
- It's a type of dish that tastes better than a restaurant! Add elements of pretty presentation and you have the perfect dish for a date night. We like to serve this with fresh herbs, grated parmesan cheese, baguette, or ciabatta.
- Make it hot - add a drizzle of hot sauce or red pepper flakes towards the end of cooking or when serving individual bowls. This adds a smoky element and intensifies all the rest of the ingredients and spices! So much flavor!
- Also, bay leaves add great extra flavor to any soup or stew dish.
- Swap the crushed tomatoes for fire-roasted diced tomatoes. It kicks the flavor up a notch.
✅ EXPERT TIP: Don't overcook your pasta. It should be cooked al dente and after boiling it, rinsed under cold water to prevent further cooking. Basically, if you undercook the pasta, you're good!
Storage Instructions
- 🍱To Store. Once the soup is cooked, let it cool completely before transferring it into airtight containers and refrigerating for up to 3 days.
- 🥶Freezing. If you plan to freeze this soup, it must be done without the cooked pasta. Cook everything as directed in the instructions but don’t add the pasta. Pasta will become thick, and large after freezing and will become mushy after reheating.
- 🔥To Reheat. For reheating, use the stovetop and take it to a gentle boil.
👪Serving Suggestions
This hearty soup is a meal on its own. Served with parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, and crusty bread on the side - is the number one comfort food on a gloomy cold day!
And here I don't recommend adding more unless you have time to make a quick chopped Italian salad that would be the ideal combo here.
Serve it on the side or as an appetizer before the soup.
Why Is it Called Pasta Fagioli?
The ‘’Pasta and Beans’’ dish comes from Italian Cuisine and is also known as Pasta Fasule, Pasta Fazool (American name), or Pasta e Ceci in Tuscany, made with chickpeas.
The history of the hearty soup comes from the olden days when pasta and beans were readily available and inexpensive ingredients that everyone could use.
Today in many regions of Italy, there are different variations of this famous dish.
Pasta Fagioli VS Minestrone
In Minestrone Soup the highlight of the dish is the veggies used in the soup.
However, Pasta Fagioli is more focused on pasta and beans. It is usually thicker and stew-like rather than being an actual soup like Minestrone.
Variations
- Many recipes call for curly kale, spinach or swiss chard - these are all great add-ons and great for added nutrition. For spinach, add it once the soup is almost cooked, and for kale or chard, somewhere in the middle to allow the lettuce to soften.
- Remember if using kale, massage it before chopping it and adding it to the pasta fazool. It will help to release any bitterness from the kale.
❤️Did you make this recipe? Please be sure to leave a rating and a comment below. Thank you!❤️
📖Recipe
Pasta Fazool (Pasta e Fagioli Soup)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground sausage or ground beef/pork
- 1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 1 cup celery about 3 stalks, sliced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic cloves
- 2 ½ cup tomato puree or passata
- 3 cups low-sodium beef broth or chicken stock
- ½ cup water then more as desired
- 1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning Herbs and spices
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoon olive oil divided
- 1 cup uncooked gluten free small pasta ditalini, elbows, shells
- 1 15 ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, white beans, drained and rinsed
- finely shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese for serving
- Chopped fresh parsley for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and brown beef over medium-high heat.
- Drain excess fat and transfer to a plate, set aside.
- In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon oil and cook onions, carrots, and celery, over medium-high heat until tender about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds more.
- After that, add Italian herbs, sugar, salt, black pepper, and beef. Cook for a couple of minutes until all are combined.
- Add beef broth, tomato sauce, water, and canned tomatoes.
- Simmer and bring to a boil over medium heat and then reduce the heat to medium-low heat. Cook until vegetables are tender but not overly soft.
- Meanwhile cook the ditalini pasta according to the packaging directions (cook until al dente).
- Stir in the cooked pasta to the soup, white beans, and kidney beans. Taste for seasoning.
- If the soup seems to be too thick, you can thin it out with some water or broth.
- Allow cooking 1 minute longer. Stir in parsley, and serve warm with grated Romano or Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
- It's a type of dish that tastes better than a restaurant! Add elements of pretty presentation and you have the perfect dish for a date night. We like to serve this with fresh herbs, grated parmesan cheese, baguette, or ciabatta.
- If you plan to freeze this soup, it must be done without the cooked pasta. Cook everything as directed in the instructions but don’t add the pasta. Pasta will become thick, and large after freezing and will become mushy after reheating.
- Swap the crushed tomatoes for fire-roasted diced tomatoes. It kicks the flavor up a notch.
- It goes without saying, but don't overcook your pasta. it should be cooked al dente and after boiling it, rinsed under cold water to prevent further cooking. Basically, if you undercook the pasta, you're good!
🤷Frequently Asked Questions
Essentially these two are the same thing. In the American version, this soup is often referred to as pasta fazool (beans) and Pasta Fagioli is an Italian name.
In Minestrone Soup the highlight of the dish is the veggies used in the soup. There are plenty, don't miss my Minestrone Soup to see for yourself. However, Pasta Fagioli is more focused on pasta and beans.It is usually thicker and stew-like rather than being an actual soup like Minestrone.
Once the soup is cooked, let it cool completely before transferring it into an airtight container and refrigerating for up to 3 days. I always say, that we get the best flavor and nutritional value from any dish when it is served right away. For reheating, use the stovetop and take it to a gentle boil.
Carla J Green
I don't understand how they can call that pasta fagiol when it has meat in it. pasta fagiol it's just pasta and beans. it's a hearty and very cheap meal. Even today you can feed 10 people for under $10.
Eric
Why on Earth would you want to copy anything from Olive Garden? The McDonald's of Italian cuine. Their version of this is an abomination. Ground beef does not belong here. Sausage can be over powering. If you're going to use pork it should be pacetta. Plus where is the rosemary? That's a big part of the flavor.