Pasta fagioli soup (or “pasta e fagioli soup”) is a traditional Italian recipe that’s loaded with Italian sausage, pasta, beans, and tomatoes. The healthy, rustic, and easy dinner cooks in one pot, making it perfect for busy weeknights!
Table of Contents
If you love soup recipes, try this meatball soup with cheese tortellini, a pot of easy chicken noodle soup, this cozy beef barley soup, and this bean soup, too!
How to Make Pasta Fagioli Soup | 1-Minute Video
Awesome!!!!’ My new favorite soup!
– C.J.
What to Know Before You Get Started
- Pasta Fagioli (also called “Pasta e Fagioli” or “Pasta Fasul”) is a traditional Italian soup that translates to “pasta and beans.” The pasta fagioli soup recipe from Olive Garden made this dish even more popular in the mainstream United States, and includes white and red beans, ground beef, fresh tomatoes, and tubetti pasta in a savory broth.
- While meat is not typically the featured ingredient in pasta e fagioli, many recipes do use bacon, pancetta, ground beef, or Italian sausage (like this one) for extra flavor. You can also prepare a vegetarian version of the soup by omitting the meat altogether.
- This is a very thick soup — almost like a stew. If you prefer more liquid in your bowl, add extra broth, to taste.
- Pasta fagioli and minestrone soup are very similar. According to this source, the main difference is in the vegetables. While minestrone features a wide variety of vegetables, pasta fagioli emphasizes the pasta and beans. The latter is often thicker and more stew-like than minestrone as well.
Directions
This easy dinner is full of flavor — and it’s ready in less than 45 minutes! You’ll find step-by-step instructions in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post, but here’s the overview:
- Brown the sausage, and then remove the meat to a plate. Leave the fat in the pot to use for cooking your veggies.
- Sauté the vegetables and garlic in the pot until tender.
- Add the beans, tomato paste, tomatoes, broth, and herbs; bring the mixture to a boil. Taste and season as you go. The total amount of salt necessary will vary depending on the saltiness of your broth, and on personal preference. Add extra salt for more flavor, and feel free to increase the other herbs and seasonings as well.
- Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the pasta, and simmer until tender. The total cooking time for the pasta will depend on the size and shape that you choose. Ditalini typically needs about 10-15 minutes in the simmering broth, but keep an eye on it and turn off the heat when the pasta is just barely tender. It will continue to soften and plump up as it sits in the hot soup.
- Stir the sausage back into the pot, and ladle the soup into bowls.
- Garnish each bowl with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese for the best flavor. Extra fresh parsley or other herbs are also a delicious finishing touch.
Serving Suggestions
Pasta e fagioli is delicious alongside no-knead cast iron focaccia, garlic bread, or a loaf of crusty Dutch oven bread.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Make Ahead: If you’d like to prep ahead, I recommend making the soup through Step 3 (do not add the pasta). Cool the broth and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month. When ready to serve, bring the soup to a simmer, add the pasta, and follow the rest of the directions.
- How to Store: Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month; however, cooked pasta may be mushy when frozen and reheated.
- How to Reheat: Warm leftovers in a covered saucepan over low heat on the stovetop, just until heated through. Do not overcook or the pasta will become mushy. Add extra broth if the soup is too thick. You can also reheat individual portions in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Made this last weekend – easy, healthy and delicious! We’ll make this again soon. Thank you for the recipe Blair!
– Sarah
More Soup Recipes to Try
Minestrone
1 hour hr 10 minutes mins
Chicken Tortellini Soup
45 minutes mins
Crock Pot Vegetable Soup
5 hours hrs 15 minutes mins
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Watch How to Make It
Pasta Fagioli Soup
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
0 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Pasta e fagioli soup is a traditional Italian recipe that's loaded with Italian sausage, pasta, beans, and tomatoes!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb. ground Italian sausage (I use Italian turkey sausage, but any variety will work)
- 1 small onion, diced (about ½ cup)
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic (about 3 cloves)
- 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, not drained
- 4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or ½ teaspoon dried parsley flakes)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary)
- 1 ½ cups dry ditalini pasta (about 7 ounces)
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- For garnish: freshly grated Parmesan cheese; additional chopped parsley or rosemary
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the sausage. Cook until no longer pink, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat (about 5-7 minutes). Use a slotted spoon to remove the sausage and place it on a plate (leave the fat in the pot).
- Add the onion, celery, and carrot to the remaining fat in the pot. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until tender (about 7-8 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
- Season with salt and pepper; add beans, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, broth, parsley and rosemary.
- Bring to a boil, then stir in the pasta. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking for about 10-11 more minutes (or until the pasta is tender). Stir the pasta regularly as it’s cooking so that it doesn’t stick to the pot.
- Stir in the cooked sausage, and season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary. Ladle into bowls and garnish with additional herbs and freshly grated Parmesan.
Notes
This is a very thick soup — almost like a stew. If you prefer more liquid in your bowl, add extra broth, to taste.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cupCalories: 244.7kcalCarbohydrates: 31.5gProtein: 15.8gFat: 7.2gSaturated Fat: 1.5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1.3gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 809.4mgPotassium: 194.9mgFiber: 4.9gSugar: 3.4g
Recipe Variations
- Any beans will work here, so pick your favorites. I use cannellini beans (white kidney beans), but other good options include chickpeas, red beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, and Great Northern beans.
- I like ditalini pasta, but elbow macaroni is also great.
- I use Italian turkey sausage, but any variety of Italian sausage will work. Try spicy or sweet!
- To make this soup like the Olive Garden’s, substitute 1 lb. of ground beef for the sausage.
- Make the pasta fagioli vegetarian: omit the sausage and use an extra can of beans instead. Be sure to use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, too.
- This soup is very mild. Make it spicy with crushed red pepper flakes and hot Italian sausage.
- Simmer the soup with a Parmesan rind for even more flavor in the pot. Remove the rind before serving.
- Include extra fresh herbs, such as basil or oregano, for even more fresh Italian flavor.
This recipe was originally published in December, 2019. It was updated in August, 2024.
Can this be put in crockpot & how many hours
Hi, Holly! I haven’t tested it in the Crock Pot, so I can’t give you any specific timing. If you want to cook it in the slow cooker, I would brown the sausage and cook the veggies in a skillet first (exactly as explained in Steps 1 and 2), and then transfer everything to the slow cooker. Cook on low for maybe 4-6 hours, and then put the slow cooker on high. Add the pasta to the Crock Pot on high for just long enough for the pasta to become tender (this might take anywhere from 10-30 minutes)? Let me know if you give it a try!
Made this last weekend – easy, healthy and delicious! We’ll make this again soon. Thank you for the recipe Blair!
Thanks, Sarah! So glad that you liked it! I appreciate you taking the time to leave me a note 🙂
This was absolutely delicious. I had to make a couple of changes, and I.cooked the pasta separately so.we could put the soup over it as we served ourselves (just a personal preference), but the flavors are wonderful. Will make again.
Sounds perfect! Thanks, LeAnn!
Hi I just had to add a comment, to clarify…my grandmother was a northern Italian immigrant who lived to 105 years old; the last few years of her life she lived with me. While she lived with me, she taught me to cook all the wonderful recipes, which I ate while growing up. Each one had a special event she would prepare it. Her Pasta Fazoul and Minestrone were my very favorites, and totally authentic.the story. behind Pasta Fazoul is it was a no meat meal for Catholics on no meat Fridays. It was very soupy and only took 30 min to cook. I loaf of crusty fresh bread completed the meal. Minestrone was her “7 bean soup” which was delicious and took half the day to make. It was typically eaten on Easter and the broth was not tomato based. It was flavored with cubed pork and veal, sautéed and then simmered with the broth created with lots of different beans and fresh herbs and water. Both of these soups were amazing, and my biggest compliment when I first prepared them for my father was him saying it tasted just like his mother’s! So those were the traditional ingredients for these 2 delicious soups in my world, and I’ve carried the tradition forward 2 more generations, when I taught them. To my own granddaughter…
That’s amazing, Karen! You’re so lucky to have those traditional recipes to enjoy!
That s awesome. Both sides of my mothers family were immigrants. My grandmother married my grandfather and that was a family that taught me all the Czech foods or Hungarian foods, My Dads side was 100% German, so I also learned many German recipes as well. My grandmother’s sister while being Czech, she married an Italian, so any recipes we have from her are full Italian. It is awesome having the traditional recipes of family. Sadly, young people today to not want to learn these or have no one handing them down. Sadly all of the family recipes die with me. Neither of my siblings eat them, so they are not passing them on at all, and God did not bless me with children. Thank you for sharing here with all of us!
Sounds like you have some amazing recipes, Sherry! It never hurts to write them all down. Thanks so much for following along with us!
A wonderful story about your family. I think it would be awesome for you to put your recipes and stories in a book.
Awesome!!!!’ My new favorite soup!
Yay! Thank you, CJ!
Can you add half a can of red kidney beans drained and rinsed
Hi Bill,
Absolutely! Any beans you like best will taste great in this recipe.
Thank you so much
You’re welcome! We hope you enjoy!
East delicious. Added a couple of my own items but just minor seasoning. Super good
Thank you, Christie!