PASTA FAGIOLI SOUP RECIPE
You may know this Pasta Fagioli Soup from a popular chain restaurant. I have never had it so I can't say if it's a copycat or not but I do know that this soup is AMAZING.
The "secret" ingredient is a jar of spaghetti sauce and trust me when I say that it totally makes this soup crazy delicious.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST PASTA FAGIOLI SOUP
Ground Beef
Onion - I use a yellow onion but you could use white onion or sweet Vidalia onion if wanted.
Beef Broth - Recipe has been tested with two cans reduced sodium beef broth + one can regular beef broth. If you use all 50% reduced-sodium beef broth you may need to add some additional salt at the end depending on preference. If you use all full salt beef broth then you may need to not add the additional ½ teaspoon later in the recipe.
Petite Diced Tomatoes
Spaghetti Sauce - Make sure it's one that you love! I always use a more normal flavor of spaghetti sauce like tomato & basil or traditional.
Sliced Celery & Carrots - I like to use baby carrots for this recipe because there is no need to peel them and they are already small in size so all you have to do is slice them.
Kidney Beans - Dark or light kidney beans will work fine. I use light kidney beans cause that's what I prefer.
Cannellini Beans
Oregano, Basil, Salt, & Pepper
Small Shell Dried Pasta
WHAT TO SERVE WITH PASTA E FAGIOLI SOUP
I love making my 1 hour soft & fluffy rolls when I make this soup. It's the best to soak up that extra broth with a fluffy roll. You can also just buy some store-bought rolls. Some frozen rolls that you bake. Or buy a bag of frozen crusty rolls that get warmed up in the oven for a few minutes.
You can also serve this with some garlic bread, cornbread, or easy garlic parmesan knots.
TRY THESE OTHER DELICIOUS SOUP RECIPES
- minestrone soup
- cream cheese chicken soup
- creamy chicken wild rice soup
- 7 can chicken taco soup
- vegetable soup
Hearty Pasta Fagioli Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cans (14.5 oz each) beef broth
- 1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes do not drain
- 1 jar (24 oz) spaghetti sauce
- 1 cup thinly sliced celery
- 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
- 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans drained & rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans drained & rinsed
- 1 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 8 oz dried small shell pasta about 1½ cups
Instructions
- In a LARGE stock pot, cook ground beef, onion, and ½ teaspoon salt over medium-high heat. Crumble beef as you cook it until no longer pink. Drain.
- Add beef broth, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, celery, carrots, beans, oregano, basil, salt & pepper. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover pot with lid and reduce to medium-low heat.
- Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Vegetables should be tender and you may have to lift the lid and check on it 1 or 2 times to stir it and make sure it's not burning or too hot. Reduce heat to low, if needed.
- Add pasta and cover with lid. Let simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
- Serve with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese.
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge for several days or divide the leftovers into quart-sized Ziploc bags and freeze. Just add some additional water or beef broth when reheating soup from the freezer.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Just make this tonight for me and my husband who is down with the flu. Delicious! He said it hit the spot for someone under the weather.
Thank you Barb! I hope he feels better soon and I'm so glad this soup helped.
Made this tonight in my instant pot. I browned the meat and onion on saute and then put it on manual pressure for 5 minutes with all ingredients and it came out perfectly cooked. My family loved it!!
Have you made the Pasta Fagioli soup in a crockpot before? If so, how long would you suggest it should cook?
I never have. But it should be fine just brown the ground beef and then add it all into the crock pot. I would say low heat for 4-5 hours should be good. Add the pasta in the last 30 minutes and let it cook until tender.
I was surprised not to see any garlic in the recipe. I’m in my “30 minute waiting period” so haven’t tasted it yet with the flavors married. Can’t wait!!
This soup was delicious. Just made it and it tastes so much better than any other recipe I have tried!
Could I make everything but hold off putting the pasta in until the day i serve? Two days later? Or should i just put the pasta in now then add water to thin when re heating? I don’t want the pasta to get overdone when I reheat in two days?
Either way would work fine. For best texture and presentation I would definitely make the soup and then add some pasta the day you serve it. I always add water when I reheat leftovers and while it's really good, the pasta does have a much softer texture to it.
I made this 2 nights ago when it was cold..It was a hit awesome with crusty bread on the side...Husband loved it ,My mother in law loved it...I will be making this again????
Just made this for the first time. My husband and I loved it. I think it is actually better than Olive Garden’s.
Each time I make your recipe, I get rave reviews, thank you! I do tweak it a bit, but doesn't every good cook add their little flare to a recipe? Lol! I am so glad I found you in Pinterest!
I am so glad you found me too 🙂 And so happy the soup is a hit.
Delish! I followed the recipe exactly and I think it was better than Olive Garden. It came out perfect and was so tasty. I gave containers to my son and niece and they gave it rave reviews. I also froze some to see how well it freezes. I highly recommend trying this recipe.
I made this tonight and my family loved it! My daughter said it tasted better than Olive Garden!
So happy to hear this! And thank you 🙂
This soup is delicious. I made it in crockpot. The only addition was garlic. My family loves garlic.
I made this on Thanksgiving. I had to substitute the beef with Beyond Beef and vegetable broth instead of beef broth and everyone, vegans and non vegans, went crazy over it. Four people asked for the recipe. One person, after their first serving, asked if there was a way to hide it so they could take it all home. Another made me promise I’ll make this every holiday. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
haha I LOVE this! You were the hit of the party it sounds like. So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and everyone else did too 🙂
I freeze without the pasta and add cooked pasta when reheating. If I freeze it with the pasta, it gets mushy. That is just the way I like it. I’m sure it is good your way also.
Yes, that's a great idea. I usually just add a little bit of water to my leftovers when I reheat cause you're right, the pasta does absorb a lot of the liquid as it sits in the fridge.
I made this last night! It was so delicious today for lunch! I substituted 1 box chickpea pasta instead of regular pasta. And used 1lb ground turkey 97% lean instead of beef. It was so delicious I will definitely make this again!
I would say that my Husband and Son rated this as a 4 Star Rating. I made this using your recipe, but, being that he is diabetic, I make EVERYTHING from scratch. I made my own shell macaroni, with my pasta maker. I made my own spaghetti sauce. I don't understand these recipes that claim "Made From Scratch," but, call for canned beans and canned tomatoes.
I was very good after tasting it myself.
I bet it was delicious with your homemade pasta and spaghetti sauce! Thank you for leaving your comment and I am glad to hear your family enjoyed this 🙂
Made this today; it was very good. I had a little difficulty getting the salt just right due to some lower-salt
ingredients I used. Also, it was great having leftovers to put into the freezer. Thank you.
I love this recipe, it's so eazy. My family enjoyed it so much. The only thing I did differently as to put in the crock pot and added a Parmesan cheese rind which took out of southern I added the pasta for the last haif bout of cooking. This definitely stays in my recipe book.
I never add the pasta to the soup because the pasta will swell up and soak up a lot of the liquid. Instead, I boil the pasta separately and add it to the bowls of soup. I also add a cup or so of the pasta water which helps thicken and flavor the soup a bit. Also, always put in a clove of minced garlic ... it's Italian you know !!
I made this one before, it tastes just like Olive Garden
So good to hear it! Had to repost it to get fresh eyes on it cause we love this soup. Thanks for your comment and review. I appreciate it lots.
This soup was delicious! My coworkers loved it and I will be making it again!
Lots of flavor. My 2 year old grandson who defies vegetables couldn’t get enough!
My family destroys this soup! I use quite a bit more seasoning than the recipe calls for and add a beef bullion cube or two.
This was easy and delicious! Some garlic bread would be great with it!
I love to try this recipe out thank
I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!
I made this using Rao’s Italian sausage and mushroom pasta sauce, sweet Italian sausage instead of ground beef, ditalini pasta, and threw in a handful of coarse chopped fresh spinach with five minutes left to cook. It was fantastic!
Thank your for your comment! I love hearing how people adjust the recipes to make them their own!
This is my go-to soup for friends and family! I first made it a couple years ago and have since made it about 100 times. Always a hit! It’s currently cooking for our Christmas dinner tomorrow! ♥️
Thank you for sharing! It’s wonderful to hear that it’s become a part of your family!