Pasta e Fagioli
Pasta, beans, and lots of vegetables come together in this rustic Italian soup. Hearty yet light, this soup is incredibly easy to make and ready to enjoy in less than an hour.
Pasta e fagioli, also known as pasta fagioli or pasta fazool, is a classic Italian soup. Often described as a rustic peasant dish, pasta e fagioli literally translates to “pasta and beans.” This simple, broth-based soup is loaded with vegetables, pasta, and beans. It’s hearty yet light, making it the perfect fall comfort food.
The great thing about this soup is there are countless ways to make it. Some cooks add ground beef, sausage, or tiny meatballs. Some recipes use cannellini beans; others use dark red kidney beans or borlotti beans (also called cranberry beans). Some pasta e fagioli is so thick it’s like a pasta dish; others are very brothy. Sometimes tomato products like diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, or tomato paste are added and sometimes they’re not. No matter the variations, this bean and veggie-packed soup is both, delicious and nutritious. Let me show you how to make my version of pasta e fagioli.
Start by sautéing the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in a Dutch oven or stock pot with some olive oil. The vegetables only need about a 3-minute sauté as they’ll continue to cook and soften in the broth once it’s added.
To the lightly sautéed vegetables, add the Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper flakes and sauté an additional 1 to 2 minutes. This quick sauté of the herbs and red pepper flakes helps to amplify their flavor. This is actually a cooking technique called “blooming.” The red pepper flakes add a little spice to the soup, so if you’re “heat” adverse, just omit them.
Next, add the tomato paste and sauté 3 to 4 minutes, allowing the paste to cook until the color goes from bright red to maroon. This helps to caramelize the tomato paste, creating a deeper, sweeter flavor profile.
The chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you prefer) and bay leaves are added next. Give everything a good stir and allow the mixture to come to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the soup gently simmer while you cook the pasta.
Before adding the pasta to the soup, cook it first. Soups that contain pasta continue to absorb liquid as they sit in the refrigerator, causing leftover soup to become rather thick. I find that cooking the pasta and then adding it to the pasta e fagioli keeps that post liquid absorption at a minimum. Because this soup contains pasta, I wouldn’t recommend freezing leftovers. Generally speaking, when the pasta in the soup defrosts, the texture tends to be mushy.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the soup along with the cannellini beans. Stir, cover, and cook the pasta e fagioli an additional 10 minutes.
All that’s left to do is add the seasonings – vinegar, salt, and black pepper. It probably sounds weird, but a splash of an acidic ingredient like vinegar (or lemon juice) added at the end of cooking brightens and enhances the flavor. It’s a great trick to improve the taste without adding more salt.
When serving today’s pasta e fagioli, I like to garnish it with a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and minced parsley. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator; it will keep for 4 to 5 days.
To your health,
Darlene
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PASTA e FAGIOLI
Yield: 6 servings
Serving Size: about 1 cup
Prep: 15 minutes
Ready: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (seasoning blend of oregano, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, basil, sage, and savory)
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 container (32 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup dry tubetti or ditalini pasta
1 can (15 ounce) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Sauté until vegetables begin to soften; about 3 to 4 minutes. Add Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes and cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir until tomato paste color darkens slightly; about 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth and bay leaves. Stir to combine ingredients and bring to a gentle boil. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and allow soup to simmer while cooking the pasta separately.
In a large saucepan of unsalted boiling water, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and add to soup along with cannellini beans. Stir gently to incorporate pasta and beans into soup. Cover pot and allow soup to gently simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove soup from heat, add vinegar, salt, and black pepper and stir to combine. When ready to serve, garnish each 1-cup serving with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese and minced parsley.
Nutrition Information per Serving
223 Calories, 9 g Total fat, 2 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 4 mg Cholesterol, 686 mg Sodium, 30 g Total carbohydrate, 6 g Dietary fiber, 4 g Total sugars, 0 g Added sugars, 8 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 146 mg (10%) Calcium, 3 mg (15%) Iron, 351 mg (8%) Potassium
© 2025 RECIPES MADE HEALTHY BY DARLENE ZIMMERMAN, MS, RD LLC
