Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta Bean Soup)

Pasta e Fagioli is an Italian pasta bean recipe. This hearty soup is perfect for a chilly evening as it will not just fill you up, but it will also keep you warm. This vegetarian soup is full of protein and creaminess, it’s made with simple affordable ingredients and takes less than an hour to make.

Scroll down for Instant Pot Instructions

Pasta e fagioli means pasta and beans. During our trip to NYC, my sister and I ate at least 3 times at Olive Garden. It’s just one of these restaurants that offer a lovely menu where you can always find something that you like. One of the dishes that we’ve tried and loved is this pasta e fagioli. As we really liked this pasta bean soup, we decided to recreate the recipe at home and here I am sharing our one-pot heartwarming soup recipe with you. This version is very similar to what you’d get at Olive Garden Restaurant, but it’s vegetarian (at Olive Garden the soup is made with beef).

PASTA E FAGIOLI – PASTA BEAN SOUP

Pasta e fagioli means pasta and beans. It’s also referred to as pasta fazool or pasta fasul. This soup is packed with protein as it’s made with 2 kinds of beans; white beans and kidney or red beans. The white beans appear in 2 forms in the soup, as whole beans and then the beans are also blended with water then added to the soup for extra creaminess.

There are many different versions of pasta fagioli (depending on tastes, and which region of Italy does the version come from), not everyone likes to add blended white beans to the soup. And some people only use one type of beans in the recipe (usually butter beans or cannellini beans). I also noticed that not everyone likes to add any vegetables to this soup so it’s quite different if compared to minestrone soup, however, we like to add celery, carrot, and onion.

HOW TO MAKE PASTA FAGIOLI – STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

Step 1. Heat olive oil in a pan, add diced onion, carrot and celery. Cook for a few minutes until the vegetables start to slightly soften, then add crushed garlic.

Step 2. Add vegetable or chicken stock, make sure that the stock is warm so the cooking process continues.

Step 3. Add a can of crushed tomatoes, a bay leaf, a rosemary sprig and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and let it reduce. If you feel like more water is needed, you can add a cup of hot water and cook for a few more minutes.

Step 4. Blend half a can of butter beans or cannelloni beans with a little bit of water.

Step 5. Once the beans are blended, add the mixture to the soup.

The soup will thicken a little, and become more creamy. Let it bubble for a few minutes.

Step 6. Add your cooked ditalini pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, then set aside until it’s used. Remove the bay leaf, and the rosemary sprig from the soup.

Step 7. Add canned kidney or red beans and butter beans. Cover with a lid and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Make sure not to overcook the beans as they can start falling apart, and the pasta can become too soft and mushy.

Step 8. Season with chilli flakes, and taste the soup to see if it needs more salt. Serve immediately with chopped parsley, and grated parmesan (use vegan parmesan if you’re following a plant based diet).

WHAT KIND OF PASTA CAN BE USED FOR PASTA FAGIOLI?

The answer is, any kind of tiny pasta! I normally use ditalini pasta that you can see in my pictures. However, tiny pasta like elbow macaroni, ditali, tubetti and tubettini work perfectly fine.

The pasta used at Olive Garden restaurant is tubetti pasta.

CAN YOU FREEZE PASTA E FAGIOLI?

I usually make a double batch and freeze soup to enjoy later. To freeze pasta fagioli soup, you can have to make sure that the soup has completely cooled before it goes to the freezer. I would also recommend holding the pasta back and freezing the soup without it, then once you take the soup out of the freezer to reheat it just boil half a cup of fresh pasta and throw it into your soup. If you choose to freeze the soup with the pasta in it, it might turn into a mush. The pasta is very delicate and may not stay in shape when it’s frozen and reheated.

If you know that you’re going to freeze the soup at the time when you’re cooking, it’s a good idea if you can undercook the vegetables. When you reheat the soup, the vegetables will continue to cook and that can result in mushy vegetables.

PASTA FAGIOLI WITHOUT TOMATOES

It is possible to make pasta fagioli without tomatoes. In fact, some Italian versions are made without any tomatoes and use savoury broth as the base. Just omit the diced tomatoes, and use vegetable stock instead.

INSTANT POT PASTA E FAGIOLI

Making this Pasta e Fagioli in the Instant Pot is so easy. Here’s what you need to do:

First, you need to either soak the beans overnight and cook them in the IP or cook them in the IP from dried (unsoaked). However, I strongly recommend that you soak them overnight because soaking the beans will ease digestion.

If you decide to soak the beans, then you’ll have to cook them in the IP for 30 minutes + Full NPR.

If you want to skip soaking the beans, then you’ll have to cook them in the IP for 40 minutes + Full NPR.

Or, you could use canned beans.

Instructions:

• Preheat the Instant Pot on “Saute” setting. Add olive oil, onion, celery and cook for a few minutes until vegetables start to soften. Add crushed garlic, cook for a minute or until fragrant.
• Add vegetable stock, a can of crushed tomatoes, a bay leaf, a rosemary sprig and a pinch of salt.
• This step is optional, but you can blend half a can of white or cannellini beans and add that to the soup mixture.
• Seal the Instant Pot, on “high pressure” cook for 10 minutes + NFR.
• Stir in the beans and the pasta, remove bay leaf and rosemary sprig (I leave the rosemary). Taste to see if you need to add more salt and serve with chopped parsley and grated parmesan.

WHAT IF THE BEANS ARE STILL CRUNCHY AFTER COOKING THEM IN THE IP?

The times of cooking beans depend on the type, and age of the beans. So it can vary. If your beans are still not soft enough, that’s ok. Just seal your Instant Pot again, and cook on high pressure for 5-10 more minutes.

Adding beans to soup make them much more filling, and it’s a good way to get your protein. You should also try my vegan white bean soup, it’s sooo good!

If you try this pasta bean soup using my recipe, please don’t forget to rate this recipe and share a picture on social media. Tag #LittleSunnyKitchen in your posts as I would really love to see what you make! Thank you for supporting Little Sunny Kitchen, so I can keep sharing my tasty recipes with you for free.