Pasta E Fagioli Soup Recipe
Pasta e Fagioli is a classic Italian soup made primarily with pasta and beans. There is so much flavor in this simple tomato based soup and a lot of it comes from the special ingredient that makes all the difference!
Servings: 6
Calories: 397kcal
Ingredients
Beans:
- 1/2 lb dried great northern beans
- 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- water
Soup:
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 2 long ribs of celery diced
- 6 garlic cloves
- 14.5 oz can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
- 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 Parmesan cheese rinds that are about 2 inches long
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary crushed
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes more for spicier soup
- salt to taste
- 1/2 lb uncooked ditalini pasta cooked separately
Instructions
- NOTE: I use dry beans and soak them overnight. Using dry beans also increases cook time to about 3 hours. If you forgot to soak the beans, it’s not a big deal, just cook the soup for another hour or so and use a little extra stock. (If you opt for canned beans, cook time will be about an hour.)
Soaking Beans:
- The night before preparing the soup (or about 6-8 hours before), rinse the beans and place them in a bowl or a food storage container.
- Fill enough water to cover the beans with 2 inches of water. Mix in salt and let the beans soak overnight. When ready to use, drain the beans before using them in the soup.
Soup:
- Preheat a Dutch oven or a large soup pot over medium-low heat and add olive oil. Add diced vegetables and let is sweat until softened. Make sure to stir often.
- Raise the heat to medium and once vegetables start to get a little brown, add pressed garlic. Saute until garlic is fragrant.
- Add the entire content of the can of tomatoes, add drained beans, pour in stock, and add Parmesan rind, spices, and herbs.
- Bring everything to simmer over medium-high heat, turn the heat down to low, and cover with a lid, leaving a small opening for the steam to escape.
- Cook for about 3 hours, stirring once in a while.
- Discard the bay leaves and the Parmesan rind before serving.
- When the soup is almost done, cook pasta according to the package instructions in a separate pot.
- Add pasta to individual bowls if you know there will be soup leftover. Store pasta and soup separately. (If you’re planning on serving the whole pot of soup at the same time, you can cook pasta right in the soup.)
Video
Notes
- Gluten Free: to make this soup gluten free, all you have to do is swap out pasta for your favorite gluten free pasta!
- Beans: you can use any small white beans like navy beans, cannellini beans, or great northern beans.
- Storing: I recommend storing pasta and the soup separately so pasta doesn't "drink" all the broth. That's why is you plan to have leftovers, don't cook pasta in the soup. Store both in their own air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator, for 3-4 days.
- Freezing: freeze the soup without pasta. Prepare soup as instructed but do not make the pasta. Once soup is cooled to room temperature, portion it into freezer zip-lock bags. Get the air out and seal. Label and date each bag and lay them flat on a cutting board. Place it in the freezer. Once the soup is completely frozen, you can stack the bags to save space. Freeze for 2-3 months.
- Thaw soup in the refrigerator overnight and reheat in a sauce pot. You can add cooked pasta when reheating the soup.
Nutrition
Calories: 397kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 1982mg | Potassium: 920mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 4336IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 140mg | Iron: 4mg