Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
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This Olive Garden pasta e fagioli copycat recipe is so easy using pantry staples! It’s truly restaurant-quality soup and is freezer-friendly!
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why you’ll love Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
- Favorited copycat recipe. This soup tastes just like the favorited restaurant classic! It’s budget-friendly, incredibly cozy, and completely customizable for the entire family.
- One pot dinner. This is one of those soups that come together so easily on the stovetop in a single pot, even the uncooked pasta gets cooked right in (unless you’re cooking it separately for leftovers). One pot means less clean up, less dishes!
- Uses pantry staples. The ingredient list may seem long but most of the ingredients are simple and pantry essentials, sparing you from that emergency grocery run.
- Freezer-friendly. Pasta e fagioli freezes very well without the pasta, making it perfect to stock up the freezer for those cold winter nights, for new moms, or for those recovering from surgery.
what is pasta e fagioli?
Pasta e fagioli is a classic Italian soup literally translating to “pasta and beans”. This is typically made with vegetables, a variety of beans, and pasta in a tomato broth.
Key Ingredients
Meat
Italian sausage or ground beef
Veggies
Onion, carrots, and celery
Seasonings
Garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme
Base
Chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and water
Pasta
Ditalini pasta
Beans
Red kidney beans and white kidney beans (ex. cannellini or Great Northern beans)
Extras
Parmesan rind
How to make Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
- Cook the sausage. Crumble the Italian sausage (or ground beef) in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, then set aside.
- Sauté the aromatics. Stir in the onion, carrots, and celery until tender. Then stir in the garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme until fragrant.
- Combine. Stir in the crumbled sausage, chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, water, ditalini pasta, Parmesan rind, salt, and pepper. Pro tip: if freezing or preparing for leftovers, cook and store the ditalini pasta separately.
- Simmer. Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally to prevent any sticking, until the pasta is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the beans. Stir in the rinsed and drained beans until warmed through.
- Serve. Serve warm, topped with shaved Parmesan and alongside crusty bread for sopping.
what to serve with pasta e fagioli
Tools For This Recipe
Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli: Frequently Asked Questions
Ground beef or ground turkey will work very well here. Pancetta or bacon are also excellent additions.
Short cut pasta such as ditalini or macaroni are both excellent options.
Canned red and white kidney beans work very well for weeknight speediness.
If possible, always store the pasta separately from the soup if preparing for leftovers as the pasta will continue to absorb the liquid as it sits.
Yes! It can be cooked low and slow for 7-8 hours using this recipe here.
Absolutely! Freeze the leftovers without the pasta (or else they will get mushy) in individual freezer bags. Thaw overnight and reheat on the stovetop, adding freshly cooked pasta and a splash of broth (if needed) when serving.
Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 (16-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- 1 (3-inch) Parmesan rind
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup shaved Parmesan
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add Italian sausage and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks; set aside.
- Add onion, carrots and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, basil, oregano and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in Italian sausage, chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, water, pasta and Parmesan rind; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in beans until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan.
Equipment
Notes
- Use short cut pasta. Ditalini, macaroni or a small shape pasta similar in size to the vegetables and beans is ideal.
- Save leftover Parmesan rinds. Get more out of those expensive Parmesan cheeses by using up the leftover rinds! Adding a Parmesan rind slightly thickens the broth and adds a level of nutty richness to the soup.
- Add leafy greens. Pasta e fagioli is a great way to sneak in some greens for those picky eaters. Stir in kale, spinach, cabbage, swiss chard or collard greens near the end of cooking time until wilted.
- Stir in more stock with leftovers. When reheating leftovers, stir in more stock as needed as the pasta will continue to soak up the broth. The pasta can also be cooked and stored separately.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
- Freeze without the pasta. The soup can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months in individual freezer bags. Thaw overnight and gently reheat on the stovetop until warmed through, adding freshly cooked pasta just before serving.
Did you make this recipe?
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This recipe is so good! I added a chopped green pepper and the stores now sell fire roasted garlic diced tomatoes and fire roasted tomato sauce it really elevated and enhanced the flavor. My family says it’s the best one yet.
What changed? Can I get the old recipe back?! This one heavier, darker…I’ve been making for years and don’t like this version.
Fantastic! Have made this on repeat at least a dozen times. Everyone absolutely LOVES it!
A FAVORITE in our house I believe for over 10 years. I add extra celery because my teen daughter loves it and an extra cup of broth when cooking. Whenever I’m looking for a recipe I can always count on Damn Delicious!
I love this soup so much . I’ve never used a parmesan rind before, but what a difference does it make adds so much flavor and body. I like using the smaller noodle so it doesn’t swell and take over the soup base. It’s the best soup much better than Olive Garden.
Perfect for a snowy day! The whole family liked it!!
Really great recipe. my family loved it as well. I never tasted the original recipe from Olive Garden to compare but this was delish and hearty. great soup for the winter.
I want to make this but I have 3 kids and was wondering if the hot sausage was going to be too spicy for them. Does Olive Garden put spicy sausage in I can’t remember.
I’m not sure what Olive Garden does but both of my kids love this recipe! They’re 10 and 4. I feel like its just spicy enough. My hubby and 10yo add more spice, me and the 4yo eat it as written.
I’ve been making this recipe for the past 10-ish years ever since I had the pasta e fagilio soup at Olive Garden around 2014. I fell in love with the soup but can’t always go out to eat. I knew something had changed with this recipe from years ago. Still tastes delicious and my go-to soup recipe for comfort. I just don’t add the Parmesan rinds. And I’m still debating if the pasta tastes better pre-boiled or added with the broth. Please don’t even remove this recipe! It’s on my favorites.
This soup is AMAZING. I can’t believe it, but it is better than Olive Garden. Better. Thank you so much.
This recipe was a hit, it was enough to share with the neighbors, and they loved it.
Just tried this soup, about an hour ago at the Olive Garden. Delicious! Got home and searched for the recipe. I haven’t made it yet. But I can’t wait too.
It taste similar and I need to and the thyme and maybe chicken broth . I have always use diced can tomatoes and tomatoe paste but somethings missing . All in all taste delicious !
We had clients in today for lunch and I made this soup as written in the recipe, other than blending some hot sausage with some mild so it wasn’t too spicy. It was a hit and much better than Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli as it had a lot less sodium! This recipe made a lot of soup, so we have leftovers! I also made mini baguettes to soak up the soupy goodness, along with home made caesar salad! A lovely complete meal! Client asked me for the soup recipe! Winner!! Thanks so much.
Where is the nutrition information?
I made this tonight and my family loved it. Better than Olive Gardens! I will definitely save and use this recipe often! Thank you for an amazing recipe!
This is not the original recipe from 5/17/2014. The pasta was cooked be itself, no Parmesan Rind and the spices were not put in with the carrots, they were added with the broth and remaining ingredients. It still tasted great.
I was wondering! I’m going to make it tonight, but thought I had the wrong recipe for a minute there. Definitely different.
Made this as the recipe was written. I wouldn’t change a thing, it’s delicious. Add crusty bread and a small side salad and you will have an amazing meal worthy of company.
My sister is the one who turned me on to this soup at Olive Garden years ago. Typically I will get minestrone but she said you really got to try this. She said the best way I could describe it it’s like almost like Italian chili. After I had it at the restaurant I fell in love with it. One day I was actually jonesing for it and wanted to look for a good copycat recipe with good reviews. I came across this one and I only use this recipe! The only difference is I probably use about 3/4 cups of the pasta that overall it is a damn good copycat and also instead of chicken stock I use Better Than Bouillon. Those that are interested in using that it’s a teaspoon for each cup of water so three teaspoons and 3 cups of water and it’s just as tasty. I highly recommend this recipe to anybody.
This is even better than Olive Garden!! My go to when we have to feed a lot of ppl- also freezes well! Been making this for years now.