Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
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A super easy, no-fuss copycat recipe that’s wonderfully hearty and comforting, except it tastes 100x better than the restaurant-version!
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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.
why i love this recipe
- 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 use pantry essentials, sparing you from that emergency grocery run.
- Freezer-friendly. Pasta e fagioli freezes very well sans pasta, making it perfect to stock up the freezer for those cold winter nights, for new moms or for those recovering from surgery.
tips and tricks for success
- 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!
what to serve with pasta e fagioli
Tools For This Recipe
Dutch oven
Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli: Frequently Asked Questions
Ground beef or ground turkey will work very well here. Pancetta or bacon are also great additions.
Pasta e fagioli can absolutely be made in the crockpot, cooked low and slow for 7-8 hours. Recipe here.
Yes! You can 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
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
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add Italian sausage to the skillet 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.
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As a kid I hated soup, but now I love it any time of the year! Great recipe, Chung-Ah!
Can this be made without the sausage?
You can certainly omit the sausage but I cannot speak for how much this will change the overall taste of the dish.
Are these beans in a can, or can I substitute .
Yes, these beans are canned. They should be fairly easy to find.
If I leave out the northern beans will this change taste, Marie from Ontario , Canada
Marie, the taste should be not be altered too much if the northern beans are omitted.
My husband doesn’t like Northern beans, so I just use another can of Red Kidney beans and it still taste perfect!
Yes, absolutely!
Kidney beans are for making chile,
cannelloni beans are for making pasta e fagioli. And it’s not suppose to be too red, more white. I get a kick out of how people murder these recipes.
I just had this soup last night at Olive Garden and it does have kidney beans in it plus great northern beans. Trying this tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe.
Gorgeous comfort food!
Where can I get great northern beans or a substitute.
Order thru Amazon prime pantry Progresso Canneloni beans are authentic
Oh, please do not go through the trouble to order these online. Every grocery in America carries them. They are a very common white bean.
My Mom swore by kidney beans I find any bean works. I used one can pinto one can White beans Caannelini. I put in 1 LB of pasta instead of 1C .Taste good it dried up I had to add 2 C more
water,
i got mine at work, its this local grocery store called food 4 less… they are only here in california but we are owned by the kroger company… so our “store brands” are the kroger bands… and i know there are a few Kroger stores on the east coast side… so depending on where you live search up kroger owned stores and you will find them there 🙂
Just a note if it can help others,. Food 4 Less is also in certain areas of Illinois and Indiana.
Food 4 Less is also in Vegas. Kroger’s is also Smith’s Food King and in Cheyenne Wyoming it’sKing Soopers. They have a lot of names
Kroger… Publix….Great Northern B eans in cannear kidney beans…etc
Wow! What a coincidence! Just happened to have a quart of another copycat pasta e fagioli (Tom Wilbur’s TopSecretRecipes) thawed from the freezer that we are having for dinner tonight. I will have to try yours with the Italian sausage. MIne uses ground beef. Between the beef and V-8 juice instead of broth, they are very similar. I also think the Olive Garden version has a slight kick to it so I usually add a bit of cayenne to it.
Carmen: did you reduce the amount of chicken broth and sub more tomato sauce or V-8 juice? I want to be sure I get the amounts correct. Thank you!
Wondering why CHICKEN broth when you have sausage in the soup?
I’ve mixed and matched broths/stock for years. Depends what I have on hand.
This soup is the best! All I need is a hearty loaf of bread and I’m set!
Best soup on the planet!! And, it’s barely 60-degrees in this part of the country, thus a bowl of this is all good with me. Even if it was 200-degrees… I’d still slurp it up!
you can use elbow macaroni or bowties too anything small.
Thank you. A nice recipe. Have a Great Week!
Olive Garden. Ahhh, the memories of going there underage in college with this guy I was dating at the time. When he wanted to impress me, that’s where he took me 🙂 I am super impressed at this copycat version you made! Wow, they need to hire you!
GREAT soup, Chungah! Thanks for the recipe! I substituted turkey sausage, for regular, added a lil Majorim, and made it in the crock pot, but otherwise kept pretty much to the recipe. delish!!
You can play with this recipe. I used to make it with no broth only water and sauce. My friend made it with sauce only. I added meatballs instead of sausage today. Best to cook the onion in oil 7 minutes and garlic 4 minutes in oil first for flavor. I cook the onion in the same pot my soup goes in ,a 4 qt pot.
I put a little red wine in mine and it really amped up the flavor!
A bowl of pure comfort has never hurt anyone, even in a 100F weather! Looks delicious and so good for you!
Great cheap meal. I do it with no meat. I add ring peppers cheese Black olives.
I don’t use the meat either…..I put zucchini in it’s place and have thrown fresh spinach in it. My husband is not big on onion, tomatoes….so I get this all to myself. I do share with friends.
Way Way Way Too Much Thyme. All you can taste !! To Bad thyme totally dominated this dish!! Just a pinch next time ..
I just use dry Italian seasoning couple shakes does the trick!
Three fourths of a teaspoon of thyme is not very much thyme at all.
It is to me. For some reason, thyme and I don’t play nice together digestively wise. I made a Cook’s Illustrated recipe, and used the amount of thyme they said to use, which I didn’t think was too much for the amount of food cookig, and MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They thyme way overpowered the recipe and my husband wouldn’t even eat seconds or the left overs. I have to go easy on the thyme whenever I cook with it.
OMG, I thought I was the only one! I also cut way back on the thyme in recipes, it overpowers the other flavors (imo)…
I can’t use thyme either – tastes like soap to me. I’ll use marjoram in its place sparingly.
I made this a few months ago when it started to get cold out. It’s my husbands favorite at Olive Garden, so I though I’d give it a shot. We love it so much, I have made it once a month since! It makes so much, so you will have left overs if your family is small =) Love this recipe thanks for sharing!!!!