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 is Excellent!! I’ve been asked for the recipe and have been asked to bring it to special occasions. Thank you so much!!
I love this recipe and so does my family and friends!!
So delicious and makes so much! My partner and I get a hearty dinner and at least two lunches easily out of this soup. Freezes beautifully for an easy meal, just make the pasta fresh to add.
So glad you posted this! I love this recipe but was wondering how it would freeze and had the same thought to add the pasta fresh. I’ll be making a bunch up to freeze soon! 🙂
Great
This is the best soup ever!!! It is so vibrant and flavorful! I don’t put pasta in it and freeze it. Then i add pasta separately when I heat it up!
So I started making this soup a few years ago when we lived in Okinawa and couldn’t get the real thing. It was so delicious and gave us a taste of home. Now since we’ve been back in the states I prefer it to actual OG. It’s very easy to make and you can add your own flavors to accent the soup. My two kids love to help me make and eat this soup. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
More than a year ago I was having a hankering for this soup and looked around for a copycat recipe. I came across this recipe on Google and when I saw how high the recipe was rated I had to give it a try. After making I thought Damn, this is a really good copycat recipe and if not better than OG. The only thing different I do is I put my veggies in the food processor. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who wants to make this soup!
100% best recipe! No need to tweak or change. Sausage and seasonings are perfect!
I made this in the crockpot and it turned out really good! I substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth and doubled up on the spices but I do that for pretty much every recipe. Delicious!
This soup is delicious! Super easy to make, filling and comforting.
This is an excellent meal. I did one thing different I added fire roasted tomatoes instead of plain tomatoes. This made 3 quarts of delicious soup!!!
My husband makes it better than the Olive Garden
Pasta e fagoilo easy to make makes big pot of soup. Great flavor used low fat hamburger instead Italian sausage seasoned with Italian spices. Very nice warm soup. Used cannelli beans instead great Northern beans
hi, I tried your recipe tonight and it was really fun to put it together. I have a recipe forPasta e fagioli, but can’t find it. So I looked on the web and found yours! Great recipe. I don’t usually put italian sausage and I didn’t have spicy one, so I added sweet and then a dash of chili flakes to the recipe. I also like the taste of anise or fennel, so I sprinkled a little into the south, and it is amazing. I didn’t have tomato sauce either, so instead put two cans of diced tomatoes, and it was still wonderful. Thank you for the recipe. This will be my meal for dinner or lunch through the week — since I live alone. I love soups of all kinds and this was my husband’s favorite, along with corn chowder. This is a very healthy soup as well, and tastes amazing!
Loved this soup, as did my wife. When a recipe makes it into our recipe box, that’s high praise! My wife suggested to add in some diced zucchini – right at the end, for a little extra veggie power. I did swap out the kidney and great northern beans for small red beans and navy beans. Just a texture thing for me. Excellent!
Oh yeah, it is officially soup weather again!
-Had to pop in and give a review as this is simmering on the stove.
We have made this many times and I have to say it is one of our fave Fall/Winter favorites.
I have really been into making Focaccia bread lately, and will enjoy dipping it into this amazing soup tonight! Thanks for another wonderful recipe!!
So delicious!! Will be making again!
This soup is over the top delicious and soooo much better than the OG version. I’ve made it several times; it’s my go-to recipe for my favorite soup. Also, I’m on the keto diet, so I make it every time without the pasta and without fagioli – and it’s STILL the best soup around. Thank you so much!
Delicious and healthy
I have made your pasta e fagioli recipe many times and just love how it turns out. I learned to make this for my Mom who enjoyed it at Olive Garden. Since making this recipe and then having it again at Olive Garden, we both agree this recipe is so much better. Thank you.