Pasta e Fagioli Soup

Pasta e Fagioli is a classic Italian soup loaded with hearty ground beef, beans, and pasta. This is an easy recipe for a one pot comfort meal that you can make in under 1 hour!

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: people

Calories: 628kcal

Author: Veronika's Kitchen

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion diced
1 pound ground beef
2 large carrots diced
28 oz crushed tomatoes
15 oz red kidney beans drained and rinsed
15 oz great northern beans drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt, pepper to taste
1 cup ditalini pasta
½ cup chopped parsley
Parmesan cheese freshly grated, for serving

Instructions

Preheat a large pot or a Dutch oven over medium/high heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil. When the oil is hot, add 1 chopped onion and cook for about 10 minutes, or until it’s softened and caramelized.
Add 1 pound ground beef. Using a wooden spoon, break it down into smaller pieces and cook for about 7 minutes or until it’s cooked through with no pink color remaining.
Add 2 chopped carrots and stir in. Now we can add 28 oz crushed tomatoes, 15 oz kidney beans, and 15 oz great northern beans. Pour in 4 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water, then stir.
Add 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste.
Stir and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium/low, cover with the lid and let it cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Then remove the lid, increase the heat back to high and add 1 cup of ditalini pasta. Cook for about 10 minutes or until it’s cooked al dente. Make sure you stir often, so the pasta doesn’t stick.
Add ½ cup chopped parsley and stir. Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.

Notes

The classic Pasta e Fagioli recipe askes for great northern beans. If you can’t find them in the store, you can substitute them with pinto or cannellini beans. Although, they will have a slightly different flavor and texture.
I prefer to use 90% lean ground beef, so it doesn’t produce too much fat and makes the soup greasy.
Also, the classic version of this soup uses ditalini pasta. If you don’t have it on hand, you can substitute it with elbow pasta or small shell pasta.
To make this meal TRULY a “one pot meal”, I like to cook the pasta right in the soup, which makes the broth a bit thicker. If you don’t want thicker broth, you can cook the pasta separately, and add it to the soup at the end.
I usually just use onions and carrots in this recipe. You also can add some celery and garlic for more flavor.

If you don’t have dried oregano and thyme, you can use 1 tablespoons of Italian seasoning.

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