Pasta e fagioli is my household’s favorite soup and most often requested dinner by my 6 year old. In Italian, it means “pasta and beans.” That’s easy enough. I started making it when I was craving Olive Garden’s version at home. After a little trial and error, this is the recipe I created and go back to over and over again.
Pasta e Fagioli is a one pot meal
I especially like a few things about this meal: it has a lot of veggies (which I love to see my kids eat), most items are pantry/fridge staples, it's flexible, and it's all made in pot. I don't mind chopping veggies. It's kind of nice bust work to me and that's all this soup is. After the meat has browned, just toss in the veggies and broth. We need these kinds of meals in our busy lives. The low maintenance, not too many dishes to wash, full of flavor good food kind of meals. You can modify at whim and it always comes out well. Check out my go to add-ins below the recipe depending on who’s eating it that night.
Pasta e Fagioli
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground sausage or beef, turkey, whatever
- 15 oz can cannellini beans
- 6 oz can tomato paste
- ¾ cup small pasta ie small shells
- ½ yellow onion
- 2 large carrots
- 2 large celery stocks
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups beef stock
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- ¾ cup wine optional red or white, either is fine
Instructions
- Prep veggies- wash, peel, chop-chop.
- Brown sausage in couple tablespoons of olive oil.
- Once meat is cooked through, add onion and garlic. Cook to soften 2-3 minutes.
- Add carrots, celery, and bay leaf.
- Next add tomato paste and stir to cook for a few minutes.
- Add wine (optional) and cook 1-2 minutes.
- Add beef stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer.
- After the veggies have cooked for 15 min, add pasta. Cook for 5 minutes if using a small noodle like shells or macaroni.
- Add rinsed beans and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Serve with garlic bread- YUM!