Pasta e Fagioli

 

Here is a great copy cat recipe to recreate Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli soup at home.  The soup, meaning “pasta and beans” is hearty, delicious and is even better leftover. 

Enjoy!

 

 

Pasta e Fagioli

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Ingredients

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 – 1 1/2  pounds ground beef
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 diced carrot sticks 
• 2 stalks diced celery
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cans Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 C beef stock
• 2 1/2 C marinara sauce
• 1 C small dry pasta (I used ditalini)

Directions:

Sauté beef in oil in large 10-qt. pot until beef starts to brown. Add onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans and add to the pot. Also add beef stock, oregano, spaghetti sauce, and pasta. Simmer until celery and carrots are tender and pasta is done, about 45 minutes.

If you want to freeze this soup, it is best when you don't add the pasta, since cooked pasta doesn't freeze very well.  If you freeze the soup you can always cook up some fresh pasta and stir it in when you are ready to serve your family.

**as the soup sits it will thicken, if you want a thinner consistency, just add more stock.

 

I served mine with homemade croutons instead of crusty bread for dipper, which were delicious!

Here’s how I did it, and I can’t wait to play around with the recipe and come up with more variations:

Cut day old bread into cubes and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until dried out a bit and crunchy.  In a sauté’ pan, melt about 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter.  Add croutons and stir.  Top with garlic salt for added flavor.