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Slow Cooker Pasta e Fagioli Soup is loaded with pasta bites, vegetables, beans and lean ground beef making this a rich and hearty Italian soup. A perfect, comforting soup for Fall!
Italians know just the way to my heart! If you love a good Italian soup, try this Creamy Zuppa Toscana, Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup (Olive Garden Copycat) or Classic Italian Wedding Soup.
Slow Cooker Pasta e Fagioli
Today I am sharing one of my favorite soups: Pasta e Fagioli.
This is comfort food at it’s best. Super hearty, meaty, thick Italian soup loaded with veggies, meat and beans.
Best of all this soup is made in a slow cooker. That means little to no prep time and lots of flavor.
This soup simmers low and slow for 8 hours!
Let the slow cooker do all the work while you relax and enjoy the aroma in your home.
Serve the soup with a side salad, No Knead Bread and dig in!
What you need to make pasta e fagioli
So many ingredients but so much flavor in all of them!
You will love the combination of vegetables to beans and pasta.
This is a thick, rich and hearty soup that is loved by all.
Every bite is loaded with lean meat, vegetables, beans and pasta.
You can’t go wrong enjoying this soup during the fall season.
- Extra virgin olive oil: adds a hint of seasoning and liquid in the mix.
- Ground beef: the leaner the better.
- Carrots: freshly peeled and sliced. Can carrots are little too mushy when simmering for a long period of time.
- Celery stalks: sliced and diced to your preference.
- Onion: I like to dice these up a little smaller for kids.
- Crushed tomatoes: canned are best and some cans have extra seasonings which adds more flavor.
- Beef broth: flavor that is in the liquid.
- Bay leaves: always a fun seasoning to add into soups.
- Oregano: brings more aromatic seasoning to the soup.
- Dried basil: a little peppery but has a strong and sweet smell and taste.
- Dried thyme: subtle and a little dry.
- Salt and pepper: to taste (I added 1 tsp salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper)
- Cannelloni beans: drained and rinsed
- Red kidney beans: drained and rinsed
- Ditalini pasta: uncooked pasta that is added at the end.
How to make pasta e fagioli
This soup takes just a bit of prep time and is super easy to throw together.
I like to brown the meat for extra flavor and throw it into the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients.
I like to add in the pasta and beans about 30 minutes before serving. This ensures they are tender but not soggy.
Serve it with a hot, fresh perfect soft and buttery roll for a great dinner meal!
- Brown Ground Beef: Add olive oil to a large skillet and add in ground beef. Cook until browned and no longer pink.
- Combine all Ingredients: Place the beef in a slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients except for the beans and pasta.
- Cook on Low: Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 30 minutes before serving stir in beans and pasta.
- Ready to serve: Season with salt and pepper to taste. Discard bay leaves before serving.
- It is best if it is hot: Serve immediately while hot.
What to serve with pasta e fagioli
Soup can be made into so many meals.
Before your main dish, as your main dish or a side to your main dish!
So many options. With all these options a classic side salad and breadsticks are always a MUST.
We love to dip our breadsticks in the soup and enjoy the broth just as much as we love the vegetables and combined ingredients.
- 20 Minute Italian Bread Twists
- Italian Avocado Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Homemade Bread Twists
- Farro Caprese Salad
- 30 Minute Asiago Cheese Roll
The difference between Minestrone soup and Pasta e Fagioli soup
The main difference between minestrone soup and pasta e Fagioli soup is the meat and the thickness.
Minestrone leaves out ground beef and has a thiner consistency.
They each have the same vegetables but pasta e fagioli has a few more and different variety. More beans are added in and not added into the minestrone soup.
Minestrone soup has a thinner consistency where as the pasta e fagioli has a thicker, richer flavoring.
Here are more soup recipes to try
- Creamy Pumpkin Soup
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Beef Barley Soup
- Crockpot Taco Soup
- Creamy Chicken Broccoli Soup
Slow Cooker Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 whole carrots diced
- 4 celery stalks diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans 14.5 ounces each beef broth
- 2 whole bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste I added 1 tsp salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 can 15 ounces cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can 15 ounces red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup ditalini pasta uncooked
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large skillet and add in ground beef. Cook until browned and no longer pink.
- Place the beef in a slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients except for the beans and pasta.
- Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 30 minutes before serving stir in beans and pasta.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Discard bay leaves before serving.
- Serve immediately while hot.
Notes
Original Post on October 23, 2015
Nutrition
Serves: 10
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
I made this today and it turned out perfect, I did add some sweet Italian sausage with the hamburger, I was out of fresh garlic so I added a teaspoon of garlic powder, and 2 teaspoons of white sugar. This recipe makes a huge amount so I will freeze some to enjoy later.
Sugar?? Why would you add sugar?
A lot of people add sugar when using canned tomatoes to make them less tangy.
Because it’s good and mellows out the acidic tomatoes. I add sugar to almost every recipe I make! Gail is correct to add a little bit of sugar for balance- compliments all the salty ingredients.
Can this pasta e fagioli soup be frozen?
Yes, it is always a great freezer meal! Enjoy it now and later! XOXO
I always cook my pasta separately and al dente. We add it to each bowl as we eat it. Freezes well without the pasta. Then when reheating, cook a fresh batch of pasta in the volume needed, and again, add it to each bowl. Or heat just whatever amount of soup will be eaten at this serving and add pasta just before eating. I also like a few more veggies, so I also saute’ some Bok Choy and Savoy cabbage cut into bite size pieces and added to the onion-celery-carrot mix. Kind of a minestrone with the heartiness of Fagioli.
My granddaughter has diabetes and I have to constantly watch the carbs in her food, so if you could possibly put the nutritional ingredients in your recipes it would help me so much. I love your recipes but can’t fix some of them. Thank you
I like to use myfitnesspal.com or skinnytaste.com for any nutritional information. Hope that helps and you can find the answers to your questions! XOXO
Have made this soup 2 times already and it is delicious! thank for sharing.
Just wondering if anyone has adjusted this recipe for an Instant Pot? We LOVE this recipe…just wanted to make it quicker!
I would love to know instant pot adjustments as well!
I did it in my Instant Pot tonight! I used the sauté feature on my IP and added two tablespoons olive oil. Browned the meat until no longer pink, added chopped onion, celery and carrots. Cooked until onion started becoming translucent. Added all the rest of the ingredients (except pasta and bay leaves) and stirred until mixed well. Dumped the pasta in and made sure it was covered in liquid, but did NOT stir it. Threw in the whole bay leaves and then cooked on high pressure for 8 minutes. Let naturally release for 10 minutes then did the manual release to finish it off. Pulled the bay leaves out and stirred everything and then served. It was PERFECT and honestly, I felt like the soup was much more flavorful this way. Hope this helps!!
This recipe turned out excellent! I followed the recipe exactly and it’s so thick and full of flavor. Thanks so much for sharing!
Do you have nutrition information for your recipes?
I will be adding nutritional information soon! In the meantime you are welcome to look up myfitnesspal.com for nutritional help. Hope that helps! XOXO
Well, I am sick of eating pizza at work, and since if we have a choice we order out soup, I thought I would give this a try. My friend posted it on my Facebook page. My Nana’s recipe is meatless, but I got some.sausage from our neighborhood butcher to substitute for the ground beef, and it is simmering in my crockpot now. My kitchen.smells SSSOOOOO good, and I can’t wait to take.it to.work tomorrow to try it !!
I make this all the time. Def a keeper in our rotation. Even the baby loves it. Thank you!
The recipes shows a serving size of 8. Is the serving a cup or 1/2 cup? Can you provide?
Yes! I like to use myfitnespal.com for any nutritional information.
How many calories are in a serving of Pasta Fagiola recipe?
I am getting nutritional information for each recipe right now while I am updating my old recipes. In the meantime, you are welcome to use myfitnesspal.com to help find the information you are needing.
Would adding one or two red chillies be ok for that extra kick? Not too many because you’ll ruin the flavour completely.
Yes, that will be great!
My daughter made this for Christmas Eve dinner. It was sublime!!!
Looks great 👍 I like the nutrition facts but what’s the serving size?
Hi Joanna,
The serving size is one bowl full about 2 cups full.
I have made this several times. Making it on the stove today since not that put together this week. Easy, delicious meal after 15 min prep and 45 on the stove. Thanks to the person who mentioned adding Italian sausage! Yum!
I’m getting ready to make this tomorrow! Can it be made in my 3 quart slow cooker or is this recipe for a 5 quart slow cooker?
It looks Amazingly!!
I would recommend at least a 5 quart slow cooker.
I made this today by halving all the ingredients and cooking in my 3.5 qt slow cooker. It still made so much! I ate a bowl, put a bowl in tupperware to take to work tomorrow, then took the rest (about 3 bowls’ worth) over to my parents’ house. Delicious!
I made this last night for dinner as written only adding a half pound of sweet sausage… It was perfect… Yummy… and easy to make! Served it with breadsticks it was a good family meal!
Skipped the red pepper flakes, but left them on the table so I could add them…wow! Fantastic!
My family loves this soup. Leftovers freeze very well !
I don’t have a crockpot. What is the time & temperature conversation for a cast iron pot?
Set it on low to medium and let it all cook according to the instructions for 1 hour. Add in pasta and stir together.
Any reason you couldn’t throw in dried beans in with the rest of the ingredients in the beginning instead of canned beans at the end?
Just a quicker way but using dried beans will take a little longer and taste just as great!
Would ground Turkey work with this?
Yes, that will taste delicious!
One of my favorites! I add more hamburger in mine and less beans but do everything else exact.
Delicious. At even be better than Olive Gardens recipe. I will be making this a lot.
Made this soup for dinner tonight and we loved it. It was wonderful.
I made this today. I ended up having to change UT up just a bit due to lack of kidney beans, so I substitued a can of black beans. Also, had a half green bell pepper left over in drawer from another dish so I also chopped it up and added to the onion and celery. When all thrown together on my stove top Dutch oven it was pretty thick so I added a LG.cup of tomato juice to soup to thin it out.. It’s delicious and lot’s to warm up later. Plys, enough to share with a friend to enjoy too👍
Did it on the stove top vs slow cooker (time restrictions), it was a delish and a hit with my teenagers and husband. For sure adding this recipe to our rotation! Thanks for the recipe
Rachel, I made your Pasta e Fagioli and it’s so very good! Easy and ready in 4 hours in my Instant Pot (Slow Cooker mode) Thank you for so many incredible recipes, all given in your sweet spirit!
Hello The reason for the sugar is to reduce the acidic level in the tomatoe. Also the little extra sweet flavor how’s blend the others.
This recipe was perfect for me and my family!! I made one crock for us and the other was for my niece and her family when she had a baby. It freezes perfectly!! And it tastes so good. We love it and it has become our favorite soup! Thanks for sharing!!
Loved this dish so much! It was a big hit for my picky family. I subbed ground turkey for the ground beef, but other than that, I kept everything the same. Delicious!
Easy to make and absolutely delicious. I topped the soup off with some freshly grated parmesan.
I made the Instant Pot version and it was delicious. I had to make a couple of substitutions based on the ingredients I had on hand, but was still very pleased with the result. I will definitely make this again! Thank you!!!
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! Just made a crock pot full. Now I can freeze some for later. Lots of flavor and a very hearty soup. Love it!
SO GOOD !!!!
Family loved it. I made it last minute so had to substitute ground turkey for ground beef and I didn’t have any bay leaves. It was so easy to make, large quantity, and I think it would only have been better with ground beef. It is now in my go-to home recipe book.
I have made this several times. Tonight is the first time making on the stove top. We love this soup. We live in the south, so we don’t wait for cold weather to make it. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
Would this still taste good using vegetable broth rather than beef broth?
Yes, it may alter the flavoring but it will be great!
Has anyone used small cuts of stew meat in place of ground beef?
I made this on Sunday and it was delicious!! My husband loved it!