Pasta Fagioli Soup

If you are looking for a delicious and hearty Italian soup recipe, try this pasta fagioli soup. Full of ground beef, white beans, veggies and macaroni pasta all a rich and savory broth. It’s a very family friendly meal in a bowl and you can make this bean and pasta soup in just 40 minutes!

You might also like this chili macaroni skillet dish!

My son came to me the other day and asked me to make pasta fagioli or sometimes referred to as pasta fazool or just pasta fagioli. Whatever my son asks for he gets foodwise. That’s mostly because he rarely asks for something specific so I aim to please.

Anyway I made this Italian bean and pasta soup for dinner the other night was a big hit in our house. I made a huge pot and it went quickly. I loved it because it was a like a meal in a bowl with the tender pasta, creamy beans, and ground beef. Yet it was made lighter with the flavorful tomato based broth.

If you are looking for new dishes for your family give this pasta e fagioli recipe a try. It reminds me of chili macaroni in soup form but with Italian flavors.

I tried to keep it simple by using canned beans and not spending hours soaking dried beans. The result was that you can make this Italian soup in about 30 minutes!

What is Pasta Fagioli or is it Pasta Fazool?

Pasta e fagioli means “pasta and beans” and is a traditional Italian soup. Some Americans refer to it as pasta fasul or pasta fazool which is from the Sicilian or Neopolitan name for beans. (source)

Many people know it from the old Dean Martin song “That’s Amore”. The line from that song being “When the stars make you drool, just like pasta fazool, that’s amore”.

Different regions vary the recipe with some making it more soupy while others make it thicker but they all use beans and pasta. My version is fairly thick and very hearty.

Recipe ingredients I used.

I tried to keep it simple by using canned beans and not spending hours soaking dried beans. The result was that you can get this soup recipe done in about 30 minutes.

I just used basic ingredients for this soup but there were quite a few. I used olive oil, ground beef, yellow onion, carrots, celery, crushed and diced tomatoes, tomato paste, fresh garlic cloves, parmesan cheese, Better than Bouillon base, salt, black pepper, Italian spice, ditalini pasta, red kidney beans and cannellini beans.

For the beans you can try other types like great northern beans, borlotti or navy beans. I found ditalini pasta at my grocery store but you could use just your basic elbow macaroni or any pasta shape you want but it should be smaller in size.

Also I used canned not fresh tomatoes. It’s much more convenient and I tend to use diced canned tomatoes often in my soup recipes. 

Lastly I used Better than Bouillon chicken base instead of chicken broth or chicken stock. I just love the taste of it but you can substitute 4 cups chicken broth or stock for the cups of water and BTB if you wish. Maybe season with salt and pepper a little more. Beef broth or vegetable broth would also work.

You can find most of these ingredients in my Amazon storefront.

How to make Pasta Fagioli (or Pasta Fazool).

1. Get a medium pot of water boiling to cook pasta.
2. While that is heating up, get out a large soup pot or dutch oven and heat to medium high heat. Add the olive and then add the ground beef. Turn the heat down to medium and brown the beef.
3. Next add the chopped onion, mix and cook for a few minutes until they start soften. Then add the chopped carrots and celery stalks and continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes more.
4. If your water is boiling now, add in the dry pasta and cook according to the package directions.
5. Add the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and dice tomatoes to the soup pot. Also add the water, Better than Bouillon chicken base, and dried spices. Mix well, bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for 10 minutes.
6. Take off the cover and pour in the drained beans, crushed garlic and Parmesan Cheese. Mix well, cover and cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Once the pasta is done, strain off the water and add to the soup and cook for 5 minutes more and it’s done! Let cool a bit then ladle soup into bowls and enjoy.

You can garnish with fresh parsley or more grated cheese if you want but it doesn’t need it. If you want a little heat, sprinkle on some hot pepper flakes.

Store leftover soup in an airtight container or use freezer friendly storage containers and freeze for a comforting meal some other day. Please scroll down to view print the recipe card.

Please scroll down to view print the recipe card. Below you can that this pasta e fagioli soup has a thick consistency but it’s still has quite a bit of broth.

Note that the pasta will slowly soak up the broth so if you have leftovers it might have thicker consistency because of this. You can always add additional broth to leftovers to thin it a bit. 

As I have mentioned this is a very thick and hearty soup so you can just serve this with a green salad and crusty bread to make it the perfect meal. Garlic bread would also be great with this dish. It’s the ultimate comfort food in the colder weather.

More deliciously easy Italian recipes to try!

My family love Italian food as I’m sure many people do. Below are some of my favorite recipes that you might also like.

• my Mom’s lasagna recipe
• homemade Italian sausage without casing or air fryer recipe
• Italian wedding soup, creamy tortellini soup or meatball and tortellini soup
• sausage stuffed banana pepper pasta
• slow cooker sausage, peppers and onions
• slow cooker braciole
• slow cooker large batch meat spaghetti sauce
• chicken romano with lemon butter

Well I hope you give this pasta fazool or pasta e fagioli soup recipe a try because it was really good. The consistency is thick and full of healthy ingredients as well as a good dose of protein!

But most of all this classic soup makes for a tasty dinner, especially on a cold night. Enjoy!