When it’s cold outside and you want a hot comforting meal, this Pasta e Fagioli soup really hits the spot.

In the U.S. you may have heard people refer to this soup as Pasta Fazool. It’s a traditional Italian soup made with pasta and beans.

It’s super easy to make and has very few ingredients.

I usually make this soup with borlotti beans, also known as cranberry beans. But I can’t always find them. In this recipe I used pinto beans because they are similar but slightly smaller, and they can easily be found in any supermarket.

I used chicken broth in this recipe, buy you can easily make it vegetarian by replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Pasta e Fagioli

Donna

This is a traditional Italian soup made with pasta and beans.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Ingredients

  

• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
• 2 cup dried pinto beans rinsed and drained
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp cream sherry
• 1 cup small-shaped pasta

Instructions

 

• Cut the vegetables into large chunks to make it easier to manage in the food processor. Use the pulse function to process the vegetables into small chunks. If you don’t have a food processor you can cut these vegetables into very small pieces.
• Warm the olive oil in a soup pan and add the vegetables. Cook until they start to soften, about 4 minutes.
• Add the beans and stir to coat with the vegetables juices.
• Add chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
• Check to make sure the beans are soft. Take a couple of spoonfuls of the bean mixture and put in the food processor. Blend until smooth and stir it back into the soup pot. This helps make a thick and creamy soup. (This step is optional.)
• Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, thyme, and sherry. Continue to cook on simmer for another half hour.
• Add dry pasta. Use a small shape for this. We used Mafalda, which is short curly ribbons, but you can use any small-shaped pasta. Don’t be tempted to add too much pasta. It won’t look like much as you add it, but it will expand, and will keep absorbing the liquid from the soup.
• Cook until the pasta is al dente. Mafalda takes about 6 minutes. Follow the instructions on your pasta package.
• Serve hot with crusty Italian bread.

Video

Notes

You can easily make this soup vegetarian but substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

I usually use borlotti beans, also known as cranberry beans, for this recipe. But sometimes they are hard to find. In this recipe I used pinto beans which work just as well, and are easy to find in any supermarket.

Keyword beans, pasta, soup