With summer in the rearview mirror and cooler temps upon us, it feels fitting to share the comforting recipe for Gluten Free Pasta e Fagioli with you today. This rustic soup is warming, filling, healthy, and feeds an army too!
What is Pasta e Fagioli?
Pasta e Fagioli is a traditional Italian soup made with pasta and beans, and is a cinch to make gluten free. It’s inexpensive, made with everyday ingredients, and is the perfect dish to whip up on a Sunday afternoon (glass of wine in hand for an extra dash of cozy!) then enjoy for Sunday dinner. Leftovers reheat beautifully for easy lunches all week long OR you can transfer the soup into Ziplock freezer bags and freeze flat for another time.
Pasta e Fagioli Ingredients
Like I said, the ingredients for Pasta e Fagioli are humble, simple, and easy to find. I bet you’ve got most if not all of them on hand in the fridge and pantry right now.
- Ground beef. I prefer using 85/15 or 80/20 ground beef in soups and stews as it stays tender without drying out.
- Fresh vegetables: carrots, celery, onions, and garlic not only flavor the Pasta e Fagioli, but make it wholesome and nutritious.
- Crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Be sure to use gluten free tomato products – not all brands ensure ALL their tomato products are GF! I like Red Gold.
- Beef broth. I like Pacific, HyVee, or Progresso brands of gluten free beef broth.
- Kidney and Great Northern Beans. Inexpensive, filling, and packed with nutrients.
- Short cut gluten free pasta. Or feel free to use regular pasta if you don’t need to eat GF.
- Seasonings and herbs: salt, pepper, oregano, basil, dried parsley, and thyme.
- Parmesan cheese. Both grated parmesan cheese and parmesan cheese rind flavor this soup.
I mentioned that this soup freezes very well. Since gluten free pasta doesn’t hold up well to freezing after cooking though, I advise you cook the gluten free pasta fresh then add to the soup after thawing from frozen.
Allllrighty, let’s cook!
How to Make Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Start by browning ground beef in a large soup pot, seasoning with homemade seasoned salt and pepper. Drain if there’s a lot of grease then return to the pot and add sliced carrots, celery, shallot or onion, and garlic. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring every so often.
Next add a crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, light red kidney beans, great northern beans, plus dried oregano, dried basil, dried parsley, dried thyme, and a parmesan cheese rind, which will give the soup depth of flavor like you wouldn’t believe!
Bring the soup up to a bubble then turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 50-60 minutes, or until your desired consistency is reached, stirring every so often. I like my Pasta e Fagioli to be almost ragu-like, so I simmer for a full hour.
Just before eating, cook up your favorite gluten free short cut pasta – I use elbows – then add to bowls and scoop the hot Pasta e Fagioli on top. Stir to combine, top with freshly grated parmesan cheese, then dig in! I hope you enjoy this hearty, filling dish!
More Cozy Soups and Chilis To Try
- One-Pot Chicken and Rice
- Vegetable Beef and Rice Soup
- Smoked Sausage, White Bean and Spinach Soup
- Italian Sausage and Vegetable Soup
- Signature Chili
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Gluten Free Pasta e Fagioli
Description
Gluten Free Pasta e Fagioli is hearty, filling, easy, and inexpensive to make. This soul-satisfying soup recipe is pure comfort food!
Ingredients
- 1lb ground beef
- 1 cup baby carrots or 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 1 small onion or large shallot, chopped
- homemade seasoned salt and pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 28oz can crushed tomatoes
- 15oz can tomato sauce
- 15oz can beef broth + more for reheating
- 15oz can light red kidney beans, undrained
- 15oz can great northern beans, undrained
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2x2" parmesan rind (optional) + freshly grated parmesan cheese for topping
- 8oz short-cut gluten free pasta
Directions
- Brown ground beef in a large soup pot over medium-high heat, seasoning with homemade seasoned salt and pepper. Drain if theres a lot of excess fat then return beef to the pot. Add carrots, celery, onion or shallot, season again with seasoned salt and pepper then saute for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic then continue to saute for 3 more minutes.
- Add all remaining ingredients except the pasta to the pot then turn heat to high to bring to a bubble. Turn heat down to medium then simmer for 50-60 minutes or until soup has thickened, stirring occasionally.
- When soup has 15 minutes left to cook, cook pasta in boiling water then drain and divy up between bowls. Remove parmesan cheese rind from soup then scoop over pasta and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Michael@Anticatrattoria 01.15.2015
Delicious! Made this today & my family loved it. The only thing I would do differently next time is add the cooked pasta to the serving bowl & add the soup on top instead of mixing the cooked pasta into the soup. It absorbs so much liquid so quickly!
Top 10 Winter Soup Recipes 01.14.2015
[…] {Copycat} Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli […]
Teresa 01.10.2015
The OG out here serves this quite spicy- runny nose after 3 bites spicy. It’s a bit like chili. Does this recipe turn out spicy? (I was searching for the cayenne in the ingredients-lol)
Kristin 01.18.2015
Nope, definitely not spicy!
Kelly 12.23.2014
I made this tonight and we all loved it!! So delicious and hearty. Thank you for the recipe! :)
Falling back into routine. 11.12.2014
[…] call it that): my basic recipe was tweaked from a handful of online recipes (most closely following Iowa Girl Eats and Giuliano Hazan): brown a pound of ground beef with some salt and pepper, add a cup of chopped […]
Jeanne 10.01.2014
This is excellent! So yummy and seriously restaurant quality. I made this exactly as stated (minus the Parmesan rinds)and it was incredibly delicious. This will be my Pasta Fagioli recipe from now on.
I would like to say that I made this recipe before I commented on it. I really wish people would actually make the recipes before they comment on them. These bloggers spend a lot of their free-time posting recipes and it doesn’t help them in any way if you comment without actually making the recipe. No one cares if you think they “look good”. They want to know how they actually taste.
Copycat Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli Soup | KpandKat 09.28.2014
[…] Pinterest and came across the recipe and was dying to try it. Here is the link to the recipe https://iowagirleats.com/2012/09/13/copycat-olive-garden-pasta-e-fagioli-soup/ I highly recommend this! It’s absolutely delicious and it makes a lot! I will be bringing […]
liz 09.28.2014
Love it ! I substituted half italian sausage with ground beef its yummy . I am selling bowls of soup at work to support our breast cancer awareness 5k Im positive this will sell out
tracy 09.15.2014
I made this last night using 1.5 lbs ground beef and 12 ounces pasta. I felt it was missing something so seasoned it more but nothing. So I added another 15 ounces beef broth brought to boil and simmered for hours. It tasted just like olive gardens!!! Thanks for sharing your version.
Alex 09.02.2014
Can this recipe be frozen?
Kristin 09.08.2014
Hey Alex! I’ve never tried but I’m sure it’d be just fine!
Pasta Fagioli – Just like Olive Garden | Around The Kitchen in the 'burgh 03.11.2014
[…] loves soup from Olive Garden! When I browsing Iowa Girl Eats blog, I found her recipe for Pasta Fagioli. One wintery day in Fort Worth, I decided to try it and was […]
Rose Nargi 03.04.2014
Usually use a recipe that doesn’t have meat because the hubby loves OG´s version which doesn’t have meat. I had some ground beef though that needed to be used so I found this on pinterest and decided to try it The family liked it just as well. I added some extra garlic and an additional 4 cups of broth so I could just add the ditalini at the end and it still was soupy like we prefer it. I used chicken broth because I had some to use up and that’s what our original recipe called for.
Sunday Food Prep Week 3 | Zen & Spice 03.03.2014
[…] and sliced carrots, celery sticks, carrot medallions, Pasta e Fagioli Soup, tuna and white bean salad, whole wheat bread, dehydrated apple slices, and […]
Sunday Food Prep Week 3 | The Apron Blog 01.28.2014
[…] and sliced carrots, celery sticks, carrot medallions, Pasta e Fagioli Soup, tuna and white bean salad, whole wheat bread, dehydrated apple slices, and […]
Kit Lockwood 01.21.2014
The OG soup I’ve had in restaurants on the west coast has more spice (heat) than is indicated in this recipe. It’s not exactly a spicy soup at OG, but it has a little something in it. The OG in the Midwest, on the other hand, is a little more like your recipe, probably. I live in the Midwest now and found the pasta fagioli to have less heat, as does most Midwestern food, it seems. Wish I knew what the difference in recipes is. What was in that soup I loved so much in California?
Crock Pot Vegetable Noodle Soup | Holly On The Run 01.17.2014
[…] (adapted from Iowa Girl Eats) […]
Cindy 12.30.2013
My boyfriend loves this soup at Olive Garden. On our last visit he had a very disappointing experience. I decided to find a recipe to right the wrong. This is it! I found it, cooked it, he loved it!!!
Olive Garden Past e Fagioli Soup Copycat | ABC Creative Learning 12.29.2013
[…] NOTES: Recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats […]
Yvette 11.16.2013
This is a wonderful recipe, thank you! The only thing I did was increase the amount of garlic (we love garlic in my house!) and volume of broth to 4 cups because I wanted more “soup”. Otherwise, fantastic!
Celena Moulton 11.14.2013
Love this recipe! Made it for the second time tonight. Only thing is I put all the ingredients to a simmer and then add the pasta without cooking it first. Saves a dirty pan and works wonderfully. :)