Pasta Fagioli Soup
A one-pot pasta fagioli built the Italian American way: ground beef, a soffritto of onion, carrot and celery, and two kinds of beans in a thick tomato broth.Ready in 35 minutes, it feeds six from pantry staples and tastes even better the next day.
Ingredients
Soup Base
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef 85% lean
- 1 large yellow onion diced small
- 2 medium carrots diced small
- 2 ribs celery diced small
- 3 cloves garlic minced
Broth and Tomatoes
- 4 cups beef broth or vegetable broth
- 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes with their juice
- 1 cup tomato sauce
Herbs and Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Pasta, Beans and Cheese
- 1 cup ditalini pasta or other small pasta
- 15 ounces canned cannellini beans drained and rinsed
- 15 ounces canned red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan for serving
Equipment
- Large pot or Dutch oven
- Saucepan
Instructions
Brown the Beef and Soffritto
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the ground beef and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, letting it sit undisturbed between stirs so it browns rather than steams, then tip off the excess fat.
- Add the diced onion, carrots and celery to the pot with the beef. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until the onion is translucent and the carrot has lost its raw crunch. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant.
Simmer the Tomato Broth
- Pour in the beef broth, the diced tomatoes with their juice and the tomato sauce. Add the basil, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper, and stir to combine.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Leaving the lid off is what lets the broth reduce and thicken.
Boil the Pasta Separately
- Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of well-salted water to a boil. Add the ditalini and cook until it is just al dente, then drain it well. Cooking the pasta apart from the soup keeps the leftovers from setting solid.
Finish and Serve
- Stir the drained pasta, the cannellini beans and the red kidney beans into the pot. Simmer for 3 minutes, long enough to heat everything through and let the flavors meet.
- Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, grate parmesan over each one and serve with crusty bread.
Notes
Cook the pasta apart. Ditalini boiled in the soup keeps swelling in the leftovers and sets into a solid block overnight. Boil it separately, drain it and stir it in at the end.
Make-ahead. Cook the base through the 20 minute simmer, cool it and refrigerate it without the pasta for up to 4 days. Boil fresh ditalini on the day you serve it.
Storage and freezing. Leftovers keep 4 days in the fridge and thicken as they sit, so loosen each portion with a splash of broth as you reheat it. The base freezes for up to 3 months without the pasta.
Substitutions. Use vegetable broth and a third can of beans in place of the beef for a meatless pot, or swap the ground beef for Italian sausage. Escarole, kale or spinach can be stirred in during the last 2 minutes.
Nutrition values are an estimate.
Nutrition
Calories: 430kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 50mg | Sodium: 1080mg | Potassium: 900mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 3200IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 130mg | Iron: 4.5mg