Soups · Italian
Pasta e Fagioli
Italy's pasta-and-bean soup: a slow-simmered tomato broth, soft vegetables, creamy beans and little pasta.
- Hands-on
- 25 min
- Hands-off
- 45 min
- Total
- 1 h 10 min
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Serves
- 4
About 1 hr 10 min: 25 min hands-on (chopping, softening the vegetables, adding the pasta and beans) and about 45 min of gentle simmering that needs only the odd stir.
- easy
- weeknight
- pantry
- one-pot
- budget
Verified against at least two trusted test kitchens or food-safety guides · Last checked · What this means
Scaling? Doubles in a bigger pot. A deeper pot takes longer to come back to a simmer after the pasta and beans go in, so time the pasta from when it's simmering again and go by the bite, not the clock. Some items (like eggs) don’t halve neatly: beat them, then measure out half.
Ingredients
You need: medium saucepan · wooden spoon · colander or sieve (for the beans) · ladle
Contains: wheat · milk · celery
Method
Soften the vegetables
Put the chopped onion, celery and carrot in a medium saucepan with 2 tbsp olive oil. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring now and then.
Ready when: The vegetables are starting to soften and smell sweet; they shouldn't brown.
Otto tried this firstOtto cranks the heat to hurry things along and scorches the onion. Medium-low is the point: soft, not browned.Simmer the broth
Add the diced tomatoes with their juices, the bay leaf, the rosemary sprig and 710 ml (3 cups) of the broth. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 30 minutes.
Ready when: A gentle simmer the whole time, and the vegetables are very tender.
Remove the herbs, add pasta and beans
Fish out and throw away the bay leaf and rosemary. Add the remaining 240 ml (1 cup) broth, the 113 g (1 cup) pasta and the drained beans. Simmer gently, stirring now and then, for about 12 minutes.
Ready when: The pasta is cooked through when you bite a piece: tender with no hard white centre.
Season and serve
Taste and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano and drizzle with a little olive oil.
Swaps
- Instead of chicken broth: vegetable broth, same amount Makes the soup vegetarian (with a vegetarian hard cheese).
- Instead of cannellini beans: kidney beans
- Instead of ditalini: elbows, tripolini, tubettini or small shells Cooking times vary by shape; bite-test.
Make ahead, store & reheat
- Make ahead
- Make the soup up to the end of the 30-minute simmer, take out the herbs and cool it completely. Refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw frozen soup in the fridge, bring it back to a boil and carry on with the pasta and beans.
- Storage
- Cool leftovers and refrigerate them within 2 hours. Eat them within 48 hours, or freeze them as soon as possible.
- Reheat
- Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, 74°C (165°F). Only reheat once.
If something goes wrong
- Pasta still firm after 12 minutes Why: Pasta shapes and brands vary.
Keep simmering, stirring, and bite-test every couple of minutes until cooked through. - Soup is thinner than you'd like Why: This version keeps the beans whole.
Next time, blend part of the beans with a splash of water until smooth and stir the purée in with the whole beans; it thickens the soup.
Good to know
- Chop the onion, celery and carrot finely so they soften quickly at low heat.
- Take the bay leaf and rosemary out before the pasta goes in, so you're not fishing for them among the noodles.
Safety
- Hot soup and steam can burn. Stir with a long spoon. An adult should handle the pot; kids can rinse the beans.
- Allergens: pasta contains wheat and cheese contains milk. Celery is a listed allergen in the UK and EU, and broths often contain celery too. Check labels.
- Traditional Parmigiano-Reggiano is made with animal rennet. For a vegetarian bowl, use vegetable broth and a vegetarian hard cheese.
- Leftovers go in the fridge within 2 hours and get reheated until steaming hot.