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Pasta e fagioli simply means pasta and beans, and in Italy it is the plainest kind of home cooking, a pot made from what is already in the cupboard. In this country most of us met it at an Italian restaurant, where it arrives thick, red-brown and rich, with little tubes of pasta and two kinds of beans in every spoonful. Then we go home and make it, and it comes out thin, like vegetable soup with a few beans floating in it. For years I thought the restaurants were adding cream or flour. They are not. They are doing one small thing that the home version always skips.
They mash some of the beans. A cupful of the white beans is crushed to a paste with a little broth and stirred back into the pot, where it melts and thickens the whole soup without a drop of cream. The second thing restaurants get right is timing: the pasta goes in at the very end, so it is tender in the bowl and has not had time to drink all the broth. Here is the full recipe, with exactly when the pasta goes in and what to do if you are planning on leftovers.
Why this pasta e fagioli works
- Mashed beans. One cup of cannellini beans crushed to a paste gives the broth a thick, silky body with no cream and no flour.
- Well-browned beef. Letting the ground beef brown properly before the vegetables go in builds the deep, savory base of the soup.
- Two kinds of beans. Creamy white cannellini and firmer red kidney beans give the soup its restaurant look and two textures.
- Pasta added last. Small pasta needs only about 10 minutes, so adding it at the end keeps it from swelling and soaking up the broth.
- A short rest. Five minutes off the heat lets the soup thicken and the flavors settle before it is ladled out.
Ingredients
Makes about 3 quarts, 8 generous bowls. The measurements are in US cups with grams in brackets.
For the soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef (450g)
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots, cut in small dice (about 1 cup, 130g)
- 2 celery stalks, cut in small dice (about 3/4 cup, 90g)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes (800g)
- 5 cups beef broth (1.2 liters)
- 1 can (15 ounces) cannellini or great northern beans, drained and rinsed (425g)
- 1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (425g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup ditalini or other small pasta (120g)
To serve
- Finely grated parmesan
- Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Ditalini, the little short tubes, is the classic pasta for this soup. Small elbows or small shells work too. Chicken broth can stand in for the beef broth, and a parmesan rind dropped into the pot while it simmers adds even more flavor.
How to make pasta e fagioli
Build the soup
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, break it up and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until well browned. Spoon off most of the fat, leaving about a tablespoon in the pot.
- Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until the onion is soft. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, beef broth, oregano, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat.
- While the pot comes to a boil, put 1 cup of the cannellini beans in a bowl with a small ladle of the hot broth and mash them to a rough paste with a fork or a potato masher.
- Stir the mashed beans, the rest of the cannellini beans and the kidney beans into the pot. Partly cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the broth has started to thicken.
Add the pasta and serve
- Bring the soup back up to a steady simmer and stir in the dry pasta. Cook uncovered for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring often so nothing sticks to the bottom, until the pasta is just tender.
- Take the pot off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes. The soup will thicken as it sits. If it is thicker than you like, stir in a little hot broth or water.
- Taste for salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with grated parmesan and a little parsley.
Tips that make the difference
- Do not skip the mashing. It takes one minute and it is the whole difference between a thin soup and the restaurant bowl.
- Add the pasta only when you are about 15 minutes from sitting down. Pasta that simmers longer goes soft and starts drinking the broth.
- Stir often once the pasta is in. The starch and the mashed beans can catch on the bottom of the pot.
- Planning on leftovers? Cook the pasta separately in salted water and add a spoonful to each bowl, so the soup in the pot stays brothy.
- Cut the carrots and celery small, about the size of the beans. They cook faster and every spoonful gets a little of everything.
Variations
- Meatless. Leave out the beef, use vegetable broth and add a third can of beans. Mash an extra half cup to make up for the body.
- With greens. Stir in two big handfuls of chopped spinach or kale for the last 5 minutes.
- A little heat. Add 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes with the garlic.
- Slow cooker. Brown the beef and vegetables, then cook everything except the pasta on low for 6 to 7 hours. Add the pasta for the last 30 minutes on high.
Storage and make-ahead
Refrigerate the soup in a covered container for up to 4 days. The pasta will keep absorbing broth, so expect it to be much thicker the next day.
Reheat gently on the stove and loosen it with broth or water until it is the thickness you like.
To freeze, make the soup without the pasta and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw, bring to a simmer and cook the pasta in it fresh.
Frequently asked questions
When does the pasta go in?
At the very end, once the vegetables are tender and the soup has simmered for 20 minutes. The dry pasta cooks right in the soup for 9 to 11 minutes and is served at once.
Why did my pasta drink all the broth?
It sat in the hot soup too long. Small pasta keeps swelling as long as it is in liquid. For leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl.
Do I have to mash the beans?
It is what thickens the soup. If you skip it the soup will taste fine but will be thin and brothy rather than rich.
Can I use dried beans?
Yes. Cook 1 cup of dried cannellini and 1 cup of dried kidney beans separately until tender, then use them in place of the canned beans, with some of their cooking liquid in place of part of the broth.
Mash the beans, add the pasta last, and put the parmesan on the table. It tastes like the restaurant bowl, from your own pot.
Pasta e Fagioli (Thick Italian Pasta and Bean Soup, Restaurant Style with Ground Beef)
A thick, restaurant-style pasta e fagioli: ground beef, carrots, celery, tomatoes, white and red beans and small pasta in a rich broth thickened the Italian way, with a ladle of mashed beans stirred back into the pot.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots, cut in small dice
- 2 celery stalks, cut in small dice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can
- 5 cups beef broth
- 1 can
- 1 can
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup ditalini or other small pasta
- Finely grated parmesan
- Chopped fresh parsley, optional
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, break it up and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until well browned. Spoon off most of the fat, leaving about a tablespoon in the pot.
- Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until the onion is soft. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, beef broth, oregano, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat.
- While the pot comes to a boil, put 1 cup of the cannellini beans in a bowl with a small ladle of the hot broth and mash them to a rough paste with a fork or a potato masher.
- Stir the mashed beans, the rest of the cannellini beans and the kidney beans into the pot. Partly cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the carrots are tender and the broth has started to thicken.
- Bring the soup back up to a steady simmer and stir in the dry pasta. Cook uncovered for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring often so nothing sticks to the bottom, until the pasta is just tender.
- Take the pot off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes. The soup will thicken as it sits. If it is thicker than you like, stir in a little hot broth or water.
- Taste for salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with grated parmesan and a little parsley.
