Presenting our Traditional Pasta e Fagioli {Pasta with Beans Soup} - it's the ultimate Italian comfort food in a bowl! This timeless blend brings together small pasta, beans (fagioli), pancetta, and veggies, all simmered to perfection in a flavorful broth. Ideal for anyone craving a comforting meal bursting with Italian flavors!
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- What is pasta e fagioli?
- 💖Why we love classic pasta fagioli recipe:
- 🛒 What ingredients are in traditional pasta fagioli?
- Equipment you need to make this recipe
- 🍽️ How to make pasta fazool?
- How to cook pasta:
- What to serve with Italian white bean and pasta soup?
- 🫙 Leftover and Storing:
- How to reheat pasta e fagioli:
- 📃 Substitutions & Variations for grandma's pasta fagioli recipe:
- ☑️ Lora's Tips for authentic pasta e fagioli:
- ❓ FAQ'S
- Some other recipes you'll love:
- 📖 Recipe
- Italian Pasta e Fagioli {Pasta and Beans Soup}
If you like this recipe, you need to check out my Tuscan white bean soup and my pasta e ceci.
This authentic pasta e fagioli recipe has some pancetta in it and it is naturally gluten-free! To keep it vegan/vegetarian, do not add any pancetta and keep out the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and use vegetable broth. It is a a little creamy from the mashed beans, yet is completely dairy-free!
This is nonna's recipe! Nonna (my mom)uses pancetta in her version, and if you can't get your hands on any, thick cut bacon could be substituted inpasta e fagioli. If you choose to leave out the pancetta, you'll have a nice vegan Italian recipe.
You can definitely use dried borlotti or cannellini beans, soaked overnight, but it's not the only option. When you make the soup with canned beans, you save so much time and the flavor is still incredible!
Pasta fazool is filling on its own. I like to serve it with an insalata mista and some really garlic bread, or a really great crusty Italian bread.
My whole family just loves it! It is absolutely delicious and you will be making it on rotation all winter long! Let's get onto this incredible soup recipe
What is pasta e fagioli?
Pasta e Fagioli (pronounced “pasta fah-jolie”), or "pasta fazool" in the cozy Neapolitan dialect, is this classic Italian comfort soup that's all about bringing simple, everyday ingredients together.
It's a thick, hearty blend of pasta and beans that warms you up and fills you up and is budget friendly! Perfect for those chill days when you need a little warmth and comfort in a bowl.
Pasta e Fagioli is a dish with as many variations as there are households and regions in Italy, ranging from thick and hearty to light and brothy, and everything in between. The version I'm excited to share with you today is one that holds a special place in my heart, it's the version my mom makes!
This pasta fazool is another soup to add to my list that I love like my easy Tuscan white bean soup and my easy chicken tortellini soup.
💖Why we love classic pasta fagioli recipe:
- Healthy and Hearty Ingredients: With borlotti or cannellini beans, this pasta e fagioli recipe is packed with protein and fiber, making it both a nutritious and satisfying meal.
- Aromatic and Flavorful: The combination of extra-virgin olive oil, diced tomatoes, rosemary, garlic, pancetta and a dash of red pepper flakes adds layers of flavor to the pasta fagioli but also creates a delicious depth of flavor.
- Texture Variety: The inclusion of cooked pasta alongside the beans introduces a delightful mix of textures, from the soft beans to the al dente pasta, ensuring each bite is interesting and satisfying.
- Cheesy Finish: Topping the dish with Parmesan cheese adds a final touch of savory depth and creates a beautiful melding of flavors, making it irresistible.
- Comforting: It's a hearty and comforting meal perfect for colder days, but I enjoy any time of year.
- Perfect for meal-prep: This comfort food recipe can easily be made in large batches and freezes well for future meals, making it convenient for busy weeknights. Plus, leftovers taste even better the next day!
🛒 What ingredients are in traditional pasta fagioli?
- Olive Oil: I always have my very good quality extra-virgin olive oil. Not much is needed for the soup, but the little bit does change the flavor. And before serving, drizzle on a bit to add a little bit more flavor.
- Pancetta: I always find pancetta at any deli section. You could get a chunk and cut it into small chunks. Or some markets sell it already diced. Use bacon if you can't find pancetta. Leave it out if you would like the soup to be vegan/vegetarian. If you would like to still serve it you could always cook it on the side and stir it into the portions for guests that aren't vegan.
- Onion: I used a sweet onion, but use Vidalia or whatever onion you have. on hand. You could even use shallots.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic adds a lot of flavor to the soup. Use more if you like a more pronounced garlic flavor. I have some that I minced up in a jar in the fridge and add a small spoonful in.
- Carrots and Celery: These veggies add vitamins and a bit of flavor when they're sauteed with the onion and garlic.
- Tomato sauce: You can use diced tomatoes, tomato passata, or even some tomato paste.
- Broth: You could use vegetable or chicken. Be sure to use low-sodium. If you're making this vegan/vegetarian, be sure to use a vegetable broth.
- Borlotti (cranberry beans) or Cannellini Beans: It is typically made with borlotti beans. I used cannellini beans, but it's fine to use another white bean. Great Northern Beans or navy beans could also be used could be used instead, but it won't be as creamy of a texture.
- Rosemary: I have fresh rosemary in my herb garden. I prefer fresh to dried. Try to get some if you can because it does make the flavor of the soup even better! You could chop it or add a sprig. I usually just add a sprig and remove it when the soup is ready.
- Bay Leaves: Dried bay leaves give a rich flavor to the soup. Remove it as soon as the soup is ready.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper: I start out with very little salt, as the beans and pancetta (or bacon) are salty. Be sure to use a low-sodium broth. A touch of black pepper is nice. If you don't like it, leave it out.
- Crushed red pepper flakes: If you like a little bit of spice, go ahead and add some in. It's totally optional.
- Pasta: Use whatever small pasta shapes you like or have on hand. I used ditalini (tubetti) in our recipe. You could use small shells, elbow macaroni, farfalline, or broken pieces of spaghetti.
Equipment you need to make this recipe
- Cutting board: I like to use bamboo cutting boards, but use whatever type you have on hand.
- Sharp knife: A really sharp knife is needed to chop up the vegetables.
- Dutch oven or a large pot: I like to use my Dutch oven to make soups like this, but any large pot will work fine.
🍽️ How to make pasta fazool?
Here is how to make this (the full recipe is below!):
I make it in a Dutch oven, but you can make it any large pot or even in a slow cooker.
Gather all your ingredients.
- Step 1: Heat the oil in the pot (I used a large Dutch oven)and begin to cook the pancetta. Next, add in the vegetables and the garlic.
- Step 2: Add in the tomatoes and cook together. Add in the fresh rosemary.
- Step 3: Add the broth and beans in. Reserve half of the beans, as you'll be blending them into a cream.
- Step 4: Blend the other half of the beans in a blender.
- Step 5: Cook the pasta: in a separate medium sized pot in boiling and salted water until al dente. Drain, drizzle on olive oil and reserve in a bowl with a little olive oil drizzled on it until the soup is ready.
- Step 6: Combine the creamed beans. Stir and loosen with some broth if it's too thick. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Step 7: Serve and enjoy!
How to cook pasta:
- Use a big pot: Very important to cook the pasta in a large enough pot with enough water. The pasta will expand as it cooks. For every 3.5 ounces of pasta, you'll need 4 cups of water. Stir the pasta as soon as you add it to the boiling water. If you don't, it will stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Generously salt the water: As soon as the water starts to boil, add in 1.5 tablespoons of salt. If you use less than that, the pasta will be very bland.
- Keep stirring: Stay close to the boiling pasta and stir it frequently. The water could boil over if you walk away and don't stir it. It has to stay at a rolling boil. Do not simmer the pasta, as it won't cook up.
- Reserve pasta water: Before you drain the pasta, keep some of the starchy pasta water. Do not rinse the pasta in cold water. The pasta gets added immediately to the pan with the arrabbiata sauce. If needed, you could thin out the sauce with a little bit of the starchy reserved pasta water.
📃 NOTE: Recipe card with detailed instructions are below! Print it out for later!
What to serve with Italian white bean and pasta soup?
This is total comfort food and it goes nicely with a salad comfort food and it goes really nicely with any roasted vegetable, side dish, pasta, or bread.
- Insalata mista >>> This soup goes really great with a nice and easy Italian mixed salad.
- Panzanella Toscana >>> A fast Tuscan salad that is delicious!
- Crusty bread >>> I love to dip some pieces of this amazing crusty bread into my soup! A fast Greek bread psomi spitiko .
- Rosemary breadsticks >>> If you love breadsticks, you must try these flavorful rosemary breadsticks!
- Caprese salad>>>One of my favorite salads! Creamy and fresh, this is really simple to make.
🫙 Leftover and Storing:
- To refrigerate: Cool the soup completely and store any leftover in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- To freeze: Once the soup has cooled down, store any leftovers or freeze it after you make it to enjoy another day. Keep it in a large zipped lock bag with the air squeezed out before you seal it. Date the bag. Or store in a freezer safe airtight container for up to 2 months.
How to reheat pasta e fagioli:
If you're planning to have leftovers, do not add the pasta to the soup in the pot. The pasta will get way too mushy. Heat the soup in a pot on medium-low heat. Add a little bit of water to loosen it and get a nice consistency. Add the pasta towards the end of when it's heating up so it doesn't get super soft. It will absorb the soup liquid and plump up a lot. Or heat in microwave.
📃 Substitutions & Variations for grandma's pasta fagioli recipe:
- Make it spicy: add red pepper flakes to level up the heat in the soup.
- Fresh herbs: Chop up some fresh Italian parsley and sprinkle on just before serving. Add a dried bay leaf to the soup as it's simmering for warm flavor.
- Make it cheesy- Sprinkle on some Parmigiano Reggiano or pecorino before serving. If you do decide to add cheese when it's ready, use less salt.
☑️ Lora's Tips for authentic pasta e fagioli:
- Beans: In the classic Pasta e Fagioli recipe, borlotti beans are the traditional choice, yet cannellini beans serve as a readily available and equally delicious alternative for the "fagioli" component. To achieve a richer, thicker consistency in our version, you could use an immersion blender. However, for those who prefer a more brothy texture, forgoing the blender and gently mashing the beans against the pot's side with the flat end of a wooden spoon is a simple, effective technique. Or remove a portion and blend in a blender, like we did.
- Pasta: For pasta fazool, feel free to choose from a variety of small pasta shapes according to what you have on hand or prefer. While we're opting for ditalini (tubetti) in our recipe, small shells, farfalline, elbows, or even broken pieces of spaghetti can work just as well. No matter which pasta you select, it will still be comforting.
- Cheese: It's up to you if you would like to grate on some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for serving. You could also use Pecorino instead of Parmigiano.
- Vegan/vegetarian: Leave out the pancetta and you'll have a vegan/vegetarian pasta e fagioli. As for the rosemary, if you don’t like it you can omit it entirely.
- Herbs: I like to add fresh rosemary that I have in my herb garden. If you do not have any on hand, you could leave it out.
- Make ahead: This is a great soup recipe to make ahead, especially for meal prep. I highly recommend to cook the pasta separately. It does get mushy when it's stored with the soup.
❓ FAQ'S
Yes, you can freeze the soup. If you plan to make extra to freeze, I recommend cooking the pasta separately and adding pasta to individual portions when serving. Transfer the cooled down soup to an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months.
Thaw soup overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on medium low. Cook up the pasta to serve with it and enjoy.
Yes, just soak them overnight and cook them up the next day. You'll need 2 cups of cooked beans. So if you prefer to cook up your own beans, go ahead follow rest of recipe once you’ve cooked the beans up.
Pasta e fagioli in Italian means pasta and beans.
In the classic Italian dish Pasta e Fagioli, ditalini pasta is typically the star of the show. These small, tube-shaped pieces are perfect for the soup, as their size complements the beans and vegetables, making every spoonful a harmonious bite.
Yes, Pasta e Fagioli is indeed an authentic Italian soup, deeply rooted in the country's culinary tradition. Originating as a humble peasant dish, it combines pasta and beans—staple ingredients in Italian cooking—to create a hearty, comforting meal. This dish showcases the simplicity and richness of Italian cuisine, with regional variations reflecting local flavors and preferences across Italy.
Pasta e Fagioli, pronounced "pasta e fah-joh-lee," is a classic Italian soup that beautifully marries pasta with beans (fagioli). In the United States, it's affectionately known as pasta fazool, a nod to its Neapolitan name, pasta e fasule, reflecting the dish's rich cultural heritage and enduring popularity across both Italy and the US.
The soup is gluten-free. Just be sure to use your favorite gluten-free pasta brand, to make it totally gluten-free.
The thickener in this soup soup is actually the beans. When they've cooked up, you blend or mash a portion of them and add back to the soup to make it thick and creamy.
The soup that you make for pasta e fagioli is totally gluten-free. Be sure to use your favorite gluten-free pasta.
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📖 Recipe
Italian Pasta e Fagioli {Pasta and Beans Soup}
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil extra virgin
- 6 oz. pancetta diced or bacon, see notes for vegan/vegetarian option
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 2 carrots peeled finely diced
- 2 stalks celery leaves removed and finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 1- 15 oz. canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans 30 oz, borlotti beans (Roman/cranberry beans) drained and rinsed (or use cannelini, pinto, kidney beans)
- 1 14 ounces canned whole tomatoes hand crushed
- 7- 8 cups stock vegetable or chicken low sodium I used my homemade chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary or dried rosemary if you can't get fresh
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup dried ditalini pasta or another type of small pasta
Instructions
- Heat oil: In a large (10-inch) pot or Dutch oven over medium heat heat 3 tablespoons olive oil .
- Cook pancetta: Add the pancetta to the heated oil and and cook until it starts to crisp and the fat is rendered, about 4-5 minutes. Stir while it's cooking with wooden spoon so it doesn't brown too much on one side.
- Sauté vegetables: Add in the onion, carrots, celery, and cook for 6-8 minutes, until softened. Stir with wooden spoon while it's cooking . Add the garlic in and stir for one minute, be sure to not let it brown.
- Add in the tomatoes: and use a wooden spoon to break them up (if using canned plum tomatoes, break them up before adding, and remove the tough white core).
- Add broth + beans: Pour in the broth and half of the beans. Add in the bay leaf and rosemary sprigs. Bring to a boil with the heat on high. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 45 minutes. Check the seasoning and add a little salt, if needed, and some freshly ground black pepper, if you like.
- Blend the beans: Blend the other half of the beans in a blender. If it's hard to blend, add a little bit of broth. You could also mash them in a bowl with a fork or a potato masher.
- Cook the pasta: in a separate medium sized pot in boiling and salted water until al dente. Drain, drizzle on olive oil and reserve in a bowl with a little olive oil drizzled on it until the soup is ready.
- Combine the creamed beans: If you blended some of the soup, add it back to the pot and stir to combine. Add more broth if it's too thick and simmer to heat it before serving.
- Serve: Ladle into soup bowls and drizzle a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil before serving. If you like, sprinkle on some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and crushed red pepper flakes. ENJOY!
Nutrition Disclaimer
Please keep in mind that the nutritional information presented below is an approximation and may vary depending on the exact ingredients used.
Video
Notes
- Beans: In the classic Pasta e Fagioli recipe, borlotti beans are the traditional choice, yet cannellini beans serve as a readily available and equally delicious alternative for the "fagioli" component. To achieve a richer, thicker consistency in our version, you could use an immersion blender. However, for those who prefer a more brothy texture, forgoing the blender and gently mashing the beans against the pot's side with the flat end of a wooden spoon is a simple, effective technique. Or remove a portion and blend in a blender, like we did.
- Pasta: For pasta fazool, feel free to choose from a variety of small pasta shapes according to what you have on hand or prefer. While we're opting for ditalini (tubetti) in our recipe, small shells, farfalline, elbows, or even broken pieces of spaghetti can work just as well. No matter which pasta you select, it will still be comforting.
- Cheese: It's up to you if you would like to grate on some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for serving. You could also use Pecorino instead of Parmigiano.
- Vegan/vegetarian: Leave out the pancetta and you'll have a vegan/vegetarian pasta e fagioli. As for the rosemary, if you don’t like it you can omit it entirely.
- Herbs: I like to add fresh rosemary that I have in my herb garden. If you do not have any on hand, you could leave it out.
- Make ahead: This is a great soup recipe to make ahead, especially for meal prep. I highly recommend to cook the pasta separately. It does get mushy when it's stored with the soup.
Georgie Peschke says
This soup is amazing! Followed the recipe- did add the crushed red pepper while it was cooking. Loved it!
Lora says
Hi Georgie-THANK YOU for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed this pasta e fagioli recipe. ENJOY!
Jules says
Just made another pot of this delicious soup! I am gluten-free, so I used a GF pasta that I love. It's so easy to make!
Doug Doty says
I make my Italian mother-in-laws recipe, which is plainer than this but very flavorful. For the pasta I use ditalini and add it, uncooked, at the end, stir it in and cover the pot and remove from the heat. Let it set for 20 minutes and it is done to perfection.
Such a simple soup, but so delicious!
Thank you!
Lora says
Hi Doug...yes, lots of people add the pasta to the soup. It's a matter of preference and I really don't like mushy pasta, so I cook it separately and make sure it's not cooked all the way (since it will keep cooking in the hot soup). I like it to be al dente in the soup, which is not easy to do! I'm sure your mother in law's recipe is great!! Thanks for stopping by! CIAO
Diana says
Excellent soup. There was a mess up in the ingredients. It calls for 1 can crushed tomatoes and 1 can whole. You don’t list both in the instructions. I just used whole. The soup cost me $7.71 to make in Sicily. Delicious!