Crock Pot Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
This easy Crock Pot Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli soup recipe is packed with flavor. You’ll love it better than the Olive Garden version!
A DELICIOUS OLIVE GARDEN SOUP RECIPE
I will be the first to admit that the first time I ever heard of or tasted this soup was at Olive Garden. I know it existed in Italy long before Olive Garden was ever around but it was Olive Garden that introduced me to this seriously yummy and hearty soup.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
You can make this without a slow cooker. Follow the instructions below, but instead of adding to a slow cooker, just put all ingredients in a large pot (except for the pasta). Cook over low heat for about an hour. During the last 15-20 minutes, add in the pasta.
Pasta e Fagioli is Italian for “Pasta and Beans”.
Absolutely. You can substitute the ground beef in this recipe for ground Italian sausage or you could use half ground beef and half sausage.
Yes. Americans tend to pronounce it as pasta fazool which is a take on the Neapolitan (Naples, Italy) pronunciation of pasta e fasule. But in the Italian mainland, it is generally pronounced as “paa·stuh faa·jee·o·lee”
They are actually very similar! Minestrone is heavy on the vegetables with lots of variety where as pasta Fagioli’s main focus is mostly on the beans and the smaller pasta shapes.
If you know you are going to want to have leftovers, I would not add the pasta in with the whole slow cooker of soup towards the end of cooking. I would cook the pasta separately and add it to individual servings. The reason being is pasta will continue to absorb any liquid it is in long after it has stopped cooking. Store your soup and pasta separately in covered containers in the refrigerator and mix the two only when reheating. The soup will stay good in the refrigerator for up to one week.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
HOW TO MAKE OLIVE GARDEN PASTA E FAGIOLI SOUP
Brown and crumble ground beef. Drain excess grease.
Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker (except for pasta) and stir.
Set slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
During the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, add in the pasta and stir.
Cook’s Notes: Pasta likes to absorb a lot of the liquid so if you like your soup a bit more soupy, be prepared to have an extra can of beef broth handy. You can add it in towards the end. Also, another way to avoid this is to precook your pasta first and then add it in at the end.
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Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 15 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 15 ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 26 ounce container beef stock (or 3 cups)
- 25 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 cup ditalini pasta (or your favorite pasta shape)
Instructions
- Brown and crumble ground beef. Drain excess grease. Add into the slow cooker.
- Add all the other ingredients to the slow cooker (except for pasta) and stir.
- Cover and set slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours
- During the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, add in the pasta and stir. Cook until pasta is al dente then serve with breadsticks!
Video
Notes
- Pasta likes to absorb a lot of the liquid so if you like your soup a bit more soupy, be prepared to have an extra can of beef broth handy. You can add it in towards the end.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: November 2011
Updated & republished: December 2021
I'm am so happy to hear you like this recipe!! I truly appreciate y'all for taking the time to let me know how a recipe turned out. It makes my day!! I hope you find lots more recipes on here that you love! ~Brandie
Hey Brandie,just wanted to let you know that i absolutely love your blog! I have this soup in my slow cooker right now 🙂
I just made this tonight and my family loooooved it!!! Woo hoo!
I just found your blog. I love you.
That is all.
Making for dinner tonight and done, the last step is in process. I can't wait it smells wonderful and taste soooo good.
I am making this today! It smells so good in my kitchen right now. We LOVE it! I usually double it and either freeze some or share with others. Thanks again for the great recipes! Hope you have a great week-end!
I would add some parmesan cheese before serving…I believe they do that at Olive Garden…and I think I see some floating on top of the finished soup in your picture! Sounds great can't wait to try it! Thanks~
Hey, I made the soup again, we love it but I wanted you to know I tagged you on my facebook and blog both. Thanks for a great recipe.
This is sssoooo good. I made this twice already…but I have to cut the recipe in half …it's too much for two people. The first time I forgot to decrease the amount of pasta so it was a mess. The second time it was perfection. I separated some in three bowls to try to find the right spicy kick. The Cayenne pepper was too hot and I didn't care for the hot sauce flavor…surprisingly a little chili pepper seasoning was perfect! Thank you!
Bella
I have made this three times already since finding this on Pinterest. We love it. I don't do the crock-pot method, just stove top. After all ingredients are combined, I simmer for 45-60 minutes. I also make the pasta separate and add later as to not make the soup to thick as the juice is absorbed in the pasta. This is yummy. I'm making it again today except doubling this time. Thanks for a hearty soup that is also safe for my son with severe food allergies.
Just wanted to let you know I cooked this for dinner last night, and it was super yummy. (I'm actually eating leftovers for lunch today at work. hehe) Husband and I both went back for seconds. Only alterations: I accidentally grabbed chicken stock instead of beef; I used S&P when browning the ground beef, added a Bay leaf; added chopped garlic (b/c in my house it isn't dinner without garlic) and used a small shell pasta instead (b/c that was all I had). I must say it was so incredible. I served it with your short cut bread sticks-which were as big of a hit (if not bigger cause my daughter would eat only bread if allowed) as the soup. Thanks again!
Thank you Michelle!! Hope your boys love it too!
I have this cooking in the crockpot right now and the smell is amazing!! I doubled the amount of beef stock just because I love it soupy… & of course I just had to do a taste test and WOW it is exactly like Olive Garden's…Thank you so much for sharing my boys are going to love this 🙂
Lisa, thank you so much for coming back & letting me know how it turned out for you. SO happy you enjoyed this one!!
Thank you for this recipe! It has become a staple meal following spaghetti night – PERFECT for the leftover sauce! Thanks, too, for having the easy-to-print option!
Thank you so very much Jan!! Love your husband's comment..lol. So thrilled y'all were happy with this recipe!
I've made this twice now. Delicious!! The first time I made it, my husband said you should make another batch for next weeks' lunches! 🙂
I'm so happy to hear you liked this recipe. Love that you used a combination of beef and pork..yum!
This soup was great. I used pork and ground beef and it was amazing!
Isn't it awesome? I've been using a very similar recipe for about 15 years, and it gets rave reviews every time I make it. I do cook my ditalini separate, and occasionally make it up a day in advance and refrigerate it overnight for even better flavor. Just add the pasta right before serving.
Terry
Hi Melanie! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know how all the recipes turned out for ya. It is always great to get feedback – thank you!
Brandie,
I made the Pasta Fagioli and Meatball Tortellini soups and the Butterfinger Cake for a church supper last night. They were all a huge hit. Thanks so much for the great tasting and easy to prepare recipes.
Linda, thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how it turned out for you! So glad your whole family enjoyed it! Makes my day to hear that!!
I am a very busy Oma with 2 grands, a working daughter and a working husband who all want dinner at different times. I made this soup today and the whole family voted this one their favorite of the month. Thanks so much. Everything is perfect about this dish. Full flavor, good mix of ingredients and ease of preparation. Two thumbs up from Casa de Cuckoo. Oma Linda
This is SERIOUSLY my favorite soup in the whole wide world! I am putting this on my menu for next week as I've been craving it SO bad! Yummy!!!