Pasta e Fagioli Olive Garden Copycat Recipe

Amazing Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli Recipe

After enjoying the delicious homemade Olive Garden chicken alfredo recipe, I knew I needed more Olive Garden copycat recipes in my life! After trying a few different copycat recipes for the Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup, I chose this one as my favorite.

One of my neighbors/friends used to work at Olive Garden and this is the recipe she uses too. I’m not saying it is the Olive Garden pasta fagioli recipe, but I do think it is a pretty good copycat! And either way, it is a great soup recipe!

Like many soup recipes, it is easy and quick to throw it all together, freezes well, and it is nice for feeding a large crowd too. The only ingredient that I don’t regularly have on hand is the V-8 juice. No problem though, it is easy to find at any grocery store.

Pasta Fagioli Recipe Preparation

Before we start cooking, we’ll have to do a little bit of prep work. I recently learned some cool techniques on how to dice onions and julienne carrots, so hopefully, they help!

How to Dice an Onion

1. Cut the onion in half through the root and stem ends.
2. Peel the onion.
3. Place one-half cut-side-down on a cutting board.
4. Make fan-shaped cuts around the dome of the onion from the stem end to the root end, without cutting through the root end.
5. Then slice across the cuts and you have diced onion!

Of course, you can also peel and chop the onion into quarters, removing the stem and root ends, and place the pieces in a food processor. Then pulse a few times until the onion pieces reach the desired size. More dirty dishes though!

How to Julienne Carrots

1. Peel the carrot.
2. Slice the carrot at a sharp angle, making elongated oval discs.
3. Stack three or four of the ovals on top of one another.
4. Cut through the stack creating matchstick carrot pieces, or julienne.

Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Recipe Instructions

At this point your ground beef should be browned, veggies should be chopped, seasonings should be measured, and cans should be opened! Once all that is done, you can start cooking up your pasta e fagioli.

Step 1: Add the chopped veggies and minced garlic to the pot and saute for about 10 minutes:

Step 2: Dump in all of the other ingredients, except the pasta, and let it simmer for an hour:

Step 3: Before the soup is done simmering, cook the ditalini pasta according to the package instructions

Step 4: Stir in the drained, cooked pasta, let it all simmer a few more minutes:

Instant Pot Fagioli Soup:

Debbie made this in her Instant Pot and it turned out fabulously!
Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat or in the Instant Pot on saute setting. Drain off most of the fat.
Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the pot and sauté for 10 minutes. Transfer mixture to Instant Pot, if not already in there.
Add remaining ingredients, except pasta.
Then add the pasta on top of the other ingredients, DO NOT STIR it in.
Pressure Cook on HIGH for 8 minutes and do a quick pressure release.

That’s It!

The soup is done! Enjoy for dinner and freeze the leftovers! Or, if you are going to freeze it right away, I would skip the last few minutes of simmering and just let it cool.

To help give you an idea of the amount of soup in one batch, my red Dutch oven in the picture is 6.5 quarts. For my family of 2 adults and 3 small children, this recipe makes two entrees. So, I would make one batch to get two possible freezer meals.

See More Copycat Recipes!

• See our other Olive Garden copycat soup!
• Don’t miss the delicious Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe
• Check out our recipe for Olive Garden Bread Sticks!

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Pasta e Fagioli Olive Garden Copycat Recipe

Awesome copycat recipe for Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup! One of my friends used to work there and this is the copycat recipe she uses too. 😉

4.67 / 5 ( 18 Reviews )

Print Rate

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Serves: 8

Adjust Servings: 8

US CustomaryMetric

Equipment

• Large pot

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 small onion diced (1 cup)
• 1-2 carrots julienned (1 cup)
• 2-3 stalks celery chopped (1 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 cans diced tomatoes 14.5 ounce can / 411 grams
• 1 can red kidney beans, not drained 15 ounce can / 425 grams
• 1 can great northern beans, not drained 15 ounce can / 425 grams
• 1 can tomato sauce 15 ounce can / 425 grams
• 1 can V-8 vegetable juice 12 ounce can / 354 mL
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• 5 ounces ditali pasta

Instructions

• Brown the ground beef in a large pot over medium heat. Drain off most of the fat.
• Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the pot and sauté for 10 minutes.
• Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.
• About 45 minutes in to the simmer time, start cooking the pasta in boiling water. Cook according to the package directions until al dente. Drain the pasta, the add it to the large pot of soup. Simmer for 5 minutes and serve.

Preparing For the Freezer:

• After adding the cooked pasta to the soup, remove from heat and let the soup cool. Portion into gallon-size resealable freezer bags or airtight containers. Freeze.

Prepare after Freezing:

• Thaw. Reheat.

Instant Pot Instructions for Pasta e Fagioli Soup:

• Brown the ground beef in the Instant Pot on saute setting. Drain off most of the fat.
• Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the pot and sauté for 10 minutes.
• Add remaining ingredients, except pasta.
• Then add the pasta on top of the other ingredients, DO NOT STIR it in.
• Pressure Cook on HIGH for 8 minutes and do a quick pressure release.
• Stir and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 372kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 12g | Sodium: 1125mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 9g