Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli (Better than Olive Garden)

Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to go out to dinner. We especially love their soups and breadsticks. So of course I had to find my own versions to make at home!

This Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli recipe is even better than the Olive Garden version!

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Pasta Fagioli, Pasta e Fagioli, or Pasta Fazool?

Pasta e Fagioli is a delicious Italian soup which translates to Pasta and Beans, the main ingredients for this dish. You’ll find many variations, some with meat, some without. You’ll also find it under several different names but they all mean one delicious soup!

There can be different combinations of vegetables as well as some variation in the seasonings.

But what they all have in common is pasta, usually a small one like ditalini and beans. Generally pasta fagioli contains red kidney beans as well as some sort of white bean. I like to use great northern beans as my “white bean” but you can also use cannellini beans instead.

What I’ve found adds the most flavor to my version is the Italian sausage and using two types of broth. You can use other types of ground meat but I’ve found that the flavor simply isn’t as good if you replace the Italian sausage with another meat like ground beef.

Ingredients

• 16oz Italian sausage roll
• 1 can great northern beans (drained & rinsed)
• 1 can red kidney beans (drained & rinsed)
• 15oz can diced tomatoes
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup diced or shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1 cup ditalini pasta
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• Grated parmesan cheese for topping

Seasonings

• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• pinch of red pepper flakes

I keep a bag of shredded carrots in my fridge for soups and stir fry because I’m a slow chopper. It can be a life saver if you’re trying to get a meal on the table fast.

The celery is optional, I often don’t add it if I don’t have any. You can also try adding onion to yours if that’s something your family enjoys.

For the broth I always use Better than Bouillon! For this recipe I just add both kinds of paste to a pyrex measuring cup and then add the water and mix it all together. Buying the bouillon paste saves on space and tastes great.

You can use only beef or only vegetable broth but I find using both gives this soup a really good flavor.

How to Make Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

1 – Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode and add about 1 tbsp olive oil. Once hot add the ground sausage.

2 – Once the meat is browned, add the garlic, carrots, and celery. Cook until the vegetables begin to soften, a few minutes.

3 – Add part of the broth and deglaze. Then add the rest of the broth. Add all the other ingredients except for the pasta.

Deglazing sounds like a fancy term but it really just means to add liquid to your hot pan. Then run your utensil, I like to use a wooden spoon, all over the bottom of the pan to loosen up any bits that got stuck.

This can also keep your instant pot from yelling at you that something is burning. I’ve never had this happen but I’ve heard that it can.

4 – Cancel the sauté setting. Place the lid on the instant pot and set to high pressure or soup setting for 4 minutes. (Be sure to turn the valve to sealing.)

Remember that while you are setting it to 4 minutes it will take more like 15-20 minutes to actually cook. The timer won’t start counting down until the instant pot gets up to temperature and pressurizes.

5 – While the instant pot is cooking, cook the pasta to al dente. By cooking it separately it won’t soak up all your tasty broth or get overcooked.

6 – When the timer on the instant pot goes off do a quick release.

7 – Either mix the cooked pasta into the instant pot or add directly to individual servings.

8- Top each bowl with a little parmesan cheese and enjoy! (For those that want some spice they can add some extra red pepper flakes to their bowl.)

I also highly recommend serving it with some fresh crusty bread 🙂

Why cook the pasta separately?

If you cook the pasta in the soup it will soak up the broth while cooking…and continuing soaking up the broth and you’ll find that your leftovers will have hardly any broth left at all.

If you cook the noodles separately, then add it into the finished soup you will find that it soaks up much less of the broth.

You can even keep them completely sperate and add noodles to each persons bowl if you want to keep maximum soupiness.

You’ll end up with a better overall meal if you just cook the noodles separately.

If you have kids it’s an added bonus as I just cook some extra noodles and serve them the noodles with parmesan as I haven’t convinced them to try this soup just yet.

Need to cook it on a stovetop?

If you need to cook it on a stove top you’ll pretty much follow the same as above. Just brown the meat and saute the veggies on a stovetop.

Then add everything else, bring to boil, and then simmer covered until the veggies are tender.

I’d still cook the pasta separately and add it at the end.

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Pasta Fagioli Olive Garden Copycat Recipe

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