Vegan Pasta Fagioli

Vegan pasta e fagioli is a comforting, one-pot Italian soup made with pasta and beans that’s perfect for chilly nights or easy weeknight meals. It’s budget friendly, packed with flavor, and comes together quickly on the stove or in the Instant Pot. Ready in 30 minutes with simple, pantry ingredients, this soup is sure to become one of your go-to soup recipes.

To make the soup thick and stew-like, I blend some of the beans before stirring them in, which adds creaminess without needing cheese or cream. It’s a great recipe to feed a crowd, perfect for weekend meal prep, and honestly even better the next day, just add a splash of broth or water when reheating!

Ingredients

• Aromatics: Onion, Carrots, Celery – to add a strong base of flavors to the soup
• Crushed tomatoes – easy to keep on hand in the pantry. You can make your own crushed tomatoes by blending a can of whole or diced tomatoes as well if needed.
• Vegetable broth (or stock) – helps to add body to the soup so it tastes like it’s been cooking all day.
• Balsamic Vinegar – helps to take the tinned flavor out of the tomatoes.
• Spices: Italian seasoning, Salt, Bay leaf – help to add depth to the soup.
• White beans (cannellini or great white northern beans) – this traditional dish literally translates to pasta and beans, so you can’t skip the beans!
• Pasta – I like to use lentil pasta for more fiber and protein. Use whatever pasta you love.
• Frozen spinach (or you could use fresh) – optional – this adds some color to the soup and also more veggies!

Instructions

• Heat a large pot over medium heat while you chop the vegetables (onions, celery, carrots).
• Spray the bottom of the pot with non-stick spray (I used olive oil) and add the veggies.
• Saute the veggies for 5-6 minutes until onions become translucent.
• To the pot with the veggies add 3 cups vegetable broth, the crushed tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and spices (salt, Italian seasoning, bay leaf).
• Let the mixture come to a boil on the stove.
• While you are waiting for the soup to boil, rinse and drain the 2 cans of white beans.
• Blend up 1 cup of white beans with 1 cup of vegetable broth you reserved until smooth (I use an immersion blender but you can use whatever you have on hand).
• Once the soup is boiling, add the beans, pasta and the bean puree to the pot. Stir well.
• Cook the soup for 1 minute less than the minimum time indicated on the cooking instructions for the pasta. (Example: For the lentil pasta I used the recommended time was 5-6 minutes, so I cooked the soup for 4 minutes.)
• Turn the soup off, and add the frozen spinach (optional). This will help cool down the soup and also add color and more vegetables.

Top tips

• This recipe calls for 28oz of crushed tomatoes. Crushed tomatoes in this size container can sometimes be hard to find. However, you can make crushed tomatoes yourself in less than 30 seconds.
  • Take a can of diced or whole tomatoes (with the juice) and blend it for just a moment, crushing the tomatoes but trying not to turn it into juice. I like to use an immersion blender for this, but you could also pulse in a high speed blender.
  • Another option is to use two 15 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes as these are sometimes easier to find.
• I like to blend up at least 1 cup of the white beans to help make the soup thick and hearty. If you want an even thicker soup, you could blend up to 1 can (drained and rinsed) of the beans.
• Add more veggies: To help cool off the soup and add more veggies to the pasta fagioli, I like to add frozen spinach at the end. This is 100% optional and not considered “authentic” to the recipe. However I love the pop of color it adds and think more veggies is never a bad thing.
• Don’t over cook the pasta! To ensure that the pasta does not get overcooked and mushy, you will want to read the instructions for your brand of pasta and cook the pasta 1 minute less than the instructions indicate for the minimum time. This helps account for that carry over cooking as you are waiting for the soup to cool down.
• Add acid to canned tomatoes! I always recommend that you add balsamic vinegar to any sauce or soup that has canned tomatoes and will be cooking quickly. The balsamic vinegar helps to mellow out that canned flavor and instantly makes the soup or sauce you are making taste like it’s been cooking all day!

What to serve with this soup

This hearty soup is a filling meal that really doesn’t need much added to it. However, you could always serve a simple salad or some bread or crackers for dipping! Here are some great options:

• Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Creamy Balsamic
• Cruciferous Crunch Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing
• Kale Brussel Sprouts Salad with Cranberries
• Almond Flour Muffins
• Hemp Almond Crackers
• Almond Flour Cornbread

FAQs

What is the best pasta to use

Typically the best pasta to use for pasta e fagioli is a small pasta that will easily fit on a spoon. Including:

• Ditalini
• Elbow Macaroni
• Small Shell Pasta
• Cavatelli
• Rigatoni (this is a bigger pasta but I have made it with rigatoni and it turned out just fine)

Another thing you may want to consider is using pasta made with a different type of flour. There are so many options on the market for gluten free or higher protein. Pasta made with lentils or chickpeas are going to have higher amounts of fiber and protein vs. traditional pasta. Lentil and chickpea pasta are also gluten free and cook up very similar to regular pasta.

I really enjoy using Tolerant Brand Green Lentil Pasta, I find that when cooked, it is quite similar in texture to traditional pasta (so your picky eaters won’t even notice the difference). It can be more expensive than traditional pasta but it will actually fill you up when eating it, so it may be worth the expense.

If you just need gluten free pasta and don’t want to use lentil or chickpea pasta, I would recommend Jovial brand pasta; it’s very high quality and always turns out delicious!

What if you don’t have a blender?

If you don’t have a blender, mash up the beans with a fork or potato masher instead of blending them. This will help to thicken the soup.

How to make a thicker or thinner soup

This pasta e fagioli recipe is thickened by blending about 1 cup of the beans right into the soup. Cooking the pasta directly in the soup will absorb some of the broth and also help to thicken the soup, especially as it sits to cool on the stove after cooking.

• If you want even thicker soup, you can add more pasta (go from 1 cup to 2 cups) or you can add more blended beans.
• If you want a thinner soup, add water or more vegetable broth until you get your desired consistency.

Storage

• Fridge: You can store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days in an air tight container.
  • Note: You may notice that as the soup sits in the fridge the pasta absorbs more of the liquid and it becomes even thicker. When reheating, you may want to add a few tablespoons of water or vegetable broth to the soup to get it back to the same consistency.
• Freezer: Technically this soup can be frozen and reheated, however the pasta will likely fall apart when reheating. The best option if you plan on freezing the soup is to make the soup without the pasta and simply cook the pasta in the soup as you are reheating it for serving.  To do this, cook the frozen soup on the stove until it’s boiling, add the dry pasta and cook for 1 less minute than the instructions indicate.

If you love this recipe, you should try

• Frozen Vegetable Soup
• Mediterranean Vegetable Soup
• Crockpot Low Carb Vegetable Soup
• Minestrone Soup (instant pot, stove top, crockpot instructions)
• Mushroom Soup
• Dairy Free Broccoli Cheese Soup