Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Recipe

This delicious Italian style soup can be made in your crockpot for a busy week night meal. The savory broth is loaded with fresh vegetables, ground beef, tender beans and tasty herbs. Perfect to serve along with some crusty French bread.

As you know, this is the season where schedules get busy, and everyone is going every direction! This season also makes dinner times not as easy, especially when you have yet to have any extra drivers in the house! This is another reason I turn to my crock pot or instant pot recipes because it frees my dinner prep time during the busy afternoons!

You have probably enjoyed a good pasta fagioli soup before. It’s a delicious soup packed with Italian sausage, white beans, and hearty vegetables! The delicious seasonings and fire roasted tomatoes make this original recipe into one of those family favorites for us! This recipe is similar to the Olive Garden version, especially when you sprinkle that freshly ground parmesan cheese on top!

What Kind of Beans do you use in the Pasta Fagioli?

This soup usually takes borlotti beans or some cannellini beans, but I have seen many other people add other beans such as red kidney beans, red beans, or even great northern beans! Some will even blend a portion of the beans to make a creamier thick Italian soup. It really is up to your family’s preference.

We usually use cannellini beans for this soup recipe! I find the simple white beans are simple enough to add to this hearty soup!

Do you drain the beans before adding?

I like to always drain and rinse my beans before using in any recipe if they are coming from a can! If you want to soak and cook your own dry beans, you can always do that for this soup as well! Again, the best part of this soup is adding what you like–sometimes I even like to sneak in extra vegetables like chopped zucchini or bell pepper.

What Kind of Meat is in Pasta Fagioli?

This slow cooker pasta fagioli recipe calls for ground sausage. I love the flavor sausage gives to this perfect meal! But if you tend to not eat pork you can always use lean ground beef! Just be sure when you brown the beef in a large skillet, you are sure to drain fat from the cooked meat before adding to your crockpot.

What goes with Pasta Fagioli Soup?

There are so many great things that you can serve along side of this delicious soup! Here are a few of our favorites!

• Crisp Salad
• Warm Homemade Bread
• Garlic Bread
• Sandwiches
• Fruit

How to Assemble

You will want to take your ground sausage, red onion, and garlic and brown it in a large skillet. Drain the excess fat, and add to the bottom of your crock pot. Add your diced carrots, celery, tomato sauce, fire roasted tomatoes, seasonings, beans, and chicken broth on top! Stir everything together and cover with the lid.

You will set your crock pot on low heat for 6-8 hours. About 30 minutes before you serve, add in your dry pasta and let it finish cooking for the last 30 minutes. Top soup with parmesan cheese and parsley!

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Ingredient List

• 1 lb browned ground sausage
• ½ red onion, diced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 3 medium carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cans tomato sauce, 8 oz
• 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, 15 oz
• 3 ½ tsp Italian seasonings 
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 cans Great Northern Beans or cannellini beans, 15 oz, drained and rinsed
• 6 cups chicken stock 
• 1 cup dry Ditalini pasta
• ½ cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese 
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Directions for Pasta Fagioli

1. In a pan brown the ground sausage, diced red onion and minced garlic.
2. Add the sausage mixture into the slow cooker. Add in the carrots, celery, tomato sauce, fire roasted tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, beans and chicken broth to the slow cooker. 
3. Stir the ingredients well and cover with a lid. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
4. 30 minutes before serving, add in the Ditallini pasta. Continue cooking on the low setting for those additional 30 minutes.

When it’s time to serve, ladle a cup into a bowl. Top with freshly shredded parmesan and chopped fresh parsley. We love to serve this classic Italian soup with a side salad and some crunchy french bread or garlic bread. My kids enjoy dipping the bread in the delicious broth!

Don’t forget how simple slow cooker recipes can make dinnertime a breeze! You can even double this recipe and make a large batch! Having leftover soup in the next best thing to crock pot meals, if you ask me! Sometimes next day soup somehow tastes even more flavorful!

So, the next time you have one of those busy weeknights coming up, remember how simple this hearty soup can make your day! Grab all your ingredients, brown your sausage a head of time, and then in the morning slip everything into your crock pot and the end result, with minimal effort, will give you a savory pasta dish that the whole family will love!