Vegan Pasta e Fagioli is a hearty, nourishing, and nutritious white bean and pasta soup packed with healthy veggies and plant-based protein! An Italian comfort food classic that is perfect all year round but especially on chilly nights. Serve with garlic bread.
When it comes to Italian soups, most people know minestrone and then maybe Italian wedding soup. Let me tell you, you are missing out on a goodie! Pasta e Fagioli -which translates to pasta and beans and that sums it up pretty well. Reminds you of minestrone? Well, it’s similar, but there are differences – mostly in texture and some ingredients.
What is the difference between Pasta e Fagioli and minestrone?
Both Pasta e Fagioli and minestrone are hearty Italian soups made from a tomato base with added beans and pasta. While a classic Italian minestrone soup often has a whole array of colorful veggies added (like green beans or zucchini), Pasta e Fagioli is typically just white beans and pasta. So while minestrone is a bit lighter, Pasta e Fagioli is meant to be very thick! While there are not too many veggies added in the original version, in my recipe, I add some celery and carrots as well to make the broth more flavorful and the soup more colorful!
In the traditional version, this Italian white bean soup is often made with pancetta or bacon. To make this a vegan Pasta e Fagioli recipe, we skip those additions and up the umami by adding tomato paste. You can add vegan bacon if you wish. Plenty of Italian herbs take care of the rest! This soup tastes amazing!
MORE VEGAN PASTA RECIPES FROM THE BLOG:
- Creamy Vegan Cajun Pasta
- Spinach Artichoke Pasta Bake
- Vegan Mushroom Fettucine Alfredo
- Cajun Cauliflower Pasta
- Vegan Lemon Asparagus Pasta
- Roasted Red Bell Pepper Chickpea Pasta
- Cauliflower Parmesan Pasta Bake
- Vegan Sundried Tomato Pasta
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Vegan Pasta e Fagioli
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- ½ cup (80 g) chopped red onion
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ cup carrots thinly sliced, or chopped small
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 15 oz (425 g) can of diced tomatoes
- 3 cups (710 ml) of broth
- 15 oz (425 g) can of white beans such as northern beans, cannellini or navy or other white beans of choice
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup (100 g) small pasta shells elbows, or other
- ½ tsp rosemary
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- fresh basil and red pepper flakes for garnish
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, add oil over medium heat. Add in the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery, and cook until the onion is translucent. Then add in the tomato paste and mix in.
- Add in the tomatoes, and the herbs, and mix in, and cook until the tomatoes are tender.
- Then add in your broth, beans, salt, and pepper, and mix in, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make your pasta separately according to the directions on the package. Add in your pasta to the boiling soup, mix in, taste and adjust flavor, and garnish with basil.Alternatively, add uncooked pasta. Make sure to add 1 cup more broth at the earlier step. Add the pasta after 15 mins then continue to cook until pasta is cooked to preference
- Add red pepper flakes and serve with a side of garlic bread.
Video
Notes
- If you prefer a more soupy texture, just add more broth.
- For a fancier version, add a splash of white wine after adding the tomato paste and let it reduce before adding the diced tomatoes.
- To add some more color, stir in a cup of spinach before serving.
Nutrition
Ingredients:
- like with any good soup, we start by frying chopped onion and minced garlic cloves then add some carrots and celery.
- tomato paste ups the umami.
- broth and diced tomatoes are added to create that signature tomato broth Pasta e Fagioli is known for.
- for the pasta, you can use any small shape pasta you enjoy. Elbows or ‘macaroni’ and shells are my favorites – but use what you have. Even if that means tossing in some broken spaghetti!
- to save time, I use canned cannellini beans but you can cook your own. Navy beans or great northern beans would also work.
- for that amazing Italian flavor, we add some dried rosemary, thyme, oregano, and basil!
- red pepper flakes make for an amazing garnish.
Tips:
- If you prefer a more soupy texture, just add more broth.
- For a fancier version, add a splash of white wine after adding the tomato paste and let it reduce before adding the diced tomatoes.
- To add some more color, stir in a cup of spinach before serving.
- You could also add a bay leaf, if you want.
In a large saucepan, add oil over medium heat. Add in the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery, and cook until the onion is translucent.
Then add in the tomato paste and mix in. Add in the tomatoes, and the herbs, and mix in, and cook until the tomatoes are tender.
Then add in your broth, beans, salt, and pepper, and mix in, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make your pasta separately according to the directions on the package. Add in your pasta to the boiling soup, mix in, taste and adjust flavor, and garnish with basil.
Add red pepper flakes and serve with a side of garlic bread.
Can this be frozen?
Yes, this vegan soup can also be frozen, either in a large batch or in individual portions, for up to 3 months.
Linda
Yum!
Definitely easy one pot recipe, no reason to cook the pasta separately IMO.
SO GOOD… Added some diced zucchini and fresh spinach that needed to be used, fresh basil too.
Thank you Richa 💚
Vegan Richa Support
thank you! glad you enjoy
Rani
Could you make this in the instapot?
Richa
Yes, pressure cook 4 mins
Eva
Made this tonight and it’s delicious! I doubled-ish the beans (homemade cooked from dry beans, so I used 3 cups of cooked beans) and doubled the celery and onion, used an 8oz box of GF pasta, and didn’t have any tomato paste so left it out. My can of tomatoes was fire-roasted and I went heavy on the spices due to all the extra volume. This was a great meal; very straightforward and tasty! Will be in my winter meal rotation. Thanks!
Vegan Richa Support
Thank you for you kind comment, Eva!
Judy
This was excellent! Very savory, very satisfying. I added a small diced zucchini to the dish, but otherwise made it exactly per the recipe.
Vegan Richa Support
Yum!
Martin
First time with your site and recipe. Excellent!!!
Will check out more later.
Vegan Richa Support
welcome
Diane
This is so yummy. Quick, comforting and easy. We will be seeing a lot of this soup throughout the winter. 🙂
Vegan Richa Support
stay warm, Diane, thanks
Dick DuBois
Excellent recipe. I used Cicerchia heirloom beans and they were delicious in the soup. I sauté the vegetables with broth to reduce the amount of fat and add just a little soy sauce. Made a double recipe so we have lots of leftovers. Been using your recipes for years and love them.
Vegan Richa Support
for years? wow, so kind. good idea with double batch
KJ Callihan
Do you know how many minutes it would take to make this in the Instant Pot? That’s become our preferred method. Hopefully it would work because this looks so good!
Richa
4 minutes
Christine
4 min with or without the pasta ?
Richa
With the pasha
Megan
Made this tonight, added kale and nutritional yeast at the end, it was tasty. I love that the recipe is very straightforward with ingredients that one usually has on hand.
Vegan Richa Support
yummy
Sarah
Excellent recipe. I have made it 4 times now and it was great every time. I like putting greens in at the end (arugula, spinach, kale, etc) if I have some on hand.
Vegan Richa Support
Awesome – chlorophyll power – yay
Joseph Stewart
We tried this recipe out with company. 4
Stars was the average review out of the diners. Two diners gave it a 4.5 or 5 one gave it a 3 (she doesn’t like tomato chunks but liked the flavor), and the picky 9 year old gave it a solid 4, but his rating kept going up as he ate it. I personally thought this was a five star recipe. Delicious as always.
Elaine
I made this last night. Holy crap, it is so good! Leftovers today were amazing!
My alterations: I didn’t use any onion, because I hate onions. For broth I used Edward & Sons Not Chick-n bouillon, and I added cooked and crumbled up Beyond Meat hot Italian brat.
This could be my favorite thing.
Vegan Richa Support
Excellent Elaine, thank you
Danielle
I made this last night. Your recipe was fab, as usual.
My changes: Didn’t have celery. Used only 1/3 cup pasta dry measure. Added twice as much tomato paste.
Thanks for the recipe.
Roseann Magda
I just made this soup today. It is easy and oh so delicious! This will go in my regular soup rotation. Thank you, Richa!
Ahna
This soup is delicious and perfectly comforting and hearty for a chilly spring day. I followed the recipe and the spices are perfect. I did add 3 tablespoons of canned coconut milk to make it a bit creamier and cut the acidity of the tomato. This recipe will definitely be a new member of my favorite recipe rotations. Thank you!
Vegan Richa Support
sounds excellent
Cynthia
Made it for supper tonight and it was delicious. Thanks, Richa! Because I’m lazy, I didn’t even cook the pasta first — just threw it in the soup when 10 minutes left to cook, along with some extra water, and no one was the wiser.
Bozu
I really like this dish, it’s tasty, very tasty and so additive. Really wonderful recipe … Many thanks for this beautiful gift
SR
This looks wonderful. For freezing, should the soup be frozen without the pasta? Thank you.
Vegan Richa Support
it’s not necessary – bc it’s a soup, it would only affect the texture minimally, if you were serving with a sauce , ie pasta dish, yes
SR
Thank you!
Katherine D Emerson
Great recipe but I much prefer it with red kidney beans. The deep hearty flavour of red kidney beans blends in so wonderfully with that of the other ingredients. If I’m out of tomato paste, I substitute ketchup. I like this with tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes rather than diced tomatoes. I often toss in a bit of frozen chopped spinach if I have it on hand. Pasta e Fagioli is definitely one of my favourite go-to recipes. It freezes well too 🙂
sadie
I love pasta e fagilio too and this a great recipe! My Nonna made it with kidney or pinto or cannelloni. . . whatever was on hand. 😀
Vegan Richa Support
Lovely to keep the family tradition.