Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Soup

The first time I made this crockpot pasta fagioli, I tipped the dry ditalini straight into the pot for the last half hour, the way a lot of recipes tell you to. Dinner was great. Lunch the next day was not. The pasta had soaked up so much broth overnight that I was scooping something closer to a bean casserole out of the container. With a fork.

So now the pasta cooks on the side. That one change is the reason this version made it onto Kima Recipe.

Everything else really is dump, cook, done. You brown the beef and onion in a skillet (about ten minutes, the only real work), and the rest goes into the slow cooker raw: carrots, celery, two kinds of beans, three cans of tomato sauce, a carton of broth, and a small pile of dried herbs. Eight hours on LOW. It’s what I make on cold Sundays when nobody in my family wants to commit to a dinner plan before noon.

Why This Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Works

The beef gets browned and drained first. Raw ground beef in a slow cooker turns gray and grainy, and the fat has nowhere to go except up. I skipped the draining once to save a step. Eight hours later there was an orange slick sitting on top of the soup, and I spent dinner ladling around it. Drain it.

The sugar is there for the tomato sauce, not for sweetness. Three cans of sauce plus a can of diced tomatoes is a lot of acid. Two teaspoons of sugar won’t make the soup taste sweet. It takes the sharp, tinny edge off the broth. Leave it out and you’ll notice it on the back of your tongue.

The carrots go in raw because they need the whole cook. Chop them small, roughly the size of a kidney bean, so every spoonful gets a bit of everything. Big chunks stayed firm when I ran this on HIGH.

Rinsing the beans keeps the broth clean. That liquid in the can is thick, starchy, and salty. Pour it in and the soup goes cloudy and a little gluey, and you’ve added salt you can’t take back.

Pasta on the side means it stays pasta. Cooked separately, the ditalini holds its shape and the broth stays brothy, today and on day three.

Ingredients

For the soup

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 32 oz chicken broth
• 1 (15 oz) can petite diced tomatoes, with juices
• 1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

Seasonings

• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1½ tsp dried oregano
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• ½ tsp black pepper

To finish

• 1 cup dry ditalini pasta
• Finely shredded Parmesan (or Pecorino Romano), for serving

How to Make Pasta Fagioli in a Crockpot

1. Brown the beef and onion. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef and chopped onion, breaking up the meat as it goes, until no pink is left and the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Drain off the excess grease.
2. Load the crockpot. Add the beef and onion to the slow cooker with the carrots and celery.
3. Add the liquids and beans. Pour in the rinsed beans, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and diced tomatoes with their juices.
4. Season. Stir in the sugar, basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and parsley.
5. Slow cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 5 hours, until the carrots are tender.
6. Cook the pasta separately. About 20 minutes before serving, boil the ditalini in salted water until al dente. Drain.
7. Combine. Stir the cooked pasta into the soup. If you expect leftovers, spoon pasta into each bowl instead and keep the rest separate.
8. Taste. Adjust salt and pepper now, not earlier.
9. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with freshly grated Romano or Parmesan.

Prep Time, Cook Time & Servings

• Prep time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 8 hours on LOW (or 5 hours on HIGH)
• Total time: about 8 hours 20 minutes
• Servings: 8 big bowls
• Equipment: 6-quart slow cooker or larger, a skillet, a small pot for the pasta

Soup • Italian-American

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Soup

A dump-and-go crockpot pasta fagioli with browned ground beef, two kinds of beans, and a tomato broth that cooks all day while the ditalini is boiled separately so it never turns mushy. Makes 8 servings.

By Kima

Prep Time 20 mins

Cook Time 480 mins

Total Time 500 mins

Yield 8 servings

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Ingredients 18 items

• Soup
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 yellow onion — chopped
• 2 large carrots — chopped small
• 2 celery stalks — chopped
• 3 cans tomato sauce — 8 oz each
• 32 oz chicken broth — low-sodium recommended
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes — 15 oz, with juices
• 1 can dark red kidney beans — 15 oz, drained and rinsed
• 1 can Great Northern beans — 15 oz, drained and rinsed
• Seasonings
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 ½ tsp salt — or to taste
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• ½ tsp black pepper
• To Finish
• 1 cup ditalini pasta — dry
• ½ cup Parmesan or Pecorino Romano — finely shredded, for serving

Instructions 9 steps

1. 1

   Brown the beef and onion

   In a skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef and onion, breaking up the meat, until no pink remains and the onion is soft. Drain off the excess grease.

   Start 10 min timer
2. 2

   Load the crockpot

   Add the beef and onion to the slow cooker along with the carrots and celery.

3. 3

   Add liquids and beans

   Pour in the rinsed kidney and Great Northern beans, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and diced tomatoes with their juices.

4. 4

   Season

   Stir in the sugar, basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and parsley.

5. 5

   Slow cook

   Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 5 hours, until the carrots are tender. Don't lift the lid to stir.

   Start 480 min timer
6. 6

   Cook the pasta separately

   About 20 minutes before serving, boil the ditalini in salted water until just shy of al dente. Drain.

   Start 9 min timer
7. 7

   Combine

   Stir the cooked pasta into the soup. If you expect leftovers, spoon pasta into each bowl instead and store the rest separately.

8. 8

   Taste and adjust

   Taste the soup and adjust the salt and pepper if needed.

9. 9

   Serve

   Ladle into bowls and top with freshly grated Romano or Parmesan.

Tips & Substitutions

Cook the ditalini separately. If you expect leftovers, add pasta to each bowl instead of the pot so it doesn't soak up the broth.
If your broth and tomato sauce aren't low-sodium, add half the salt at the start and taste before adding the rest.
Pull the pasta 1 minute before al dente, since it keeps softening in the hot soup.
LOW gives better texture than HIGH; on HIGH the beans can split and the broth gets muddy.
Freeze the soup without pasta for up to 3 months. When reheating, add about 1/2 cup broth per 2 cups of soup.

Nutrition Facts 305 kcal / serving

Protein19g

Carbs36g

Fat10g

Fiber7g

#crockpot pasta fagioli #slow cooker pasta fagioli soup #pasta e fagioli with ground beef #dump and go crockpot soup

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Soup

Recipe Source: https://kimarecipes.com/crockpot-pasta-fagioli-soup/ • Kima Recipes • Recipe by Kima

Tips From My Kitchen

Watch the salt if your broth isn’t low-sodium. Three cans of tomato sauce and a full carton of regular broth already bring plenty of salt to the pot. When I’m using regular broth, I add only half the salt at the start and decide on the rest at step 8. Usually I end up using all of it. Sometimes not.

My 7-quart oval Crock-Pot fills to about two inches below the rim with this batch. A 5-quart is pushing it.

Don’t lift the lid to stir. Nothing in here needs stirring, and every peek costs you heat.

Pull the pasta a minute early. Take it off one minute before the box says al dente. It keeps softening once it hits hot soup, and by the time everyone sits down, it’s right.

LOW is better than HIGH. HIGH works when you’re short on time, but the kidney beans near the bottom start splitting, and the broth turns thick and a bit muddy. On LOW everything stays whole.

Variations

Italian sausage instead of beef. Worth doing. Use mild sausage with the casings removed, brown and drain it the same way, and cut the salt to 1 teaspoon because the sausage brings its own.

A couple handfuls of baby spinach. Stir it in with the cooked pasta. It wilts in a minute and doesn’t change the flavor much, which is the point.

Cannellini in place of Great Northern. Basically interchangeable. Use whichever white bean is on your shelf.

Ground turkey. I tried it and wouldn’t again. Eight hours dries lean turkey out until it’s stringy, and the broth loses the savory depth the beef gives it. If you want lighter, use 93/7 beef instead.

Red pepper flakes. A pinch or two with the dried herbs gives a slow warmth by the end of the bowl. Not hot. Just there.

Make-Ahead, Storage & Freezing

Prepping the night before: Chop the onion, carrots, and celery and keep them in a zip-top bag in the fridge. You can brown and drain the beef ahead too. What doesn’t work is loading the whole stoneware insert the night before and dropping it cold into the base in the morning. It takes much longer to heat through, and stoneware doesn’t like that kind of temperature jump.

Fridge: Store the soup and the cooked pasta in separate containers for up to 4 days.

Freezer: Freeze the soup without pasta for up to 3 months. Freezing it with pasta turns the ditalini soft and grainy. I won’t do it. Boil a fresh batch when you reheat; it takes ten minutes.

Reheating: The soup thickens as it sits, even without pasta, because the beans keep drinking. Add about ½ cup of broth for every 2 cups of soup and warm it on the stovetop over medium heat.

Crockpot Pasta Fagioli FAQ

Final Thoughts

Keeping the pasta on the side also makes this soup handy when people eat at different times. Once it’s cooked, switch the crockpot to WARM, leave the drained ditalini in a bowl next to it with a ladle, and let everyone build their own bowl when they come through the kitchen. The pasta never sits in the broth long enough to go soft. Put a loaf of crusty bread next to it, toasted and rubbed with a cut garlic clove while it’s still hot, and that’s dinner.