If you are a sucker for Olive Garden’s pasta fagioli, then you are in for a treat; this is better. After years of trial and error making soups, I think we have managed to surpass that delicious restaurant soup with a bit of a twist. We suggest making a large pot of it and freeze what you do not want to eat that meal; it keeps great. Our pasta fagioli should be about the consistency of chili so that it will be a hearty meal in and of itself, but feel free to use it as a side dish as well. As an aside, the traditional tubetti style pasta may be hard to find, so feel free to substitute your favorite such as ditalini.

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Pasta Fagioli Ingredients

• Ground Beef – 1 pound
• Yellow Onion – 1 diced
• Garlic – 4 cloves minced
• Carrots – 3 peeled and diced
• Celery – diced
• Kidney Beans – 1 15 oz can drain
• Cannellini Beans – 1 15 oz can drain
• Tomato Sauce – 2 15 oz cans
• Tomatoes – 1 15 oz can diced
• Chicken Broth – 3 cups
• Oregano – 1 tsp dried
• Thyme – 1 tsp dried
• Pasta – 1 cup your choice
• Salt – to taste
• Pepper – to taste
• Parsley – finely chopped

Directions

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat
2. Add ground beef, diced onion, minced garlic, diced carrots, diced celery, salt and pepper.
3. Cook for approximately 5 minutes or until the ground beef is no longer pink
4. Drain grease from the pot
5. Add the drained kidney beans, cannellini beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, oregano and thyme to the pot.
6. Stir to combine
7. Once the contents begin to boil, add the pasta.
8. Reduce to medium and cook for approximately 10 minutes or until the pasta is done.
9. Garnish with parsley and grated parmesan if you wish