Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

Made with humble ingredients and ready in 30 minutes, Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli is a flavorful, hearty, tomato-based Italian soup filled with pasta and beans. It is guaranteed to warm you to your core!

I am back with yet another Olive Garden Copycat recipe. And just like my recipes for Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana, Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup, and Instant Pot Minestrone, this recipe for Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli is better than the original!

Pasta Fagioli, or Pasta e Fagioli is pronounced pasta fazool and translates to pasta and beans. This tomato-based soup is rich, hearty, and filled with, you guessed it, pasta and beans! And this healthy family dinner recipe is super easy to make using the Instant Pot!

Notes on Ingredients and Equipment

• Aromatics: A yellow onion, celery, carrots, and garlic help to build layers of flavor in the Pasta Fagioli. Feel free to omit the celery if you don't care for it, but it adds a nice fresh element to the soup.
• Herbs: To season the pasta fagioli, use a combination of fresh rosemary, dried bay, and Italian seasoning. You can replace the fresh rosemary with dried rosemary if desired.
• Broth: Use low-sodium vegetable broth to control the sodium in the soup. If you aren't vegetarian, feel free to use low-sodium chicken stock in place of the vegetable broth.
• Red Wine: To add a rich, nuanced note to the soup, I love adding a bit of dry red wine, like Cabernet, Pinot Noir, or Merlot. If you don't care to cook with wine, use additional broth in its place.
• Beans: Use a combination of kidney beans and cannellini beans. Dark or light kidney beans work equally as well.
• Pasta: Ditalini pasta is the traditional choice for Pasta Fagioli. If you can't find ditalini, elbow noodles, orecchiette or small shells are suitable substitutes.
• Tomatoes: For the best texture and liquid content, use both diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Crushed tomatoes can be used in place of the tomato sauce.
• Balsamic Vinegar: Adding a splash of balsamic vinegar will make the flavors pop and deepen the rich notes in the soup. Feel free to use red wine vinegar in place of balsamic vinegar if needed.

How to Make Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

The following tips are provided to help you achieve perfect results. You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Sauté Aromatics

Taking a few extra minutes to sauté the onions, celery, and carrots with garlic and oregano will help deepen the flavor of the herbs and veggies, in turn making this Pasta Fagioli soup much more flavorful.

Deglaze with Red Wine

Any time you sauté something in your pressure cooker, you want to add thin liquid and scrape up any browned bits from the inner pot. This will prevent a burn notice. For this pasta fagioli recipe, add in dry red wine (or broth) and use a wooden spoon or spatula to scrape up any browned bits off the inner pot, while the wine simmers.

Layer Ingredients

Once the aromatics have been sauteed and the pan deglazed, you simply need to add the remaining ingredients into the inner pot. Add the broth, vinegar, beans, pasta, rosemary, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Pour the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce on top of the ingredients inside the inner pot, but do not stir--this will also help to prevent a burn notice.

Pressure Cook with Exact Timing

To ensure the pasta is cooked to al dente, cook the soup on high pressure for 2 minutes followed by exactly 10 minutes of natural pressure release.

Serve with Parmesan if Desired

If you aren't dairy-free, don't forget topping Pasta Fagioli with a generous amount of parmesan cheese. And while this pasta and bean soup is so hearty and filling it can stand alone as an economical meal, I love serving it with Copycat Olive Garden Salad and Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks.

Storage and Reheating Instructions

• Refrigerate: Allow any leftover Pasta e Fagioli to cool slightly and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
• Freeze: Transfer the cooled soup to a freezer-safe container, leaving 1 inch of space for expansion. Freeze the soup for up to 2 months.
• Reheat: If needed, defrost the pasta fagioli overnight in the refrigerator. To reheat the soup, reheat individual servings in a heat-safe bowl covered with a damp paper towel in 60-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until warmed through, adding additional broth if needed.

More Cozy Instant Pot Soup Recipes

• Instant Pot White Bean and Kale Soup
• Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
• Instant Pot Cabbage Soup
• Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
• Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup
• Instant Pot Baked Potato Soup

If you gave this Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli Soup recipe a try, I would love for you to leave a review and comment below.

Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli

Made with humble ingredients in just 30 minutes, Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli is a hearty, flavorful soup filled with pasta and beans.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes minutes

Pressure Build-Up and Release: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 32 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 178kcal

Author: Kristen Chidsey

Cook ModePrevents your screen from going dark while preparing the recipe.

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 large yellow onion minced
• ▢ 2 stalks celery minced
• ▢ 2 medium carrots chopped
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 1 teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• ▢ ½ cup dry red wine or additional broth
• ▢ 6 cups low-sodium chicken stock or vegetable broth
• ▢ 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• ▢ 1 (15.5 oz) can cannellini beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 (15.5 oz) can kidney beans drained and rinsed
• ▢ ½-1 cup dried ditalini pasta or elbow macaroni (see note)
• ▢ 1 sprig fresh rosemary or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
• ▢ 2 dried bay leaves
• ▢ 1 (15.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
• ▢ 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• ▢ Parmesan cheese and parsley for serving

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. Add the olive oil to the instant pot and let it heat for a few seconds, then add the onion, celery, and carrots. Stir and saute for about 2-3 minutes, or until the onion softens. Add in the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and dried oregano and allow to saute for 30-60 seconds just to toast.
  
• Add in the wine, and using a wooden spoon or spatula, scrape up any browned bits off the inner pot. Let the wine bubble for a minute and then hit cancel on the inner pot to turn off the saute function.
  
• Add the broth, vinegar, beans, rosemary, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Add ½ cup pasta for thinner soup and 1 cup of pasta for thicker soup, and gently stir to combine. Pour the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce on top of the ingredients inside the inner pot, but do not stir!
  
• Place the lid on the Instant Pot, be sure the vent knob is sealed or locked, and using the manual or pressure cook setting, set it to cook on high pressure for 2 minutes.
• Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then do a quick release of the remaining pressure if needed.
• Carefully remove the lid from the instant pot, stir the soup, removing the bay leaves and rosemary.
  
• Serve with lots of parmesan cheese and parsley if desired.

Equipment Needed

• Electric Pressure Cooker (6 or 8 quart)

Notes

Note on Instant Pot: For a 3-quart Instant Pot, this recipe will need to be halved. It can be doubled if prepared in an 8 or 10-quart pressure cooker.

Amount of Pasta: Add ½ cup of pasta for thinner soup and 1 cup of pasta for thicker soup.

Red Wine: Select a dry Cabernet, Pinot Noir, or Merlot. If you don't care to cook with wine, use additional broth in its place. 

Gluten-Free: Barilla Gluten-Free elbow noodles in this recipe, other brands give off too much starch to work cooking in the broth. 

Storage: Allow the leftover soup to cool slightly and then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Alternatively, transfer the cooled Pasta Fagioli to a freezer-safe container, leaving 1 inch of space for expansion. Freeze the soup for up to 2 months. To reheat, reheat individual servings in a heat-safe bowl covered with a damp paper towel in 60-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until warmed through, adding additional broth if needed.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 178kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 177mg | Potassium: 349mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3474IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 46mg | Iron: 1mg

Course Main Course, Soup

Cuisine American, Italian

Liked this Recipe? Tag me Today!Snap a picture and tag #amindfullmom on Instagram - I would love to see!