| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 50 min |
| Prep: | 30 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 20 min |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
- 1/4 pound bacon or pancetta, chopped
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 onions, chopped fine
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
- 4 cups chicken or turkey stock, homemade if available
- One 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- Two 19-ounce cans cannellini beans, well drained, divided
- One 15-ounce can red kidney beans, well drained
- One 14-ounce can tomatoes, seeded and chopped, liquid drained
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried ground thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) ditalini or other tubular pasta
- 1 cup cooked orzo
- 1 carrot, shredded
- Parmigiano, as a garnish
- Chopped basil, as a garnish
Instructions
- Place a large, heavy soup pot, over medium heat. Cook the sausage links with a small amount of water, covered, until the sausage has browned, about 10 minutes.
- Remove sausages to a plate and let cool. Once cooled chop into pieces and then use a food processor to finely ground the sausage pieces. Brown the bacon/pancetta in the same pot as used for the sausage links, using a little olive oil if necessary. When the bacon/pancetta is browned, not crisped, add back to the pot the chopped sausage and ground beef, and cook until both have browned, about 15 minutes.
- Next add the onions, celery, and garlic; cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the stock and skim (recommend use of a gravy separator) to remove excess fat. Continue to cook at a simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- In a food processor, blend tomato sauce with 1 cup cannellini beans until smooth. Pour the mixture into the pot then add the remaining cannellini beans, kidney beans, tomatoes and herbs. After 5 minutes, add the pasta and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add the orzo and carrots and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Add more water or stock if necessary to produce a thick stew like consistency. Serve with grated Parmigiano and chopped basil.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 770 |
| Total Fat | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Carbohydrates | 90 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 14 g |
| Sugar | 10 g |
| Protein | 46 g |
| Cholesterol | 70 mg |
| Sodium | 965 mg |
Reviews
Amazing. Make it all winter for years. Fam fav
this is our favorite cold weather comfort food!!! I also add some kale to this recipe for a little “good for you” Serve with a hot ciabatta roll with cold butter and a glass of Chianti…..ohhhhh boy! so good!!
Absolutely delicious. Whole family loves this. Thank you
We just love this recipe. Give it out to everybody. Just changed the sausage to chicken sausage. really good!!
Gabs916 – I’m sorry you hated the soup. But, may I point out, the recipe does not call for any salt. It does call for STOCK. If, by chance, you used bullion cubes – I bet it was salty! It’s too late for my recipe, but when you make others please make a note of this. Stock has minimal salt in it; Anne Burrell’s popular chicken stock recipe has NO SALT whatever in it; bullion has TONS of salt in it, especially commercial bullion (the first ingredient listed on Knorr bullion is salt; followed by MSG. Also, when a dish is too salty, try adding a little sugar – it often helps. Or strain the ingredients out of the soup and put them into a broth you have tasted and is not salty.
Chef #1072548 and Sofia7 – thank you so much for your kind comments. I’m happy you have enjoyed my recipe. It was originally on an episode of “Calling All Cooks” with Ceci Carmichael. We must have shot it back in 2003 or so – the first review is from 2004.
This recipe was so salty I had to throw the entire pot away. There was no fixing it.
BEST SOUP EVER! To operaman2, I saw you years ago on Foodnetwork making this soup. I believe the show may have been ‘Calling All Cooks’. I hope you see this because my family and I love, love, love this soup. I make it every fall/winter! I went to pull the recipe out this year and it was missing. I was shocked I could not find it; the original recipe by you. I Remembered you were a opera singer so when I saw that you commended last year I knew I was back in business. Thanks for such a delicous soup!!!! Glad to here you are well, be Bless.
This is by far the best Pasta e Fagioli recipe! I make it 5-6 times a year and everyone loves it. Try it exactly as written first before you make any changes! What worked for me… more stock, no bacon, no orzo, poultry sausage, and replacing the drained tomatoes with 2 cans of diced tomatoes drained.
Fabulous! Highly recommend this recipe – delicious! I added two bay leaves and needed about 7 cups of stock. Delicious – served with fresh Italian bread.
This places in the top three of all the recipes(at least50I’ve tried from this website. It’s true what others said about the amount of chicken stock-if you want a soup/stew you’ll need a lot more. I used probably over 6 cups of stock and 1 1/2 cups of red wine. The store was lacking in italian sausage so I used chicken apple brats instead. I processed five links and added it to the bacon. One doesn’t really need the orzo, given the other pasta, and definitely keep it separate, adding the pasta to the bowls just before the soup. I’m obsessive about putting bay leaves in soups and sauces, so added that too. A little fresh parmesan sprinkled over the top and it’s a hearty delicious meal.