This soup was usually cooking on a stove somewhere in the fall and winter when I was a Canadian child growing up in Little Italy in Toronto. What’s not to love about pasta, beans, and a hearty broth topped with Parmesan or Romano cheese and served with warm, fresh Italian bread? When I was younger, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen studying the fundamentals of making delicious Italian food with my friends and their mothers.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 1 (15 ounce) can Romano beans, drained
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 pinch crushed dried chile pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 4 teaspoons grated Romano cheese, or to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat; stir in the ditalini, and return to a boil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta has cooked through, but is still firm to the bite, about 6 minutes; drain.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat; stir in onion and bacon and saute until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir garlic into onion mixture; cook over medium-low heat just until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir chicken broth, beans, tomato paste, and chile pepper into onion-bacon mixture; bring to a simmer and cook until fully heated through, about 10 minutes. Stir ditalini and parsley into the soup; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle each serving with Romano cheese.
- You can substitute pancetta for bacon and any type of small pasta will do for ditalini.
- Romano or Roman beans are also called cranberry beans in some areas.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 381 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 44 g |
| Cholesterol | 18 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 1680 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Delicious flavor. Broth wasn’t as thick as I thought it would be, but it still was delicious with the crusty bread
We enjoyed this soup! A tasty and fast dinner. I omitted the bacon but used bacon fat to saute the onion, and I added carrots and celery as well. I used vegetable stock for the chicken stock. I added some fresh oregano I had as well. #AllrecipesAllstarsCanada #RecipeDetective
Very tasty and satisfying soup. I made it as written except for the Romano cheese, which I didn’t have, so I used a bit of grated gouda. It tasted even better when reheated for lunch the next day. Thanks for sharing!
This was okay but I thought it needed something more. I added minced garlic, and oregano.
I certainly will make this again and again. This reminded me of the dish I had growing up in an Italian family, minus the bacon, but I made it exactly as written. It is so good and so filling. Loved it!!
Fantastico! I’ve had this recipe in my rb since before it was even kitchen approved. I don’t know why it took so long for me to make but it did not disappoint! I turned it into pasta e ceci because I had so many cans of chick peas in my pantry. This is an easy to prepare recipe with great flavours. Thanks weeble!
We really enjoyed this flavourful comforting soup. Followed the recipe with the exception of omitting the chili pepper. Next time I will make sure to have some on hand for this dish although it was perfectly delicious without it. I grated some fresh parmesan on top before serving… Big thumbs up.
This is a wonderful soup, and comes together quickly and easily. I used the Roman beans (found them in the Goya section) as per the recipe, and made everything else as written. The only thing I changed was to stir some fresh spinach into the finished soup until it wilted. Fantastic—served with garlic bread this is a perfect meal for a cold / damp weeknight! Thanks!!
Thanks Weeble for the recipe. I made this as pasta e ceci (pasta and chickpeas) because I didn’t have any other beans on hand. This is a traditional “primo” at most every Italian’s house. After I made this, the aroma reminded me of when you walk into any house in Sicily you smell the aroma of pasta e fagioli at some point, especially in the Spring when beans are used fresh. I remember when we’d sit around the table shucking and tossing them in the pot! Thanks a bunch.
I had two issues with this. 1. I had a hard time getting the bacon to crisp while cooking with the onions. I finally pulled the bacon out and sautéed it. 2. I’m not sure how pasta e Fagioli is supposed to taste but this tasted a lot like bean and bacon soup. It was very filling and not a bad just not my taste.
Woo-we – this is a great dish! Knowing from the ingredients that we would like it, I made a double batch. After 3 stores, trying to find something called Romano beans, I googled it and found out that a flat Italian green bean could be subbed for the Romano beans. I could not find them in a can, but I did in the frozen section. I still would like to find the real thing and make this again. It was very filling and delicious on a cold, snowy, April day. It was my first time for using ditalini pasta and I bought my first block of fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to grate on the top before serving. weeble, this is a delicious recipe, that I will for sure be making again.
I loved everything about this recipe: ease of preparation, flavor and heartiness. We thought this was comfort food at its finest.
This was nothing like I have ever had in regard to pasta fagioli soup. The flavor was so good. Subbed turkey bacon and added basil instead of parsley. Wow Weeble this was good.
So close to mine that I had to try this soup. It is very good, I added ground chicken meatballs, cause we like some meat in soup. I used grated goat cheese(lactose intolerant). Very nice flavor, no leftovers. Thank you weelbe for this tasty soup..