Although there are no tomatoes in this soup, it is similar to a minestrone. Add freshly grated cheese as a garnish.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 6 ounces pancetta bacon, finely diced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 cup red onion, chopped
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 4 (19 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups seashell pasta
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In an 8-quart pot, saute pancetta in the olive oil until soft, about 10 minutes. Add onion and celery; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with sage, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper. Pour in the chicken stock, cover, and bring to a boil. Stir in the drained beans, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta in 4 quarts boiling water with 1 teaspoon salt until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain and add to the soup.
- Stir in minced parsley before serving, and sprinkle with grated cheese.
- You can use 1 pound of dried white beans in place of the canned beans. To substitute dried beans, soak them overnight in 5 cups of water. Drain beans and place in a large pot. Add 10 cups cold water, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer beans until tender, at least 1 hour. Drain the beans and proceed with the recipe.
- If pancetta is unavailable, use lean bacon instead. You may also use 1 teaspoon crumbled dried sage in place of the fresh sage.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 572 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 80 g |
| Cholesterol | 14 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 14 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 785 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The recipe is delicious! I cooked the dish exactly per recipe with two exceptions: I used dry beans (rehydrated) rather than canned (store didn’t have canned) and I added a couple of cooked boneless chicken breasts (I’m a meat man). I’ll definitely make this soup again!
I have made this soup several times now and I do like it as written so I gave it 4 stars. You customize to suit your own tastes over time so here are mine which everyone seems to like. Use the olive oil.. I found when I did not use it I ended up putting a little drizzle on mine to serve it. I use the fresh sage, then about a half teaspoon of ground sage along with about a half teaspoon of sweet marjoram. I reduce the beans to 3 cans since I prefer more of a broth in mine. I would also recommend using a parmesan rind in the soup. I do not like how swollen and mushy the shells get when you reheat the soup, so I now use ditalini pasta uncooked directly into the soup about ten minutes before you are ready to serve. I serve mine with fresh shredded parmesan, a dash of fresh parsley and some bacon bits.
I halved the recipe since those in my household aren’t really soup eaters (much to my dismay) and I have to say, I really like this soup! I will definitely make it again! I added a little more sage and pancetta, since I really like both, and topped it with Parmesan cheese. I skipped the parsley but I think I’ll try it next time.
This is good but not a major wow, maybe a 4.5. This is what I’d called a savory sort of flavor – it is good but could still use a little something, perhaps a bit of white pepper. It’s reasonably easy to make and good on a cold day. (Never mind the date – I made this a while ago. :-)) I’ve never bought pancetta before – very expensive. It almost seemed like a mild version of bacon, and once cooked in the soup I doubt I could tell the difference and bacon is less expensive. This did make just about 8 bowl-size servings for me.
I love this recipe! Pork and Sage go so well together. I used smoked ham because I felt it might be less fatty than the pancetta. Im sure its good regardless. I did add what carrots I had (two small), and I used two cans of canelli and one can of great northern beans as thats what I had. I did not use salt but added garlic salt instead. And half way through simmering I took about 3 cups of beans/onions, etc and blended to achieve a thicker soup. It wasnt thick enough so I simmered with the lid off for a bit. Holy Cow this is good soup!
This recipe was delicious as written. I halved the recipe, but did add another cup of broth. It was slightly salty but I think had I used low sodium broth it would have fixed that problem. I have never used pancetta, and I was pleasantly surprised at the flavor.
Wonderful-made my soup with dry bean after I soaked them overnight (and cooked the soup in the crockpot all day till the beans were soft.) Sauted the vegetables in the bacon fat instead of the olive oil-then drained the vegetables and added them to the beans in the crockpot-added the bacon to the top of the soup before serving. Cooked the pasta seperately and added before serving as well to avoid the pasta soaking up all the broth.
I used left over ham finely chopped and this was delicious! Thanks for the great recipe…
4 stars because i modified slightly. Pancetta is expensive so i used a smoked cervelat salami, diced and fried instead. Great smokey/salty flavor, less expensive. It would be 5 stars if i followed exactly.
4 stars only because I didn’t follow the recipe as written, but I like the version I made. I skipped the pasta and celery, and used regular yellow onion as that’s all I had on hand. Instead I added diced red potatoes, carrots, and chicken (hubby needed more for dinner), and I only had half a can of chicken broth left, so I added water and the drippings from the baked chicken (20min on 400) and sea salt. WOW! We ate this wonderful dish with cornbread and followed up with a lowfat pear crisp. One of the best fall meals. This one is a keeper!
Amazing, hearty, and healthy! Added ground chicken and pureed (a.k.a disguised for my 3 kids!)all the beans! They all ate it w/ parm cheese on top 🙂
This was awesome. Used one can less beans and a little more pasta. Of course, just added a little more broth here and there. Delicious!!!
This soup was flavorful and quick. My kids loved it which is a huge plus!!!
This was FANTASTIC! I don’t like sage so I used fresh thyme and fresh basil. And used navy beans instead of cannellini. And we put our cooked pasta in our bowl then poured soup over the top so it didn’t get thick and starchy. Wow, this was unbelievably easy and good. Don’t forget the cheese on top, it makes the soup! This is going in the do-over file!
This was easy to make and really good. As others suggested, I cut the only, only including 1 Tblsp to saute the vegetables. It was still kind of greasy. Great flavor.
Great addition to my soup routine. Don’t bother adding any salt, between the stock and the pancetta you don’t need any more.
I halved the recipe for my husband and I. This is definately company worthy. I will be making again. It might have been better the second day. I think the next time, I may try to make it in the crockpot. I left out the added salt, as I thought the pancetta and chicken stock was enough salt. I am glad I left that out.
Very good, though I didn’t have any pancetta. That would have been even better.
This is soup was awesome! I didn’t have any celery or any fresh sage and I only used about a tablespoon of olive oil to cook the bacon. I used all 4 cans of beans and about 8 oz. of pancetta. Oh and I would recomend the SMALL shells pasta. If you were to use the big ones they would absorb too much broth and then it would be soupy. I will make this soup again!
Perfect healthy soup for a cold night. I added 1 cup of chopped carrots with the onion and celery, and then 6 cups of chopped escarole with the beans. Was a bit heartier with the extra veggies.
Great recipe…I did cut back on the olive oil, added a few cloves of garlic, and also used Barilla ‘Plus’ multi-grain pasta. I crisped up a few pieces of the pacetta and served it on top with some fresh grated Locatelli cheese, and chopped parsley. Really satisfying!!