Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli

Radish4ever's Note:

This is a delicious meal and comes together VERY easily! The recipe is versatile. Substitute listed beans for beans you have on hand - same with the vegetables and type of tomatoes! You can add in any additional veggies that you want, including frozen vegetables. This would also make an excellent freezer meal. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 4 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
• 4 medium carrots, sliced in coins
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 (26 ounce) can spaghetti sauce
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry pasta, saved for later (macaroni is our favorite)

Directions:

1. Brown the beef (or you can use ground turkey if you prefer), drain, and let cool a bit while you handle the other ingredients. If you wish, you can use minced garlic and onion while browning the meat to add a little extra flavor.
2. Fill a large crock pot with the chopped carrots, celery, minced onion, rinsed beans, 2 cans of tomatoes, can of pasta sauce, beef broth, salt, pepper, oregano, and Tabasco sauce. You can also add in any extra vegetables you'd like if you have some on hand to add.
3. Add in the pound of meat and stir it all together.
4. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
5. When the vegetables are tender, or about 3/4 into the cooking time, stir in the dry pasta and continue until the end of the cooking time.
6. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Chef #1470343]

This turned out really well, so I thought I’d share. It is quite delicious!!! The only things I did different were add some real onion and the minced garlic to the beef while browning. I still added some onion flakes to the Crockpot as directed, though. Oh, and I used white northern beans with the red kidney beans instead of pinto beans. For the pasta I used Ditalini and I used a jar of the Prego traditional style spaghetti sauce. I’m not even really fond of pasta fagioli, but I loved this!! Don and Jaime loved it too. I made it in a very large Crockpot and it was FULL, so don’t even try it in a small one; just use a Dutch oven on the stove on low to medium-low for about 4 hrs. using a large pot with a cover. We finished it within 2 days. Yum!

[Brooke the Cook in WI]

This is really a fantastic soup - good thing because it makes a ton! I was not able to add all of the broth, as my crock was full to the brim. Made wonderful leftovers for lunch today and plenty left for tomorrow as well. I only used 1/2lb ground beef and 1 can of beans (kidney). Thanks for recommending this great recipe loof!

[Sugasnaps]

This is one of my all-time favorite soups from Olive Garden. Soooo good. I love it that I can make it myself. Only thing I do differently is I use pinto beans instead of the kidney beans (just a personal preference) and upped the tobasco a wee bit and the black pepper a wee bit. :) We like it spicy! My husband will eat this soup day after day after day until it's all gone. Great recipe! <3