A copycat recipe for Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli (pasta and bean soup) for the Instant Pot. Easy to make. Hearty and rich, perfect for a cold winter night.
Growing up, my favorite meals weren’t like other kids. Two of my absolute favorites, polenta and pasta e fagioli, weren’t evenly commonly known in the mid 1980s–at least not in the area where I grew up.
Today you can find pasta e fagioli on the Olive Garden menu. And most folks have tried polenta, either creamy or grilled. (I love it both ways.)
Here’s where I state the obvious: the pasta e fagioli I ate growing up looked nothing like the one that’s served at Olive Garden. The one my very frugal, immigrant grandmother made was simple. She combined great Northern beans and ditalini pasta in a thin, flavorful tomato sauce. Other than the tomatoes, onions, and garlic in her sauce, there were no additional vegetables. Her pasta e fagioli was a cross between a soup and a bowl of pasta. Meat was never, ever included.
The Olive Garden version includes meat and…kidney beans.
Can we talk about kidney beans for a second? I’ve always disliked them. I remember them as tough, gritty beans. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve eaten in years.
But when re-creating a recipe as beloved as this one, I don’t futz around with it. I ordered a bowl of pasta e fagioli from the Olive Garden for pickup. I wasn’t looking forward to trying it–that’s how much I dislike kidney beans.
The soup surprised me. While I found the soup a bit salty for my taste, I enjoyed it. Was it like the pasta e fagioli that my grandmother made? No but it was really good–hearty and rich and perfect for a cold night.
And those kidney beans? I loved them. They were nothing like the kidney beans in my memory. They were creamy and flavorful. I can’t wait to cook with them again.
I ended up loving this version of pasta e fagioli. It’s hearty without being too rich. The tomato sauce, vegetables, and spices almost reminded me of a stew. If my grandmother’s version was a cross between a soup and a pasta dish; this one is a cross between a stew and a pasta dish. And I’m totally fine with that.
How to Make Pasta e Fagioli in the Instant Pot
- Sauté the Meat For this recipe, I ended up using ground Italian sausage and ground turkey. This combination is a departure from the soup that’s served at the Olive Garden which uses ground beef. However, I don’t think your tastebuds will notice. The sausage brings lots of flavor and the turkey lightens the soup. (If you prefer ground beef, go ahead and use it.
- Add the Vegetables. After cooking the meat, add the diced onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook for three minutes. This step is key. Cooking the vegetables before starting the pressure cooking cycle adds important flavor. Don’t skip this step.
- Deglaze the Pot. Cooked-on food can cause the “burn” warning to appear on the display of the Instant Pot. To avoid this, add 1/4 cup of chicken broth and scrape the bottom of the pot to remove any stuck on bits.
- Add the Remaining Ingredients. Once you’ve deglazed the bottom of the pot, add the remaining ingredients and stir.
- Cook for Three Minutes. This soup only needs three minutes under pressure. However, since the pot is very full, it takes about 15 minutes for the pot to reach pressure. Be sure to plan for that.
- Allow a 10 Minute Natural Release. If you were to vent the pressure cooker as soon as the cooking time completed, soup could potentially spray out of the valve. To avoid this, allow the pot to cool for ten minutes before venting.
How to Reheat Pasta e Fagioli.
Pasta e fagioli leftovers thicken quite a bit because the pasta soaks up the liquid. Don’t worry about this. When reheating, add enough water to loosen. Like magic, you’ll soon have a flavorful broth. You can do this if you reheat the soup on the stove or in the microwave.
Instant Pot Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli
A copycat recipe for Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli (pasta and bean soup) for the Instant Pot. Easy to make. Hearty and rich, perfect for a cold winter night.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces mild or spicy or Italian sausage
- 8 ounces 93% lean ground turkey*
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 3 small carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
- 4 cups low or no sodium chicken broth
- 1 (16-ounce) can tomato sauce (Hunt's recommended)
- 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
-
Select Sauté and adjust to the "high" setting. Add oil to the insert pot. Heat until "hot" appears on the display. Add the sausage and ground turkey. Cook, breaking up with a wood spoon, until no pink remains.
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Add onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook for three minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth. Scrape bottom with a wooden spoon to remove any stuck on bits. This is important. Cooked on food can cause the "burn" message to appear.
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Add remaining chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, Great Northern beans, basil, pasta, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.
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Close and lock the lid. Set the valve to sealing. Press Cancel. Select manual (High pressure). Set the time to 3 minutes. When the cooking time completes, allow the pressure to release for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, carefully turn vent to release remaining pressure. Remove lid. Stir soup. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
Cindy says
This was great!! Whole family loved it. The best thing I have made in the Instapot so far. Thanks for a great recipe.
Doni says
Cindy, did you use packaged beans or canned?
Doni
Doni says
After reading through all the comments I saw where the beans are canned. Thank you, Doni
Elizabeth says
Hi Doni,
The recipe calls for canned beans right in the ingredient list. Glad you found the answer you needed. Enjoy!
Alia says
I used all ground sirloin and it came out great! Thanks for sharing! It’s my favorite OG soup. Much less sodium in this recipe, I’m sure.
Gerry Clark says
I made this last night. It was so easy, quick abd delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Morgan says
Do you cook the pasta first??
Elizabeth says
Nope! It cooks along with the other ingredients.
Chris Dahman says
Turned out great! I used a little more crushed red peppers (just a preference on taste in my house). Thanks for sharing!
Lisa D. says
Whole family loves it!! Made it twice in one week 😉
Elizabeth says
Yay!
Kristin says
How should I adjust cooking times if I’m doubling the recipe?
Elizabeth says
Cooking time should remain the same!
THeresa says
Will ur pot be big enuf to double? Might have to cook 2 batches!!!!
Stacy Fletcher says
Do you have a regular cooking time for pot on stove /Dutch oven pot instructions?
Matt says
I’m going to try this this week! If I make it without the meat, should I use less broth?
Elizabeth says
No, I’d keep the amount of broth the same since it’s basically a soup. Hope this helps!
Mike says
I don’t understand the point of using a pressure cooker, when you are using canned beans anyway. To me, the value of the pressure cooker is that you can cook dried beans in a reasonable time. They taste better and are more economical than the canned ones.
Elizabeth says
For this recipe, you’d have to cook the beans separately. So the point is to be able to make the soup quickly.
Prudence Baxter says
I agree, properly prepared (see Weston A. Price Foundation directions) dry beans are far superior to canned in taste, texture, and nutrition, however I think the point of making this soup in thr IP is because it brings the cooking time down from all day (in crockpot) to only minutes. I try to prepare dry beans ahead of time and freeze them in portioned bags in my freezer so I can pull out the canned equivalent for meals like this on a dime.
alece says
I used leftover shredded beef. Yummy
Denny Fitz says
This is the third thing I’ve made in my new Instant Pot, 8 qt Ultra. I’ve always loved this soup at Olive Garden and this recipe is ‘spot on’….incredible…loved it…!!! Thank you.
Rhonda says
3 minutes? This is my first use. Should it take longer than 3 minutes to cook carrots and pasta???
Elizabeth says
Yup! The cook time plus the 10-minute natural release works perfectly!
Amanda says
Do I drain and rinse the beans first?
Elizabeth says
Yes.
Faith Hall says
My boyfriend and I loved it- it was the first soup besides chili we have ever made! And it was so easy. Will definitely be making this recipe again!
Lisa says
Loved this! So hearty, delicious and easy. This will definitely be a regular. Thanks so much!
Elizabeth says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Goldtru says
Could you do this without any meat at all? I’m sure you could, just wondering if you’ve tried it.
Elizabeth says
I haven’t tested it without meat but I belive that would work!
Lauren Kristy says
I made this without meat. I did use soy curls to add some meatiness, but I’m sure no meat would be fine as well. To add a “sausagey “ taste I used fennel seeds and spices that are typical in sausage. Delicious!
Mylzy says
Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe! I just made it and its a true copycat ????!
Will share the recipe and couldn’t believe how quick!
Robin says
This was so easy to make and tastes almost just like the Olive Garden one. My whole family loved it. We will definitely be making it again. SO GOOD!!!
Tammy says
I made this last night and it turned out great! My husband is very picky and not a big soup person but he loved and said I could make any time. Starting to really love the instant pot.
Ann says
I talked about this recipe to anyone that would listen!!! It was delicious!!!!!! And soooo easy!!! THANK YOU!!!
Ckriggs says
I had everything to make this on a snowy day and it turned out great. I used all sausage, but next time will use turkey as well. Thanks!
Steve L. says
Made this over the weekend. I actually made 2 batches. Still leaning how to use our new InstantPot Duo60, so this was literally one of our first few recipes. We have a family recipe that my Grandmother passed down to my Mom and Wife. Very traditional and we love it! Gave this a try just to see how it came out in the InsrantPot. Great instructions and I followed everything to a “T”. Like others, I was skeptical that 3 minutes on high pressure, followed by 10 minutes sitting while pressure released naturally, would be sufficient cooking time. Well, I was amazed that all the vegetables were prefectly cooked! The results were simply delicious! I gave my Mom a container to try and she called me the next day and said she loved it! She said it was even better than hers! Quite a compliment from an Italian-American Mom who’s Italian recipes are cherished in this family! She even asked if we would serve this as part of our Christmas dinner next year!
A few suggestions. As instructed, I used low sodium tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes. I also used low sodium chicken stock. I seasoned with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes by touch before cooking. It didn’t require any additional seasoning after cooking. I initially planned to make a double batch in the InstantPot. However, after adding the stock and the beans, I realized that the liquid level would exceed the max fill line in the pot. I simply scooped out half of the pot and cooked 2 batches separately. For the first batch, I added 1 cup of pasta as instructed. It came out great, but we like ours with less pasta. For the second batch, I only added 1/2 a cup of pasta. When finished, I combined with the first batch. It was perfect! When I make this again, I think I may go with 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of pasta. Just a slight adjustment, but it’s all personal preference!
I reheated some last night for dinner, and as instructed, I added a bit of water to kissing it up before rehearing. Again, perfect!
I’ve never had the Olive Garden version, so I can’t compare the two. However, this was so close to Mom’s and m entire family loved it, so that’s all that matters anyway! We now have a great, simple and quick version that can be made any night if the week, and doesn’t require slow cooking all day long. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Sherl says
Can I use only hamburger? Also can I substitute peppers for the carrots and celery?
Elizabeth says
Absolutely! And I think peppers would work, just be aware that they might get very, very soft.
Lisa says
Can I use gluten free pasta and the soup button on the instapot?
Elizabeth says
Gluten-free pasta works great. If you have the Instant Pot, I would use the manual pressure as directed in the recipe. I haven’t tested it with the soup setting.
Dora says
Does the cook or NPR time need to be adjusted if using GLUTEN FREE noodles? I’ve been told that Gluten free noodles will soften very quickly and almost disintegrate if over cooked.
Elizabeth says
Hi Dora,
I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free pasta but I did several tests on my Instant Pot mac and cheese recipe with gluten-free pasta. The cooking time was the same as wheat pasta. Hope this helps!
Barbara says
Excellent! Made a couple batches and froze some and the frozen ones were just as good as the fresh! Great make ahead meal!!
Carol says
This soup was absolutely deliscious. Perfect for a cold Maine night. The turkey and sausage combination was so flaavorful. I cut the pasta to 2/3 cup the second time I made this soup and was pleased with the amount of pasta in the finished product. Great recipe that has move up to my go to winter recipes. Thank you!
Marie says
Can I use ground beef and sausage? I am getting ready to make it and I only have ground chicken no more ground turkey and of course ground beef and bulk sausage.
Elizabeth says
Yes! That will work!
Shirley says
My husband & I are not fans of kidney beans, but love Great Northern bean soup. I scooped out a large spoonful of beans (drained) and then added them later to this soup after steam released. So good!!
Keith says
I have been trying to find a good Olive Garden copycat receipt for this that was simple and easy….this was it. I am by no means a cook, I am a recipe reader who likes to try and pretend to be a cook. Followed the instructions to the tee and it was delicious. We had multiple servings of this and cannot wait to tap into the leftovers. Many thanks for your posting, this one is a keeper.
Jean Weatherby says
Delicious!! My family enjoyed this recipe. It is a go to recipe from now on. Thank you for your work creating great recipes. I enjoy your gluten free recipes also.
Char Simon says
I would rather use dried beans over the canned. Would you cook those separately and then begin the recipe as outlined?
Elizabeth says
Yes! That’s just what I would do!
Mary Santistevan says
I am going to use the comment made earlier….she cooked the dry beans first and stored them in the freezer. When she needed the beans they were cooked and immediatly available. They can be stored in One pint freezer bag ! Thanks for the suggestions!!
Cindy Ebbers says
Made this this evening. Yummy! I’m not a fan of kidney beans but you’re right they are delicious in this soup. I used sweet Italian sausage and ground beef. The colors and textures are very appealing and seasoning was just right! Thank you!
Elizabeth says
So glad you liked it! I’m not a fan of kidney beans–expect for in this recipe.
Jean Weatherby says
Wow, this recipe is so tasty and it is so easy to make. My husband enjoys this soup. We have enjoyed your recipes and books. Thank you for all your work.
Elizabeth says
So glad you enjoyed the soup!
Danny M says
What’s the minimum size Instant Pot required?
Elizabeth says
This recipe was tested in the 5 quart model.
BG says
Adding the pasta in didn’t work for me. It turned to pasta mush, and I think it made the soup a bit more starchy than I would’ve done without the IP. What I did differently – accidentally left it to NR for 20m instead of 10. I’m so afraid it’ll happen again that next time I’m gonna do same technique as in the recipe, but boil the pasta separately and add it in per bowl. The rest of the cook was spot on!????
Elizabeth says
Yes, a 20 minute natural release could cause the pasta to over cook. Cooking the pasta separately and then adding it to the soup is a great idea!
Russell says
Great recipe. The sausage was a nice touch, it gave the soup so much more flavor. This one will be made often this winter.
Fran says
I don’t have. a pressure Cooker I have a crock pot how would I make this in a crock pot
Elizabeth says
I haven’t tested this in a crock pot. Sorry.
Marilyn L Miller says
Add all ingredients to the crock pot accept the pasta. Cook on high 4-5 hours. Add pasta to the crock pot the last 30 minutes of cook time. enjoy.
Beverly Shea says
I love the white beans, not red. I can use them, right?
Elizabeth says
Absolutely!
Allison Nelson says
What size Instant Pot is this recipe designed for? I have the 3 qt mini. Do you think I can just cut the recipe in half?
Thanks so much!
Elizabeth says
It was tested with a 5 quart Instant Pot. I think you could halve it and use the 3 quart. As long as it doesn’t fill the pot more than halfway, of course.
Linda Gray says
Ty for this recipe was awesome love your great advice ty so much
Kathy says
Can I use dried northern beans instead of canned? Will it require longer cooking time?
Elizabeth says
I haven’t tested the recipe with dried beans. Sorry. My advice would be to cook them first and then add them as you would canned beans.
Laura says
To the person wanting to use gf pasta. I’d be careful, it’s a softer texture and overcooks easily. I might try it but be aware it will get squishy soft faster than regular pasta.
Victoria says
Really nice recipe, thanks for posting. I just made this with Beyond Meat “beef” crumbles and Field Roast Italian “sausage,” plus changed to veggie stock (with a little flavor boost of Not-Chik’n bouillon cubes). I only had fresh basil and wasn’t sure how that would work in the Instant Pot but it all came out great. So if you want an option with meat substitutes it comes out just fine. I don’t cook with these often but sometimes you just want the “meatier” option and for this recipe it was so good. 🙂
Elizabeth says
Ooooh! Thank you for sharing this with us!
Megan says
If I doubled this recipe in a 6qt instant pot would it work? And would the Cook time double or stay the same?
Elizabeth says
It should work just fine. For liquids, always make sure the recipe doesn’t fill the pot more than halfway. Other than that, you’re good to go!
Greg says
Everyone LOVED this. I only made the slightest modification – I used 1/2 pound of ground beef, 1/4 pound of sweet Italian sausage, and 1/4 pound of hot Italian sausage. This gave the dish a little heat, without being overbearing. Just enough!
A fresh baguette with some butter was the perfect complement!
Deanna says
Question: What does the * next to turkey on the ingredient list point to?
Thanks!
Colleen Tanner says
Can you freeze leftovers?
Rebecca Masciovecchio says
I am making this for a teacher luncheon. I am making several batches exactly like the recipe (I have made it before and it is a huge hit), but I have a couple of vegetarian teachers that I’d like to adapt for. Can I use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth? And what about using tofu instead of sausage and turkey???? How would I do that? Add tofu before cooking or at the end???? Thanks, Rebecca
Elizabeth says
Vegetable broth works great as a replacement for chicken broth. I can’t give advice on the tofu, however. I have a soy allergy and have never cooked with it. I have seen recipes that use it. They usually cut the tofu into cubes and cook at high pressure for 5 minutes.
Becky says
I made this for New Year’s Eve party and it was a hit! I used only ground turkey but added Goya ham seasoning when sauteeing it. This tasted just like my favorite soup at Olive Garden!
Doni Wright says
This is the third thing that I’ve made in my Duo, and I have to say it was a hit for myself and my husband. We’ve always enjoyed it at Olive Garden. I used only 1/2 the noodles, fresh basil 🌿 and less garlic. It was hard to wait until it cooled because of the delicious smell. Thank you for your diligence developing your many recipes for all to follow. I look forward to trying them out.
I do have a question about NR. Do we just flip the button after a certain amount of time?
Elizabeth says
Yes. To complete a natural release, allow the pressure valve to drop on its own. Then, turn the release knob before opening the pot.
Karen Ulanoski says
This recipe is very good. We like spicy food so I used a pound of hot Italian sausage. The best pasta cooks very well in the instant pot, Thank you for sharing.
Mike Ferguson says
This is great!! I love the OG brand, but this is equally awesome! Just wish I had some bread sticks to go with it!!
Made mine with 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, and an extra can of red beans! Yummm!
Thanks!
Elizabeth says
Glad you enjoyed it! I often buy “parbaked” breadsticks at the grocery store. Then I brush them with melted butter and a sprinkle of salt and garlic powder before baking. It’s amazing how much they taste like the Olive Garden breadsticks.