One-Pot Pasta e Fagioli for Nights the Fridge Looks Empty
A one-pot pasta e fagioli that feeds six for about $2.42 a serving. Two tins of beans, pantry staples, and one pot to wash.
Ingredients
| ditali or other small pasta | 340 g |
| white kidney beans, drained and rinsed | 2 tins (540 ml each) |
| diced tomatoes | 1 tin (796 ml) |
| chicken or vegetable broth | 2 cartons (900 ml each) |
| carrots, finely diced | 150 g |
| celery, finely diced | 100 g |
| yellow onion, diced | 1 |
| garlic, minced | 4 cloves |
| baby spinach | 90 g |
| olive oil | 30 ml |
| dried oregano | 2 g |
| grated parmesan | for serving |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
Steps
- 1Heat the olive oil in your largest pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery with a pinch of salt and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until softened.
- 2Stir in the garlic and oregano and cook for 1 minute, just until fragrant.
- 3Add the diced tomatoes with their juice, both cartons of broth and one tin of the beans. Bring to a boil.
- 4Mash the second tin of beans roughly with a fork and stir them in. This thickens the broth without any cream.
- 5Add the pasta and simmer, uncovered, stirring every few minutes so nothing sticks, for 9 to 11 minutes, until the pasta is just tender.
- 6Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach until wilted, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.
- 7Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan if using.
On fibre and plant protein, the beans, vegetables and pasta between them deliver enough to keep you full and to support steadier blood sugar than a bowl of plain pasta would. Swapping mashed beans for cream keeps the texture rich while keeping saturated fat low, and choosing a reduced-sodium broth makes the salt easier to manage.
The classic Italian pasta and bean soup, in one pot, for about $2.42 a serving. Two tins of white beans and a handful of pantry staples make a dinner that eats like a hug. One-pot pasta e fagioli is what you cook on the night the fridge looks empty, and nobody wants to shop. It also improves in the fridge, as few soups do, and one-pot pasta e fagioli costs less per bowl than almost anything you could order instead.
Why is mashing half the beans the step that matters?
Because it does the job cream would do, for nothing. Mashing half the beans roughly with a fork before they go in releases their starch into the broth, which turns it silky and thick without you buying a single extra ingredient. Leave the other tin whole so you still get texture in the bowl. It is the one step people skip and the one that separates this from a thin vegetable soup.
The rest of the pot does the work for you. The first ten minutes soften vegetables in oil. Once the broth goes in, you stir now, and then so the pasta does not glue itself to the bottom. That is the whole job.
What explains why it thickens overnight?
The pasta keeps drinking. Why it thickens overnight comes down to starch, which keeps absorbing broth in the fridge. Soup at dinner becomes closer to a stew by lunch. That is not a fault. Splash in water or broth when you reheat, and it comes straight back.
Which freezer and leftovers rules apply here?
The freezer and leftovers rules are short. It freezes well, though the pasta softens a little, so if you know a batch is heading for the freezer, pull it off the heat while the pasta is still slightly firm. In the fridge it keeps three or four days. A piece of buttered toast alongside does nobody any harm.
This is the same logic that makes a cabbage and chickpea curry feed six for under fifteen dollars and a ginger chicken and broccoli stir-fry survive being made in a hurry. If you want the same bean-heavy economy in a bake rather than a bowl, a lentil cottage pie at two dollars a serving is the other one worth having in rotation.
For breakfast at the other end of the same week, apple cinnamon overnight oats you stir together in ten minutes needs no cooking. And a maple butternut squash soup that freezes beautifully covers the freezer. One-pot pasta e fagioli reheats better than either of them.
What else do people ask about this soup?
How do you thicken it without cream?
Mash one of the two tins of beans roughly with a fork before adding them. The released starch thickens the broth and gives it a silky texture, while the whole beans in the other tin keep some bite. A stick blender pulsed once or twice in the pot does the same job if you prefer it smoother.
Can you freeze pasta soup?
Yes, with one adjustment. Pull the pot off the heat while the pasta is still slightly firm, because it will soften further on thawing and reheating. Cool it quickly, portion it, and freeze for up to three months. Add a splash of water or broth when reheating, since it thickens considerably.
How do you stop the pasta absorbing all the broth?
You mostly cannot, and that is normal. If you want leftovers to stay soupy, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl rather than to the pot, though you lose the starch that thickens the broth. The simpler fix is to loosen it with water or broth when you reheat.
Can you make it vegetarian?
Easily. Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth and the recipe is otherwise unchanged, which is why the tag says vegetarian option rather than vegetarian. Skip the parmesan, or use a vegetarian hard cheese, if that matters for your household. The beans carry the protein either way.
This article is general information and not medical advice. If you are having a medical emergency, call 911. For anything non-urgent, speak with a doctor or another qualified health professional about your own situation.
A registered dietitian can plan around your budget and your health goals, and you can compare dietitians near you and see current availability on Medimap or browse the Medimap Health Hub.