Copycat Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli Recipe

Pasta e fagioliliterally meaning pasta and beansis a thrifty way to feed your family on a budget with a couple cans of beans, broth, and pasta. The soup's humble roots have morphed over the years with the addition of tomatoes, vegetables, and in this case meat. Adding ground sausage, as youll find with one taste of olive gardens pasta e fagioli soup, brings it to the next level, making it worthy of main course status. Were fans of using whats available in the pantry, but if you want to stay closer to tradition, ditalini (a bite-sized, tube-shaped pasta) is what you should seek out to make this pasta e fagioli recipe. Otherwise, any other small pasta, like elbow macaroni, is a fine substitute. Sweet italian sausage gets sauted first in the skillet, adding an extra layer of flavor to the overall soup. If you cant find uncased sausage filling, just slice and remove the casing from regular italian sausagesand feel free to use hot sausage for a spicy version of this soup. You can even swap in ground beef if you prefer or cook whole sausages in the pot first, letting them simmer in the soup to cook fully, then slicing diagonally to serve. Even though this is a copycat version of olive gardens pasta e fagioli, you can still put your own spin on it