• Home
  • Email List
  • Cookbooks
  • FAQs
  • Instant Pot Secrets

365 Days of Slow Cooking and Pressure Cooking

Easy slow cooker and Instant Pot recipes for each day of the year

  • Filter Recipes
  • Instant Pot
  • Slow Cooker
  • Chicken
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Meatless
  • healthy
  • Soups

September 26, 2020

Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli Soup

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli Soup–your favorite soup from Olive Garden made quickly at home in your pressure cooker. White and red beans, ground beef,  tomatoes and pasta in a savory broth. 

Pin this recipe for later!

Get the SLOW COOKER version of the recipe here

Instant Pot Pasta Fagioli Soup

For years my slow cooker version of pasta fagioli soup has been super popular. I love to make this soup when I’m feeding a huge crowd because it makes a lot! I love making breadsticks or homemade rolls to serve with this soup. And maybe even a simple salad with the Olive Garden salad dressing to make the experience complete.

Pin this recipe for later!

A few notes:

The Pasta–Usually I make Instant Pot Pasta e Fagioli Soup with ditalini pasta*. You can use plain old elbow macaroni noodles and that will work awesome too.

The other thing you need to know about the pasta is that is soaks up a lot of liquid. The longer it sits the less it is like a soup and the more it is like a goulash. So this is what I propose…boil the pasta on the stove separately. Ladle a bowl of soup into a bowl and add the desired amount of pasta into your bowl. Keep the pasta and soup in different containers in your fridge and whenever you want soup add the cooked pasta right before eating.

Can I halve the recipe?–yes. It’s kind of a pain in the booty to only use half a can of beans though. So what I would suggest is leaving out the Great Northern beans and just using one can of kidney beans. Also the crushed tomatoes I buy come in a large 28 oz can but I’ve seen a 14 oz can before at the grocery store. Everything else is really easy to cut in half.

More Instant Pot Soup Recipes You’ll Enjoy…

Instant Pot Italian Tortellini Soup–a favorite from childhood, everyone loves this soup!

Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup–another Olive Garden copycat soup!

Instant Pot Creamy Tortellini, Spinach and Chicken Soup–one of the most popular recipes on my website!

Instant Pot Lasagna Soup–serve with a dollop of ricotta on top!

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares icon

Instant Pot Pasta e Fagioli Soup


★★★★★

4.9 from 14 reviews

  • Author: 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 13 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Description

Your favorite soup from Olive Garden made quickly at home in your pressure cooker. White and red beans, ground beef,  tomatoes and pasta in a savory broth. 


Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup shredded or diced carrots (I used 3 medium carrots)
  • 1 cup diced celery (I used 3 celery ribs)
  • 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
  • 1 Tbsp better than bouillon beef base*
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 (15 oz) can light red kidney beans, with liquid
  • 1 (15 oz) can great northern beans, with liquid
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 ½ tsp dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 6 oz ditalini pasta, uncooked
  • Parmesan cheese, for topping
  • Parsley, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Turn your Instant Pot onto the “saute” function to the highest setting. When the pot is hot, add in the ground beef and brown. Break the beef up with a wooden spoon and let it brown. Lightly salt and pepper the meat. Add in the onion and garlic. Stir until the onion is translucent. Drain off excess grease. (I used 85% lean ground beef so there was a bit of grease, if you use leaner there will be less grease).
  2. Add in the carrots, celery, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, better than bouillon, water, kidney beans, great northern beans, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, thyme and apple juice. 
  3. Cover the pot and secure the lid. Press the Soup Button (high pressure) and set the timer to 5 minutes. Make sure the valve is set to “sealing.” When the timer beeps let the pot sit there for an additional 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure by moving the valve to “venting.”
  4. While the soup is pressure cooking cook the pasta according to directions on package. Drain and set aside.
  5. Open the lid and stir the soup. Ladle into bowls and add desired amount of pasta into each bowl. Top with Parmesan cheese and a bit of parsley.

Notes

Can I halve the recipe?–yes. It’s kind of a pain to only use half a can of beans though. So what I would suggest is leaving out the Great Northern beans and just using one can of kidney beans. 

I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1.

  • Category: Soup
  • Method: Instant Pot

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @365dayscrockpot on Instagram

*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

62 Comments Filed Under: All Recipes, Beef, Instant Pot, Soups

Recommendations

Comments

  1. Joyce says

    January 27, 2021 at 2:10 pm

    Just tried to make this soup. Followed your recipe exactly. Before it got up to pressure I got the BURN signal. So emptied the pot, cleaned it out and started again. Same thing happened. so I gave up and finished it off on the stove. I have never had a BURN signal in 2 years of following your recipes. Why today??

    Reply
  2. Grant Wilton says

    January 9, 2021 at 12:48 pm

    I followed the recipe to the T. It was outstanding. I will definitely make it again!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      January 11, 2021 at 8:11 pm

      So glad you liked it Grant!

      Reply
  3. Karen Denham says

    January 2, 2021 at 7:27 pm

    We’ve had the instant pot 3+ years and never used it until tonight. Husband & I LOVED this recipe & will be making it again! Your website is so helpful & I’ll be visiting often.

    Karen in Texas
    a former non-cook!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      January 4, 2021 at 12:17 pm

      GREAT!!! Good job on using it! You can do this.

      Reply
  4. Dee says

    November 6, 2020 at 11:45 am

    I made this wonderful soup yesterday. I cooked my beans from the dry ones first in my 3 quart IP and then made the soup. I used Great Northern and pintos. I didn’t have apple juice so I added a splash of apple cider vinegar. The next time I make this I will use Italian sausage and increase the spices. I also used rotini because that is what I had on hand, but I did keep them separate even when I put in frig. I also added hot pepper flakes. This was better than Olive Gardens’s—to me their soup isn’t think enough.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 9, 2020 at 12:56 pm

      I’m glad you made it work for you. Your changes sound great!

      Reply
  5. Noreen says

    October 6, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    I thought it was good, but did not care for it enough to make again.

    Reply
  6. Lisa says

    October 4, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    I made this today for me and my husband. Used sweet turkey sausage instead of hamburger and beef broth. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. Came out perfect! Everything cooked perfectly and it was well seasoned. We loved it! Thank you for the recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 5, 2020 at 12:56 pm

      You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked it.

      Reply
  7. Janet says

    October 4, 2020 at 10:26 am

    Why didn’t you cook the pasta in the instant pot with the other ingredients??

    Just curious not criticizing.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 5, 2020 at 1:03 pm

      the pasta is that is soaks up a lot of liquid. The longer it sits the less it is like a soup and the more it is like a goulash. So this is what I propose…boil the pasta on the stove separately. Ladle a bowl of soup into a bowl and add the desired amount of pasta into your bowl. Keep the pasta and soup in different containers in your fridge and whenever you want soup add the cooked pasta right before eating.

      Reply
  8. LB says

    September 29, 2020 at 6:18 pm

    This was awesome!!! Curious as to what the apple juice does for the soup? I used it and the family loved the soup!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 29, 2020 at 8:40 pm

      Just adds a little sweetness and flavor!

      Reply
  9. Andrée says

    December 17, 2019 at 10:26 am

    Hello Karen
    This soup is one of my favorites!
    One of them will be ready in a few minutes!
    It’s so tasty, it’s a winner in my family every time!
    By the way, I rinse the beans so they’re more digestible.
    Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 17, 2019 at 5:58 pm

      Good tip! Thanks Andree.

      Reply
  10. Denise says

    December 4, 2019 at 4:55 pm

    I haven’t tried this yet, but I usually drain and rinse my beans. Is there a reason to include the liquid from the beans? Could I just increase the water and BTB, instead?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      December 5, 2019 at 1:06 pm

      Sure you could do that. It just adds a little salt and flavor.

      Reply
  11. Iola Zinn says

    September 6, 2019 at 8:22 am

    I am Italian and we always make Pasta Fagiola without meat. This looks interesting, I will give it a try.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 7, 2019 at 11:41 am

      Interesting!

      Reply
      • Iola Zinn says

        September 9, 2019 at 10:37 am

        We also make it with white beans and no tomatoes.

        Reply
  12. Lacey says

    April 20, 2019 at 6:36 pm

    So yummy! My family is picky so I used this recipe to hide in extra veggies! I threw in a can of sweet corn that I drained and diced yellow and orange bell peppers.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 22, 2019 at 8:22 am

      Awesome ideas!

      Reply
  13. Andrée says

    March 18, 2019 at 7:19 am

    A little oversight Karen…
    I also have the same Instant Pot as Lee, and I didn’t have the problem encountered. I had everything mixed up in the preparation. It’s true that it’s a little thick, maybe we should adjust the water.
    Thank you!

    Reply
  14. Andrée says

    March 18, 2019 at 7:14 am

    Hello Karen
    I made this soup yesterday for dinner… a pure delight! We really liked this soup. My husband kept saying how good she was! I cooked my gluten-free pasta on the stovetop.
    The celery and carrots were a little crunchy, next time I’ll grate the carrots and cut the celery even smaller! Since I didn’t have any ground beef, I had lean ground pork.
    Thank you Karen for all your great recipes!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  15. Lee says

    February 25, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    Tried in a Instant Pot Ultra 80. Followed all of the instructions. Had a problem with a burn indication showing on the screen before the IP reached pressure. Ended up using the slow cook feature for 30 minutes with a temperature setting of 175 Deg. F. Flavor was good but probably not as good as if I was able to use the pressure method. Any ideas on how to avoid the burn indication. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      February 26, 2019 at 11:02 am

      Perhaps try “layering the ingredients” instead of stirring them in. So start with the beef as written and then add the water. Then layer the rest of the ingredients on top of the water.

      Reply
      • Lee says

        February 28, 2019 at 7:47 pm

        Thanks for the response. Seems like I’m the only one who had the problem. Will follow your advice for the next time. There definitely will be a next time very soon. The flavor is amazing. No need to go to the OG restaurant.

        ★★★★★

        Reply
  16. Erin says

    February 19, 2019 at 4:57 pm

    HI! If you cook pasta separately, there are no adjustments to liquid amounts in IP?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      February 19, 2019 at 7:09 pm

      right

      Reply
  17. Mapp says

    November 11, 2018 at 1:10 pm

    Italian sausage instead of ground beef

    Reply
  18. Susan says

    November 7, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    I made this last night as my second Instant Pot recipe (just got it last weekend). This is delicious! It was even better as leftovers in my lunch box today. I had to swap some ingredients – dry white wine for the apple juice and fire roasted tomatoes because that’s what was in the pantry. Oh my gosh this is SO good and so easy! I love this website and these recipes! So glad I bought an Instant Pot and even more glad people have lots of good recipes they are willing to share 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 8, 2018 at 7:49 pm

      Welcome to the Instant Pot world Susan!!!! I’m glad you found my site 🙂

      Reply
  19. Vicky says

    October 20, 2018 at 4:03 pm

    I am gluten free right now. Have found GF macaroni that cooks okay in the IP, but cooks for 4 minutes. I don’t see a problem for any of the other ingredients, do you?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 20, 2018 at 8:30 pm

      I bet that would work The other ingredients seem okay to me. I am not a GF expert though!

      Reply
  20. DAG says

    October 16, 2018 at 10:55 am

    Add one jar of basil marinara sauce instead of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes instead of crushed. Also a teaspoon of fennel seed and a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes. r

    ★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 16, 2018 at 1:58 pm

      Love those ideas! Keep em coming 🙂

      Reply
  21. Sheila says

    June 20, 2018 at 10:32 am

    Do you have any idea how to change it to use dried rather than canned beans? Thanks

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 20, 2018 at 10:42 am

      You would have to cook the dried beans beforehand on their own and then add them in with the other ingredients. This is because the dried beans take much longer to cook than any of the other ingredients. Plus they wouldn’t soften because of the acidity of the tomatoes. Here is a tutorial on how to cook dried beans in the instant pot. https://amindfullmom.com/instant-pot-beans/

      Reply
  22. Irina says

    April 20, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    Can you make it without beef ? I love your IP recipes and wish you had more for vegetarians/pescatarians

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 21, 2018 at 3:04 pm

      I’m sure you could leave out the meat all together. Maybe add in some mushrooms???

      Reply
    • Sandra Poszywak says

      September 22, 2018 at 6:47 am

      Yes, you can make this vegetarian with substituting any type of ground crumbles (Boca, Morning Star, Gardein). Sometimes I skip sautéing the crumbles and just put them in the cooker after everything else is sautéed. I do break up the crumbles in a separate bowl before adding. Mushrooms would be great in this recipe too. I add mushrooms to a lot of recipes. They are packed with vitamins!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
  23. Robyn says

    February 3, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    Another winner! So glad I stumbled across your site. Looking forward to eating this for lunch all week.
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      February 3, 2018 at 8:51 pm

      Yes! Glad you liked it Robyn 🙂

      Reply
  24. Sandi Priest says

    January 30, 2018 at 9:35 pm

    This recipe is the first thing I’ve made in my IP and it was absolutely delicious! I made it as printed except I used diced tomatoes as I thought I had crushed but did not. My father-in-law loved it as well. Now just waiting for hubby to get home from work so he can try it. I’m sure he will love it too. Thanks for such a great recipe!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      January 30, 2018 at 9:45 pm

      YESSSSS!!!! Win! So happy.

      Reply
  25. Will Spencer says

    January 10, 2018 at 10:56 pm

    I made this for dinner tonight. It was delicious. I doubled the pasta so I had to add just a little water to the serving dishes to make it more “soupy”. I also added 1 tbsp of sour cream to the serving bowl and mixed it in. I also didn’t have apple juice so I added a qtr cup more water and 2 tbsp of my homemade apple butter just to get the little bit of apple flavor in there. Soooo Good. Thanks for the recipe it will be used often.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      January 11, 2018 at 1:18 pm

      So glad to hear this!

      Reply
  26. Kellie says

    November 28, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    Excellent recipe. Tastes just like Olive Garden’s. Didn’t have any fancy pasta so I used macaroni. Worked great. Also didn’t have any apple juice so I just skipped it. Used 3 cups of beef stock instead of better than bouillon. Obviously this is a very forgiving recipe. 😀 Since I made this for just my husband and myself, I made the full recipe but froze half of it without the pasta. I then used 4 oz of pasta in the soup that I made tonight. When I cook the frozen batch, I will add another 4 oz of pasta. Thanks for a great recipe.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 29, 2017 at 11:42 am

      awesome! So glad you like it 🙂

      Reply
  27. Brittany says

    November 5, 2017 at 1:33 pm

    Is there anything you can use in place of the Apple juice? I have all the ingredients to make this except for that.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 7, 2017 at 2:28 pm

      Maybe just more broth? I’m sure that will be fine.

      Reply
      • Donna says

        February 1, 2020 at 2:10 pm

        How about red wine?

        Reply
        • Karen says

          February 4, 2020 at 1:16 pm

          That would work!

          Reply
  28. Rose says

    November 3, 2017 at 10:56 am

    If I cut the recipe in half, do I also have to make an adjustment as to how long to cook the soup in the instant pot?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 3, 2017 at 1:39 pm

      nope, same cooking time!

      Reply
  29. mc says

    November 1, 2017 at 9:38 am

    I made this last night – delicious and easy! Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 3, 2017 at 1:43 pm

      You’re so welcome!!

      Reply
  30. Sian says

    October 31, 2017 at 1:26 pm

    Hello. I cannot use better than bouillon. I know that I should be able to use beef broth in this place. May I ask how much beef broth to use? thank you

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 3, 2017 at 1:44 pm

      Use 3 cups beef broth 🙂

      Reply
      • Vicki says

        November 30, 2018 at 9:08 am

        So instead of 1T. of Better Than Bouillon, you use 3 C. of beef broth? Or does this also take the place of the water? Thanks.

        Reply
        • Karen says

          November 30, 2018 at 1:49 pm

          you can use 1 Tbsp of bouillon + 3 cups of water or 3 cups of beef broth

          Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi! I'm Karen

I know that dinner time can be less than relaxing. Busy schedules and cranky kids and a hundred other things can lead to weariness when it comes to putting dinner on the table. I can help! I make homemade, family-friendly slow cooker and Instant Pot dinners and share the recipes with you.
 

Stay In Touch

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

365 Days of Slow Cooking © 2021 · Privacy Policy