Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli

SandiW2
This recipe is spot on. However, I halved the recipe and started with a 10 quart pot and it nearly filled it by the time everything was added. I cooked the ditalini pasta (that's the kind used at Olive Garden) and added it to each individual bowl when served. Most cooks would know that you can't boil macaroni for 45 minutes and not have mush, but to a newbie they might not. Like others have said, it freezes wonderfully and just heat it up and add fresh macaroni and it's just like the day you made. Wonderful soup. Loved, loved, loved it.

Guest: Dee
Wow...this receipe is awesome! I follwed exactly but also added 1/2 lb of sweet italian sausage. I also did not add pasta until ready to serve. It makes A LOT! I was able to freeze leftovers in ziplock bags for another meal. I used the "cheap" Hunts pasta sauce and glad I did. TRY THIS! YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Guest: Eloise
I tried this recipe and loved it. I was confused about the amount of onions, carrots and celery to add. It has the amount in ounces. Is that volume ounces or weight ounces?

Guest: roberto
As a second generation Italian I grew up with this wonderful dish as a substitute for meat on Fridays back in the 50's. My mother eliminated the meat, relying on the kidney beans to provide the protein flavoring. It was so good on those cold nights in upstate NY. However, now adding the hamburger or sausage to the soup enhances the flavor even more. I took the advise of one of the previous comments and did not add the macaroni to the soup, as we could not consume it all even at a half recipe. The macaroni will get overcooked, and become starchy if stored and served the next day or two. So just boil the macaroni until al dente (slightly fi... read more

Guest: jorge
I have made this 3 different times for a church fundraising event. Everyone just loves it. The only thing different I've done is replace the ground beef with italian sausage. It tastes like the real restaurant's menu item.

Guest: Cookie
Fantastic recipe! Made it and my family and friends raved about it. It makes A LOT so you'll definitely have enough to share and/or freeze. I think it tastes even better than the Olive Garden one, maybe it's because I know I made it ;-). For the spaghetti sauce it calls for, I used Hunts canned pasta sauce. I felt hesitant about it, but in the end it turned out perfect. The only thing I would recommend is to maybe add the pasta a little later (like say, 15 minutes before taking it off the stove). My pasta shells turned a bit mushy. Otherwise, a winning recipe!

SueG526
OUTSTANDING!! I have been searching for a soup that was very close to Olive Garden's. This was MAGNIFICENT and no quirky ingredients! Only changed I made was to process tomatoes in a food processor because we don't care for chunks of tomatoes and I added about 1-1 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper. I also cooked my pasta separately and added it about 15-20 min before serving so that it didn't turn to mush. It makes A LOT! What I will do next time is make the base leaving out beans and pasta. Freeze half and then add beans and pasta to half. The other half will be ready to have the beans/pasta added with a simple defrosting. EVER... read more

Guest: Jeburnerjeburner
Just made the soup today... Oh my it is wonderfully and somewhat healthy! It will save me the 45 min trip to our nearest OG. Thank you so much, I love it.

Guest Foodie
It's not only as good as Olive Garden's version, It's better! It is so close to the original version! I was very pleased with the taste. Kudos to whoever put this recipe together. I have a new favorate homemade soup. My family scarfed it down and I had to make another batch.

KinNJ
OMG!!!! I did NOT believe this recipe was going to taste ANYTHING LIKE Olive Garden's version which I could DIE for, BUT IT DID! It tastes EXACTLY like Olive Garden's recipe!!! I could FAINT! I started making this and it was so watery I was like 'this is not going to work. My son will taste it and the whole batch will go right into the trash" but omg we are on our SECOND HUGE BOWL OF IT NOW!! If I had just had garlic sticks (and next time we will!) I can and WILL say to heck with ever going to Olive Garden again!! The only thing I did different was I cut up some pepperoni into it because I did not see how pretty much unseasoned beef would... read more

Guest: jawsotr
This is wonderful. I make this very often to share with family and coworkers. The only change I make is to add one more pound of ground beef.

Guest: carolstevep
We thought this was a wonderful recipe and very close to the restaurant version that my wife loves. We are going to add a bit of hot italian sausage to the ground beef and think it will resemble the restaurant version even more. Keep up the good work.

rkonchan
I'm a 48 year old man who hasn't cooked much in the kitchen. Made this soup just as the recipe reads. Very easy and simple to make. It made a lot of soup. It was absolutely awesome! Gave about 75% of it to co-workers, all who said they loved it. I highly recommend this soup. Thank you CD Kitchen.

Guest: ArizonaSmith
My girlfriend made this for us the other night and me and my boyfriend absolutely loved it. We asked her for the receipe and she gave us this link. Can't wait to make it outselves. Yummy!

Guest: chefwannabe
This soup is awesome. I used Italian seasoned diced tomatoes and eliminated the oregano. I also added a little sugar, maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons. Yummmm!