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Think of this vegan pasta fagioli recipe as your weeknight dinner miracle, and thing that your family will love no matter how anti-vegan they are. Cannellini beans, tiny al dente pasta, and vegetables in a super-yummy and easy broth. Cook it once, portion it, and you've got reliable, hearty meals ready to go.
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My wife went vegan when she was 14 after her mom passed away. Her dad, who was a low level criminal from Newark had to step up and figure out what the heck to feed this kid who no longer ate any of the Italian American classics that he knew how to do (he owned several Italian restaurants at various times, when they weren't on the run from the law or the press).
Anyway, pasta fagioli was the first thing he veganized for her, because all it took was just not adding parmesan to it to make it something teenage Joey could eat. That's why when my wife met me, she would add vegan parmesan to my mom's escarole and bean soup, because it tasted a lot like the pre-vegan favorite pasta fagioli she grew up with.
I've had other versions made by some of her family members, and Joey insists that none of them are quite like how her dad used to make it. She's nicer than me, because I tasted their versions and was "Oh damn, this sucks…" So, I did a heck of a lot of testing to end up with the recipe you see before you.
It's thick but not an all-out Spaghettios-slop party. It's got a nice hint of red wine, and is full of flavor, but not insanely garlicky. Filling without putting you into a couch coma. Also yes, we'll be using inexpensive ingredients. Did I mention it freezes and reheats super good too?
That's why everyone's obsessed. That's why this soup keeps winning, and other easy slow cooker recipes sit on a stool in the corner wearing a soup dunce cap for real.
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🥰 Why you'll adore this Vegan Pasta Fagioli recipe
✊ Vegan AF: Like all my Italian recipes, this one doesnt harm a single lovable animal. Nothing about this bowl feels like a workaround or a consolation prize.
🌍 Tested Worldwide, Zero Guessing: My vegan recipes have survived real kitchens, bad lighting, cheap stoves, and people who do not read instructions carefully.
🍲 One-Pot, Brain-Off Cooking: This recipe understands that washing multiple dishes in the cooking process feels personal and has adjusted accordingly.
⏱️ Weeknight-Friendly AF: You don't need to be efficient or motivated. You just need to be present-ish.
🥶 Freezes Like a Pro: Freeze a batch, reheat it weeks later, and feel weirdly proud of past you. It holds up that well.
🤫 Learn the secrets for perfect vegan Italian meals
This guide to my most popular plant-based Italian recipes is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🍝 Vegan Pasta Fagioli Ingredients
The Beans
Cannellini beans bring protein, fiber, and that creamy texture pasta fagioli is known for. Great Northern canned beans or navy beans are easy swaps and some people prefer those, but uh, not my wife.
Crushed Tomatoes
Canned crushed tomatoes break down into the broth without requiring a blender or any making more of a mess in your kitchen than you want to deal with. If you have diced, or whole peeled fresh tomatoes on hand, you can run them through a blender and use them in place of the crushed tomatoes.
Vegetable stock
Unsalted vegetable stock is the move here, since you'll be seasoning as you go and can dial things in exactly where you want them. If unsalted vegetable broth isn't available, and you don't feel like making it yourself, use low-sodium stock or dilute bouillon with water, then reduce the added salt and taste as you go so the soup doesn't deserve a yohoho-ass sea shanty.
Red Wine
Grab a cheap vegan red wine and don't overthink it. Just verify it's actually vegan on barnivore.com because sadly, animal ingredients are sometimes used in the process of making and refining wines. I don't drink, but I absolutely cook with wine, and the rest of the bottle is begging to be used for mushroom wellington, vegan sausage rolls, or vegan bolognese sauce.
Want to skip the wine? Just use more stock in its place.
Ditalini Pasta
Ditalini is the clear winner for a vegan version of traditional Italian pasta e fagioli recipe because it's the right size and shape. If you can't get it, small shells, elbow macaroni, or cencioni all work, just not super traditional looking.
Vegan Parmesan
I like to garnish this with some freshly grated parm. Totally an optional, but highly recommended thing. My vegan parmesan recipe is what I typically use. Otherwise, Violife makes a nice one, or you can skip it entirely and the soup will still be very edible.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
📖 How to make vegan pasta fagioli
Alrighty chef babe, this is the fun part. You can fast-forward to the recipe card and trust your instincts, or let me talk you through it so the first bowl of this ultimate comfort food is already a win.
Step One
A More Perfect Onion:
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. After about 90 seconds, once the oil is hot, add the veggies: onion, carrot, and celery and cook for 6 to 7 minutes until softened and the chopped onion becomes translucent.
Step Two
Garls Barkley:
Add the garlic, oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook for 60 to 90 seconds, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from browning.
Step Three
Wineona Ryder:
Stir in the crushed tomatoes, vegetable stock, and red wine. Add the bay leaves and salt, then raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a steady boil.
Step Four
Pasta Point of No Return:
Add the ditalini pasta and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring every 2 to 3 minutes to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
✅ You really want the pasta on the slightly less than al dente side. It will continue to absorb stock as the hearty soup cools.
Step Five
Bean Around the World and I I I:
Stir in the cannellini beans, letting them hang out in the hot soup for just a couple of minutes to heat them through.
Step Six
Good Golly, Miss Fagioli:
Remove the bay leaves and taste, adjusting the salt as needed. Ladle into bowls and finish with grated vegan parmesan and minced fresh parsley if using.
✅ The ditalini will continue to absorb liquid, especially if you pack up the soup for later. If it gets too thick on you, add more stock, and a tiny bit more salt to taste.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
💡Serving Ideas
Vegan pasta fagioli is a cozy and traditional Italian dish, but it absolutely does not need to sit alone like a cute little bowl, sulking away on the cosmic wind-swept infinity of a vast table, stretching all through the galaxy with nothing else on it but space cobwebs.
My homemade vegan garlic bread recipe belongs here because soup without bread is against the law in my dad's house.
Serve this pasta dish with vegan baked ziti or go rock it alongside some vegan mushroom risotto or white wine pumpkin risotto.
👉 Top tips
- Control the Pasta Situation: Pasta never knows when to stop. Ever. It will keep drinking broth like a thirsty marathon running freak. Cook it just until under al dente, then pull the pot from the stove, especially if you're freezing this. Otherwise your leftovers turn into a single unified bean pasta slab and nobody asked for that.
- Let the Wine Cook, Don't Rush It: When the wine goes in, let it actually boil for a minute. Not a cute lil simmer. A real boil. This cooks off the raw alcohol edge and leaves behind depth instead of an astringent, boozy note that lingers in a kinda yucky way.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
It should land right in the middle, not watery like some other Italian soups and not stiff like stew. The beans and pasta naturally thicken the broth as it cooks.
Pasta keeps absorbing liquid as it sits, which is totally normal. A splash of hot vegetable stock brings it back to the right consistency.
Yes, extra vegetable stock can be used in place of the wine if you avoid alcohol.
🥶 Refrigerator Storage
Let the soup cool completely, then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
❄️ Freezer Storage
Transfer cooled pasta fagioli to freezer-safe containers, leaving room for expansion, and freeze for up to 3 months.
🧊 Thawing Instructions
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or gently warm on the stovetop over low heat with a splash of vegetable stock.
🔥 Stovetop Reheating
Reheat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, and add vegetable stock as needed to loosen the texture until hot.
⚡️ Microwave Reheating
Place a portion in a microwave-safe bowl, cover loosely, and heat in short intervals, stirring between each round until warmed through. Add stock if needed.
✌️You'll love these vegan Italian recipes too
Learn to make plant-based red sauce masterpieces in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vegan Pasta Fagioli Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ cups onion diced
- 1 cup carrot peeled and diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 28 oz. Canned crushed tomatoes
- 5 cups unsalted vegetable stock
- 1 cup red wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ¼ cup ditalini pasta
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
- 15 oz. canned cannellini beans drained and rinsed
Optional garnishes:
- Vegan parmesan cheese grated
- Parsley leaves minced
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté for 6-7 minutes until the vegetables soften and the onion turns translucent.
- Add the garlic, oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes. Continue to sauté for 60-90 seconds, stirring continuously so the garlic does not brown.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, vegetable stock, and red wine. Add the bay leaves and salt. Increase to high heat and bring to a steady boil.
- Add the ditalini pasta and lower the the pot to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook for 7-8 minutes until the pasta is barely al dente, stirring every 2-3 minutes so the pasta does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Add the cannellini beans, and let them hang out in the pot for just a minute or two until warmed through.
- Remove the bay leaves. Taste and adjust salt as needed. Ladle into bowls and finish with grated vegan parmesan and minced parsley if using.
Notes
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Olwen says
Thanks for your recipe! Like you I don't drink alcohol so rarely if ever have it in the house. I've found though that a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar does the trick and adds depth to my tomato based sauces.