This rustic Italian pasta-and-bean soup is oh-so-satisfying on a cold day (but just as enjoyable on a warm one).

Pasta e fagioli is an Italian pasta and bean stew with a tomato-based broth, small pasta, and white beans such as cannellini. It’s one of our favorite quick and easy dinner recipes, made with mostly pantry ingredients you already have on hand.

When the stars make you drool, just like pasta fazool, that’s amore.

And in truth, this soup is most definitely a thing of true love.

Pasta e fagioli, or pasta and beans, is an Italian peasant soup made with (you guessed it) pasta and white beans. In the United States it is often called pasta fazool, like the song, fazool derived from the Neapolitan word for beans, fasule.

Whatever you call it, there’s no denying it is incredibly hearty and delicious.

The variations of such a dish are myriad, some more soupy, some more saucy, some with nary a tomato in sight.

I imagine Italian grannies everywhere each have their own signature version, with the only common thread between them being the presence of pasta and beans in some form or another.

Our version is most definitely a tomato-centric soup, hearty and flavorful with the addition of Italian sausage and fresh fennel. We also like to mash some of the beans, which add a lovely thickness and silky texture to the broth.

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