Tag Archive | Pasta

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup

Nov2
Pasta_e_Fagioli

Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli

I love having lunch at Olive Garden with friends to enjoy their delicious soups and salad. Their Pasta e Fagioli soup (similar to minestrone) is one of my favorites so it was a fun challenge to recreate at home. I found some great copycat recipes online which I adapted a bit but the twist on the challenge was to recreate it for the crock pot. The result is truly phenomenal and is an exact flavor copy of Olive Garden’s version! I recently had a large group of friends over and served this recipe and they all agreed it was identical to Olive Garden’s soup. There also weren’t any leftovers…Boo!

Quick note: If you want to make a true copycat you’ll need to use the ditali pasta. However, it can be a little harder to find and is also more expensive so I usually swap it out for fusilli or another small pasta.

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Serves 6-8

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 2 carrots, julienned or shredded
  • 4 stalks of celery, finely diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 (15 oz.) can red kidney beans
  • 1 (15 oz.) can great Northern beans
  • 2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
  • 1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (12 oz.) can V8 juice
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons parsley
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

At the end:

  • 1/2 pound ditali pasta (you can also substitute with fusilli, macaroni, or any small pasta you like)
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions: 

1. In a large skillet, brown the meat. Drain off the fat and transfer the cooked hamburger to the bottom of the crock pot.

photo

2. Pour the remaining items, except for the pasta and Parmesan cheese, over the hamburger.

Ingredients in crockpot

Stir everything together.

Stirred Together

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Cooked Soup

3. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the dry pasta to the crock pot and stir to incorporate. Stir every ten minutes or so to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick and that it can absorb enough liquid.

Soup with pasta

4. Pour soup into bowls and garnish with Parmesan cheese and serve along garlic bread. Enjoy!

plated soup

30-Minute Chicken Alfredo

Jul5

Chicken AlfredoThis Chicken Alfredo takes the traditional recipe but swaps out the heavy cream with cream cheese, which makes it much easier to prepare at home but, in my opinion, also makes for a richer and creamier sauce. With just a few ingredients needed, this is a great recipe to plan for a weekday meal or last-minute craving. Bonus: It takes less than 30 minutes! 

Easy Chicken Alfredo
Makes 4 Servings

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2 cups milk
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese
  • Ground black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 pound of fettuccini, linguine, or spaghetti cooked to al dente (prepare while cooking your sauce)
  • *Fresh basil or parsley (Optional for garnishing)

Directions: 

1. In a pan on medium-high heat, sauté chicken in olive oil until no longer pink. Set aside.
Cooking Chicken

2. Using the same pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add the cream cheese and whisk together. Don’t worry if it looks lumpy or watery.

Cream Cheese & Butter

3. Add the milk and garlic and whisk well, making sure there aren’t any lumps for 2-3 minutes.

Cream Cheese added

4. Whisk in Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Sauce will thicken quickly so once you reach desired thickness (just a few minutes), remove from heat.

Thickened sauce

5. Add chicken and stir to combine. I also add in fresh basil as well for a little color but that’s optional.

Chicken & Sauce

6. Toss chicken Alfredo sauce with cooked al dente pasta, garnish with optional parsley or basil and serve.

Chicken Alfredo

See Also:
Easy Chicken Parmesan
Pizzeria Garlic Knots