WW Recipe of the Day: Slow Cooker Low Fat Pasta Fagioli
This Olive Garden Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli Recipe is just slightly adapted from Stephanie's A Year of Slow Cooking version. (She adapted it from a recipe for Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli on GeniusKitchen.com).
It got lots of rave reviews on her website and facebook page, where she posted it recently. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to give it a try.
How Many Calories/WW Points in this OG Pasta Fagioli Recipe?
This Olive Garden Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli recipe makes 10 (1-¼ cup) servings. According to my calculations, each serving has 238 calories and:
5 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
4 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
4 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
5 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
Olive Garden's Copycat Pasta Fagioli Recipe Notes
I had Olive Garden's Pasta Fagioli for the first time a few weeks ago and liked it a lot. So, I was curious to see how this Slow Cooker Low Fat Pasta Fagioli Recipe would compare.
I made a few changes. Because it seemed plenty tomatoey, I eliminated 1 can of diced tomatoes. And I cut back on the hot pepper sauce. In Stephanie's write up, she said the the taste of the Tabasco came through, which didn't seem like a good thing to me.
I went back to the original recipe on Food.com and discovered that it calls for 1-½ teaspoons of Tabasco for twice as much soup as Stephanie's recipe. She says to use 1 tablespoon. I cut it back to just ¾ teaspoon.
I also cooked the pasta separately and added it at serving time. I sometimes hate the way dry pasta swells and absorbs so much liquid when you add it, uncooked, directly into soups.
I know this takes a little extra work, but to me it's worth it, at least when I have the time and energy. If this seems not worth the effort, during the last half hour of cooking add 1 cup dry pasta right into your slow cooker and cook until tender, 15 to 30 minutes more.
I used my Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System (affiliate link), to make this Olive Garden Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli so I could brown the meat and slow cook the soup without dirtying a separate skillet. I love this feature of the Ninja.
We all loved this hearty and delicious soup. It's definitely one I will be making again. Enjoy!
Are You Ready To Slow Cook Yourself Slim?
If you've made this low fat Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Olive Garden Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef, browned and drained
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 can (14 to 15 ounces) diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 can (14 to 15 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (14 to 15 ounces) white beans, rinsed and drained
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 ar (24 to 26 ounces) tomato-basil marinara or pasta sauce
- 1-½ teaspoons oregano
- ¾ teaspoon hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1-¼ cups dry pasta (I used fusilli, but shells or ditalini would work well, cooked separately according to the package directions.)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (optional, for serving)
- Grated Parmesan (optional, for serving)
Instructions
- Ideal slow cooker size: 6- to 7-Quart.
- Stir together the cooked and drained ground beef, onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, beans, broth, pasta sauce, oregano, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper in your slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 7 hours, or until the vegetables are as tender as you like them.
- When ready to serve, stir the cooked pasta into the soup. Taste the soup and adjust the salt and herbs to suit your tastes.
- Serve with grated parmesan and a sprinkling of fresh parsley, if desired.
Recipe Notes
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
If you like this Olive Garden Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli recipe, you might also like:
- Weight Watchers Slow Cooker Chicken Pasta Fagioli
- Weight Watchers Italian Beef and Lentil Slow Cooker Stew
- Weight Watchers Simply Filling Slow Cooker Bean and Cabbage Soup
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Reen
Made this a few weeks ago on a morning when we were going to be at a community event all day. When we came home, all ready for dinner. I too cooked the pasta separate and added it at the end. I also added some fresh garlic. Only thing I would change next time for my taste is a little less beef and more beans. In fact, I am going to be making this vegetarian for a friend using a 12-ounce bag of veggie crumble and an extra can of beans.
LOVE reading you!
Martha McKinnon
Thanks, Reen. I love your ideas of playing with the ratios or beef and beans and/or making it vegetarian. It really is a delicious versatile recipe.
sara
what kind of pasta sauce, a marinara?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Sara, yes, a marinara or tomato based sauce.
Susan D
Soooooo wonderful! My soup hating husband and son both had seconds! I added 5 cloves of minced garlic and some crushed red peppers in this. I also added my pasta in individual bowls. Will DEFINITELY make again. Great recipe!
Martha McKinnon
Susan D, I'm glad you and your husband and son liked it! Love the idea of crushed red peppers and minced garlic.
Martha
I am making this for Sunday night supper. Sounds fantastic!
Sarah Benedict
This soup is wonderful! My husband asked for it 2 weeks in a row!
Shari Breckenridge
I made this for my family and everyone loved it! So good!
Tracy Miller
I made this for dinner last night, it was delicious. I did not add the kidney beans ( I don't like them ) I also added two beef bullion cubes, for more flavor. I also did not add the pasta to the soup as I knew I was going to have leftovers and did not want the pasta to get too soft. I am a weight watchers lifetime member and love that you do the points plus values for each recipe, what a time saver for me. My weight watcher recipe box is growing every day. Thank you so much for all of the great recipes!
Martha McKinnon
Hi Tracy,
Glad you liked the recipe. How smart of you not to add the pasta to the soup since you were going to have leftovers!! So happy to hear that my recipes with Points are helping save you time 🙂
Jonessa
Just confirming that the pasta is included in the points. Love your recipes. These are great for myself being on weight watchers and they are also easily adaptable to be very low sodium for my hubs with a heart condition.
Martha McKinnon
Hi Jonessa,
Yes, the pasta is included in the points! Glad you are enjoying the recipes 🙂
Angela G
Hi
I live in the UK and l am loving using my vintage preside slow cooker to cook ww smart point recipe .I like the look of this recipe but I never use jar sauces and make my own Martin ere (pasta sauce from scratch .Do I just add this to the recipe ,
Martha McKinnon
Hi Angela, Yes, just add the same amount of your own from scratch sauce to the recipe! I'm sure it will be even more delicious.
Lisa Gruich
I see it makes 10 servings, but can you tell me how much one serving is?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Lisa,
Each serving is 1-1/4 cups. (Its written down in the notes with the nutritional information.) Hope this helps. - Martha
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Cattz
Thank you for this recipe! I am new to Weight Watchers Freestyle but Olive Garden's Pasta Fagioli is an old favorite of mine. I put this soup in the crockpot with 1 lb of my "Lighten-Up Sweet Italian Sausage" which is made with 1/3 lean ground pork and 2/3 lean ground turkey. I expect that to reduce the points slightly but I'm not making any point adjustments to my daily totals. It's always good to have a little wiggle room!!
Brenda Robertson
I love this healthy version of Olive Gardens pasta stew.
Jennifer
I make this all the time. We love it!
Barbara
Made this today for dinner. It was absolutely delicious ! I will tweek it a lil by adding garlic and possibly more diced tomatoes. Also going to try making with ground turkey. But I absolutely love it. I can't get enough ! Thanks for sharing.
Brenda Eckenfels
I will cut back on the oregano the next time I make this, and will try the pasta sauce instead of the canned tomato sauce, for more flavor. Also might add fresh garlic as well.
This was pretty good and I will make it again.
Linda
I made this using ground turkey. Did the “create a recipe” in the WW app and it came down to 2 points per serving. My family loved it, as did I. I will definitely be making this again!
Martha McKinnon
Thanks for letting us know Linda!
Lori Pigg Andres
The best ever!!
Shelly
Can you add uncooked pasta to the dish halfway through cooking, or would it get too mushy?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Shelly, I haven't tried it but think it would get too mushy. ~Martha
Joyce Kai
We loved this soup. Sooo much flavor. I did not add the pasta to the soup as I was afraid it would absorb the broth and get mushy. I cooked a small amount of pasta then added some to bowl and served the soup over the pasta or ate it without pasta. Very very tasty.