Pasta E Fagioli Vs Minestrone Soup: The Difference Explained

When the cold weather descends, it's time to break out your most comforting soup recipes. Chicken noodle and tomato are among the favorites in the U.S., but for something different, why not try a hearty Italian pasta soup. Minestrone and pasta e fagioli are two dishes that have made their way into the American repertoire, introduced by Italian immigrants in the early 1900s.

The two might seem similar on paper, but they have key differences in the ingredients and the texture, which should allow you to instantly recognize which is which. Hearty minestrone soup includes pasta and a wide variety of vegetables in a tomato broth. Classic pasta e fagioli, on the other hand, is essentially just pasta and beans with a thicker texture that's closer to stew than soup. Both are warming and hearty, but exploring the difference will help you decide which is the perfect pick for your table or, more likely, which one you want to try first.

Pasta e fagioli translates to pasta and beans, and that's exactly what you should expect. The dish consists mainly of small pasta such as ditalini and borlotti or cannelloni beans, and starting with canned bean soup is an effective shortcut. Onion and garlic, are added for flavor. Other vegetables, like carrot or celery, are optional, but if used, they're chopped finely as to dissolve into the soup. A small amount of tomato paste can be added to kick off the broth, which is finished with sage or rosemary.

The soup is an example of Italy's cucina povera, or cooking of the poor — dishes that were created out of need using the cheapest ingredients to create filling food. As with most of this cuisine, the origins are hard to trace, but we know that the ancient Romans prepared a version of the soup made with black eyed beans; these were swapped for beans from the new world in the 1500s. As the dish made its way to the U.S., it took on the name pasta fazool, a derivation of the Neapolitan dialect for the dish, pasta e fasule.

While every home cook has their own way of preparing the dish, there are some recognizable regional variations. In Tuscany, some of the beans are pureed to create a thicker soup, while in Piedmont, it's made with fresh pasta. And while the basic version of pasta e fagioli is vegetarian, pancetta is added for flavoring in Bologna, while the Venetians start the broth with pork bone.

We can trace minestrone's origins back to the second century B.C., but it wouldn't have borne much resemblance to the soup you know today. The Romans ate something called puls, which would have included grains like farro, as well as vegetables and greens. The name came much later, but it's also of Latin origin, from the verb minestrare, meaning to distribute or serve food.

Minestrone is another example of cucina povera, designed to use up the leftovers of other meals or excess produce. For this reason, there's no single recipe, and it can be adapted to what you have on hand. However, most recipes will call for onions, carrots and celery cooked in a canned tomato-based broth with small pasta like shells or elbow macaroni. Beans are common but not essential.

To keep it traditional, the vegetables should be seasonal, meaning a summer version might include zucchini, green beans, and fresh tomato, while in winter you would see more potato, greens, and cabbage. As with pasta e fagioli, minestrone does have some recognizable regional variations. The most well-known include minestrone alla Genovese, which uniquely includes a topping of basil pesto, and the Milanese version, which swaps pasta for rice.