In a large pot on the stove, heat olive oil for 3 minutes over medium high heat. Add the ground beef to the hot oil and cook the ground beef for 10 minutes until browned.
Once the beef has browned, add onion and garlic to the pot. Sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes until onions and garlic are translucent.
Add tomatoes, spices, broth and water to the pot. Stir together, cover the pot and turn the heat up to bring to a boil. Stir every few minutes to prevent it from sticking.
Once boiling, add raw pasta. Stir together and reduce heat to medium. Cook the soup uncovered for half the amount of time the pasta box recommends, stirring occasionally.
Important: you should slightly undercook the pasta. Once you remove the pot from the heat the pasta will continue to cook and absorb the broth.
After the pasta has cooked for half the recommended cook time. Remove the soup from the heat. Let the soup sit uncovered for 5 minutes, the pasta will continue to cook.
Once pasta has cooked, discard bay leaf. Add soup to bowls and top with parmesan cheese + ricotta. Enjoy!
Instant Pot Instructions
Important Note: This recipe is best when made on the stovetop. Cooking your pasta in the instant pot is finicky and can give you mushy pasta! We don’t recommend making this in the instant pot and it saves you no time vs stovetop method.
Set your Instant Pot to Sauté for 13 minutes. Add olive oil to the pot and heat. Add ground beef and cook ground beef for 10 minutes until browned. Add onion and garlic. Sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes until onions/garlic are translucent.
Important: Make sure to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the instant pot to avoid a burn notice.
Add tomatoes, spices, broth and water to the pot. Stir well.
Add pasta and press down into the water/broth but don’t push to the bottom of the pot (we don’t want the pasta to stick to the bottom!)
Cover the instant pot and set to Sealing, High Pressure. Cook on high pressure for 2 minutes. It will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure. Once the pot has finished cooking, do a quick release.
Once cooked, discard bay leaf. Top with parmesan cheese + ricotta. Enjoy!
Optional: You can cook your pasta on the side in a pot to avoid it being over cooked.
Crockpot Instructions
Important Note: This recipe is best when made on the stovetop. The pasta can easily get overcooked in the crockpot.
In a large pot on the stove, heat olive oil. Add ground beef to the oil and cook ground beef for 10 minutes until browned. Add onion and garlic. Sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes until onions/garlic are translucent. Add to the crockpot base.
Add tomatoes, spices, stock and water to the crockpot base. Do not add pasta! Stir until combined. Set to high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours (low is recommended).
The last hour of cooking, add your raw pasta to the crockpot. Stir to combine. Turn the crockpot to high. Cover and cook for the remaining hour. You can also cook your pasta in a separate pot and stir it in the soup to save time.
Important Note: you should undercook the pasta. Once you remove the pot from the heat the pasta will continue to cook and absorb the broth. Feel free to add more broth to your liking.
Once cooked, discard bay leaf. Top with parmesan cheese + ricotta. Enjoy!