Textual Chef Textual Chef

Ribollita Tuscan Bread Soup

A thick, deeply flavorful Tuscan peasant stew of cannellini beans, lacinato kale, and stale bread slowly simmered until hearty and rich. Plan ahead: it's best the next day re-boiled, as the name promises.

85 minMediumServes 6320 cal/serving

ItalianSoupStovetopVeganHigh FiberAlcohol-FreeCorn-Free

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 fresh rosemary sprig (or 1/2 tsp dried)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 can whole peeled tomatoes
  • 2 cans cannellini beans (15 oz cans), drained and rinsed, drained, rinsed
  • 8 cups lacinato (Tuscan) kale or curly kale, stems removed, chopped
  • 2 cups savoy or green cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  • 6 oz stale crusty bread (Tuscan or sourdough), torn, torn into chunks
  • 1.5 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes

Instructions

  1. 1

    Heat 3 tablespoons of 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add 1 diced yellow onion, 2 diced carrots, 2 diced celery stalks, and 1/4 tsp red chili flakes. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes until very soft.

  2. 2

    Add 4 minced garlic cloves, 2 fresh rosemary sprig (or 1/2 tsp dried), and 2 tbsp tomato paste. Cook 2 minutes. Crush 1 can whole peeled tomatoes into the pot with your hands and add all juices. Simmer 5 minutes.

  3. 3

    Stir in 2 cans drained, rinsed cannellini beans (15 oz cans), drained and rinsed. Scoop out about one cup of beans, mash with a fork, then return the mash to the pot to create body.

  4. 4

    Add 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, 8 cups stems removed, chopped lacinato (Tuscan) kale or curly kale, and 2 cups thinly sliced savoy or green cabbage. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 25 minutes until vegetables are completely tender.

  5. 5

    Add 6 oz torn into chunks stale crusty bread (Tuscan or sourdough), torn to the pot, stirring them in. The bread will dissolve and thicken the soup. Simmer 10 more minutes, stirring often.

  6. 6

    Season with 1.5 tsp kosher salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Remove rosemary sprigs. Serve in deep bowls with a generous drizzle of olive oil. The soup is even better reheated the next day.

Questions

Can I make Ribollita Tuscan Bread Soup gluten-free?

Yes. The gluten in this entry is 6 oz stale crusty bread (Tuscan or sourdough), torn, torn into chunks. Swap the bread or crumbs for a gluten-free loaf or gluten-free panko. Everything else proceeds as written.

Can I make Ribollita Tuscan Bread Soup ahead?

Yes, it takes well to being made ahead. Refrigerate it up to four days, or freeze it in portions for up to three months. Reheat gently on the stovetop with a splash of water or stock to loosen it.

Can I halve or double Ribollita Tuscan Bread Soup?

Yes. As written it serves 6. Every ingredient in this entry carries precomputed half and double quantities, and the app's batch dial rewrites them inside each step. When doubling on the stovetop, use your widest pan or work in two batches so the food sears instead of steaming.

Serve it with

Cook this free in the app

Textual Chef is 4,504 plain-text recipes, free to read and free to cook from. No account, no paywall, no ads, no life stories. Open this one in the app and each quantity sits inside the step that uses it, so you read once and cook.

Every recipe is curated or public-domain sourced, written to one template and checked before it publishes. Nothing here is a scraped blog post.

Cook this free in the appNo download needed. It opens in your browser. The kitchen tools (planner, shopping list, pantry, import) are $5.33 a month billed annually; the first 30 days are free.

More Italian entries

All Italian recipes · All Soup recipes · All Cannellini Beans recipes