Difficulty Level: moderate
If you’re looking for a vegetarian-friendly dish that’s incredibly flavorful, this ribollita soup is perfect. It has an Italian-style feel, with white beans, leafy greens, and crusty bread.
The name ribollita means reboiled. It’s called this because it was traditionally made by reheating leftover soup with stale bread to make it thicker and more filling. This recipe skips the reheated leftovers and stale bread, but it still uses the same idea of adding bread to thicken the soup and make it more substantial.
The dish is listed as moderate difficulty, but that’s only because of the veggie prep and extra steps, like baking the bread first and removing the Parmesan rind before serving. Outside of those steps, it’s pretty much a one-pot recipe, so don’t let the moderate difficulty put you off. Check out the ingredients and cooking steps below for more information.
Italian Ribollita Soup Recipe Ingredients
- 8 ounces of crusty sourdough or ciabatta bread, torn into large chunks
- 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1 medium Yukon Gold potato, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 can of diced tomatoes, 14.5 ounces
- 4 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 cans of cannellini beans, 15 ounces each, drained and rinsed
- 1 small Parmesan rind, optional
- 1 bunch of lacinato kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
- 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Italian Ribollita Soup Recipe Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Place the torn bread on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and bake for 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Once done, set aside.
- Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, celery, and potato. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften.
- Add the garlic, rosemary, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Cook for 1 minute, just until fragrant.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, cannellini beans, and Parmesan rind if using.
- Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
- Stir in the chopped kale. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the kale softens.
- Add about half of the toasted bread to the pot and stir gently. Let it sit for 5 minutes so the bread thickens the soup.
- Remove the Parmesan rind before serving.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with the remaining toasted bread. Add grated Parmesan and a small drizzle of olive oil if desired.