A healthy, delicious recipe for Tuscan White Bean Soup also known as Ribollita – made with Cannellini beans, lacinato kale, and vegetables, drizzled with a Lemon Rosemary Garlic Oil. Hearty, nourishing, and easily vegan-Adaptable. (With a Video.)
This hearty flavorful Tuscan White Bean Soup, called Ribollita, originates from hilltop villages throughout Tuscany where, during the Middle Ages, hungry, hard-working peasants who served table-side to their wealthy landowners, would pocket the leftover crusts and crumbs and bits of meat after abundant feasts and add these to their soups and stews at home.
Ribollitta translates to “re-boiled”.
Nothing was wasted. Traditionally, it’s a big pot of soup made with simple garden vegetables like onions, carrots, celery, kale, tomatoes and cannellini beans (or white beans) in a flavorful broth, thickened with bread, then reheated and eaten several days in row, getting better and better each day.
WHITE BEAN SOUP (RIBOLITTA) | 50-SEC VIDEO
WHY I LOVE THIS RECIPE
This recipe is just so wholesome and cozy and full of so much flavor. A meal unto itself! It’s a perfect winter soup that can be made vegan or vegetarian – the pancetta is totally optional and can be omitted altogether if vegan or vegetarian.
HOW TO ELEVATE WHITE BEAN SOUP
For extra depth of flavor, add a bit of whole, Parmesan rind to the simmering soup, which will give it amazing flavor.
To me, what really elevates this recipe is the “finishing oil” – a drizzle of olive oil infused with lemon zest, garlic and rosemary which gives this sometimes somber soup a delicious brightness.
Serve it with or over Crispy Sourdough Toast– like you see here in our Brothy Beans Recipe!
HOW TO SERVE RIBOLLITA
Serve Ribollita with crusty bread to mop up all the tasty flavors, and a drizzle of Lemony Rosemary oil.
It’s hearty enough for dinner, just on its own, and gets better and better each day…so I like making a big pot of this and eating it throughout the week.
EXPERT TIPS
To thicken the soup, you can blend a cup of the beans into a puree, or add torn pieces of day-old bread into the soup itself, cooking the bread down. It will add a delicious heartiness.
However personally, I’m a broth fan, so I leave this brothy and un-thickened so there are more juices to dip the crusty bread in while eating. Of course, this is a personal preference, so do as you like.
MORE WHITE BEAN SOUP RECIPES
Brothy Beans on Garlic Toast
Creamy White Bean Soup with Gremolata
Tuscan Cannellini Bean Soup
Smoky Tomato White Bean Soup
Instant Pot Chicken and White Bean Soup
Pumpkin Soup with Leeks and White beans
Brothy Tortellini Soup w/ Spinach, White Beans & Basil
Instant Pot Minestrone Soup (Vegan!)
Have a delicious weekend! Let us know how you like Ribollita in the comments below!
