Classic Ribollita Tuscan White Bean Soup
This Ribollita recipe includes a terrific combination of carrots, tomatoes, tender white beans and kale, plus chunks of day-old bread.
Adding the bread not only thickens the soup, but it is also a way to use up leftovers to avoid waste and stretch the meal to fill more bellies. Plus, it also gives the soup flavor a comforting undertone and makes the texture almost like a deliciously rich porridge.
You can easily tweak Tuscan White Bean Soup to make a vegetarian or vegan version, and it can even be prepared gluten-free. Its ready in about an hour, so this soup is perfect for a relaxing weekend dinner that is sure to please everyone at the table!
Tips For The Perfect Soup
- I typically use mild Italian sausage in this dish since I make it for my kids, but if you prefer a little heat, feel free to use hot sausage.
- Be sure to rinse and drain the beans before you add them to the soup to remove excess sodium.
- This soup stays fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and lasts in the freezer for 2 months. Thaw the frozen soup overnight in the fridge, then reheat it on the stove top over medium heat.
- I like to serve this soup with freshly grated parmesan cheese, as well as some sliced bread such as a baguette.
Mediterranean Tuscan White Bean Soup
Tuscan White Bean Soup with potatoes, carrots and spinach makes a perfect dinner on chilly days. Super tasty and super satisfying! And very easy to make.
Soups have an important place in our family. We love a good comforting soup for lunch or as a starter at dinner. Turkish red lentil soup is a classic for us and we make it quite often. Also, spinach soup, cabbage soup and oyster mushroom soup are our new favorites.
Tuscan Bean Soup is the best comforting meal on a chilly and rainy day. You will get warm even with the smell that fills your home. This is such a satisfying soup loaded with veggies and flavors that you dont need anything else on your dinner table. Maybe just some drops of lime juice to add richness to the soup when serving.
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Speedy Tuscan White Bean Soup
- 10m prep
Recipe may contain soy.
This winter warming soup is high in fibre, low in saturated fat and is ready to eat in around half an hour.
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large leek, trimmed, halved, washed, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 large sebago potato, peeled, chopped
- 2 x 425g cans cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
- 1 litre Massel chicken style liquid stock
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 3 tsp lemon juice
- Step 1 Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add leek and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until leek is soft. Add potato and beans. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add stock. Increase heat to high. Cover and bring to the boil. Boil for 7 to 10 minutes or until potato is tender. Remove from heat. Stand for 10 minutes.
What Are White White Beans
White beans are known as cannellini beans, the largest of the white beans and are kidney shaped. They are meaty compared to the other white beans and have a nutty, earthy flavor to them. While you can use any of the other white beans, cannellini beans hold their shape the best, making them perfect to use in salads, soups, stews, and chili where you want them to retain their shape. Other white beans include navy beans, great northern beans, and baby lima beans.
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Easy Tuscan Bean Soup
This easy to make Tuscan bean soup is the perfect meal for fall and winter weather or busy weeknights any time of the year!
Sooo Im cheating a little bit on this Tuscan Soup recipe, guys.
In this weeks edition of 30 Minute Mondays Im sharing my recipe for Easy Tuscan Bean Soup with you.
It is savory, hearty, filling, yet oddly devoid of guilt-inducing ingredients.
BUT heres the thing: it can be made in about a half an hour if you have the right tools in your kitchen.
As someone who spends a good 50 hours a week in the kitchen , Ive invested in a few choice products which help me get dinner on the table in no-time flat.
One of my all-time favorite devices to help me with this process is my amazing KitchenAid attachment.
The thing with most food processors is that they just chop or pulse and both of those options typically turn everything into mush.
This processor is amazing because it ACTUALLY dices food into perfect little cubes. See those carrots in the picture above? Yep. From the food processor.
When I make this recipe for Tuscan bean soup, I chuck zucchini, carrots, onion, celery, and garlic into the food processor and it does my prep work for me in seconds.
Cutting up all those vegetables by hand will take you a bit longer, so be prepared for additional prep time!
I put together this Tuscan white bean soup recipe on an afternoon when I was running around like a crazy person trying to fit 25 hours worth of stuff into a 24 hour day.
Why I Love This Recipe
This soup is made with a whole bunch of healthy ingredients, so its an easy way to add lots of vegetables to your dinner routine. It also reheats really well, so its perfect for a meal prep recipe. This recipe is also a really budget-friendly meal, so if youre trying to keep your grocery costs down, give this one a try! I also love the way the egg and bean liquid create a lusciously creamy texture without any actual cream!
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Extra Helpful Recipe Tips
- Greens you can use: I love using either kale or spinach as the greens in this recipe. Both are different in texture but work equally as great!
- Fresh vs dried herbs: if you have fresh herbs on hand instead of dried, use them! Fresh herbs bring a whole other level of vibrant flavor to soups. Dried herbs work just as well, and keep a lot longer than fresh herbs.
- Diced tomatoes vs crushed: For a soup such as this one, I like using diced tomatoes for a thinner texture and fresh taste. Using crushed tomatoes can be a bit overwhelming if the soup is not meant to be on the thicker side. I love using fire roasted canned tomatoes for an extra level of flavor!
- Add a parmesan rind for flavor: you know the rind that is on a block of parmesan cheese? You can cut that off and drop it in your Italian soups and stews. It will not melt, but get soft and release a ton of umami flavor into your soup. Let is simmer with your soup and remove it at the end!
How To Make This Tuscan White Bean Soup Step By Step
- Saute chopped onions, celery, and carrots with olive oil for 4-5 minutes until vegetables are soft.
- Add minced garlic and chopped zucchini sauté for 3 minutes. Then add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, vegetable broth, cannellini beans, and all of herbs + salt & pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Stir in kale at the end. Taste, adjust flavor, and serve!
Read Also: Substitute For Golden Mushroom Soup
Watch How To Make Ribollita
This recipe can be made vegan or vegetarian the pancetta is optional and can be omitted altogether if vegan or vegetarian. For extra depth of flavor, try adding a bit of Parmesan rind to the simmering soup. You could also try using turkey bacon here instead of traditional pancetta.
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 crusty bread to mop up all the tasty flavors. Its hearty enough for dinner, just on its own, and gets better and better each dayso I like making a big pot of this and eating it throughout the week.
Several years ago now, my group of girlfriends and I took a trip to Tuscany together. After years of planning, saving and dreaming, the time came when we were finally there, in a little hilltop village, soaking up all the Tuscan wine and food we could handle. Time seemed to slow way down, and I remember being able to see, deeply see and take in so much beauty and detail. All felt right in the world no, not perfect, but just as it should be. By the end of the trip, we each had a name for the bellies we had grown.
There is something truly special about making the decision to go somewhere, and then to actually go. Life is so short. I feel it getting shorter every single day, and I guess I just want to impress upon you to do the things youve always dreamed of doing, and to begin to do them now.
Ingredients For White Bean Soup
- Vegetables: onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and fresh spinach. Feel free to swap spinach with kale if you like.
- Seasoning: salt, black pepper, oregano, cilantro. Keep it simple.
- Tomato paste to add a little color and flavor to the soup.
- Vegetable stock make sure to use a low sodium stock. You can use chicken stock for non-vegetarian version.
- Olive oil-extra virgin is best for this recipe.
- White Cannellini beans use canned beans to save time. Be sure to drain and rinse them first.
- Lemon to add a little zest.
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How To Eat More Greens: Tuscan Soup
This Tuscan soup is super nutritious, especially since its loaded with dark leafy greens. This is one of our favorite ways to eat greens, and we recommend this soup often. Because the cooked greens easily take on the flavor of the soup, you feel like youre eating pizza when youre really eating kale or chard! Its a magic tip, in our house.
When making this soup, feel free to use whatever leafy greens you have on hand. Heartier greens like kale, collards, or Swiss chard work wonderfully here. But adding a few handfuls of baby spinach leaves during the last few minutes of cooking will also work. Serve this Tuscan bean soup with homemade focaccia bread, multigrain bread or sourdough bread if you have extra time on your hands, or pair it with a simple side salad.
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Tips For Making This Tuscan Bean Soup Recipe Perfectly
- Preheat the pot on the stove before adding the oil. This will give a chance for the pot to become nice and warm and the oil will spread out evenly and will prevent any sticking.
- Use shallots if you can rather than onion. Shallots are sweeter in flavour and have a softer buttery texture compared to cooking onions. This will give the soup some incredible flavour.
- Dont skip browning the veggies in the pot! Again, this helps to build flavour in the soup. This is especially important in vegetarian cooking since there is no meat fat in the recipe which generally adds flavour to soups and broth.
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How To Make This Soup
Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic to a food processor and pulse until chunky.
Add the vegetable mixture to a large dutch oven and drizzle with olive oil. Heat over medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes until softened. Add the tomatoes and red pepper flakes and continue to cook over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, until the mixture is thickened.
Drain the cannellini beans, reserving the liquid in a small bowl. Add the beans and vegetable broth to the pot and continue to cook for 8-10 minutes. Whisk the egg yolk into the bean liquid until smooth.
Add the egg mixture to the soup and stir until combined. Remove from heat and add the escarole.
What To Serve With Tuscan White Bean Soup
Tuscan soup is traditionally served with toasted, crusty Tuscan bread nonetheless, you can serve this soup with any type of artisan bread or dinner roll you love!
Are you looking to turn this soup into a more well-rounded meal? Below are a few delicious serving options for bean soup!
Sides to serve with Tuscan soup:
- Bread: This soup tastes absolutely amazing served in a bread bowl! Or, you can just serve it with plenty of bread for sopping up the flavorful broth!
- Salad: A hearty kale or spinach salad are delicious pairing options!
- Peppers: Any type of stuffed pepper will pair fantastically with this soup!
- Tomatoes: Burst, roasted tomatoes are a delicious and simple side option!
- Roasted Vegetables: Your favorite seasonal vegetable is a great way to balance out the meal!
- Sandwiches: A crispy, warm panini is an obvious choice for serving with soup!
- Sausages: Grilled or sautéed Italian sausages are a wonderful way to add more protein!
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What Kind Of Beans Are Best For This Soup
Great Northern beans are best for this soup because they absorb the flavor of all the other ingredients. If youre in a pinch and need a different kind of bean, other white beans like cannellini beans or navy beans will work too.
Also, to make things easier, I use canned beans for this recipe. Just drain and rinse the beans and add them to your soup. Its that easy!
How Do You Make Tuscan White Bean Soup
For this recipe, youll need celery, onion, garlic, cannellini beans, Ditalini pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese and chicken broth. Ditalini is a small tubular shaped pasta and is the perfect size for this soup.
Start by sautéing the celery, onion, and garlic in a little olive oil in a medium-sized pot. Once the vegetables start to soften, add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium then add your beans, cheese, and pasta. Allow the soup to simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
This recipe can be ready in about 30 minutes and makes approximately 8 cups of soup. Its really filling, but we like to eat ours with a loaf of warm, crusty Italian bread so we can dunk it into the brothYUM! ~Enjoy!
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More Cannellini Bean Recipes
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Ingredients You Need To Make Tuscan White Bean Soup
- Cannellini Beans: Or Great Northern beans, canned or home cooked.
- Butter: Salted or Unsalted.
- Olive Oil: Good quality extra-virgin olive oil.
- Shallots: Look for firm, plump shallots.
- Chicken Broth: Homemade Chicken Broth or store bought.
- Garlic: You’ll need 6 large cloves. It sounds like a lot, but I promise it’s just right.
- Heavy Cream: Just enough to make this soup taste luxurious. Half and half is also an option.
- Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper: To taste.
- Chives: For garnish. A few small, fresh sage leaves are also a nice touch if you have them.
Why You’ll Love This Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup
This warming bowl of white bean soup is a fabulous one-pot recipe. Tuscan bean soup is traditionally made with white beans, seasonal vegetables, aromatic herbs, and a substantial green – making for a cozy and flavorful soup.
This savory vegetarian recipe is ready in about 30 minutes. It saves well in the refrigerator and also freezes well, making it a great meal prep recipe.
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Things To Add To White Bean Soup
This Creamy Tuscan Bean Soup recipe is delicious as written, but if you want to change it up a little, try these adaptions:
- Cook bacon or pancetta in olive oil before you start, then use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and use the oil for cooking the onion and garlic. Add the crispy bacon to the soup as you serve.
- Add some chopped mushrooms to the onion mixture at the beginning of the recipe.
- Use kale or arugula instead of spinach.
- Instead of the parmesan, serve the soup garnished with mini mozzarella balls.
- Instead of rosemary, add fresh basil to the soup when it has finished cooking
- Add red pepper flakes to the finished soup.
- Add the zest of a lemon to the soup and serve with lemon wedges.
- Add leftover chicken or rotisserie chicken to the soup and allow it to heat through.
Enjoy x
How To Make This Recipe
Saute the finely chopped onion in a large pot or dutch oven with the oil.
Once it starts to brown slightly, add in the garlic, celery and carrot. Saute an additional 5 or so minutes to let the veggies soften.
Add in the white wine and saute until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Add in all remaining ingredients , and stir well.
Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
Discard the bay leaves, then transfer about 2 1/2 3 cups worth of soup to a blender. Blend until smooth.
Transfer back to the pot and stir well to combine. Add in the kale and let it wilt for a few minutes. Taste and adjust flavors as desired. I usually add a bit more salt and pepper and a fresh squeeze of lemon juice.
Serve warm as is or with a hearty bread on the side. Enjoy!
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