Ribollita - Vegetarian Tuscan Soup

Ribollita is a delicious Tuscan soup made with bread and vegetables. It’s easy to make, hearty and perfect for autumn days 🍂

It’s one of those typical Italian dishes you never really have as a tourist when you travel to Italy but you would definitely have if your grandma or mom was Italian.

There are many different ways to make ribollita, some people like to make it with potatoes and cabbage and others even add lard. This is my personal ribollita favourite and the one that I think is easiest to make - also, I’m addicted to kale hence why it was a must for my ribollita. My version is vegetarian but you can easily make it vegan by removing the parmesan rind and parmesan.

Since ribollita is made with bread you will notice that it will quickly absorb all the liquid - you can definitely store it for 1/2 days in the fridge and heat it up again but it will not have the soup like consistency that it has when it’s freshly made.

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cooking Time: 40 Minutes

Ingredients for 4 to 6 people:

• Onion - 1 medium

• Carrots - 3 medium

• Celery Stalks - 2

• Garlic Cloves - 0 to 4 (depending on how much you like garlic) - I would at least put one

• Kale - 2 bunches

• Parmesan - small wedge with rind (yes we will need the wedge)

• Whole peeled canned tomatoes -28 oz (700g)

• Bread - Half a loaf (I use brown bread but you can use any type of loaf - no toast - the crust needs to be firm)

• Cannelli Beans (Canned)- 14oz (400g)

• Olive Oil

• Salt

• Red Pepper Flakes

Preparation:

1) Preheat the oven to 450F (225C)
2) Chop onions, carrots, celery and garlic in small cubes and put them in a bowl
3) Wash the kale and divide it with your hands - set aside
4) Cut the rind off your parmesan - set aside
5) Put the canned tomatoes in a sieve with a bowl underneath and press them with your hands in order for the liquid to go into the bowl
6) Break the bread with your hands into small pieces - set aside
7) In a large pan or dutch oven heat the olive oil and add the carrots, celery, garlic and onion with some salt - cook at medium heat for 10 min
8) Add just the tomatoes (without the liquid) cook for another 10 min
9) Drain and rinse the cannelli beans and add them along with the tomato liquid, the parmesan rind, some red pepper flakes and 4 cups of water (946ml) - increase the heat and let simmer
10) Add the kale and cook for 5 min
11) Now add 1/3 of the bread and cook for another 5 min
12) Remove from the heat and add the remaining bread on top, add some olive oil and bake for 15 minutes
13) Remove from the oven, serve in soup plates adding a drizzle of olive oil and some grated parmesan on top