Authentic Ribollita Recipe
Ribollita is a rustic vegetarian soup of bread, black kale, savoy cabbage, and beans. Authentic Ribollita recipe video + discovering Ribollita in Tuscany.
Imagine exploring the rolling, vineyard-lined hills of Tuscany on a lazy winter afternoon. The sun is out, the air is crisp. At the end of the day, a colorful canvas rises as the last bit of warmth sets with the sun. What you need now, is a glass of Chianti, a crackling fire, and a proper bowl of Ribollita. A dish that has been warming Tuscan farm family tables for generations.
Related Article:
- Renting a Villa in Tuscan Costs Less Than You Think
- 25 Dos & Don’ts of Eating in Italy
- Pizza in Italy, Why It’s the Best in the World
What is Ribollita?
Ribollita means “reboiled” in Italian. While that might not sound enticing, home cooks will quickly understand. Ribollita is a dish that seems to get better, warmed the second day. Ribollita is hearty thanks to vegetables like kale, cabbage, potatoes, onions, and carrots. Cannellini beans are cooked down adding a buttery texture. In the last half hour of cooking, stale unsalted, Tuscan bread cut into cubes is added. Slowly breaking down into a porridge-like texture.
Oh my goodness is it good! A drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil sends first-time eaters into a state of instant comfort. In my case, it also sent me on a Ribollita recipe exploration. In Italy, there is no one you can trust more to perfect an Authentic Ribollita soup than a Nonna like the one featured in this recipe video below.
How to Make Ribollita Recipe Video
When visiting Italy, soup is not the first thing I want to order. Soup? I can do that at home. Had I not been in Tuscany for the first time with my Italian Husband, I might have missed out. I might never have known how good Ribollita a Tuscan bread and vegetable soup can be. Ribollita was the one dish I ordered again and again. Three times in one week to be exact. Why? One, we spent our winter holiday in Tuscany and it was cold. Really cold. Each day of exploration left my nose bright red and my fingers were frozen. The warm soup was just, right. Two, a proper bowl of Ribollita is food that hugs you back.
Chef Gabriele Corcos‘ recipe online is slightly different from the one I fell in love with. My trusty old Epicurious Italy magazine held a variation of this recipe that’s as authentic as each of the bowls I tucked into that cold winter in Tuscany.
Variations below are my own and based on preference. Thankfully, recipes like this one, are pretty forgiving and easy to tweak based on what’s at hand.
Authentic Ribollita Recipe
Ribollita is a rustic vegetarian soup of bread, black kale, savoy cabbage, and beans. Authentic Ribollita recipe video + discovering Ribollita in Tuscany.
- 3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 Celery stalk, roughly chopped
- 1 Small purple onion, roughly chopped
- 3 Golden potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1/2 Half a head of Savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
- 1 15 oz Can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
- 1/2 lbs Stale unsalted Tuscan style bread, cut into half-inch cubes
- 1 Bunch Tuscan kale, stems removed, roughly chopped
- 1 8oz Dried Cannellini beans, soaked overnight in cold water to cover
- Salt and pepper to taste, additional extra-virgin olive oil for serving
Rinse and drain the soaked beans. In an 8-quart pot, cover beans with a few inches of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high, cook for 1-hour salting water 40 minutes in. Beans are done when fork tender, drain and set aside.
Return 8-quart pot to stove, add olive oil warming to medium-high. Add carrots, onion, celery until soft (8-10 minutes).
Add potatoes, kale, cabbage and sauté until cabbage wilts (6 minutes).
Drain and carefully, squish tomatoes through hands dropping into soup.
Add enough water to the pot to cover and bring back to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low, season with salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer for 1 and a half hours.
Add bread, cooking for another 30 minutes, until crust begins to fall apart.
Serve in bowls drizzled with a good helping of extra-virgin olive oil.
- If you can not find Tuscan bread, think of the crusty country style and if salted, hold off adding salt till after the bread is cooked down.
- Grated cheese is tempting but skip it or overwhelm the flavor of the vegetables.
- The texture of the soup is enhanced by starting with dry beans. In a pinch, canned beans can be substituted but keep an eye on them or they will break apart completely.
- Navy, Great Northern, and even Chickpeas can be substituted for Cannellini as well if cooked longer to achieve the buttery texture.
- When it comes to extra-virgin olive oil, this is the excuse you need to buy the good stuff! The bold flavors of a great extra-virgin olive oil here are the perfect complement to the vegetables in the soup.
- Do not reheat in the microwave. Add a little water, use low heat on the stovetop and stir often or the bread will scorch.
When in Tuscany if you catch the word Ribollita slip between a waiter’s lips and his fingertips, there is nothing else you have to understand. Order it.
When it comes to exploring the best regional cuisine in Italy, always trust an Italian.
Thank you to my guide and travel partner for encouraging me to order regionally in Italy and for building a fire that night in Tuscany.
Yum I loved this soup when we visited Tuscany! Now I am hungry!
Food memories – oh the power they have. My Husband and I are searching valiantly but failing to find good pizza in the US. Every time we think of the good pizza shops in Italy, we groan out loud with instant hunger. Food memory! Expat living will do that, give you powerful flashbacks to food so good your knees get weak just thinking about it. Something I am guessing you know about too!!