Tuscan Ribollita

Why We Love This Recipe for Tuscan Ribollita

When I was in my junior year of college, I spent five months in the Tuscan region of Italy. And while I was there to study Renaissance art and painting, it was the food that captured my soul.

In every kitchen, enoteca, and trattoria, there was culinary artistry that I had never experienced before. But for me, it was the soup that captivated me. And if you’ve been following along for a while now, you know soup is one of my favorite things to cook. Maybe my love for these simple soul-satisfying dishes started all those years ago when I was a young 20-something experiencing the culture of such a beautiful land and people.

While most are sad to see summer go, I enjoy when soup season gets in full swing as I relish making hearty soups for my family. There is something so satisfying about chopping, layering, and cooking in such a way as to maximize the flavors. And while we enjoy a delicious Pappa al Pomodoro, a rustic Minestrone, or a nourishing bowl of Italian Wedding Soup, Tuscan Ribollita is my absolute favorite.

Simple in preparation, with hearty veggies, beans, and kale and thickened with traditional unsalted Tuscan bread, this dish transforms basic ingredients into a luscious, rich, velvety dish. It is the essence of Italian cooking with common ingredients but elevating them into a decadent presentation.

What Is Ribollita?

Ribollita is a classic Tuscan soup that’s popular throughout the region, especially in Florence. This dish is a way to use up stale Tuscan bread as authentic Tuscan bread is made without salt; it stales quickly. It’s made with a variety of hearty veggies, creamy cannellini beans, and Tuscan kale.

The first day it’s made, it’s more of a brothy soup with beans and vegetables, called minestra. When leftovers are reheated the next day, it becomes ribollita, which means reboiled. And in our opinion, it tastes even better on day two which is where this recipe starts!

Side note: in enotecas (wine bars) you can often find Ribollita Refritto which is the leftover ribollita, that is so thick, it’s cooked like a pancake batter in olive oil.

Key Ingredients For This Recipe

Olive Oil

This is the absolute key to the taste and velvety mouthfeel of the final dish which is why we used SO MUCH! It also gets finished with more olive oil, so if you have a really high-quality EVOO use that for finishing the soup.

Stale Bread

Italian cooking makes use of any waste, and this recipe, like Panzanella, uses stale bread. Typically, Tuscan bread is unsalted, but you can’t find that outside of Tuscany. Look for a firm sourdough (or another high-quality white rustic loaf) and let it get stale. You can put it in the fridge for a few days to help accelerate the process while preventing it from getting moldy.

Odori

This is the base of the dish made of carrot, onion, celery, and garlic. Typically, the parsley would be used here too, but I added it at the end of the simmer to keep it fresher.

Potatoes, Tuscan Kale and Cabbage

Ribollita can be made with a wide variety of vegetables depending on what is in season. In Italy, Tuscan Kale is known as Cavolo Nero (Italian for black cabbage), here in the US we call it Lacinato Kale or Dinosaur Kale. In addition to the bread, the potatoes are key to making the soup nice and thick.

White Beans

Traditional minestra and Ribollita are made with dried beans that are soaked and simmered. We’ve taken a shortcut and used canned cannellini beans. If you do make your beans from scratch, you’ll need 3 cups cooked beans and save the cooking liquid and use it instead of the water.

Canned Whole Tomatoes

We love the rustic texture of breaking up canned tomatoes by hand. Look for real Italian canned tomatoes such as San Marzano.

Herbs

Fresh herbs add another element of robust flavor and authentic Italian taste. Thyme, rosemary, and parsley are added in towards the end of the cooking process to preserve their volatile olfactory compounds. The basil, however, is added when the dish is finished cooking as it will lose all scent if added in before this.

Pecorino Cheese

Ideally, you would use Pecorino Toscano to top off your bowls; however, it’s hard to find in the US. If you have an Eataly or good Italian market in your area, look for Pecorino Toscano. It’s a sheep’s milk cheese made in Tuscany and is less salty than Pecorino Romano. If you are unable to locate it, feel free to swap in Pecorino Romano or Parmesan. This dish can also be made vegan by omitting the cheese.

Additional Ingredients

• White Wine
• Vegetable Broth
• Kosher Salt

Step-By-Step Instructions To Make Tuscan Ribollita

Step 1: Chop the Odori in the Food Processor

To mimic cutting the “odori” using a Messaluna, a curved knife used with a curved cutting board that’s used in traditional Italian cookery, fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. With the motor running, drop garlic cloves through the feed tube and mince. Next, drop in the carrot and celery and finely chop (see the texture in photo 1a.) Set aside.

Return the food processor bowl to the machine and add the onion chunks. Close the lid and pulse until the onion is roughly chopped into medium-small pieces (photo 2a). Do not run the motor continuously or the onions will be too finely chopped and become watery.

Store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

When ready to enjoy, place in a microwave safe bowl and heat until warmed through.
Or place leftovers in a saucepan on the stove, over medium heat, stirring often to ensure it doesn’t burn; until steaming hot.

A high-quality heavy enameled cast iron pot is ideal for making soup. The wide bottom allows veggies to brown quickly while preventing overcrowding and steaming. Also, the thick bottom will prevent the ingredients from burning.

Serve with crusty bread for a hearty, filling, simply delicious homey meal. If you’d prefer a more elaborate meal, serve this soup as the main course with a side garden salad or caesar salad with homemade whole-wheat bread.

Alternatively, this could be the first course to a decadent Italian vegetarian meal of mushroom lasagna or spinach stuffed shells.

No, if you do not drink or cook with alcohol, wine can be omitted completely without effecting the taste as the tomatoes will add plenty of acidity. If omitting, skip ahead to step 4.

In Tuscan Trattorias, Ribollita is often cooked so long that there are no discernable chunks of bread which creates a luscious and velvety consistency.

If your bread is at all fresh or squishy, it can be dried out in a 300-degree oven. Once dried, tear the bread into chunks and pulse in the food processor to make rustic bread crumbs. Doing this will result in a Ribollita that more closely resembles what is found in a Trattoria.