How to Make Vegan Ribollita Soup
Vegan Ribollita soup, a thick, hearty, generous soup that uses up leftovers from your fridge and stock cupboard.
On Mondays, I always like to cook us a vegetable laden, low calorie meal, a sort of detox following the cooking/eating frenzy that I often spend the weekends in. As it’s now halfway through the month and, as usual, most of my money has been spent paying bills (and, er, buying cookbooks), I always find it a challenge to cook something different using just the scraps of ingredients left in the fridge.
Soup is always a good option, being one of the most heart-warming dishes known to man but it isn’t always substantial enough. Enter Ribollita.
What is Ribollita?
Ribollita is an Italian soup, translated as reboiled. What this often refers to, in Italy, is the reusing of the previous night’s Minestrone, mixed in with left over vegetables (in this case, Cavolo Nero or black cabbage) and chunks of stale bread. Re-boiled also refers to the soup often being prepared the day before it is to be eaten, thus allowing the strong flavours to intensify and meld.
This produces a wonderfully thick, rich and hearty soup that is almost a stew. Whilst the word ‘reboiled’ conjures up shuddering memories of school dinners, this is eons away from the cabbage that was to within an inch of its life that we endured at school.
Utilising my own bedraggled and more than a little limp vegetables and stale bread (I am now in the habit of freezing any nub ends of bread that are left, rather than having to buy a loaf simply to make breadcrumbs), plus a tin of butter beans (which are totally untraditional but that was all I had). It must have been a hit though because there were no leftovers so I am unable to state whether or not it is better the next day (although I am sure it is!).
Instructions
What Beans Can I Use?
White Beans, preferably Cannellini, are traditional, but I used Butter Beans. Butter Beans are not quite as successful because they suffer from a slightly mealy, crumbly texture that tends to cook much quicker than other dry beans. They have a tendency to break up into the soup. However, any bean you have will do really, kidney beans, or pinto beans. You could even soak dried beans and cook them up before adding to the soup.
Do I Have to Use Cavalo Nero?
It is quite hard to get the black cabbage here although it is often available seasonally, and although it has a more anise flavour than the Kale or Savoy, they can be used instead (I used Savoy cabbage). Just make sure that it has dark leaves. White cabbage would give you a more boggy flavour than you want here.
Try my other hearty vegan soups
- Luxurious Jerusalem Artichoke
- Pasta, Cannellini Bean and Chick Pea soup
- Cool and tasty Gazpacho
- Spicy Green Chilli and Hominy Soup
- Warming Parsnip Soup
- White Bean, Potato and Corn Chowder
Vegan Ribollita Soup
Ingredients
- 1 can White Beans drained
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 sticks Celery skimmed over with a vegetable peeler, then finely chopped. No one wants celery strands wrapped around their vocal cords. I used the frondy bits that you get on untrimmed celery, which adds a delicious herbal taste to the soup, which otherwise has no herbs in it.
- 2 Carrots peeled, finely diced
- 1 Red Onion large, peeled, finely diced
- 3 cloves Garlic peeled, finely chopped
- 1 400g Tomatoes tinned
- 1 pinch Chilli Flakes
- 350g Cavalo Nero or Savoy Cabbage
- 2 cups Bread stale, torn into chunks
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 2 cups Water
- Lemon Juice to taste
Instructions
- Gently heat some olive oil in a deep sauté pan (or large saucepan) and sweat off the onion, until translucent.
- Then add the garlic, cooking for a minute or two and then the rest of the vegetables and chilli flakes, excluding the tinned tomatoes and cabbage.
- Leave the vegetables to slowly sauté in the olive oil, amalgamating all their flavours. This is an important step in dish that involves vegetables to be cooked in this manner. It softens them and gives them a united flavour, rather than the odd harsh crunch on a lump of carrot or celery.
- Once the vegetables have been sweating down for 10 minutes or so, add the cabbage, stirring into the diced vegetables thoroughly.
- Cook over a low heat for another 5 minutes or until the cabbage has wilted.
- Pour over the tinned tomatoes, sugar, drained beans, bread and add the water
- Stir gently, and simmer for another half an hour
- Season well with salt and pepper and the lemon juice, drizzle with good quality olive oil and serve in deep soup bowls, maybe with some more bread for dipping.
This is a great idea to use up all the leftover vegetables in the fridge! I can get neither butter bean or black cabbege in where I live but I guess I can whip up with some other seasonal vegetables.. Thank you for a unique and wonderful recipe!
This ribollita soup was just so delicious I loved how homey it felt!
This soup looks so delicious! I love simple hearty soup like this! Definitely saving this recipe for later, thank you!
This soup looks wonderful and so cozy! I love recipes like this. Thanks so much!
This is pure comfort food! Delicious!
This is such a comforting nourishing soup, full of a range of veg from the rainbow. Thank you for sharing.
What a perfect way to use up some of my veggies! This is such a flavorful and hearty dish! We didn’t have leftovers in my house either!
With the abundance of produce, this recipe was the perfect way to use them up! So delicious
This vegan ribollita soup was packed with flavor and so comforting. Now I can make sure no vegetables or bread ever go to waste. It’s also going to be perfect to make as the weather starts cooling down.
I love the idea of using up leftovers to create something so wonderful as this soup. I’m pretty fond of butterbeans too and although they taste a little different to cannellini beans, they’re lovely with all the other flavours in tis soup. Thank you for this.
Love all the colours in this delicious soup ?
So delicious! Perfect comfort food!