Healthy Tuscan Ribollita
A Tuscan soup made with onions, garlic, and herbs. White beans, cabbage and kale simmered in a rich tomato broth thickened with bread.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 vegan Italain sausage link I used Impossible
- 2 medium yellow onions
- 4 medium carrots
- 4 stalks celery
- 8 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp kosher salt I use Morton's
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 5 cups chopped green cabbage about 1/2 of a large head
- 1 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes crushed
- 10 fresh basil leaves
- 1 15oz can white beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15oz can kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 6 cups vegan chicken broth or veggie broth
- 1 bunch curly kale
- 1.5 cups white or sourdough bread mostly the middle, slightly stale works well
- lemon wedges for serving optional
Instructions
Prep
- Chop the onions, carrots, and celery and set aside. Then mince the garlic and remove the leaves from the basil stem. Finely chop the basil stems and set everything aside.
- Drain and rinse both cans of beans and open (but do not drain) the can of tomatoes. Measure out 1 cup of the beans and mash well with a fork to create a creamy paste. Then set the mashed beans, the remaining beans and the canned tomatoes aside.
- Chop the cabbage, and de-stem the kale. Roughly chop and set aside. Now let's get cooking!
Cook
- Add the olive oil to a large stockpot and set the medium high heat (7 out of 10)
- When the pan is warm, crumble the vegan sausage into the pan and let it brown for 2-3 minutes. Resist the urge to stir too much. Some direct contact with the pan will help the sausage caramelize and create flavor.
- Then add the onions, stir well and lower the heat to medium low (4 or 5 out of 10). Cook for 8 minutes.
- Add the carrots and celery and cook for 8 minutes.
- Then add the garlic and chopped basil and cook for one minute. Stir occasionally.
- Next add the cabbage and cook for 5 minutes. Add the salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- Then add the whole can of tomatoes (juice and all) into the pot along with the basil leaves (roughly torn into large pieces) and the broth. Set the lid ajar on the pot and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Then add the mashed beans, whole beans and chopped kale. Stir and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Finish by adding the chopped bread into the pan, mostly the middle part. Submerge the bread into the bubbly broth and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Then taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
Serve
- Ladle into bowls and squeeze some lemon on top if desired! Serve with crusty bread on the side for dipping and enjoy!
Notes
The trick is sauté on medium heat. Resist the urge to turn the heat up because low and slow is best here. Each time we add an ingredient it needs to cook for about 8 minutes so that it has time to really develop good flavor.
Using good quality tomatoes goes a long way here too, which is why I opt for San Marzano when possible. They can be a little pricey but I recommend shopping around because I found a 28oz can for almost 5 dollars at one store, and only 2 at another the next day. Look for a bargain or a sale and then stock up! These Italian tomatoes make soups like these so much better.
Want to skip the sausage? No problem. Instead of starting with the sausage, skip to sautéing the onions with an additional tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tsp of light miso paste and 2 tsp dried fennel seeds. Then continue making the recipe as written. It's a little different but very tasty!
Can I leave out the bread? Yep. This soup is traditionally made with bread but it still tastes great without it. The mashed beans helps give the broth some body so leaving the bread out is totally fine!
Freezer Friendly: Let the soup cool completely and then freeze for up to 6 months.