Bean & Vegetable Ribollita
A Tuscan bread-and-bean stew thick with white beans, kale, and tomato — pure Mediterranean comfort, all olive oil and vegetables.
Ingredients
- 480 g Cannellini beans
- 150 g Kale
- 400 g Canned tomatoes
- 1 Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 800 ml Vegetable stock
- 4 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 slices Country bread (optional)
- 1 Carrot (optional)
- 2 stalks Celery (optional)
Method
- Dice the onion, carrot, and celery; mince the garlic and chop the kale.
- Soften the diced vegetables in three tablespoons of the oil over medium heat for 8 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, stock, salt, and kale and bring to a simmer.
- Tear the bread into the pot and simmer until the stew is thick and the bread has melted in, about 20 minutes.
- Drizzle the remaining olive oil over each bowl and serve hot.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Bean & Vegetable Ribollita
This bean and vegetable ribollita is a Tuscan bread-and-bean stew in the classic mold, thick with white cannellini beans, dark kale and tomato and bound together by bread cooked into the broth. It descends from the frugal cooking of Tuscany, where nothing was wasted and stale country loaves were simmered back to life with beans and whatever vegetables the garden gave. The flavor is earthy and deeply savory, sweet with slow-cooked soffritto, rounded by the beans and given structure by the kale, which holds up to long cooking and adds a pleasant bite. Finished with a heavy pour of olive oil, it is pure Mediterranean comfort food, filling and vegetable-forward without needing any meat.
What makes this version cook so well is its directness: a proper soffritto of onion, carrot and celery softened in olive oil, then beans, tomato, stock and kale simmered together before the bread is torn straight into the pot to melt down and thicken everything into a stew you can almost stand a spoon in. Using country bread rather than a soft loaf gives more body as it breaks down. It comes together in about forty-five minutes, faster than the traditional overnight versions while keeping the same rib-sticking character. Serve it hot with the reserved olive oil drizzled over each bowl; like all ribollita it reheats beautifully and only improves as it sits.
Bean & Vegetable Ribollita: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Bean & Vegetable Ribollita?
A serving has about 414 calories — 17g protein, 53.9g carbs, 15.8g fat, 12.3g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is Bean & Vegetable Ribollita gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Country bread. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
How long does Bean & Vegetable Ribollita take to make?
About 45 minutes start to finish, but only around 20 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Bean & Vegetable Ribollita?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out country bread, carrot, celery — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Bean & Vegetable Ribollita make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.