One-Pot Vegan Ribollita with Kale, Cabbage and Cannellini Beans
A thick Tuscan bread soup with lacinato kale, savoy cabbage, cannellini beans and day-old sourdough, all in one pot. It tastes even better reheated the next day.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 60 min
- Rest
- 10 min
- Serves
- 6
One-Pot Vegan Ribollita with Kale, Cabbage and Cannellini Beans is a vegan lunch recipe made with extra-virgin olive oil, yellow onion, carrots. It takes 80 minutes of hands-on time, plus 10 minutes resting, serves 6, and each serving has 327 calories, 14 g of protein and 11 g of fiber.
Ribollita means "reboiled." It's a peasant soup that gets thick and spoonable once stale bread breaks down into the broth. This version mashes part of the beans to give the soup body. It also cooks the soffritto slowly in plenty of olive oil, because most of the flavor comes from that base. Make it a day ahead if you can, since it thickens and deepens overnight.
Ingredients
Soup
- ¼ cup54 gextra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large150 gyellow onion, finely diced
- 2 medium122 gcarrots, finely diced
- 2 stalks80 gcelery stalks, finely diced
- 4 cloves12 ggarlic, minced
- ¼ tsp0.5 gred pepper flakes
- 1 tsp1.4 gdried thyme
- 2 tbsp32 gtomato paste
- 1 can411 gdiced tomatoes (14.5 oz can), with juices
- 2 cans480 gcannellini beans (15 oz cans), drained and rinsed
- 6 cups1.44 kglow-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 0.4 gbay leaves
- 4 cups356 gsavoy or green cabbage, cored and thinly shredded
- 1 bunch200 glacinato (Tuscan) kale, stems removed, leaves chopped
- 4 slices128 gday-old sourdough or rustic Italian bread, crusts on, torn into 1-inch pieces
- 1½ tsp9 gfine sea salt, plus more to taste
- ½ tsp1.2 gfreshly ground black pepper
To serve
- 2 tbsp27 gextra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling (optional)
- ¼ medium28 gred onion, very thinly sliced (optional)
Kit: large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot (6 qt), potato masher or fork, wooden spoon
Tips
- Stale bread is key here. Fresh bread turns gummy. If your loaf is fresh, toast the torn pieces at 350°F for 10–12 minutes until dry but not browned.
- For a true ribollita the next day, reheat leftovers in a skillet with a little olive oil. Leave them undisturbed until the bottom forms a light crust.
- Don't rush the soffritto. Slow-cooked onion, carrot and celery carry most of this soup's flavor.
Swap ideas
- Use 1½ cups dried cannellini beans (soaked overnight and simmered until creamy) instead of canned, and their cooking liquid in place of 2 cups of the broth
- Gives a creamier, richer soup with a deeper bean flavor, but adds about an hour of cooking
- Swap the lacinato kale for curly kale or Swiss chard
- Curly kale stays a bit chewier. Chard is softer and milder and only needs about 10 minutes
- Add a 2-inch strip of kombu or 1 tbsp white miso with the broth
- Adds a savory depth similar to the Parmesan rind used in traditional versions, while keeping it vegan
- Use gluten-free rustic bread
- Makes the soup gluten-free. GF bread breaks down faster, so add it in the last 2–3 minutes
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
327kcal per serving
Everything else · 6 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 1.6 g 8%
- Sugars
- 9.4 g
- Sodium
- 1562 mg 68%
- Potassium
- 1072 mg 23%
- Calcium
- 251 mg 19%
- Iron
- 5.9 mg 33%
- Vitamin C
- 68 mg 75%
- Vitamin B12
- 0 µg 0%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Oil, olive, salad or cooking, Onions, raw, Carrots, raw, Celery, raw, Garlic, raw, Spices, pepper, red or cayenne, Spices, thyme, dried, Tomato products, canned, paste, without salt added (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program), Tomatoes, red, ripe, canned, packed in tomato juice, Beans, white, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt, Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve, Spices, bay leaf, Cabbage, raw, Kale, raw, Bread, french or vienna (includes sourdough), Salt, table, Spices, pepper, black
Method
Warm the 1/4 cup olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and a pinch of the salt. Cook, stirring now and then, until the vegetables are very soft and sweet and the onion is turning golden at the edges, 12–15 minutes. Turn the heat down if they start to brown too fast.
Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes and dried thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until it darkens to a brick red, 2 minutes.
Add the diced tomatoes with their juices and simmer, scraping up any browned bits, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
Measure 1 cup of the drained beans into a bowl and mash them into a coarse paste with a fork or masher. Add a splash of the broth if needed. Add the mashed beans, the whole beans, the remaining broth, the bay leaves and the rest of the salt and pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil.
Stir in the cabbage, then the kale, a handful at a time as each batch wilts. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer, partly cover, and cook until the cabbage is silky and the kale is fully tender, 25–30 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves. Stir in the torn bread and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the bread softens and starts to fall apart and the soup is thick enough to coat a spoon, 5 minutes.
Take the pot off the heat, cover, and let it rest for 10 minutes so the bread finishes soaking. If the soup gets too thick to ladle, loosen it with a little hot broth or water. Taste and adjust the salt.
Ladle into bowls. If you like, drizzle each bowl generously with olive oil and top with a few slices of raw red onion, the traditional Tuscan way.
Storage: Cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The soup thickens as it sits, so loosen it with broth or water when you reheat it. To freeze, leave out the bread and freeze for up to 3 months. Add fresh stale bread when you reheat.
Questions
- How much protein is in one-pot vegan ribollita with kale, cabbage and cannellini beans?
- Each of the 6 servings has 14 g of protein, 11 g of fiber and 327 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is one-pot vegan ribollita with kale, cabbage and cannellini beans vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does one-pot vegan ribollita with kale, cabbage and cannellini beans take to make?
- 20 minutes of prep and 60 minutes of cooking, so 80 minutes of hands-on time, plus 10 minutes of unattended resting.
- Can you make one-pot vegan ribollita with kale, cabbage and cannellini beans ahead?
- Cool, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The soup thickens as it sits, so loosen it with broth or water when you reheat it. To freeze, leave out the bread and freeze for up to 3 months. Add fresh stale bread when you reheat.
- What can I substitute in one-pot vegan ribollita with kale, cabbage and cannellini beans?
- Use 1½ cups dried cannellini beans (soaked overnight and simmered until creamy) instead of canned, and their cooking liquid in place of 2 cups of the broth — gives a creamier, richer soup with a deeper bean flavor, but adds about an hour of cooking. Swap the lacinato kale for curly kale or Swiss chard — curly kale stays a bit chewier. chard is softer and milder and only needs about 10 minutes. Add a 2-inch strip of kombu or 1 tbsp white miso with the broth — adds a savory depth similar to the parmesan rind used in traditional versions, while keeping it vegan. Use gluten-free rustic bread — makes the soup gluten-free. gf bread breaks down faster, so add it in the last 2–3 minutes.
- Does one-pot vegan ribollita with kale, cabbage and cannellini beans contain gluten?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes gluten. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published October 2, 2026 ·Italian