Ribolita is a bread soup packed with lentils and vegetables. It’s healthy, comforting and a great way to use up stale bread.
Hi Friends!
First of all, Happy 2015! I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we’re 15 years in the 2000’s. Wasn’t it just yesterday we were talking about Y2K and how to abbreviate the year 2000 in conversation? Yikes! I feel old.
Anyways, it’s a new year and to celebrate, I made you soup! The inspiration for this soup came from the giant Costco-sized baguette in my pantry that I shamefully let go stale before I could eat it. I was doing a little googling and came across this soup called Ribollita. I’d never heard of it before, but from what I can determine, all the recipes for it have stale bread in them. Perfect!
As usual, I looked at a few recipes and then did my own thing. Most recipes seem to use white beans, but I went with lentils because that’s what I had. I used bacon, but you could easily make this soup vegan by omitting the bacon.
Here’s how you do it:
PrintRibollita
A hearty soup packed with veggies and bread that will keep you warm on a cold winter day.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 strips bacon, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 cup carrots, sliced
- 1 (14.5) oz can diced tomatos, undrained
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 5 oz frozen chopped spinach
- 3 cups stale bread, cubed
- 2/3 cup lentils, uncooked
- black pepper & cayenne pepper, to taste
- parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- Cook lentils according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot or dutch oven, saute first six ingredients for 5-7 minutes.
- Add tomatoes (with their liquid), broth, spinach, bread and cooked lentils and spices and let simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness.
- Serve topped with parmesan cheese if desired.
Like I mentioned in the notes above, I like to cook my lentils separately, but lentils cook fairly quickly so if you want to make this even easier, you can just add the dry lentils when you add the broth, bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer until the lentils are cooked. If you do this, I would hold off on adding the bread until after the lentils are cooked. The bread absorbs liquid and you want there to be enough liquid in there to cook the lentils.
Feel free to play around with the protein – use white beans if you prefer, or even use chicken or pork instead of beans or lentils.
[Tweet “Warm up with a hearty bowl of Ribollita from @leangrnbeanblog on a cold day!”]
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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I am so in the mood for soup because it is so (comparatively) cold here! It’s been in the 20s in the morning, which is extremely cold for the desert. I need warming up! And I just happened to make some vegan (tempeh) bacon tonight for another dish, so the timing is perfect for this recipe.
perfect timing indeed!
15 years since 2000? yikes, when you put it that way, i feel really old, too!
That does look really good. It’s been super cold here so anything warm has got my heart.
It is INSANE how fast the years do fly by!
I keep seeing posts of soup and lentil recipes, and they all look fabulous – including yours!! This must be a sign that I need to cook something with lentils in it soon…
Love that there is bacon in this recipe 😉
i’d say it’s definitely a sign! happy cooking!
This soup looks perfect for this freezing weather we’ve been having! Nice job using up the stale bread.
This looks delicious, can’t wait to make it for the family. Thanks for sharing.
I love a good hearty soup! I’ve actually never cooked with lentils before either… weird?! I think I need to start!
you gotta try! they cook super fast! i make extra and freeze to use later.
Perfect to warm up to! Ha…stale bread is a fab ingredient to many dishes!
agreed! so much you can do with it!
This looks so easy, so good and so healthy! This is definitely going into my meal planning. Happy New Year!
woohoo! hope you like it!
ooo yum! I could use some of this. I love easy soup recipes like this one 🙂
Easy is best in my book!
This looks so comforting! Love the surplus of veggies used in it! Delicious! 🙂 Pinning!
Thanks Rachel. Can never have too many veggies!
It’s cold in Northern California right now, so I’d love to warm up with this!
Let me know if you try it!
This soup looks like the perfect use for the leftover ham in my frig. Wonderful!
★★★★★
oooh great idea! enjoy!
I have had such a soup craving and this look so good 🙂 Hope you have a good start to the new year!!
you too, tara!
I’ve never been a big soup person but because this looks hearty, I’m in for it!! Don’t judge me cuz I would eat this with even more crusty bread on the side! 🙂
you know i’ll be doing the same.
This looks delicious!
This soup looks like the perfect thing for warming up this weekend. It is going to be so cold here tomorrow! I love anything with lentils and what a perfect use of stale bread!
Enjoy and stay warm!
Bread, Bacon, and Beans!!! Where do I sign up??!?! jk It’s that time of the year (winter) where nothing seems to hit the spot like a good hearty soup. Look forward to trying this recipe out in the next few days! Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Ah ribollita is so tasty! I tried it when I went to Florence in March! Such a wonderful dish thanks for the recipie!
Linds, I am personally offended you let a baguette go to waste….until you used it with this.
This sounds terrible but whenever I think of stale bread I think of you…after your soft pretzels lol!
What a great way to get vegetables into kids! A very balanced soup that would serve as a meal on its own- love it. Happy New Year!
Awesome recipe! I ate a lot of ribollita when I was backpacking through Europe. It’s such a delicious, healthy, and filling soup!
I just made it. I used fresh Kale, white beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic and bacon. I had some GF bread that I made in the bread machine a few days ago that I turned into croutons. I wish I could find something other than bacon that gives such good flavor though– ideas welcome. Love this Lindsay. This is going to be a regular in our house.
★★★★★
Score! Lentils are a good luck food for the new year…I shall be making this 😀
it is so so so cold here in AUSTIN (like real cold 🙂 20s last night) I need to get meal planning and SOUP PLANNING.
You CRUSH it with the soups. I’m still looking to try your mom’s sweet potato soup!
Thanks for the recipe! It’s good to have another use for stale bread. I have a goal to eat more beans in 2015, too, so this will be good for me.
this is EXACTLY my kind of winter warmer – I love it! pinned to try as soon as I am home, yum!
I need to try this! My family loves lentils, but I pretty much always make the same 3 recipes. Your soup looks delicious! This will be perfect to add to the menu lineup!
This looks SO GOOD!! I think I could swap out the bacon for a little bit of liquid smoke and I think it would be awesome!
Can I freeze the leftovers ?