Preview: Italian White Bean Soup

by Dawn T in Rouxbe Recipes

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Step 1: Soaking the Beans

Soaking the Beans

*Note: Any small, white, dried beans can be substituted for cannellini beans (i.e., white kidney beans, Great Northern beans or navy beans).

Before soaking the beans, first sort and rinse them to remove any dust or debris. Place the beans into a large bowl and cover with cold water plus at least 2 inches. Peel and smash the whole cloves of garlic and add to the bowl along with the bay leaf. Let soak for 8 hours or even overnight.

  • 2 1/2 cups dried cannellini beans (about 1 pound)*
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 bay leaf

Step 2: Cooking the Beans

Cooking the Beans

First drain and rinse the soaked beans. To cook the beans, place them into a large, heavy-bottomed pot and cover with the cold water. Add the bay leaves and extra-virgin olive oil and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Once the beans come to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar and let cook for about an hour until the beans start to become tender.

After the first hour, add the salt and continue to simmer for another hour or so until the liquid has reduced to about 3 liters (or quarts). Stir the beans occasionally to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pot.

  • 4 liters (or quarts) of cold water
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp sea salt

Step 3: Finishing the Soup

Finishing the Soup

Once the soup has reduced to about 3 quarts and the beans are nice and tender, make the soffritto.

First, émincé the garlic. Place a small skillet on the stove top. Add the extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and chili flakes. Slowly heat the mixture over medium-low heat. Cook just until the garlic releases its aroma and just starts to turn color. Do not let it brown or burn. Add about 1 cup of the broth to the pan and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

Pour the soffritto into the pot and stir to combine. Simmer the soup for about 5 more minutes. Season further to taste. The soup can be served as is, or it can be finished with a variety of other ingredients.

To finish the soup, remove the tough stems from the kale and tear or cut into 1 to 2" -inch pieces. Wash and spin dry.

Either prepare the vegan sausage or cut sausage into bite size pieces. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Fry the sausage until cooked through and golden on all sides. Once done, transfer the sausage to plate lined with paper towels to drain. Drain any excess oil from the pan and add the kale. Toss, season with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and cover for about 2 minutes until it wilts and becomes tender.

To serve the soup, place a bit of kale into a warmed bowl, followed by a few pieces of sausage. Ladle the hot soup over top. Serve with some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and a splash of quality olive oil.

Alternate method:

To finish the soup, remove the tough stems from the kale and tear or cut into 1 to 2" -inch pieces. Wash and spin dry. Add the kale to the soup and gently simmer until softened, about 5 to 10 minutes.

If desired, drizzle with a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and serve.

  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp dried red chili flakes
  • sea salt, to taste
  • freshly ground black pepper. to taste
  • 1 large bunch kale
  • 4 Italian sausages (see Rouxbe for vegan sausage recipe)
  • 2 tsp grapeseed oil
  • extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing

Notes

The soup base can be cooled and stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days; alternatively, it can be cooled and transferred to tightly-sealed containers and frozen for up to 6 months.

Other ideas for finishing the soup: chicory, escarole, Swiss chard, spinach, arugula, basil, broccoli or even sautéed fennel.

Related Tips & Techniques

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Buying & Storing Dried Beans

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Methods for Soaking Dried Beans

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Cooking Dried Beans

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What are Starch-Based Thick Soups?

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Types of Herbs
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How to Prepare Kale

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What is Emince?

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How to Buy and Prepare Garlic

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Kitchen Tools | Peelers

Related Cooking School Lessons

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How to Cook Dried Legumes

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How to Make Starch-Based Thick Soup

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How to Use and Cook with Herbs
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How to Season with Salt

Cheryl O

A delicious, non-heavy soup

I have cooked this soup with kale or spinach and a variety of seasoning meats such as pancetta, sausage, and country ham. It always comes out delicious. Another source suggested bringing the beans to a simmer on the stove top and then finishing them by low-heat simmering in the oven (250 degrees) to avoid having the beans lose their firm but tender texture. I have tried this and it works well.

Jeana E

italian wedding soup

is 11 hours correct?

Dawn T
Rouxbe Staff

Re: Total Cooking Time of White Bean Soup

"Total Time" takes into consideration that you are soaking and cooking your own beans, using the overnight method of soaking the beans.

If you are making this using canned beans then the "Total Time" would be quite a bit less; however the results would not be nearly as good, especially with this recipe.

Hope this helps to clarify things. Cheers!

Lee B

Adding more flavor

Is it ok to substitute a low sodium chicken broth instead of straight water?

Kimberley S
Rouxbe Staff

RE: Adding More Flavor

Personally, I don't think this soup needs it. It is absolutely delicious with water. You could try using stock, but keep in mind that when cooking beans, any salt that is added at the beginning will cause the beans to take longer to cook and may not become as tender as they could. Refer to the How to Cook Dried Legumes lesson in the Cooking School.

Just try making it once with water. The soup is velvety and rich and the soffrito which is added at the end gives it incredible flavor. Cheers!

Martha V

Love this soup

Made this soup last night after I got home from work. No chicken broth is needed, the water became flavorful enough with the sofrito. I added salt at the very end once it had cooled down a bit (it's my Puerto Rican aunt's teaching: Never add salt to the beans before they cool or they will get hard!). I also used chicken sausage with fennel and came out just as good. Thanks for teaching me about the parmesan rinds. They added such a nice rich flavor to the broth. Will be using them for many future soups this winter. Delicious!

L J

soaked beans

There's no mention in the text of removing the skins off the beans. However, after soaking canellini beans, quite a few of them had the skins falling off and it seemed like I should be skinning them although it's pretty tedious work. Are the beans supposed to be skinned?

Dawn T
Rouxbe Staff

RE: Soaked Beans

No the beans do not need to be peeled. For more information on soaking and cooking beans, you may want to review the lesson on "How to Cook Dried Legumes" as we go into quite a bit more detail there. Cheers!

Brenda L

Perfect! Thanks Rouxbe

Wow. This soup came out fabulous, without stock!. Before RB I always had to adjust recipes. Another pot of perfection here. I'm learning a lot too. My new Kyocera knife made emince fun and nice and making siffrotto was my first time. Any other sifrotto uses?

Using fresh bay from the back yard was a big plus. My only recommendation is get to the garden store and get a small bay tree!

Dawn T
Rouxbe Staff

Re: Uses for Soffritto

The uses for soffritto are really limitless. Just think of as mirepoix, which is actually what it is, it's just the Italian word for it. However, a soffritto is typically made with olive oil rather than butter in a French mirepoix. Cheers!

Constantine

soffritto

The soffritto is such a cool idea. Wow. I was wondering why could you not include the garlic and chili flakes at the beginning of the soup when you start boiling the beans and skip the soffrito step?

And also is it crucial to add the soffrito 5 minutes before the soup is done?

I am guessing that perhaps that flavor and aroma get lost if you boil the stuff for an hour, and that gently warming the aromatics in oil bring out their flavor best. Is that right? Thanks!

Dawn T
Rouxbe Staff

Re: Adding Soffritto

You are correct Constantine, if you were to just add the soffritto at the beginning, then the flavors would all blend together. By adding the soffritto near the end, the flavors are still someone separate and more pronounced.

As for exactly when the soffritto is added, no it is not "crucial to add the soffritto 5 minutes before the soup is done" but added it a few minutes before the soup is done, is just so that the flavors can blend together a bit.

With that said, you should experiment—try making the soup and try adding the soffritto at different times. For instance, add it more near the beginning and then try adding it right at the end, or even as you serve the soup and take notice of how this alters the final results.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

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