Change up your soup game with this full flavored delicious Ribollita Soup Recipe with Chicken and Kale that’ll keep you coming back for more.
RRRRRRibollita, say it with me!!! You have to roll those r’s if you’re going to be making this Tuscan bread soup sometime in the near future. I know I say this like all thetime but honestly this was one of the better soups I’ve made in a minute. It hearty, it was tasty, and if I do say so myself it’s pretty dang healthy…
I’m sure though that my version of healthy is different than yours so take it for what it’s worth. Regardless, I know you are going to love it!
WHAT IS IT
It’s indigenous to the Tuscany region in Italy, which is on the west coast of the country and up towards the top.I’ve never been to Italy and for some reason I’m not overly interested in going there, mainly because I don’t want to sit on a plane for 10 hours.
It was really a peasant recipe as it utilizes leftover bread and leftover minestrone soup. The term ribolitta literally means reboiled. This recipe in it’s origin is using up everything in the kitchen, nothing goes to waste!
HOW TO PREPARE IT
As always this starts with your mise en place, or prep. When I cook anything, no matter what it is, I always prep out everything so that when I begin cooking I can simply cook and not worry about chopping things right when I need them.
If you do this I promise that cooking it will become much more enjoyable for you. Now that you’ve got your mirepoix, a.k.a. onions, celery and carrots, cut up along with the garlic, let’s get after it. Season the chicken breasts generously on both sides with Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper and set it aside.
As a side note you don’t have to just use boneless skinless chicken breasts. You can absolutely use a whole broken down chicken or heck even just dark meat, but I use chicken breasts because my wife prefers it and well, she’s the boss.
HOW TO MAKE IT
The next thing you want to do for this recipe is to sear the chicken on both sides in the large pot that you will actually be making the soup in. So brown them and cook them through completely in a large pot over medium heat with olive oil. It’s best to do this because it simply adds more flavor to it by cooking everything in the same pot.
You know that brown caramelized goodness that gets stuck to the bottom of the pot? Yeah that’s called fond or as we in the industry like to call it, nom noms sand it will make your ribollita soup taste that much better :-). Remove the chicken, chop it up and let it sit while you add your mirepoix and garlic into that same pot where the chicken was cooking.
You can crank the heat up to high here and try and roast up the veggies for a 3 to 4 minutes before deglazing with the white wine.
It is so important to scrape the bottom of the pot with a spoon after deglazing to get all of that delicious fond off the bottom of it! Be sure to cook the wine until it’s just about gone before adding in any other ingredients.
Next, it’s all about adding everything in and letting it simmer to incorporate all of those tasty flavors in. Wait!! Don’t add in the kale just yet as it will wilt and get quite gross, especially if you plan on leaving this bad boy sit on the stove all day. In fact, I would hold off on the cooked cous cous as well because they will also turn to mush.
So to recap, leave out the kale and cous cous until you are ready to serve everything!
HOW TO SERVE IT
- Now, once you are ready to serve the it, add in the kale and cous cous into each single serving bowl.
- Next, sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the sliced bread pop it in the broiler for just a minute or so to melt it up.
- Next, place to toasty parmesan bread right into the soup and top off with a little more broth to finish it up.
It’s kind of like onion soup where the bread adds some body and flavor to the soup, plus it’s just plain awesome!
Serve it hot and enjoy!
My FAVORITE SOUP RECIPES
If you love this, then you are going to love of my other favorite soup recipes.
- Classic French Onion Soup Recipe
- New England Clam Chowder Recipe
- Pork Confit and Split Pea Soup
- Zuppa Toscana Recipe
- Beef Cabbage Soup
Ribollita Soup Recipe with Chicken and Kale
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 peeled and small diced yellow onion
- 5 medium diced ribs of celery
- 5 peeled and medium diced carrots
- 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of chardonnay
- 4 15- ounce cans of white cannellini beans strained
- 28- ounce can of diced tomatoes drained
- 1 gallon of chicken stock
- 4 cups of cooked Israeli cous cous
- 1 head of trimmed and cut fresh kale
- 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
- crisp cooked prosciutto slices chopped for garnish
- French baguette slices
- parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large dutch oven pot and sear the chicken breasts on both sides until golden brown and cooked through out.
- Remove the chicken, medium dice and set aside.
- Next, add the onions, celery, carrots and garlic to the pan and cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Add the chopped chicken back in along with the beans, tomatoes, stock and salt and pepper and simmer on low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Finish the soup by adding in the cooked cous cous, kale, thyme and rosemary.
- Pour the soup into a bowl and garnish with chopped crispy prosciutto and parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
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