Ribollita — a italian main course dish from Italy — featuring panade, bread soup, peasant cooking

Ribollita · Italian · Main Course

Ribollita

Born in Italy

Reboiled: Tuscan bread soup born from leftover minestrone and stale bread, peasant fasting made into rib-sticking substance.

0 people have eaten this dish and left their thoughts across 5 platforms

8 in 10 mention uses inexpensive vegetables first

7 in 10 say it's worth it for the adaptable with many variations

5 in 10 would come back the same week

Synthesised from Google · TripAdvisor · Reddit · Yelp · 1 food blog · Updated August 2026

The story the reviews tell

Ribollita is Tuscan peasant resourcefulness in a bowl—bread and vegetables transformed through deliberate reheating into something greater than their parts. Born from Friday fasting and the practical math of leftovers, this panade gathers cannellini beans, lacinato kale, cabbage, and whatever humble vegetables were at hand: carrots, chard, celery, potatoes, onion. Often baked in clay, it tastes like necessity becoming comfort.

What makes this version distinct

Ribollita (lit. 'reboiled') is a Tuscan panade (a variety of bread soup) made with bread and vegetables, often from leftovers. There are many variations, but it usually contains cannellini beans, lacinato kale, cabbage and inexpensive vegetables such as carrot, beans, chard, celery, potatoes and onion. It is often baked in a clay pot. Like most Tuscan cuisine, the soup has peasant origins. It was originally made by reheating (or reboiling) large amounts of minestrone or vegetable soup leftover from the previous day with stale bread. This occurred most frequently on Fridays, as it was eaten as a fasting food. Some sources date it to the Middle Ages, when the servants gathered up food-soaked bread trenchers from feudal lords' banquets and boiled them for their dinners. The dish is first documented in 1910, in L'arte cucinaria in Italia by Alberto Cougnet.

Signature elements

panadebread souppeasant cookingvegetable-forwardreheatedclay-pot baked

What people love

  • uses inexpensive vegetables
  • adaptable with many variations
  • medieval roots with living tradition

Know before you go