Parmesan White Bean Soup With Hearty Greens
- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 4tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1head garlic, halved crosswise
- 10ounces Parmesan rinds, enclosed in cheesecloth or muslin
- 1lemon, rind peeled into thick strips with a vegetable peeler, then halved and juiced
- 8sprigs fresh thyme
- ½teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- 1pound hearty greens (such as escarole, kale, mustard greens or rapini), stemmed and torn into bite-size pieces
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 2(15-ounce) cans white beans (such as Great Northern or cannellini) or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
698 calories; 33 grams fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 60 grams carbohydrates; 16 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 44 grams protein; 1580 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
To make the Parmesan broth: In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high. Add the garlic, cut-sides down, and cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the Parmesan rinds, lemon rinds, thyme and 8 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until the broth tastes full and rich and is reduced by half, 1 to 1½ hours. (You will have about 4 cups of broth.) Reserve half the garlic and half the lemon rinds, then strain the broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Once cool, the broth will keep for 1 week refrigerated or 3 months in the freezer. If freezing, leave a bit of space between the broth and the lid of the container, as the broth will expand.)
- Step 2
To make the soup: Squeeze the garlic cloves to release them from the reserved head. Finely chop the reserved lemon rind. In a large pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-low. Add the garlic cloves and the red-pepper flakes and cook, breaking up the garlic with your spoon, just until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 3
Increase the heat to medium, add the greens and ¼ teaspoon of the chopped lemon rind and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the greens are wilted, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Step 4
Add the beans and all of the Parmesan broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until the greens are silky and the beans and broth are warmed through, about 10 minutes.
- Step 5
Remove from heat and taste. Stir in lemon juice and additional lemon rind to taste. (You will not use all the lemon.) Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with black pepper and grated Parmesan on top.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Virginia
And if you don't happen to have 10 ounces cheese rind? Is there a way to make this with fresh Parmesan?
Annie
This soup is practically a staple in my home, derived from the Italian home in which I was raised. Usually a Saturday starter to our steak and fries special meal. I have been making it all of my 61 years of married life using escarole. Also traditionally served at the beginning of our Easter meals. Once in a while we include tiny meatballs, poached in the soup toward the end, but I prefer it sans meatballs.
paul
I followed the recipe pretty closely and the proportions don’t resemble the picture. 4 cups of broth after reducing (I measured) to not even 1lb of kale (I used 12-14 oz before stem trimming) resulted in something closer to wilted kale in a bit of broth. I added 2c veggie broth and it was still mostly kale and beans.
Alex
Halve the water and pressure cook the first step for 30 minutes. Follow the rest of the steps as is.
VJBortolot
After making the broth, please don't discard the cheese rinds! I always cut them up into bite size nutty, chewy nuggets and add to the soup or stew or sauce I am making, or save for another dish. Or just eat them as is. They are so, so good. You also can stick them on a fork and melt them a little in the gas flame.
CC
Perhaps this is obvious to everyone but me, but after you brown the cut garlic in 2 Tbsp olive oil at medium high heat, let the pan cool down A LOT before adding the water. I didn't and got a veritable shower of olive oil all over my stove.
Marissa
Folks! You can buy parm rind! And always save your leftovers (I freeze mine) Parm rind at any mid-high level grocer or cheese monger. Whole Paycheck has them for 5.99 which means a good 5 oz chunk is about 34 cents. :)
JRH
So I wanted a lot of broth....I basically doubled it with two heads of garlic, over a pound of parmesan rinds and 4 quarts of water. The broth simmered for 2 hours. I used a pound of greens (mustard, collard, and turnip). Three cans of great northern beans, one can of garbanzo and followed the rest of the recipe....took about 3 hours total and it is out of this world delicious.
Bernice Glenn
I agree. You can't buy cheese rinds easily. They are usually leftovers from the cheese you do buy. The recipe should have included where rinds are available, and how to substitute if possible.
Jerome
I would slice the collards very thin, like the Brazilians do and saute them a bit to soften them before adding to the soup, if you want to use Collards
liz h
The broth to kale to bean ratio is really off. Next time I’m going to double the amount of water and ingredients used for the broth and then it should be better. Delicious broth as is, so i don’t want to dilute it.
Jeff Briere
To me, this recipe screamed for chicken, so I added the leftovers of Alison Roman's Vinegar Chicken. Also added a third of a cup of half-and-half. XLNT
Robin
This broth is seriously one of the BEST broths I’ve ever tasted, let alone made. There’s infinite possibilities floating around my head. Looking forward to trying as many as possible. RF
jessi
The flavor from the Parmesan rinds was incredible, very rich for the relatively short cooking time. Unfortunately this recipe doesn’t make nearly enough broth for a real soup (as pictured)! I had to dump in half a quart plus of chicken broth at the end when I realized how little broth it had made. I would double the amount of broth next time, but otherwise we loved it. Will cook again.
Lisa
Note: after the first hour of cooking my broth was rather bland, but by the 2nd hour it was delicious!
Dan
Based on reading reviews, I upped liquid (used chicken stock, not water) to 1 gallon (16 cups). Used 2 heads of garlic, zest of 1 lemon and 10 oz parmesan rind. Simmered uncovered 2 hours at which point the broth was delicious. Finished as written with 12 oz kale, 2 cans of cannelli beans and added finely chopped parmesan rind. Did not add lemon juice as it was lemony enough and did not need the acid. Absolutely delicious and broth to kale / bean ratio was perfect. A keeper!
Amy K
5 stars from me, a seriously delicious broth. I didn’t have fresh thyme (jarred) but other than that, and two ladles of cooked quinoa, I followed to a T. I was surprised btw that I needed more than one Parmesan rind. I get them from Whole Paycheck and to reach 10 oz of rind, as per the recipe, I needed three
Jill
Based on others' comments and having only one parmesan rind, started with sauting the garlic, added half an onion, the parm rind, thyme, red pepper flakes, squirt of lemon juice, container of chicken broth and some water. After @ 20 minutes, added @12 ounces of mixed greens (1 lb is too much) and two cans of white beans. Simmered for @445 minutes and it was pretty good.
esm624
Agree with others that as is this is quite bland. I pumped up the garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper, and added some sautéed pancetta at the final stage (after the greens and beans).
Amy
Delicious soup. I recommend taking the 'bite sized pieces' literally for the greens. Also, you may want to avoid any red/purple kale or other greens - the color of my broth was not as beautiful as it might have been.
Barbara
This recipe seems overcomplicated to me, without flavor benefit. Follow the recipe loosely, placing the parm rinds in chicken stock with the aromatics, and simmer. Add the white beans, I use the pot liquor from the canned beans in the soup but I understand why the author asks you to drain and rinse the beans -- I just don't believe in it. Do what's right for you. Then the washed, trimmed, and chopped hard greens you're using -- the author's choices are fine. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.
Ivy
One of my all time favorite recipes! A lot of soups can feel kind of same-y but this one really stands out as something special. I keep cheese rinds and wheat berries on hand specifically for this recipe.
Ariel
Too much work and not enough reward. A great tip that helped was adding some white miso to the broth to give it a little more umph.
Anna Hawkins
Love this recipe! Thank you Ms Slagle. Streamlined version (for the harried) - Step 1: never mind straining and reserving, just do what you can to fish the detritus out of the stock pot with a slotted spoon. Throw whatever garlic you collected to fry in the soup pot and don't worry about chopping half the cooked lemon rind - you can squeeze lots of lemon juice in at the end. Carry on roughly at Step 3. Definitely needs seasoning - we love Better Than Bouillon chicken for pretty much everything.
Ellen
ohhh it’s so good. second all the notes that say to be patient, by hour one the broth was flavorless, but hour two it was incredible.
S
Tasty soup! Very easy. I agree, 1lb of greens is a bit much, I ended up using about 8oz which was plenty. I also added a tablespoon of 'better than bouillon, vegetable' to give it a little more flavor since I didn't have as many parm rinds as I should have.
Robert
Excellent! The broth is amazing.
SLC Cook
A lot of preparation time and oversight for an average soup. Even after making three additional cups broth and adding a third can of beans.
why is my broth so bitter?
maybe too much lemon ?
Mandy J
I forgot to buy lemons at the store but I always keep lemon essential oil at the house from Whole foods. I know you can buy many fancier brands but I just got the Whole Foods brand. I added 25 drops ish and felt like it was a good substitute. I let individuals add their own red chili flakes as I brought this to a church get together where small children would be eating it. It was widely LOVED and I have three people ask me for the recipe. I actually diced up the parmesan rind and included it.
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