Parmesan White Bean Soup With Hearty Greens

By Ali Slagle

Parmesan White Bean Soup With Hearty Greens
Andrew Purcell for The New York Times. Food Sylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
About 2 hours
Rating
4(2,944)
Comments
Read comments

Whatever you do, don’t throw away your Parmesan rinds: Within those waxy rinds is enough rich umami and salty cheese flavor to carry an entire soup’s broth. Collect and store them in an airtight container in the freezer (or purchase a container of them at your grocery store). Once you have about 10 ounces of rinds, simmer them with aromatics as you would to make chicken or bone broth. (For an easier cleanup, enclose the rinds in cheesecloth or muslin.) Use the broth to make risotto or minestrone, a pot of beans or this soup, which combines beans and greens with the garlic and lemon rind from the broth. Use whichever beans and greens you like, and mop up every last Parmesan-y drop with a hunk of crusty bread.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

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.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. 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.)

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
2,944 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

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.

lee

Like @paul, my soup has SO much more kale than the photo! I followed the recipe, weighing two bunches, equaling one pound of kale and mine looks like it has twice as much kale as the recipe photo. Delicious, BUT use only one bunch and twice the broth (which was amazing!).

Pauline Ploquin

I made this many time, cooking dry white beans (I like them better than canned) in instant pot, then making the broth with bean broth, then making the soup. Always delicious but labor intensive! This last time I just cooked the dry beans and broth in the instant pot all at once to equal deliciousness but made the following mods: - 12 cups of water over 1 pound of dry beans (cannellinis, organic) - put parm rinds, cut garlic head, lemon rind, thyme and Parmesan rinds in two large cheese cloth bags (parm rind in their own) - cooked on soup for 45 mn, tasted the beans and added 30 minutes of cooking to perfection of broth and beans - removed the cheese cloth bags, expelled the garlic into the soup, cut some parm rinds for topping (pretty hot - wait 10-15 mn to do) - added the greens into piping hot broth including chopped up stems, as recommended by other readers, that was enough cooking for the greens (mix of lack to kale and red Swiss chard. It was incredible and easy! / just added the greens to the just

avb2

This really did not work for me. Didn't care for the lemon and wish I had left it out. The parm broth was good, but I would not use it for this recipe again. A lot of work for a disappointing result.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.