Italian stregoni bean soup

This Italian stregoni bean soup is warm, comforting and bursting with flavour and healthy ingredients! Imagine sitting down at a rustic wooden kitchen table in the heart of the Italian countryside – this is what you would be eating. A thick, hearty bean soup with homegrown vegetables. We can but dream, but these flavours will transport you straight to the rustic kitchens of rural Italy. It all starts with a good soffritto of chopped onions, carrots and celery, after which potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage and beans are added along with vegetable broth. Then, it’s all slow-cooked in a big pot on low heat for an hour. Seasoning is simple, as always: salt, black pepper and a drizzling of extra virgin olive oil. The result is a rustic soup where the flavours of the vegetables and beans really shine through. A perfect dinner for a cosy night in!

What are stregoni beans?

Stregoni beans are a type of borlotti bean (cranberry bean) from Piemonte in Italy. Slightly larger and darker than standard borlotti, stregoni beans are prized for their creamy texture and nutty flavour. They are also described as being meaty with a slightly earthy flavour. In their raw state, they are hazelnut brown with pretty dark brown speckles and stripes, which disappear during the cooking process. Stregoni beans are a popular choice for adding both taste and visual appeal to various soups and stews, as well as pasta dishes. They are also rich in protein, fibre, and essential nutrients, making them a nutritious addition to any meal.

In Italian, “stregoni” translates to “sorcerers”, which adds a touch of folklore and mystique to these beans. Italian chefs and home cooks alike appreciate them for their versatility and delicious taste. I’m a bean addict, and I love discovering new types – I never realised there were so many until I became vegan!

Where can I find stregoni beans?

If you live in the US, you can buy stregoni beans on the Rancho Gordo website. They have loads of different beans, including Italian varieties. In Italy, they are relatively easy to find, although they are not the most common variety, and some supermarkets don’t stock them. Don’t worry if you can’t get hold of stregoni beans, you can substitute them with a similar bean (see below).

What can I use instead of stregoni beans?

You can substitute the stregoni beans in this recipe with borlotti beans. The borlotti bean is also known as the cranberry bean, Roman bean, saluggia bean, gadhra bean or rosecoco bean. The borlotti bean and its aliases are used in Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, and Greek cuisines. If you can’t find borlotti beans either, just use the closest match.

About this recipe

I made this Italian-style stregoni bean soup one evening when I only had a handful of leftovers in the fridge. That’s when I’m at my most creative – it’s a challenge to make something out of little or nothing, and I love that. It turned out far better than I thought it would! So good that I immediately wrote everything down so I wouldn’t forget how I’d made it. One of the things that makes this soup so outstanding is the bruschetta it’s served with (more about that further down). This soup definitely rivals ribollita toscana in flavour, and it’s so much quicker and easier to make. So here you are, Italian stregoni bean soup – naturally vegan and definitely one of my favourites – I know you’ll love it!

How to make Italian-style stregoni bean soup

Ingredients

In the recipe card below, you’ll find the exact quantities for each ingredient.

Stregoni beans

If you can find stregoni beans, I highly recommend using them. Borlotti or cranberry beans are a good substitute if you can’t. As always, I recommend using dried beans. You won’t be able to find tinned stregoni beans anyway. You’ll need to soak the beans for 8 hours or overnight and then cook them separately in a pressure cooker. If you’re in a hurry or you forgot to soak your beans, you can use a tin of borlotti beans instead.

Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is best for this vegetable and bean soup. It’s the most widely used oil in Italy. It’s a superior quality oil that handles heat well.

onion, celery and carrot

Chopped onion, carrot and celery make up the soffritto. Soffritto is the base for this and many other Italian soups, stews, and pasta dishes, such as tagliatelle with bolognese sauce or lentil ragu. Yellow onion is best for this recipe because it has a more decisive flavour. Carrots and celery should be firm and fresh. I chop the onion and celery finely and dice the carrots. In terms of flavour, it doesn’t matter how you chop the carrots, but if they are diced, it contributes to the overall appearance of the dish. Diced carrots add a lovely splash of colour.

Garlic

You’ll need fresh garlic for this recipe. I don’t recommend using garlic powder. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you can just omit it. You’ll also need fresh garlic for the bruschette. This, too, can be omitted if you’re not a fan of garlic.

Pumpkin

Diced pumpkin has three purposes in this recipe. It contributes to the flavour profile as well as the visual appearance. As the pumpkin cooks, it tends to break down a little and serves as a natural thickener. You can use any kind of pumpkin or butternut for this soup.

Potatoes

Waxy potatoes that hold their shape when cooked are best for this recipe. Farinaceous varieties will tend to break up when cooked and are not ideal for a soup that takes an hour to cook.

Vegetable broth

You’ll need vegetable broth for this recipe. This can be in the form of powder or cubes, prepared according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I make my own vegetable broth from kitchen scraps. Every time I peel a carrot, for example, I wash it first and then put the peelings in a bag in the freezer. I do the same with celery and leek trimmings and any layers of onion that are starting to dry out. Then, when the bag is full, I get it out of the freezer and make the most delicious vegetable broth with scraps that would have otherwise been thrown away. It reduces waste and only takes about an hour to make – with no hands-on time involved at all. Just put the frozen scraps in a pan and let them simmer while you get on with other things.

Cabbage

You can use savoy cabbage, kale, or cavolo nero in this soup. I used savoy cabbage in the photos you can see on this page. Dark green kale or cavolo nero provides a beautiful contrast with the orange base of this stregoni bean soup. If you don’t have any cabbage, you could make do with spinach.

Tomatoes

The first time I made this recipe, I had 3 very ripe tomatoes in the fridge, so I used them. I’m not fond of pieces of tomato skin in soups, and I’m too lazy to blanch and peel them, so I liquidised them in the blender. I recommend you do the same – it works well with any kind of fresh tomatoes. Alternatively, you can substitute fresh for tinned. Calculate half a tin (200g) as being equivalent to 3 fresh tomatoes. If you use passata, reduce the quantity to half that amount and dilute it with water 50/50.

Salt and pepper

I use a simple seasoning of unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper in this recipe.

Bread

I really recommend you serve bruschetta with this Italian stregoni bean soup. Bruschette are slices of toasted bread, ideally sourdough bread. The bread can be toasted in the oven or on the grill. The term bruschetta originates from the regions of Lazio and Abruzzo and comes from pane bruscato, which means toasted bread. Bruschetta, therefore, translates as a “little piece of toasted bread”.

In this Italian bean soup, bruschetta is served in its simplest form: garlic is rubbed onto one side of toasted bread and then drizzled with the best quality olive oil you can get your hands on. You may be familiar with bruschetta loaded with chopped tomato, but that’s not what I mean here.

How to make Italian stregoni bean soup – method

In the recipe card below, you’ll find step-by-step instructions with photos.

• Soak the beans for 8 hours or overnight. Rinse them and put them in a pan or pressure cooker. Add enough water to completely cover the beans (about half an inch above the beans in a pressure cooker and more in a standard pot. Add a little salt and simmer until the beans are cooked through but still firm. They take 15 minutes in my crockpot on the beans setting.
• Put the extra virgin olive in a large heavy-bottomed pan. Heat the oil up and add the chopped onion, chopped celery and diced carrot. Gently cook on a low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add the crushed garlic, diced pumpkin or butternut, and potato. Continue to cook on a medium-low heat for another 5 minutes.
• Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the chopped cabbage and liquidised tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add the stregoni beans with some of their liquid and season with salt and pepper. Once the soup comes to the boil, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 45 – 50 minutes without a lid.
• By now, all the flavours will have amalgamated, and the soup will be nice and thick. If it’s too thick at the end, add a little vegetable broth or water. Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary.

garnishing and serving Italian stregoni bean soup

• Prepare the bruschette. Cut some good quality sourdough bread into 1 cm thick slices and toast them lightly in the oven or under a grill. Rub some garlic on one side of the toasted bread.
• Ladle the hot soup into warm soup plates. Put a piece of bruschetta on the side of each soup bowl so that part of it is immersed. Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the soup and pieces of bruschetta. Add a couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper to the soup and serve immediately.

How to store Italian stregoni bean soup

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, where they’ll keep for up to 4 days. To reheat, put the soup in a pan, put a lid on and reheat slowly. If the soup is too thick, add a little water.

Can you freeze Italian stregoni bean soup?

Yes, you can. I’ve never frozen it myself because we always polish the lot off the same day or the day after, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t. Make a big batch and freeze half of it so you have a quick meal another day. To reheat, allow the soup to defrost at room temperature and then proceed as above.

I’m sure you’ll love this soup! What isn’t there to love about a thick, rustic Italian vegetable and bean soup? If you try it and like it, I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below, or take a quick pic and share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook @vegan_hot_stuff – I love seeing your re-creations!

Before you go, maybe you’d like to take a look at some other delicious vegan recipes…

If you liked my recipe for vegan stregoni beans soup, it would be great if you could rate it and leave a comment below! It helps me immensely, and it also helps others discover my blog and recipes. Thank you for supporting Vegan Hot Stuff! Deborah xxx

Would you like to receive my recipes as soon as I publish them? Subscribe below!