White Bean & Escarole Soup

This escarole soup is the kind of one-pot Italian-American dinner that grandmothers in Brooklyn and Naples have been making for a century, and there’s a reason it never went out of style. Bitter, leafy escarole wilts down into a clean, savory broth thick with creamy white beans and softened garlic.

The overnight bean soak isn’t optional. It cuts the cook time roughly in half and gives you tender beans with intact skins instead of the chalky, blown-out kind you get from a rushed simmer.

Building the aromatics in their own pot before they meet the broth is what separates this from a watery sick-day soup. Sweating the onion and garlic in olive oil for a full seven minutes deepens the base before the escarole even hits the pan.

Chef Tips

• Don’t toss the bitter outer leaves of the escarole, they carry the flavor that makes this soup more than just bean soup. Wash them well to get the grit out from between the ribs.
• Use cannellini or great northern beans for that classic creamy texture, or sub a can of drained beans if you forgot to soak.
• A parmesan rind tossed in with the broth adds a rich, savory backbone, fish it out before serving.
• Finish each bowl with a drizzle of good olive oil and a heavy grating of parmesan.

Variations

• Add a handful of small pasta like ditalini or orzo with the broth for an escarole and beans pasta e fagioli style soup.
• Stir in shredded leftover roast chicken at the end for a heartier dinner version.
• Swap escarole for kale or Swiss chard if escarole isn’t around, the cook time stays similar.