Equipment
Ingredients
Produce
- 150 g yellow onion, finely diced
- 100 g carrots, diced
- 100 g celery, diced
- 15 g garlic, minced
- 400 g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes
- 200 g radicchio, cored and roughly chopped
- 15 g fresh basil, chiffonade or roughly torn
Pantry and Liquids
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil, divided use
- 500 g canned pink beans, drained and rinsed well
- 1000 ml vegetable broth, low sodium preferred
- 15 ml balsamic vinegar
- 5 g fine sea salt
- 2 g black pepper, freshly cracked
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 619 kcal
- Protein
- 31 g
- Carbohydrates
- 106 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Fiber
- 21 g
- Sugar
- 8 g
- Sodium
- 1314 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 1 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 6 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 1 g
- Potassium
- 2681 mg
- Calcium
- 253 mg
- Iron
- 12.7 mg
- Magnesium
- 274 mg
- Phosphorus
- 619 mg
- Zinc
- 4.2 mg
- Vitamin A
- 260 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 23 mg
- Vitamin E
- 2.5 mg
- Vitamin K
- 159 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.5 mg
- Thiamin
- 0.13 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.13 mg
- Niacin
- 1.9 mg
- Folate
- 71 mcg
- Water
- 463 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Prepare all vegetables. Dice the onion, carrots, and celery. Mince the garlic, cube the potatoes, and roughly chop the radicchio.
Heat 20ml of olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook until softened and translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute more until fragrant.
Add the cubed potatoes, vegetable broth, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil at 100C or 212F, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in the drained pink beans and the chopped radicchio. Continue to simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes. The radicchio will wilt significantly and turn a deep purple-brown, while the beans heat through.
Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning with additional salt or pepper if needed.
Ladle the hot soup into bowls and drizzle each portion with the remaining 10ml of extra virgin olive oil before serving.
Chef's Notes
- Cooking radicchio tames its aggressive bitterness, transforming it into a complex, savory flavor that pairs beautifully with earthy beans.
- For a thicker, creamier texture, you can use an immersion blender to quickly pulse the soup once or twice before adding the radicchio.
- Always add fresh basil completely off the heat to preserve its volatile aromatic oils, which dissipate quickly if boiled.
- Pink beans have a delicate, slightly sweet flavor and creamy interior. If you cannot find them, borlotti or cranberry beans are the closest botanical and culinary substitutes.
Storage
Refrigerator: 4 days — Flavor deepens after a day in the fridge, making it excellent for leftovers.
Freezer: 3 months — Potatoes may change texture slightly upon thawing, but the flavor remains excellent.
Reheating: Warm gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat until simmering, adding a splash of water or broth if it has thickened too much.
Troubleshooting
Broth tastes overwhelmingly bitter from the radicchio
Cause: The radicchio was not cooked long enough to mellow, or the soup lacks adequate acidity and salt to balance the flavor profile
Fix: Add an extra 5ml splash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt to balance the flavor
Prevention: Ensure the radicchio simmers for the full 10 minutes until deeply wilted and tender
Soup lacks body and feels watery
Cause: Broth to solid ratio is too high, or beans did not release enough starch
Fix: Remove a ladleful of beans and potatoes, mash them into a paste, and stir them back into the soup to thicken the broth
Prevention: Use exact liquid measurements and do not over-dilute
Cultural Context
Using bitter chicories like radicchio in hot broths is a classic Northern Italian technique. Historically, peasant dishes combined whatever hearty legumes and root vegetables were available with foraged or cultivated bitter greens, creating deeply nourishing stews that balanced sweet, salty, and bitter profiles.
