Pancotto Recipe (Tuscan Bread Soup, 45 Minutes)

Name: The Cheap and Easy Tuscan Soup I Make When I Have Zero Food In the House
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 (1-pound) loaf day-old crusty Italian bread; 5 cups vegetable stock, divided, plus more as needed; 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped; 1 large rib celery, finely chopped; 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary; 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for garnish, optional; Salt, as needed; Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish, optional

Pancotto is a classic Italian recipe that transforms stale bread and basic vegetables into a comforting, hearty soup.
It uses just a handful of vegetables and herbs yet delivers deep, satisfying flavor.
Minimal prep and simple steps make this an easy meal for busy or low-stocked weeks, and it’s an easy recipe to customize with whatever you’re got on hand.

There are weeks when, for some reason or another, I can’t make it to the grocery store. The fridge may hold a tired bunch of celery and some fresh herbs leftover from a long-consumed dinner, but that’s about it. When you figure out how to make a full meal from assorted jars of condiments, please let me know.

Until then, there’s a solution to those lean times, and it comes from…lean times! Made with stale bread and a handful of aromatic vegetables, pancotto is the kind of soul-warming food that reminds me how satisfying the simplest cooking can be. I make it when the cupboard is bare, or my daughter isn’t feeling well, or I’ve had a horrible day and need a giant bowl of carbs drizzled with olive oil.

A bowl of pancotto soup with bread chunks and garnished herbs — Simply Recipes / Photography by Morgan Hunt Ward / Prop Styling by Prissy Montiel / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling

What Is Pancotto?

Recipes utilizing stale bread to thicken sauces and soups go back to medieval times. Bread was precious and would never have been wasted, but it was also a convenience food of sorts, a base for dozens of waste-not recipes.

The Tuscan bread soup pancotto means “cooked bread.” Ribollita and acquacotta are similar Italian bread-based soups, sometimes with beans, tomatoes, or greens; this pancotto is minimal by design. The stale bread is a rustic loaf torn into little pieces and simmered in an herb-flecked broth until the bread chunks soften and basically melt into the soup. If you’d love Italian-seasoned Thanksgiving stuffing, pancotto is right up your alley.

The most basic bread soups are made with water, but this one calls for vegetable stock. It gets a huge flavor boost from a sprinkling of Pecorino Romano at the end.

Bowls of pancotto soup with bread and vegetables accompanied by grated cheese and spoons — Simply Recipes / Photography by Morgan Hunt Ward / Prop Styling by Prissy Montiel / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling

Wait! My Bread Isn’t Stale!

What, you didn’t plan ahead to make desperation soup? You can totally make pancotto with fresh bread. Just dry out the cubed bread on a baking sheet in a 325°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

Every loaf will absorb the broth differently, thickening more as it sits. If the soup is too thick for your liking, thin it out with a little water.

Tuscan Bread Soup Variations

As a classic make-do dish, pancotto is incredibly flexible. I hardly ever make it the same way twice. Clearly you can’t omit the bread, but nearly every other element besides the garlic and onion is fair game.

Add a can of drained white beans to make the soup even heartier.
Grate a fresh tomato into the broth, or add canned tomatoes.
Purée the soup to form a smooth, creamy texture.
Drop a handful of baby spinach leaves into the soup during the final 5 minutes of simmering.
Swap the vegetable stock for chicken stock.
Use Parmesan instead of Pecorino Romano.
Top each serving with a fried egg.
Omit the rosemary and finish the soup with chopped fresh basil leaves.

A bowl of pancotto soup with bread vegetables and a spoon — Simply Recipes / Photography by Morgan Hunt Ward / Prop Styling by Prissy Montiel / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling

More Pantry Meal Lifesavers

Pancotto (Tuscan Bread Soup)

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Servings 4 servings

If you don’t have stale bread at the ready you can mimic it by baking the cubes on a baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes at 325°F.

This recipe was developed by Tricia Manzanero Stuedeman.

Keep Screen Awake

1 (1-pound) loaf day-old crusty Italian bread
5 cups vegetable stock, divided, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large rib celery, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup (1 ounce) grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for garnish, optional
Salt, as needed
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish, optional

Cube the bread and soften:

Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes to yield 4 cups; reserve remaining bread for another use. Add the cubes to a large bowl and stir in 1 cup of the stock until it’s evenly distributed. Set aside to soften.
Cook the aromatics:

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring frequently, until just softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add the bread and simmer:

Add the softened bread and remaining 4 cups of stock to the Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring and slightly mashing the bread cubes occasionally, until the bread is broken down and the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in additional broth as needed to reach your desired consistency. Remove the pot from heat, then stir in the Pecorino Romano, if using. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt, if needed.
Garnish and serve:

Divide the soup evenly among 4 bowls. Garnish with extra Pecorino Romano and the parsley, if using. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days or store in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Love the recipe? Leave us stars and a comment below!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
403	Calories
11g	Fat
64g	Carbs
11g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	403
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g	14%
Saturated Fat 1g	5%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 1481mg	64%
Total Carbohydrate 64g	23%
Dietary Fiber 5g	17%
Total Sugars 7g
Protein 11g
Vitamin C 4mg	18%
Calcium 116mg	9%
Iron 4mg	21%
Potassium 295mg	6%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.