Farro and Bean Soup Recipe (2024)

How about a parmesan rind instead of the pancetta for a vegetarian version?

This was excellent. I made it in a slow cooker. Substituted turkey bacon for pancetta. Sautéed bacon first, and then onion, garlic, celery carrots, and leeks before adding to the slow cooker with beans, farro, and water. Vooked on high for two hours and then low for 4 hours. Wonderful dish. Healthy and inexpensive to make.

I always discard the water used to soak my grains and beans, since I don't rinse these seeds before adding the soaking water, and the seeds can be a bit dirty. Then I rinse the seeds several times before adding the cooking liquid. Germinating seeds (and that is what pre-soaking does, start seed germination) release compounds that may be protective to the new seedling, but perhaps not so helpful to us.

Am I understanding correctly, that the soaking water from the beans and grains is kept in the soup to be consumed?
Is this for nutritional purposes? Is it high in protein or minerals? I would have thought that would be discarded for any elements hard to digest, but if the nutritive factors outweigh that, than I understand.
Does the foam contain the soaking water's discards, and is it easy to skim off?
Just wanted to be clear, thank you.

Made this dish 4-5 x's experimenting w/ grains mentioned in notes. Use farro for sublime creaminess, great with borlotti beans. Kamut a little nutty, less rich. Wheat berries and navy or kidney beans make for perfectly serviceable meal albeit heavy on the nutty w/o creaminess. Farro 5 to 6 times cost of wheat berries but so worth it. Blend of faro & kamut works. Also, I use vegetable broth instead of water and at least 4 times the amount of veggies to make most of the rich broth.

Great soup, made it 2 times with borlotti and small red beans, equally good, slightly different texture. First time discarded the soaking liquid, but the recipe is better when you keep it as directed. Worth the effort, going on my short list of favorite soups. Don't underestimate how important the Parmesan rind is. For the record, did a calorie analysis using an online program. A large 500 gram bowl (from 8 servings and 3 ounces of pancetta) is only 308 calories with 9 grams of fiber!

Great dish! Made vegetarian version adding more vegetables - 8 large carrots, head of celery, very large leeks and onions, 2nd can tomatoes - as more veggies always good and concerned would be too beany & heavy for meat-eaters at my table without. Adjusted spices up for larger volume. Also used vegetable broth. Used borlottis beans which have nice color. They doubled in size with overnight soak. Outcome terrific. A creamy blend of farro and beans in stew-like dish that everyone enjoyed.

I think farro comes in two different forms. "Pearl" farro doesn't need to be soaked and cooks quickly. There's another, darker, kind that most definitely needs to be soaked. I live near Italy and can get both kinds but I'm not sure what's sold elsewhere.

i used chicken stock in place of the bean water. also added some ribbons of kale for a few minutes at the end. served with a crusty loaf and some sea salty butter, this was a terrific winter dinner!

Soaked the chickpeas and farro as directed, then cooked at high pressure in pressure cooker for 7 minutes (natural release) before proceeding with recipe. Delicious!

I always use the soaking water. I have found that this makes for a more flavorable pot of beans.

There is probably a fair amount of starch released into this water during the soak, and that helps to thicken the final stew. If my logic is correct, using fresh water would result in a thinner broth.

Delicious! I added some leftover ham and a hambone, and put in some Savoy cabbage at the end. This soup makes a great "ribollita"- I hope that's the right spelling - as well, with a slice of toasted bread included at the bottom of the bowl before the hot soup is ladled on.

Made the recipe as described and added some fire roasted tomatoes for a little extra smokey taste.

This soup is delicious! Problem is I didn’t cook the beans long enough and now everything is mixed together. Is there any way to further soften the beans, like is slow cooker?

Made this with canned pinto beans and farro that I cooked in the pot. No meat. It was fabulous! Lots of chopped veggies…. a big hit and will make it again.Perfect on a snowy day!Jan

Skim foam then add aromatics.

Can anyone let me know if I use canned beans do they still need to be soaked ?

This was delicious! I used 2x the carrots and celery and parm rinds. Soup is very healthy with a good flavor.

Too thin! Made in Germering November 2023

I added twice as much tomato paste and it added a great umami flavor. Delicious on the 2nd and 3rd day of leftovers.

This is one of my favorite soup recipes. I use a combo of borlotti and red beans. Don’t skip the Parmesan rind! I think the pancetta is easily left out though if you’d rather have a vegetarian version. Make sure you’re using whole grain farro (not pearled or semi pearled). Well worth the time spent.

Made this recently with modifications to make vegan. Skipped the pancetta and Parmesan rind. Doubled the carrot, celery and diced tomatoes. I didn’t soak my farro and used canned beans. Thick and hearty. I thought it was really good that way, and my kids even enjoyed it too, so that’s a huge win around here! Next time might up the herbs and maybe add some miso as another reviewer mentioned. Finished with some grated vegan Parmesan and served with a good crusty bread

I was surprised how much I liked this. One of the best soups I’ve ever made.

Adzuki beans are already a little sweet, so with the leeks and carrots, this soup was too sweet for me. Adding some pickled hatch peppers added enough heat and acid to rescue it. Next time, I left out the leeks and did a mashup with the NYT Broccoli & Farro Stew with Capers & Parsley. SO good! Broccolini and celery leaves added enough bitterness to tame the beans. Reserved the quick-roasted (I used) broccolini until time to heat & serve with the parsley/caper mixture. Yes.

First time, made as written, but the leeks made it too sweet for me. Added some hatch chiles that added enough acid and heat to rescue it. Next time, did a mashup with NYT Broccoli and Farro Stew with Capers & Parsley. Used broccolini, no leeks. Doubled the veggies and included the celery leaves for the added bitterness. Quick-roasted the broccolini and saved until time to heat and serve with chopped capers & parsley. Perfect.

Don’t use pearled farro like I did. It turns into mush. Pearled farro only takes 20 minutes to cook, and doesn’t need to be soaked. Sadly, I didn’t realize this until it was too late.

Addictive! Minor adjustments: 1) I had already pre-soaked my scarlet runner beans, so I only soaked the farro on its own overnight. I used the farro's starchy soaking water in the recipe as instructed. 2) Doubled the carrots & celery. 3) Replaced a quart of water (in step 3) with homemade veggie stock. 4) Did not use pancetta. When I tasted halfway through, the flavor was a little thin even with the parmesan rind, so I added about a 1/4-teaspoon of MSG, which gave the stew perfect depth.

What would be recommend for substituting farro for a gluten free by medical necessity friend?