Vegetarian garbure

Name: Vegetarian garbure
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: ½ savoy cabbage, leaves shredded; 3 potatoes, in 2 cm cubes; 2 turnips, in 2 cm cubes; 3 carrots, sliced; 2 onions, sliced; 3 garlic cloves, chopped; 1 tin white beans (400 g drained); 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay, parsley); 3 tbsp oil; 1.5 L water; Salt and pepper; Toasted country bread, to serve

Local name: Garbure

The great peasant soup of south-west France, savoy cabbage, turnips, carrots, potatoes and white beans slow-simmered in a thyme broth.

Published on 26 October 2025

Vegan#cabbage#white beans#soup#winter#south-west France

Photo: Arnold Gatilao from Fremont, CA, USA , CC BY 2.0

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 90 min
Total: 120 min
Serves: 6
Difficulty: Easy

Method

Heat the oil in a large pot. Fry the onions until lightly coloured, then add the garlic.
Add the cabbage, carrots, turnips and bouquet garni. Pour in the water and season.
Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour.
Add the potatoes and white beans. Cook uncovered for 20 more minutes so the broth reduces slightly.
Remove the bouquet garni and adjust the seasoning.
Serve in deep bowls with all the vegetables and broth, over a slice of toasted bread.

Traditional garbure includes duck confit. Here the long-simmered beans and cabbage give the soup its body. It is even better reheated.

The techniques this recipe uses

Sweat the aromatics
Medium heat, no browning: the onion should turn translucent and sweet, not toasted.
Reduce
Uncovered, water leaves and flavour concentrates. It is done when the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

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Nutrition per serving

Calories: 206 kcal
Protein: 8.2 g
Fat: 8.4 g
Carbohydrate: 27.4 g
Fibre: 8.4 g

An estimate computed from the recipe quantities and the USDA food composition database. Real values vary with the products used.

Frequently asked questions

With no duck confit, where does the body come from?

From the white beans and the long-simmered cabbage. The covered hour draws the sweetness out of the cabbage and turnips, and the beans release enough starch at the end to thicken the broth.

Why do the potatoes go in only at the end?

They need about twenty minutes; added at the start they would collapse entirely during the hour of simmering. The last stretch is uncovered so the broth reduces a little around them.

Can I use dried beans instead of tinned?

Yes, but soak them overnight and cook them separately, then add them at the end as you would the tinned ones. Cooked straight in the soup they would stretch the timing badly and the other vegetables would fall apart.

Peasant soups, feeding a table on almost nothing
What gives a country soup its body, how to thicken one without cream, and which of these recipes need adapting to do without meat.

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