Black Bean Soup Recipe

5 from 1 vote

This Black Bean Soup Recipe is loaded with flavor and nutritious ingredients! Make it in the slow cooker or pressure cooker with minimal effort!

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Release Time25

Total Time1 30

Course: Dinner, Side Dish, Soup

Cuisine: American, Healthy, Vegetarian

Keyword: black bean soup, black bean soup recipe

Servings: servings

Author: Chelsea Lords

Cost: $6.50

Equipment

Instant Pot or slow cooker
Blender

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium yellow onions diced, 1-1/2 cups
1 red pepper diced, 1 cup
3 to 4 medium carrots diced, 1-1/2 cups
2 tablespoons minced garlic 6 cloves
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Salt and pepper
1 (16-ounce) bag dried black beans see note 1
8 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock, or broth, like Swanson
2 heaping tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce measure the peppers and surrounding sauce, see note 2
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Toppings as desired see note 3
Tortilla chips or tortilla strips, for serving, optional

US - Metric

Instructions

For a quicker prep, give onion, pepper, and carrots a quick coarse chop and add along with the garlic cloves to a food processor; pulse to dice into small pieces.
Select “sauté” in the pressure cooker (see note 4 for slow cooker instructions). Add olive oil, and once hot, add diced onion, pepper, and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 8–10 minutes. Season to taste; I add 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add garlic and all seasonings and sauté for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add rinsed beans, chicken/vegetable stock, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and bay leaf. Stir everything together, add lid and seal the pressure cooker, turn the valve to seal, and cook on manual mode 45 minutes (it takes about 15–20 minutes to get up to pressure). Once finished, allow for a natural release for 30 minutes before releasing the rest of the pressure manually.
Remove lid of pressure cooker. Remove chipotle peppers and bay leaf; discard. Pull out 4 cups soup and blend (see note 5). Return blended mixture to pressure cooker and stir through. Add in lime juice and optional cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings. (I usually add another 1 teaspoon salt here, depending on how salty the stock used is; add slowly until flavors sing).
Ladle into bowls and add your favorite toppings. I love a diced avocado and/or sour cream, an extra squeeze of lime juice, and lots of tortilla chips on the side for dipping.

Video

Notes

Note 1: Rinse the beans in a strainer and pick through them, discarding any shriveled beans, debris, or rocks.

Note 2: The chipotles add a great flavor, but only a touch of heat since we remove them after cooking. If you choose to leave them in and blend, the soup is quite spicy (start with blending in one, then both if you want it super spicy). Leftover chipotles from the can freeze beautifully. (Read blog post for details.)

Note 3: Try some of these toppings: 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, large ripe avocado and/or sour cream.

Note 4: Slow cooker directions: Sauté diced onion, pepper, and carrot in your slow cooker if it has a sauté function or in a pot on the stovetop if not. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 8–10 minutes. Season to taste; I add 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Add in garlic and all seasonings and sauté for 1 minute or until fragrant. Transfer everything from pot to slow cooker. Add rinsed beans, chicken/vegetable stock, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and bay leaf. Stir everything together, add lid, and cook 8 hours on low or high for 4 hours or until beans are tender. Refer to steps 4 and 5 in the recipe card for finishing things off.

Note 5: When blending, remember that heat expands, so increase the speed slowly and watch carefully to avoid soup exploding. Never fill a blender more than halfway full at a time. Remove the center knob from the blender lid and replace it with a clean kitchen towel to avoid splatters. The blender needs to be able to release steam!

Storage: This soup keeps nicely in an airtight container in the fridge for 4–6 days. You can freeze this Black Bean Soup for up to 2–3 months.

Nutrition