Black Bean Soup combines canned black beans, vegetables, broth, spices, lime juice, chiles, and salsa into a filling and delicious soup. Don’t miss this one!
Easy and Delicious Black Bean Soup
Ahh…the humble, unassuming bowl of Black Bean Soup. It may not look like much, but after the first delicious and zesty spoonful, I always say to myself, “Why don’t we make this soup more often? It’s SO good!”
This is one of those recipes where you can keep most of the ingredients on hand in your pantry and refrigerator produce drawer. Then, when the craving strikes or you just want to cook with ingredients on hand – you can make a big pot of this soup in under an hour.
Our Black Bean Soup starts with a sauteed mirepoix of carrots, onion, and celery, plus fresh garlic, and Tex-Mex-inspired seasonings including salt, cumin, oregano, coriander, and chili powder.
Vegetable broth is added next along with canned black beans and diced green chiles, some chunky salsa, lime juice, and fresh cilantro. Once the vegetables are tender, scoop out about three cups of the bean mixture and puree the rest until smooth and creamy – then add the reserved beans back into the soup for texture.
Serve your Black Bean Soup as is – or with a dollop of sour cream and other toppings such as diced avocado, chopped tomatoes, tortilla strips, chopped white onion, and more fresh cilantro and lime juice.
Why you'll love Black Bean Soup
- The flavors are earthy, zesty, and delicious!
- This soup is made with a variety of pantry ingredients and other staples that you probably keep on hand in your kitchen – so you can make this soup anytime the craving strikes.
- You can easily vary the taste of this recipe with different spices and chiles and salsa with more heat. Feel free to mix up the toppings too.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Black Beans – Our recipe calls for four 15.5-ounce cans of black beans (we bought Goya brand). You’ll want to rinse the beans before adding them to the soup.
- Vegetables – Carrot, white onion, celery, and fresh garlic.
- Seasonings – Sea or kosher salt, cumin, oregano, coriander, and chili powder.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- White Wine
- Vegetable Broth
- Diced Green Chiles – You can buy mild or hot, the choice is yours.
- Chunky Salsa – Again, the choice is yours if you wish to add a mild or spicy salsa. Any favorite jarred or homemade salsa variety will work in this soup recipe.
- Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
- Fresh Cilantro
- Toppings – Any combination of fried tortilla strips, diced (fresh) tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, chopped white onion, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges. You can also add shredded Monterey Jack cheese too if you’d like.
Can I Make This Soup with Dried Black Beans Instead of Canned?
- ½ cup of dried black beans cooks up to approximately the same volume of beans as one 15-ounce can. So, you’ll need 2+ cups of dried beans for this recipe. (Our cans were 15.5 ounces and we used 4 cans.)
- 1 pound dried black beans = 6 cups cooked black beans. 6 cups cooked black beans = 4 (15 ounce) cans black beans. So, for this recipe, cook up a little more than a pound of black beans that have been soaked overnight at room temperature with cold water.
Special Tools Needed
- Cutting Board and Sharp Knife
- Various Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Large Soup Pot or Dutch Oven
- Wooden Spoon or Spatula
- Immersion Blender or Regular Blender – To puree the soup, an immersion blender will be easier.
- Colander – To drain and rinse the beans.
How do I make Black Bean Soup?
- Saute carrots, onions, celery, garlic, and spices in olive oil.
- Deglaze the bottom of the pot with wine.
- Add rinsed beans, vegetable broth, lime juice, green chiles, salsa, and cilantro.
- Cook until vegetables are tender.
- Remove three cups of the soup and puree the rest. Then add the three reserved cups back into the puree and stir to combine.
- Serve with sour cream, cut up tomatoes, cut up avocado, more white onion, more cilantro, lime wedges, and optional shredded jack cheese.
Tips & Tricks
The amount of soup you puree vs leaving unpureed is really up to you.
We removed three cups before pureeing the rest, then added the reserved soup back in. This gave the soup a nice amount of body and whole beans to enjoy.
If you want to puree the entire batch of soup, or more or less of the beans – that’s up to you!
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Black Bean Soup ahead of time? Yes, this soup can be made ahead and reheated later for serving.
- How do I store leftovers? Store covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Reheat the pot of soup over a stove-top burner, or microwave individual portions.
- Can I freeze this soup? Yes you can. Fill up freezer containers or bags, squeezing as much air out as possible to avoid freezer burn.
You might like these other Bean Recipes:
Click here for more delicious Soup Recipes!
Black Bean Soup
Black Bean Soup combines canned black beans, vegetables, broth, spices, lime juice, chiles, and salsa into a filling and delicious soup. Don’t miss this one!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: soup
- Method: simmer
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups white onion, diced
1 1/2 cups carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dry oregano
4 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced fine
1/4 cup white wine
1 quart vegetable broth
1/4 fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
4 15.5-ounce cans rinsed and drained black beans
1 4-ounce can chopped mild green chiles
1 cup chunky mild salsa
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Toppings
Fresh tomatoes, cut up (or salsa)
Sour cream
Tortilla strips
More white onion, diced small
More cilantro, chopped
Lime wedges
Avocado, cut into pieces
Optional – Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
Instructions
- In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat and once hot, add onions, carrot, celery, salt, cumin, coriander, chili powder and oregano and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the onions are starting to get soft.
- Add garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add wine and cook for about a minute to evaporate.
- Add broth, cilantro leaves, all the rinsed and drained black beans, the can of chopped chilies, salsa, and lime juice.
- Once bubbling, reduce to a low simmer and cook 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
- Remove three cups of the soup and reserve.
- Puree the rest of the soup with an immersion blender or in a regular blender.
- Add the three cups of reserved whole bean soup back to the pureed soup and stir to combine.
- Serve in bowls with the toppings sprinkled over the top or served on the side.
