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This hearty, flavorful black bean soup is simple and perfect to make during soup season. It’s on the table in under an hour!
Black bean soup is filled with spicy flavors and delicious garnishes. Sourdough bread and Homemade flour tortillas are perfect for serving with this soup.
Easy Black Bean Soup
Give me all the soup recipes! When cooler weather hits, all I want to do is make a different soup for dinner every night. I love that you can incorporate so many healthy ingredients in soups. You can get all your veggie and protein servings in one bowl.
I also really appreciate that soups can feed a lot of people. You never know when you’re going to have extra people in the house for dinner or maybe you need to bring dinner to a friend or neighbor that night. Soup is always the answer, and today’s black bean soup will be a new crowd pleaser!
We love that this bean soup is SO easy and SO flavorful.
How to Make Best Black Bean Soup
BACON. Chop the bacon into fine pieces and cook in a large pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic until it’s nice and fragrant.
SIMMER. Next add the broth, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and chili powder to the pot. Mix in the black beans and bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Once it starts to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
GARNISH + SERVE. While soup is simmering, wash and remove stems from the cilantro. Then coarsely chop the cilantro. Stir it into the soup after it’s done simmering. Cook the soup for another 5 minutes until it’s thickened a bit. Stir in the lime juice and season with salt and pepper.
Garnish with all your favorite toppings including:
- cilantro
- avocado
- cheese
- sour cream
- lime
- green onions
They take the soup to an even higher level of delicious-ness!
Other Cooking Methods
Instant Pot: Great news, this soup can also be made in an Instant Pot. Take the dried beans and then add in enough water to have it sit 1 inch above the beans. Then, mix in seasonings and set it to high pressure and let it cook for 30 minutes. Release the pressure and stir in the rest of the ingredients(bacon, cilantro, ketchup etc). Allow it to warm throughout before serving.
Slow Cooker: Cook up the bacon and minced garlic first. From there, you will add everything to the Crock Pot and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or on LOW on 4 hours.
Tips, Variations + Storing Info
Using Dry Beans: To make Black bean Soup with dried beans you will need to do so on the stovetop, and it takes a little bit more time.
- Start by quickly soaking the beans in hot water for a couple of minutes before bringing it to a boil.
- Once it has boiled, reduce the heat and just let the beans sit in hot water for about an hour.
- Drain and rinse them in cold water. Add them in a pot with the chicken broth. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
- You should let that sit for about an hour and a half, once the beans have softened add in the rest of the ingredients. If you add salt too early the beans will harden instead of becoming softer. Watch it and let it stew on the stove for about another hour or so, it depends on how thick/thin you want your soup
Thicken or thin the soup: Black bean soup is actually really easy to thicken. You just need to smash some of the beans and the starch of the beans themselves will thicken the soup. If this doesn’t seem to be working you can let the soup sit uncovered on the stove and it will naturally thicken as more of the water evaporates. To thin out the soup you need to mix in more chicken broth or water.
How to make it spicier: If the chili powder isn’t enough for you, you can add in cumin or red pepper flakes. If you like the texture and slight spice you can add in diced green chiles.
Bean based soups actually FREEZE very well. Make sure to package the soup after it has cooled completely. Store in a freezer safe container for up to 6 months. Thaw and reheat.
STORE leftover soup in one container, or divided into individual portions. Store in the fridge for up to a week. This soup reheats well in both the microwave and stove top.
For more soups with beans, be sure to check out:
- Minestrone Soup
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Taco Soup
- Chicken Enchilada Soup
- White Chicken Chili
- Green Enchilada Pork Chili
Black Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 slices bacon finely chopped
- 4 tsp minced garlic
- 1 (14.5 oz) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
- 2 TB ketchup
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 TB chili powder
- 4 (15.5 oz) can black beans drained but not rinsed
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bunch cilantro
- juice of 1/2 lime
- Sour cream, scallions, and cheese, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a large pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Add broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Mix in the beans, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes.
- While soup is simmering, cut off cilantro stems and coarsely chop. Add cilantro to soup and simmer an additional 5 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the lime juice and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve warm and garnish with toppings like fresh cilantro, limes, sour cream, cheese and avocados.
Notes
- DIFFICULTY: simple
- HOW MANY DOES IT FEED: 8
- ANY CHANGES MADE: no onions, used minced garlic
- ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR NEXT TIME: none
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Adapted from Food Network.
Love the avocadoes! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
You are so welcome!! Glad to share 🙂
Awesome and delicious recipe! I love black bean and avocado. Thanks for sharing this type of healthy recipe. Please share more post like this.
You are so welcome 🙂 I am glad to share! This is so tasty! Thank you!
mmm..this sounds so warm and comforting!! Perfect for fall!!
Thank you, it is!! Can’t wait for cooler temps!
I love that you added bacon to this soup! Such a great dinner option!
It add so much flavor! I hope you give it a try soon! It’s so good! Thank you!
Such perfect comfort food for the upcoming cold weather!
Totally!! I hope you like it! Thank you!
Yum! This is one of my favorite soups in the whole wide world! It’s really just a vehicle for corn bread! Yum!
It totally is!! Thanks so much!!
I like this. Simple and delicious. And of course, the avocados.
Avocados are the best! Thank you so much for letting me know!