Spicy Black Bean Soup

I make a spicy black bean soup with plenty of tomato! Great for lunch, or a cup of soup to start a meal, and it freezes and reheats beautifully.

I make a spicy black bean soup with plenty of tomato! Great for lunch, or a cup of soup to start a meal, and it freezes and reheats beautifully.

As we and Rich’s parents get used to living together, we figure out how to work with different preferences in everyday activities – like lunch.  For instance, regular readers know that we have eaten soup for lunch quite regularly in winter. Barbara doesn’t like soup at all, though. Don likes it as much as we do, but not as a whole meal – he’s made a habit of starting lunch with a cup of soup.

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For quite a few years, now, that has meant that he uses those resealable containers of soup, so he can just pour out a cup to microwave and close the package for the next day.  And many of those soups are excellent! But one of his favorites is a black bean soup only available at a store we don’t get to all the time. And, well – even the best is a bit higher in salt than he otherwise prefers to eat – not that big a deal for just a cup, but…  Besides, if I make something from scratch it’s less expensive and, you know – it’s an interesting challenge for me! (And it gives me something Rich and I can eat for lunch, too.)

Bowl of Spicy Black Bean Soup, with a bowl of egg for garnish

I made lentil soup last month, and he had some of it, and I’m sure he will at least sometimes eat other soups we do – but I wanted to try making something like the black bean soup he’s used to. (Not too many changes at one time… I’ll try others along the way.)  So I made this a few times (with some variation as I tried things out) and this version seems to please everyone.  I make a big pot, too – we can have it for lunch, and then I can freeze pint containers for variety. (He doesn’t have to have the same soup four or five days in a row!)  It reheats beautifully, with no loss of flavor or texture.

Directions

Because I do make extra soup to freeze, I start by cooking a full pound of black beans. I do that in the pressure cooker, but you can cook them in your own preferred way – or you can just start with four cans. It’s roughly six cups of cooked beans, however you get them.

Start by heating oil in a big soup pot – five quart or larger, if you’re going to use the immersion blender.  Chop a small onion.  Add the onion to the pot and saute a few minutes, until it softens and starts to color just a little. Then add a teaspoon of chopped garlic (I did use the commercial jar) or one to two cloves of garlic, chopped (if that’s what you have) and a teaspoon of cumin. (Either ground or whole will work, here.) Stir it all together, and saute another minute or two.

All ingredients for Spicy Black Bean Soup in soup pot

I do still recommend draining and rinsing the beans, especially if canned. As you see, this has lots of tomato – good servings of vegetables! I love tomato paste in black bean soup anyway, it just rounds it out and adds richness.   And for various reasons Don likes to make sure he gets cooked tomatoes. Chipotle Puree is simply a can of chipotles in adobo sauce which I puree to make it easier to use – if you don’t do that, use one chipotle from the can (you’re going to puree it anyhow) and a little of the adobo sauce.  We do all like a bit of heat, so I use two tablespoons, but you might want to start with less if you’re not sure.  (Or more, if you really like spice! But also the heat will intensify with storage, and I didn’t want the black bean soup to get too hot for him before he finishes it.) Salt is optional.  Especially if you use canned beans you probably don’t need any, because both they and the tomatoes are salted already. Since I cook beans without salt, and he’s used to the commercial (and salty!) soup, he misses it if I don’t add any, so I do. As always – salt to taste…

Use immersion blender to puree Spicy Black Bean Soup

Now, you don’t actually have to puree this soup – I do because the one Don likes is pureed, and that works better for his cup of soup.  And if you do, you can use either an immersion blender, as I did, or a regular jar blender. So – if you use the immersion blender, just put all the rest of the ingredients right in the pot and blend – see, that was easy!

If you’re using a jar blender, of course you can’t do it all at once. So I’d suggest mixing some of the beans with something wetter – the diced tomatoes and the water – and pureeing that in batches. (You can put the tomato paste and the chipotle puree right into the pot.)

Whichever way you do it, once everything is in the pot, pureed if you want, and ready, bring it all to a boil. Simmer for ten minutes to meld the flavors. Yes, everything in the pot is already cooked, so you could skip that step, especially if you’re going to store it all – but it does improve the soup.  After it simmers a while, taste to correct flavors – this is the point when you may want to add salt or chipotle.

Now, black bean soup is often served with chopped onion, or hard cooked eggs, or tomatoes as garnish. I like the eggs, especially, since that ups the protein and makes it more satisfying as a full meal, so Rich and I did that.

I make a spicy black bean soup with plenty of tomato! Great for lunch, or a cup of soup to start a meal, and it freezes and reheats beautifully. #blackbeans #beansoup

Bowl of Spicy Black Bean Soup, with a bowl of egg for garnish

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Anne Murphy
I make a spicy black bean soup with plenty of tomato! Great for lunch, or a cup of soup to start a meal, and it freezes and reheats beautifully.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine American, Gluten Free, Vegan
Servings 2 1/2 quarts

Ingredients
  

  • oil for pan
  • 1 onion
  • 1 t chopped garlic
  • 1 t cumin
  • 6 c cooked black beans 1 pound dry, cooked or 4 cans
  • 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
  • 1-2 T chipotle puree
  • 1 quart water

Instructions
 

  • Heat oil in pot while chopping onion. Saute onion in oil.
  • When onion softens, add garlic and cumin. Saute another minute.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Use an immersion blender to puree.
  • Bring to a boil and simmer for ten minutes to meld flavor.
  • Serve, or cool and freeze for later.

Notes

Garnish with hard cooked eggs, onion, or fresh tomato.
Freezes well for later use.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

 

 

 



24 thoughts on “Spicy Black Bean Soup”

  • Never tried a bean soup.. I make bean curry often but have to try a soup with them. Thanks for sharing.. it seems perfect for the snowy days we are having these days and they don’t look like, they are going anywhere soon. So I need lots of soup recipes 🙂

    • Yes, absolutely cold climate classics! Our versions of dal, when you get down to it – but hearty and warming. Thanks, and enjoy it!

    • Oh, great! I’m honestly surprised I never posted one before – but this is a good one to start with, since it’s very easy but has lots of flavor!

    • Thanks! It was great in cold weather – but also nice the way Rich’s dad eats it, with a sandwich or something. Hearty enough for our lunch, but not too heavy for him, if you see what I mean…

  • I love soup year round! Hubby doesn’t really like it as a meal, but I do! Your black bean soup looks delicious and super easy!! I’ve never used chipotle puree but I am longing to, now that I’ve seen your recipe!! Great job!

    • That’s kind of where we are – to me, it’s a meal, to the parents it’s an extra (and she doesn’t much care for it even as such.) This one seemed to balance nicely between them – pureeing the soup seems to make it feel light enough to him.

      I don’t remember where I first saw the suggestion to puree chipotle in adobo, but it’s a game changer – I use it so much more! Cooking for two (or even one) I rarely wanted a whole pepper, and fishing one out and chopping the slippery thing never seemed quite worthwhile in the press of dinner prep, but I use this all the time. And because of the vinegary adobo sauce, it keeps quite nicely for a week or two (probably longer but I don’t think it ever had to…)

    • I never added this much before. I have often added just a tablespoon or two of tomato paste – it rounds out the flavor remarkably without you noticing what it is. This time, though, I was – well, not copying but inspired by, shall we say, a commercial soup Don likes which did have more tomato. And for various reasons he’s been urged to include cooked tomato in his diet… this is simple enough. And we really do like the flavor as well!

    • Thank you! Conveniently they seem to be very easy to get here – and we really like them. So many ways to use them!

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