Black Bean Soup

4.95 from 36 votes

This super fast and easy Black Bean Soup is rich, filling, flavorful, and waiting to be piled high with fun toppings! An easy vegan weeknight dinner.

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time25

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Soup

Cuisine: American, Southwest

Total Cost: $5.26 recipe / $1.25 serving

Servings: about 1.5 cups each

Author: Beth Moncel

Ingredients

1 yellow onion (about ½ cup when diced) $0.70
2 cloves garlic $0.08
1 jalapeño (optional) $0.15
2 Tbsp olive oil $0.22
3 15 oz. cans black beans, with liquid* $2.64
1 15 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes, with juices $1.25
1 tsp ground cumin $0.10
½ tsp dried oregano $0.05
½ tsp smoked paprika or chipotle powder** $0.05
salt to taste $0.02

Instructions

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Remove the stem and seeds from the jalapeño, then dice the remaining jalapeño flesh. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, and olive oil to a soup pot and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and translucent.
While the onion, garlic, and jalapeño are sautèing, use a blender to purée two of the three cans of black beans (with liquid from the can). If the beans are too thick to purée, add just enough water to make them blend.
Add all three cans of black beans to the soup pot (one can of whole beans with liquid, two puréed), along with the can of fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juices), the cumin, oregano, and smoked paprika. Stir to combine.
Place a lid on the pot and allow the soup to come up to a simmer. Allow the soup to simmer, stirring often, for about 15 minutes. After simmering for 15 minutes, taste and add salt to taste (I added 1/2 tsp). Serve hot with your choice of toppings.

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*The liquid in the canned beans (aquafaba) helps to create a super thick and hearty soup. Go for low-sodium black beans if you’re watching your salt intake. I haven’t tried dried beans, but if you want to you can try using 4.5 cups of soaked and cooked dried black beans in place. Blend 3 cups (which is roughly equivalent to 2 15 oz. cans, minus the liquid) of the prepped black beans with 1 cup of water. Add more water as needed to thin out the puree if it’s too thick, then continue with the recipe as directed, adding the remaining 1.5 cups of prepped dried black beans to the pot with another cup of water.

**For a mild soup, skip the jalapeño and use smoked paprika. For a spicy soup, add the jalapeño and use chipotle powder in place of, or in addition to, smoked paprika.

Nutrition