Meet my favorite black bean soup! It takes advantage of canned black beans and comes together quickly. Yet the soup tastes remarkably fresh thanks to the carrots, celery and garlic.
Cumin and a little bit of sherry vinegar (or lime juice) add a Cuban flair that takes it over the top. This lightly creamy black bean soup is packed with flavor.
This homemade soup is a million times better than the store-bought variety. Read the comments if you don’t believe me just yet!
How to Make The Best Black Bean Soup
A few notes and tips before you get started:
You don’t need a long list of ingredients for complex flavor. Basic, fresh aromatics like onion, carrots and celery make all the difference. Just cook them until they’re nice and tender.
Briefly sauté the cumin, garlic and red pepper flakes to enhance their flavor. Then, add the remaining ingredients and gently simmer until the beans are tender and the flavors have melded.
To achieve the perfect soup texture, purée a portion of the soup in the blender until it’s super creamy. Then stir it back into the pot. Ta da! Now you have black bean soup with tender beans and a lightly creamy consistency, no cream required.
Black Bean Soup Storage Tips
I should mention that this recipe makes quite a lot of soup. Leftovers will keep well for four to five days, so it’s perfect for weekday lunches.
You can also freeze this soup. I always freeze my soup in pint-sized mason jars, leaving room for expansion at the top and waiting to screw on the lids until the soup has fully frozen. Then I just defrost it later.
Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Rumor has it that this black bean soup turns out well in a slow cooker (Erin said she “basically just put it all in the crock at the same time and slow cooked it for about 6 hours”). If you give that a try, will you please let me know how it turns out?
Please let me know how this soup turns out for you in the comments! I’m always so eager for your feedback and hope my recipes turn out wonderfully for you.
Craving more hearty vegetarian soups? Don’t miss the following soup recipes on Cookie and Kate:
- Vegetarian Chili
- Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili
- Pinto Posole
- Mexican Quinoa Stew
- Best Lentil Soup
- Plus my cookbook has eight of my favorite soup recipes!
Watch How to Make Black Bean Soup
Spicy Black Bean Soup
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Vegan
This healthy black bean soup recipe is easy to make with canned beans. Thanks to some basic aromatics and Cuban spices, it’s incredibly flavorful and delicious. This soup is naturally vegan, vegetarian and gluten free. The recipe yields quite a bit of soup (6 to 8 servings)—it is easily halved, or you can freeze the leftovers.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
- 3 celery ribs, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
- 6 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 4 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (use ¼ teaspoon if you’re sensitive to spice)
- 4 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 4 cups (32 ounces) low-sodium vegetable broth
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, to taste, or 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Optional garnishes: diced avocado, extra cilantro, thinly sliced radishes, tortilla chips…
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, celery and carrot and a light sprinkle of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetable are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, cumin and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the beans and broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook, reducing heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, until the broth is flavorful and the beans are very tender, about 30 minutes.
- Transfer about 4 cups of the soup to a stand blender, securely fasten the lid, and blend until smooth (never fill your blender past the maximum fill line, and beware the steam that escapes from the top of the blender, it’s very hot). Or, use an immersion blender to blend a portion of the soup.
- Return the pureed soup to the pot, stir in the cilantro, vinegar/lime juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.
Suggested sides: Chunky avocado salsa, a little green salad, quesadillas or a grilled cheese sandwich.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Jodi
This soup was great!! I added some fresh jalapeños to it with the onion/celery/carrot mix. I used mushroom broth instead of vegetable broth, and instead of all that cumin (cuz I’m not a fan of cumin and it wasn’t the taste I was going for), I added Sazón. I did not use the vinegar, just the lime. So yum!!!!
For toppings, I used fresh tomato, onion, cilantro, Monterey Jack cheese, Don Juan Mahon cheese 3 month dop, sour cream and Texmex micro greens. Ate it with tortilla chips. It was so great that we over ate!!!
Great recipe!!!
★★★★★
Kate
Tank you for sharing how you changed this one up, Jodi! I appreciate it.
DAVE
I made this soup last night. It was INCREDIBLE and super easy to make. The leftovers won’t last long. I added a dollop of sour cream, some grated sharp cheddar and half an avocado on each serving. It was so awesome to dip the tortilla chips into the thick, delicious soup that we rarely used our spoons. I wouldn’t change a thing next time. Thanks Kate! Another winner!
★★★★★
Sue C
This soup was insanely delicious. It’s amazing how on point your flavors are in these recipes. I made a half batch, I had to substitute parsley for cilantro (too far gone) and topped with chopped avocado – yum. Thank you for giving me another recipe to add to my fall rotation.
★★★★★
Tony
Used this recipe to christen my new cast iron dutch oven. Loved it!! And that is both the soup and the dutch oven. I used chicken stock instead of vegetable and to thicken I added corn starch (did not want to lose any of the good edibles by grinding them up). Added cilantro and lime juice as the finishing touch and wow was it good!
Linda k Stremmel
Delicious as written
Made a half batch last week and made the full recipe today cuz we liked it so much.
Thanks!
★★★★★
Ashley
I live by myself so I only plan on cooking half a batch of this (3 servings). Do I need to reduce the cook time at all? Let me know!
Kate
Hi! I’m not sure about reducing this one for cook time as all the flavors will still need to meld. It does freeze well, so if you make it as written you could save some for later.
Meghan
What amount of dried, soaked beans can I use for this?
Kate
Hi Meghan! One pound dried beans is the equivalent of four cans. This recipe is designed to begin with cooked black beans so I would cook the beans before making the soup. Starting with dried beans in the soup would be tricky because beans vary so much in their cooking times and water requirements (older beans need more time and more water). Hope that makes sense.
Nicole
Delicious! Had leftover black beans that I had slightly over seasoned with cumin so was looking for a recipe I could use them with. Followed this but just skipped where it called to add cumin, as the beans already had plenty :) and used chicken broth because that’s all I had on hand. First time having black bean soup and will definitely be having this again!
★★★★★
Diana
I just made this soup for dinner along with your mexican roasted cauliflower on the side. What a hit! My husband said, “You can make this once a week!!” We are never disappointed with your recipes — and I have made a LOT of them. Your website is my absolute Go-To!!!!!!
Barbara Holly
Just made this soup and it’s outstanding. My only addition was a can of Rotel tomatoes for some additional spice. I’ll make this again soon!
★★★★★
Henny G
The soup turned out great. Easy to follow recipe. Loved the kick in the soup. Will make again.
★★★★★
Kirsti
Thanks for sharing this recipe, Kate. Have made for years now. :) Memories tied to it now. Just lovely. Almost always make in crock and eat with tahini.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Kirsti!
Dominique
When you make the soup in your crock pot, do you still blend in a blender? Can you explain to me how you change the recipie? Do you just throw it all in there?
Kellie Edwards
Thank you Kate! The first time I made black bean soup was in the 90s, recipe from Real Simple. It was amazing. Every time I have tried it since was like cardboard. This was better than ever! Bright and sparkling (thank you lime!), love the mirepoix. I’m trying for a Whole Foods plant based diet and this made my day!! Def a keeper. And not the first I’ve made from your site. Thank you for what you do!!
★★★★★
Sandra
OMG! This soup is fantastic I love it.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy to hear that! Thank you for your review, Sandra.
Edna Shaulov
The best soup, prefect for cold days!!!
★★★★★
Kate
Yes, I agree! Thank you for your review, Edna.
Sarah
One of our favorites! We have a sauté function on our slow cooker, so we sauté the spices and veggies for a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients. Then we slow cook for a few hours. We use an immersion blender to purée the soup. This all means very little mess, since no pots, blender, etc. Super easy and delicious!!!
★★★★★
Sara
I just made this soup. It’s incredibly tasty and comforting! Instead of vegetable broth, I used. 8 tsp. of a chicken-flavored vegan broth base from Orrington Farms + 4 cups of water, which seemed to work out pretty well. Thank you!
Doug Gillan
Outstanding soup. My wife likes black bean soup, but I’ve not been a fan in the past. We both love this recipe. Will be in the meal rotation for a long time.
★★★★★
Nicole Barboza
This soup has long been a favorite of mine over the years, but given the current pandemic, it’s all the more comforting while home and cozy. This will be a staple dinner for the fall and winter for sure! It’s simply delicious! Thanks and stay well, Nicole
Maeve Williamson
I’ve run out of carrots! Anything else I can use as a substitute? Or do you think I could just leave them out?
Kate
Hi! you could leave them out or maybe add some bell pepper if you have it!