Creamy Vegan Black Bean Soup
This Creamy Vegan Black Bean Soup might just be the perfect vegan dinner recipe—especially for the cold winter months! Loaded with beans and veggies, this soup is a complete meal for even your biggest eaters. The familiar flavors of Mexican cuisine are extra comforting, and it’s ready to enjoy in about 30 minutes!
You Will Love This
- This simple black bean soup is a complete vegan meal! Everyone will get a full serving of hearty veggies, of course, but these black beans are also providing all the plant-based protein you could want from a tasty soup! If you love black beans in soups as much as I do be sure to check out my Spicy Black Bean & Rice Soup, Vegan Lentil Tortilla Soup, or Vegan Black Bean Chili.
- It’s so quick and easy! This is black bean soup with canned beans, which means one pot and a blender is all it takes to get this dinner on the table in about 30 minutes. Make a big pot over the weekend and you’ve got an easy meal for dinner all week!
- It is the definition of hearty and comforting. This soup brings together some of the key flavors of your favorite Mexican dishes—earthy cumin and oregano, warming chili and chipotle, and a squeeze of lime—for a soup that’s filling but not heavy.
Instructions
Saute onion, carrot, and celery along with a couple pinches of salt and pepper in a large pot.
Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, oregano, chipotles in adobo, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper and cook.
Add beans, veggie broth, and bay leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Carefully remove bay leaves. Transfer half of the soup to a high speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Add blended soup back into the pot.
Add lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with Cotija, tortilla strips, avocado, jalapeno, and chopped cilantro and enjoy!
Tips
- Feel free to switch up the beans! You don’t have to use just black beans for this recipe, but if you’re going to use other beans, stick to thin-skinned beans like black beans, pinto beans, red beans, or Great Northern beans (or any other thin-skinned beans). Dark or light kidney beans are not ideal for this soup as they have a thicker skin that doesn’t blend as easily. Just be sure to use the equivalent of four 15 oz. cans of beans and you’ll be good to go!
- Don’t over-cook the beans! The beans will need to simmer for about 10 minutes to get that perfect texture, but don’t let them go much longer. Overcooked beans get mushy, which is fine for the ones that get blended, but you don’t want mushy whole beans in your soup! Because black beans have thin skins, they are not the type that you want to let simmer all afternoon.
- Consider making this easy black bean soup with dried beans if you’re planning ahead! Dried beans, of course, require a lot more cooking time, but if you’re into working with dried beans, they can really take this soup to the next level. Dried beans have a richer flavor profile and you can adjust the sodium levels yourself. Here’s a great instant pot black bean recipe if you’re up for cooking dried black beans.
FAQ
Most soups are thickened with some type of roux (a mixture of butter and flour) but this black bean soup is thickened with beans and veggies! Blending half of the soup after it simmers gives this soup a perfectly creamy texture with larger pieces of veggies and whole beans throughout.
In this easy recipe canned beans mean that you can have this scratch made black bean soup on the dinner table in about 30 minutes. Canned beans are the not so secret ingredient that combines with a combination of classic chopped veggies – onion, carrot, and celery – that are sauteed in oil with sliced garlic and PLENTY of classic Mexican spices.
I always like to drain black beans whenever I use them. I like to remove the liquid that they’re in because it can often be quite salty. I prefer to add just the black beans to this soup without the canned liquid so that I can adjust the salt level myself.
Try these easy soup recipes next!
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Creamy Vegan Black Bean Soup
This Creamy Vegan Black Bean Soup might just be the perfect vegan dinner recipe—especially for cold winter months! Loaded with beans and veggies, this soup is a complete meal for even your biggest eaters. The familiar flavors of Mexican cuisine are extra comforting, and it’s ready to enjoy in about 30 minutes!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon chipotles in adobo
- 4 (15 oz.) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 32 oz. vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- juice of 1 lime (about 1 tablespoon)
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Garnish with:
- vegan Cotija cheese
- homemade tortilla strips
- diced avocado
- sliced jalapeno
- fresh chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, carrot, and celery along with a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally for 8 minutes.
- Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, oregano, chipotles in adobo, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
- Add beans, veggie broth, and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat.
- Reduce heat to low or medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Carefully remove bay leaves.
- Transfer half of the soup to a high speed blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Add blended soup back into the pot.
- Add lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with Cotija, tortilla strips, avocado, jalapeno, and chopped cilantro and enjoy!
Notes
Feel free to switch up the beans! You don’t have to use just black beans for this recipe, but if you’re going to use other beans, stick to thin-skinned beans like black beans, pinto beans, red beans, or Great Northern beans (or any other thin-skinned beans). Dark or light kidney beans are not ideal for this soup as they have a thicker skin that doesn’t blend as easily. Just be sure to use the equivalent of four 15 oz. cans of beans and you’ll be good to go!
Don’t over-cook the beans! The beans will need to simmer for about 10 minutes to get that perfect texture, but don’t let them go much longer. Overcooked beans get mushy, which is fine for the ones that get blended, but you don’t want mushy whole beans in your soup! Because black beans have thin skins, they are not the type that you want to let simmer all afternoon.
Consider making this easy black bean soup with dried beans if you’re planning ahead! Dried beans, of course, require a lot more cooking time, but if you’re into working with dried beans, they can really take this soup to the next level. Dried beans have a richer flavor profile and you can adjust the sodium levels yourself. Here’s a great instant pot black bean recipe if you’re up for cooking dried black beans.
