Spicy Black Bean Soup
This healthy black bean soup recipe is easy to make with canned beans. It's absolutely delicious and naturally vegan, vegetarian and gluten free!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 10, 2024
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
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.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I made this for a group of 5 college students, and it yielded a good amount of soup but it was very thick. Next time I think I’m going add more broth. Otherwise, everyone loved it!
I’m glad you liked it! You can always blend more to your desired consistency.
This was the best. I added corn when I added the black beans and made this into a dip, served with your sweet potato burrito recipe.
What a great use of this recipe! I love it, Ray. Thanks for the review.
I have recently been diagnosed with gallstones and was looking for food I can actually eat. This soup is beautiful and very simple to make and full of fibre.
Thank you for the recipe
I’m sorry to hear that, but glad this recipe works for you Emma!
Made a variety of the version above. I wanted to get more out of the soup so I added more broth (homemade chicken broth), double, in fact. Still pureed about 5-6 cups of the mixture. Halved the cumin. Threw in some frozen corn and made plain white rice on the side to mix in when serving. Of course, the best part, garnished with fresh, diced avocados. I can’t help but miss some type of meat in my soup, I may add shredded chicken when I’m ‘starving,’ otherwise, this is a delicious recipe and I had all the ingredients at home. I will even add a dollop of sour cream at times, tastes like a burrito-style soup. Love the spicy kick to it. Can’t say that I enjoyed the aroma while cooking with all these black beans but the taste made up for it! Thanks for sharing, Kate!
Love hearing how you made it your own, Annette! I appreciate the review.
Try some sliced chorizo! It’s delicious in this, and lentil soup too.
This is by far one if they best soups I’ve ever had! Amazing! A big hit with the whole family!
Great to hear, Leslie! I appreciate the comment.
The soup was so refreshing and easy to put together. My sister loved the spicy kick. Thank you for always providing flavorful dishes.
You’re welcome, Nash! I’m happy your sister enjoyed it. Thanks for the review!
Great recipe as usual Kate. Being English had not made this before but as I am currently on a yacht in Florida time to give it a try! Glad I took your advice to rinse the beans as I only had regular salt stock and the extra salt from bean juice would have killed it. Avocado on soup, love it ☺
Thanks, Sue for sharing! I appreciate your star review.
Amazing black bean soup recipe. It’s both easy and tasty. I’ve made this many times over the past two years. Would highly recommend!
Thanks for sharing this :)
I love to hear that, Megan! Thanks so much for your review.
Great recipe! I’ve made it several times now, and its hit. I add an extra can of beans to make it go a little further.
Thanks for sharing, Lizzie! I appreciate the review.
I did this in the slow cooker as your friend suggested. Just threw it all in and cooked for 6 hours. Used an immersion blender for a few seconds at the end instead of putting in a blender. It was a big hit at our little dinner party last night.
I’m glad it worked out well! Thanks for the star review, Kelli.
For the slow cooker method, did you cook it for 6 hours on Low heat or High heat? Thanks!
Tried it yesterday and it’s awesome! So simple but so delicious. I felt that it tasted better the next day. Will definitely be saving this one for the winter.
Love that, Sid! Thanks for your comment and review.
This looks so yummy! I have an immersion blender … how long would I use that for to get that nice thick texture of your soup?
Hi Kelly! Great question. I would still remove the recommended amount into a liquid measuring cup and use your immersion blender there. It will allow you to get the needed amount. Or, if you don’t want to remove any of the soup, do a little at a time, then stir and continue until your desired consistency.
I liked this recipe a lot. I can’t eat tomatoes/tomato sauce (too acidic) so this fit the bill. It does make a lot but I enjoyed grabbing portions I froze out of the freezer, eating my “stock” father than expected! Suggestion: the consistency is more like a chili rather than soup, which is fine with me. However, I think the flavor would be enhanced by adding some chili powder, which I am going to try next time.
Thanks for sharing! Feel free to adjust to your specific liking. Chili powder does sound interesting! Let me know how that turns out.
What quantity of dried beans would you use?
I think it’s 1/2 cup dried = 1 15 oz can. So I’m going to try 2 cups dried for this recipe. Hope it works!
I’m a busy student and I love cooking so I always make time for it in my week. This recipe comes up every time the cans of black beans pile up in the pantry, but I’ve always been worried that the flavors would be boring. I was wrong! So good, really intense flavor, super filling, and pretty easy to put together.
I’m glad you were surprised! Thanks for sharing your experience, Brittany.
Love it! Perfect for fall and winter!
That it is, Destiny!
This is the most delicious bean soup I have ever tasted! I am so thrilled to have come across this recipe. It’s so creamy, and satisfying yet so healthy. I halved the amount of oil as I’m dieting and doubled the Chili flakes because I like spicy and it was perfect !
I’m happy to hear you love this soup, Sharon! Thanks for the review.
I can’t find sherry vinegar. Does anyone know if I could substitute a tsp. of the cooking sherry that they sell by the vinegar, plus a tsp. of regular vinegar?
Hi Tina! Do you have apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar could be ok too.
While I enjoy the simplicity of this dish I did not experience as much flavor as I would have liked. I followed the recipe closely except added a bit more red pepper, jalepenos, and salt. I just made this last night soI am hoping as it sits the flavor continues to develops. Still very tasty, don’t get me wrong! I love all Cookie and Kate’s recipes! :)
Thank you for sharing, Kaylee!
I made this in the slow cooker, but it was missing *something*
TBH it’s the only recipe of yours I’ve ever not loved, so I’m not sure if I did something wrong or it’s just not a good slow cooker recipe.
Can’t win them all, I’m gonna stick with your other soups, which I have loooooved.
I’m sorry you weren’t happy! I didn’t do this as a slow cooker recipe so that could be it. Very interesting!
Hi Kate! I just wanted to thank you for another quality recipe. I make this black bean soup on a regular basis, I keep beans in the cupboard and vegetable broth available so that when I’m in the in a pinch I can throw down an amazing meal in an hour. AND it is so inexpensive to make! I just made this for some friends last night, and I can hardly ever get past the browning of the vegetables and adding the cumin before everybody’s in the kitchen drooling! Even my carnivore-ultra-critical-amazing-in-the-kitchen-himself-husband, has had his eyes pop out and he’s given me a “10” on my execution of several of your recipes .. I was shocked, seriously! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!
Thank you, Kath for taking the time to comment! :) :) Way to win your husband over!
There are already so many comments, I don’t know if anyone will see this, but here goes for the slow cooker/Instant Pot/dried bean crowd. I soaked dry black beans overnight (then drained and rinsed). I did the first part of the recipe on the saute mode in my IP. When I added the beans and broth I set the IP to slow cook on Low for 7 hours. I stirred occasionally since I was home. When I checked at 6.5 hours the beans were still a bit harder than I would want at that point (they had probably been in my pantry a bit too long), so I did three minutes of pressure cooking on high followed by natural release. Then I used the immersion blender option to thicken the soup up (leaving some beans and carrots chunky). The final product was fantastic (although I’m all about spice, so I added more). I also toasted some corn tortillas for healthy chips to serve with the soup.
Thank you, Amanda for sharing!
Thanks for the recipe. This soup was delicious–and even better the next day when it thickened up more. I made this in my pressure cooker, and I used less cumin–it was plenty spicy for me. Thanks for the tip about pureeing some of the soup in the blender as it gave it a great consistency. I made vegan chili yesterday, and did the same thing to it.
It’s a great soup for leftovers,I agree! Thank you for sharing and for your review, V!
I love the taste of the soup before freezing. But once I froze it it seemed to have a gritty texture almost like I had incorporated some kind of a grain. Yes that would make it again but I would not freeze it. By the way this was The black bean soup.
Thanks for sharing your experience when freezing it, Anna! That is interesting since there isn’t any dairy. I appreciate the review!
I make this for my vegetarian wife in the Instant Pot (along with many other of your soups). It’s delicious!
Great to hear, Harp!
Hi Kate,
I will be making your black bean soup today. I do have a question on the vegetable broth. What brand do you use? Thanks for all your great
recipes.
Hi Alfred! I don’t have a go-to brand. However, I try to buy organic when possible. Thanks!
Amazing! The lime juice adds so much. I served it with cilantro, avocado and a dollop of sour cream. This is seriously delicious.
Thanks for sharing, Susan!
Excellent recipe
Thank you!
This soup is delicious for the soul. So light and airy too. I truly enjoyed this very delicious soup
I’m happy to hear that!
This recipe is amazing. I used dried black beans instead of canned, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It was a huge hit at my house and I will definitely make it again!
If anyone else uses dried beans, you really either have to drain them after cooking them or use less broth. My soup was a little thin.
Making your own works well too! Thanks for sharing, Samantha. I really appreciate it.
Apologies if I missed it, but what is the serving size?
Hi Cory! I would say roughly 1.5 cups.
I’m a bit late coming upon this, but I did have a question — why do you let the soup freeze in the mason jar before you put the lid on? Does it prevent ice crystals (my nemesis)? Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Jody! That’s because the liquid expands as it freezes, so you don’t want to add any pressure to the jar as it expands. Hope that makes sense!
Yep; makes sense. I’ve always just stop filling an inch or two below the lid, but this seems far more efficient. Thanks for the tip — and thanks for this wonderful, fast, delicious, and infinitely adaptable recipe!
I made this for a Mexican-themed staff lunch. It was the best black bean soup I’ve ever had, which was no surprise. It’s a Cookie+Kate recipe, after all!
Well, thank you Sharon! I’m glad you loved it. :)
Will be making this in the crock pot for our Christmas buffet, a new tradition! Will let you know how it goes!!
Please do, Trish!
Another great one from Cookie and Kate! This recipe was incredibly easy and delicious, I’m sure I’ll make it again soon. I used one jalapeño instead of the red pepper and added oregano, paprika, and a little chili powder to boost the flavoring.
Glad you loved it, Ingrid! Thanks so much for sharing.
I gotta tell ya, I’ve never left a comment before, but this soup blew my mind (or well, I guess my tastebuds). I’m kind of new to cooking, so I like trying new things. I stuck with the full teaspoon of red pepper flakes and used and immersion blender, and it’s fantastic. I’m happy I found your recipe Kate. I will definitely be checking out other recipes of yours.
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks, Amanda.
I made this today in the crock pot. I browned the onions, celery, carrots in a skillet, added the spices and when I was ready to add the broth I moved it all to the crock pot and now that’s it’s done I just blended briefly with a wand and it’s waiting for dinner. Wonderful! Full of flavor. It’s a keeper!
Thanks for sharing, Wendy!
Love this recipe! I made this today as a “let’s get our eating back on track from the holidays” meal. Super easy, super quick, and super delicious! Thanks for constantly delivering awesome recipes, Kate! You have inspired my love for being in the kitchen.
You’re welcome! I need some “get back on salads” myself!
Best Black Bean Soup recipe I’ve ever had- by far!!! I made it according to the directions & it was approved by the whole family! Delicious!
Thank you, Sandy!
I have made several Black bean soup recipes, and this one is the absolute BEST!! As I made this I wondered if it would taste ok with all that cumin, YES it did… the 4 cans of beans gave the soup the creamiest texture!! Thank you so much for my new go to, make for company black bean soup recipe!!
BTW i added couple jalapeños, yes i like it hot….
I’m excited you think it’s the best, Sue! Thanks for sharing.
Love this recipe! Made it twice already. Does anyone know the calorie count for a serving?
The nutrient information is below the notes. You just need to click to expand. :)
I was skeptical since it didn’t have a million different spices. Yet fear not: the soup was delicious! I think the long veg sauté in the beginning really added a layer of flavor. I added some vegetarian Worcestershire sauce for some umami. And it was just perfect. Will be making again!
I’m glad you loved it!
I made this soup last night for my wife and son and it was terrific! I followed the recipe for the most part – I had chicken stock on hand plus I squeezed a fresh lime instead of the sherry vinegar. Everything I needed was already in my pantry or refrigerator, which makes this extra easy. My son put cheese in his and I always add a little bit of Frank’s Red Hot to most everything. Everyone agreed that this recipe will be part of our regular dinner rotation. It was so easy and really hit the spot. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Thank for sharing, Jim!
I’ve been cooking for over 40 years and I would think that the canned beans would be too mushy if cooked in a crock pot for 6 hrs! Typically one uses the dry beans for slow cooking in crockpot for this reason.
Thanks for sharing, Nan!
I’m very happy with this soup. I followed the recipe as closely as possible. I’ll happily bookmark this one.
Thanks for sharing, Larry!
This soup was awesome! I made a big batch and brought to work for lunch during the week. Don’t skip adding the sherry vinegar. It really makes it special
Thank you, Jennifer!
Looks great! How long will this keep in the fridge?
It should keep well, covered, for 3-4 days.
Excellent. Followed the recipe just as you have it. Truly enjoyed everything about it.
Wonderful, Beckie! Thank you for your comment and review.
I followed recipe exactly except used 1lb dry beans. I was disappointed — didn’t seem spicy at all. Only thing that saved it was sliced avocado and a dollop of plain whole yogurt in each bowl when served.
I’m sorry you didn’t love it! You can always increase the level of spice if you like.
Your recipe is definitely delicious, I especially like the addition of the sherry vinegar. I would like to impart a few thoughts though. I cook my own black beans, I know it takes a bit longer, but I know exactly what I’m getting. Plus, they’re less expensive and 4 less cans for the landfill. I also like to add a diced red bell pepper, more carrots, and a tsp. of turmeric (very beneficial for digestion). As I’m sure most people do, I use a recipe as a starting point. Then add or subtract ingredients to suit my tastes. Thanks for your great (starting) recipes!
Thank you for sharing, Michael!