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.
This recipe is very cumin-forward and the spice piece was one-note. I would try again adding a roasted poblano and jalapeño pepper and using a taco seasoning packet rather than the cumin.
I’m sorry you didn’t love it! But thanks for the feedback, Becky.
the cumin was the best part <3
I added a can of fire roasted tomatoes, upped the red chili flakes, and omitted the cilantro. Topped it jalapeños, green onion, and queso fresco. So so so good. Filing without being heavy.
I have made this recipe so many times now. It’s our absolute favorite!
There’s a place in Peterborough, NH that serves the best black bean soup. We moved north, much too far away to go for a casual dinner there so I decided to try to make some… I’ve tried several recipes, well, more than several recipes. No luck. Until yours. Bingo! I only omitted the cilantro (I’m one of those ‘cilantro tastes like soap’ people) and used the lime juice. OMG YUM. Thank you SO much. Delicious, nutritious and so easy! ❤️
Black bean soup it’s delicious
This is one of my go-to soups (along with the best lentil soup!). I’ve made it half a dozen time and it always comes out delicious!
They are both great soups! Thanks, Susan for your review.
Looks absolutely delicious, Kate. Will you come over and make me some? Because I think I need to try this, but I MIGHT be a tad too lazy to cook some myself heheh :P
Thanks again, Pia!
It’s incredible way to make vegan soup with black beans.
Thank you!
Wow, this was great soup! I only had dried black beans in the house, so went through the soaking/cooking process [which adds a day to the prep – so much for “mmmm, I feel like having some black bean soup”]. Heartily recommend. I used the lime juice recommendation and served with a little bit extra and a little extra cilantro in the bowl. Thanks so much!
Thank you for sharing, Liz!
Liz,
How many cups of dried beans did you use? I like to use dried beans to cut down the salt and cost. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Thank you
According to another website, a 1 lb bag of black beans will produce the equivalent of 4 cans of prepared beans.
Trying today, I myself cannot wait a whole day on those dried beans, I had on hand as well. I pressure cook soaked and woa-lah! Insta beans!
Thank you so much, my dear!
This soup is just pure delight, especially for needing a fairly small number of ingredients. For those who like jumping aboard the spicy train I would suggest adding some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Thanks for sharing, Kristen!
Hi Kate! I’m a big fan, and love your book. Willa, my dog, enjoys all the (dog friendly) veggie cast offs from the cutting board when I make your recipes.
So, this soup was very tasty. I made it exactly as described and it was perfectly balanced to my palate, though I love the idea of introducing a little flavor from a poblano pepper as was offered by another commenter.
Husband and teen daughter concur. Yummo. Will absolutely make it again. Thank you!!
You’re welcome, Valerie!
My daughter shared this recipe with me and we love it as much as she does. Easy to make and lends itself to all kinds of variations like different chili powders instead of cumin and as you mention, additions like rice, queso fresco, green olives, pico de gallo…
That all sounds wonderful, Judith! Thanks for the review.
Thank You very much for this wonderful recipe. I also did it exactly the way in your recipe. Great flavor!
I’m happy you liked it, Anne! I appreciate the review.
Delicious! I thought the soup would be too thick, but it wasn’t. It was creamy. During Lent our parish is doing soup suppers. I made this for dinner tonight to practice for Friday’s soup supper. I’ll be back to your website for more tasty meatless soup recipes.
Thank you for your review, Janet!
hi kat im a new verge took me some time to get there happened by mistake i lived in a place were that just cooked good food now i will be cooking for myself so i have to get with it becos i like this food and i feel good love this recipe I’m trying some home made bread to go with it thank you and have a lovely day and please give your dog a pat from me danny from australia
Thanks, Danny!
My pantry didn’t contain as many black beans as I expected. Made it with half red kidney beans and half black beans. It was really delicious and not as unidimensional as pure black bean soup sometimes seems. Best of all it was dead easy to make.
I’m glad you liked it with different beans! Thanks for sharing, Ian.
I have to try this half and half spin! Kate’s recipe makes me love black beans but the red and black combo sounds quite appealing!
Tasted very bland, had a lot of potential but could have been a lot more flavourful
I’m sorry you didn’t love this, Amber. Thanks for your feedback!
The recipe above, for Black Bean Soup, lists 4 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained. Why should we “rinse” the beans? I would think a small amount of the canned bean liquid, would be good nutrition in the soup being prepared. I do not understand this. Many other recipes requiring canned beans, instruct you to “rinse” and drain the beans. Please respond.
Mary.
www. mary.hethering@gmail.com
Great question, Mary! Rinsing the beans actually helps get rid of excess salt and improve the flavor of the dish. The starch in the liquid can impact the overall flavor.
Hi Mary,
I´ve also learned that it is good to rinse beans as they often contain compounds that can make you feel a bit gassy (is this a word?!) and that these compounds in the water should be washed away if possible to avoid extra gas and bloating. Also, polyphenols can be released into the water and they can inhibit the absorption of nutrients in your food. I´m not a dietician so I am not very good at explaining this but you might find something about it in google. I guess if it means your nutrients aren´t absorbed as well, the nutrients you´re hoping to get from the liquid will not do much for your body. Hope this helps, happy cooking :)
Enja
Great base recipe. I added a roasted jalapeno pepper to the blender. It added some smokiness to the flavor. Quite good. Additionally, I topped it with a hard boiled egg, finely chopped and some lime juice. Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome Brian! Thank you for your review.
Thank you for your March 21st reply regarding how to use the can of beans, in making Black Bean Soup, (a great recipe).
Since I love salt, even though I know many people try to avoid it completely, I will continue to use a good portion of the canned bean juice. Likely I will cut down on adding salt when adding fresh-ground pepper. And lastly, the starch in juice, I suppose is from the beans so that’s fine. I have always felt that draining and rinsing the beans is throwing away some of the nutrition of the beans. Again, thanks for your response. MH .
You’re welcome, Mary!
Delicious, easy, and a party pleaser! I’ll add a bit more pepper flakes next time I make it. I used the lime versus the vinegar, which gave it an awesome flavor!
Great! Thank you for sharing, Linda.
I bet this is a great recipe and I’ll tell you I have loved your website and newsletter, but now that you have all these adverts it’s gotten unbearable to even look at! I have eight ads popping up, animating and jumping all over my page just trying to scroll down to get to the instructions. each time I try to move my page, they reline, shift and stop me from scrolling again. I have this on any phone that I try to view your site on.
By the time I got to the how to, I was done.
maybe next time ill try again, but for now I’m off to a site that isn’t going to blast me. Too bad
Hi Tanya, I’m sorry to hear about your difficulty with my site. That shouldn’t be happening! If you can, try clearing your browser cache on your phone. I hope that solves the problem. The ads are necessary to pay for the costs of running a large site and let me blog full time. I want everyone to have a pleasant experience on the site (it’s my baby).
This was a great recipe! I didn’t have quite enough cumin on hand so I topped it up with a bit of a taco seasoning blend. Made some baked corn tortilla chips and some oven-roasted corn to go on top…this soup is definitely a keeper.
Thank you for letting me know, Matt!
Delicious! We like it best with lime juice.
Thanks for sharing, Kathy!
Hi Kate, I am a long time lurker (and cooker) and first time commenter. I just wanted to say that last week I made your vegetarian chili and it was the first meal prep I’ve EVER done that I actually enjoyed eating all week! I just made your black bean soup last night with the addition of a jalapeno, a bell pepper, and some chili powder and paprika and I’m sitting here at work now eating it and realizing that I’ve got another meal prep on my hands I will enjoy all week! Thank you for gifting us all with your beautiful, tasty, and veggie filled recipes! I look forward to making many, many more!
I’m so happy you finally commented! I’m glad you loved it and worked great for your meal prep. I appreciate the review, Marisa!
I rarely use a recipe to the letter but if I like your ideas I use them…and I use your ideas frequently. Lol. You’re a great cook and I’m sure I’d love your original recipes if I followed them to the letter. You might even like my adaptations. Lol
Thank you, Raymond!
A keeper for sure.
Thanks, Minnie!
I make this recipe all the time!! The non-vegetarians in my house are always skeptical when trying a vegetarian meal but they loved this!
I make this recipe all the time!! The non-vegetarians in my house are always skeptical when trying a vegetarian meal but they loved this!!
This soup is delicious as-is. My son-who-eats-nothing said so too!
One suggestion– pay a lot of attention to the broth which is key to its flavor. I used Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base because its flavorful and salty in a good way.
You could probably add more carrots and celery to increase the nutritional value.
Broth can really impact your soup, depending on taste. I agree. Thanks for sharing, Meredith!
I finally made this last night exactly as written and it was incredible! My fiancé said it was the best black bean soup he’s ever had!
Thanks for sharing, Monica!
This was one of the tastiest recipes from your blog I have tried! It was creamy and delicious! Would definitely recommend to a friend
Thank you, Cheryl!
Soooo good! This is the second dish I’ve made by Cookie and Kate and NEITHER was disappointing!! My son has recently decided to join me in the vegan lifestyle and he has absolutely LOVED his new journey; especially with these two dishes (this one and the extra vegetable fried rice-no egg). He’s already asked me to make the fried rice dish again! Thank you both! I have thoroughly enjoyed trying your dishes!!!
Hooray! I love to hear that, Shae. Thanks so much for your feedback. I love that your son has joined you!
Delicious soup! I will make it again!
Great to hear!
This was great! My whole family (vegan-bordering and meat-loving) loved it!
I’m glad you loved it, Jennifer!
I added bell peppers, jalapeños, serranos, and cooked it for about 6 hours if not longer. I also served with queso fresco. This is a great recipe! Thank you
You’re welcome, Anna! Thank you for your review.
Loved it! I made it in the instant pot. Instead of 30 minutes on the stove top, it was 10 minutes in the pressure cooker.
Thanks for sharing, Tasha!
I made this soup yesterday and I put in a can of tomatoes with cracked black pepper. The cumin was a bit too strong for us so I added more lime juice. We loved the soup and we definitely make it again.
I’m sorry you didn’t love it at first, but were able to make it suite your tastes.
Hi, I made this recipe tonight for supper and added a few things to give it a little more depth of flavor. I substituted bell peppers and sweet potatoes for the carrots. I added 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and 1/4 cup dry white wine to deglaze. I used half not-chicken broth (2 not chicken cubes disolved in 4 cups of water). I ended up using some leftover pasta sauce to give it a slight tomato flavor, and a few shakes of adobo light seasoning. Was very good, and I simmered it a bit longer than was recommended in the recipe. Let it cool for around 10 minutes before using the hand blender to blend about half of it. The lime really adds just the right acidic balance, and I added a couple of teaspoons of sugar to balance the tomato tartness
I’m sorry you didn’t love it as is, but happy you were able to add your own twist to it!
Oh my goodness this is delicious! Black bean soup is my fav vegetarian /vegan soup and this recipe is SO spot on.
Thank you!
I just found your site and I am OB. SESSED! After years of eating poorly, I committed to a vegetarian diet to help get me back on track, help with chronic pain conditions, and lose weight. I stumbled across your blog when I was looking for vegan recipes, and I’ve been cooking like crazy ever since — a new thing for me lol.
Not only have I made some of your amazing recipes, but I’ve learned techniques that help me make my own. Like…sage can be cooked and eaten…who knew? (I mean everyone except me, I know, but whatever :D).
I’ve been making some of your recipes for my family, too, and they’ve noticed improvements in their chronic health conditions. I’ve noticed a decrease in my chronic pain, as well, and my skin is clearing up, too! So it’s been an all-around amazing thing.
I made this recipe last night and we’re all in love with it!
Thanks for teaching this way-too-old-to-be-new-to-this newbie how to eat healthy. Reader for life!
Thank you so much for sharing! I’m so happy the blog has been such a resource for you. Keep it up, Courtney!
best soup I have ever tasted.
Wonderful, Elliot!
I thought this was very good. I had soaked a lot of black and pinto beans so used both in the recipe and it turned out very well. Is the nutrition information available/ I see a section for that but am not able to view it.
Thank you for sharing, Jon!
I made this for the first time tonight and as a Cuban girl who misses her abuela’s frijoles negros, these were amazing! I never thought I’d be able to make an authentic tasting black bean soup! As if that weren’t enough, all three of my boys and my husband all loved it. I didn’t think it was possible. Thank you for rocking my world!
You’re welcome, Natalie!
I’m in the process of simmering this soup.I can’t wait to see how this recipe tastes.
I like things like this to be a bit more smokey and spicy. I reduced the cumin, I added chipotle chilies in adobe, smoked paprika, chili powder, oregano, one plain jalapeno and a bit of long green chilies I found in an Asian grocery store. There was no peblamo (sorry for spelling) chilies in my regular grocery store this week :(, Also I let the beans cook in the spices, onion, carrot and celery before I add the stock. I use peblamo peppers to make vegan pisole too. I plan on making some rice to go with it for work lunches.
Thank you for sharing, Lindsey! I appreciate your review.
I make this recipe all the time. It’s great to make in big batches and eat throughout the week when I’m trying to eat healthy. It’s super filling and inexpensive to make too. I sometimes like to add veggie meat crumbles to make it more of a chili and it’s great that way too. One day I’m going to try it with vegan cheese and your vegan sour cream recipe when I’m feeling ambitious!
Thanks for sharing, Katherine!
Great recipe- I threw all the ingredients into the slow cooker on low for 6 hours, then at the end I added some chipotles just to add the spice our household craves. It was delicious, easy and covered lunches for the week! We ate ours with Tostito rounds and avocado. Thank you for a new favourite!
Thanks for sharing your take on this soup, Leah!
Can you use fresh made black beans in the soup, can you brake it down for just 2 people. Thank you
Hi Diane! That would work. You can cut this recipe in half and it should still turn out great.
I ADDED A CAN OF ORGANIC CHOPPED TOMATOES AND LITTLE JUICE FROM THE CAN. FANTASTIC. TOO BLAND WITHOUT IT. I HAVE INCURABLE CANCER AND THIS FITS NICELY IN MY PLANT BASED DIET. NO DAIRY, HOWEVER. ALSO USED REAL SHERRY AND ACV AS I DID NOT HAVE SHERRY VINEGAR.
THANK YOU.
Thank you for sharing, Pat!
Hi – I’m new to eating Pescatarian and new to your blog. I decided to make this soup last night and choose to add diced tomatoes spiced with Habanero pepper. I also can’t stand the texture of a bean, any bean (I know it’s odd), so I pureed most… ok all of the beans. It was a very rich and delicious soup. I will make this again. Thanks!
4.5 teaspoons of cumin is a bit insane. Two is more than plenty.
I adapted by making the sofrito base with additions of 1 large shallot, two Fresno peppers, and two habaneros, cut the onion from two yellow to one red. And added smoked paprika, toasted coriander seeds, and a little ground mustard. Also, always use dry beans over the canned bean crap…. made for a much better recipe.
Loved it! I didn’t have enough celery, so I skipped a bit. I did add some chili powder and was out of cilantro so I just added some no salt cilantro like seasoning I had. So the recipe is easily adaptable! If anyone has suggestions for how to cook this in the instapot with uncooked black beans though I’d love them!
Made this so many times I have lost count. I now make it with dried beans from scratch, which adds so much to the flavour and creamy texture it is absolutely worth it – especially as I do the “oven baked beans” thing. Set the oven to 200 c, rinse the beans, add to a large oven proof pot with a lid (Le Creuset is perfect) add cold water to cover by at least 3 inches, stick in the oven for 2 hours or so. So easy! Much better bean texture. I also use the cooking water for the stock. I use a 500 g pack of dried black beans for 1 quantity of soup. I also sub1 tsp of cumin with smoked sweet paprika and some chilli flakes to round out the flavour a bit. Sometimes a minced green pepper.
LOVE this black bean soup! Followed the recipe as written. I am vegetarian and my husband is vegan. He said this was his favorite vegan recipe that I have made and has requested it two weeks in a row! We topped this with avocado and vegan sour cream :)