This easy black bean soup recipe is destined for your regular rotation! Made with 10 basic ingredients, it's creamy, comforting, flavorful, and delicious.
This black bean soup is about to become your new favorite back-pocket recipe! It calls for 10 ingredients, and there’s a good chance you have all of them in your pantry already. It cooks up in right around 30 minutes, and it tastes just as good leftover as it does hot off the stove. Best of all, it’s comforting, hearty, satisfying, and (of course!) delicious.
When I cook with canned beans, I almost always start by draining and rinsing them. But in this black bean soup recipe, I pour the canned bean liquid into the pot right along with the beans themselves. This liquid, coupled with the fact that I puree half the soup after it simmers, creates a super creamy and flavorful broth. It’s smoky, spicy, earthy, and bright. Trust me, you can plan on having seconds. 🙂
Black Bean Soup Recipe Ingredients
This black bean soup recipe comes together with a handful of pantry ingredients:
- Black beans, of course! You’ll need 2 cans of black beans for this recipe, and you’ll use the liquid in the cans as well as the beans themselves.
- Onion and garlic – They add savory depth of flavor.
- Canned chipotle peppers and adobo sauce – They give this black bean soup a spicy kick.
- Chili powder, cumin, and coriander – Their smoky, earthy, citrusy, and warm flavors add depth to this simple soup.
- Vegetable broth – It helps create the soup’s creamy base.
- Lime juice – It makes the soup bright and balanced.
- And sea salt – To make the smoky, spicy flavors pop!
Sauté the onion in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and spices and cook, stirring constantly, until aromatic. Next, add the beans and their liquid as well as the chipotles, adobo sauce, and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow the soup to cool slightly before adding half of it to a blender and pureeing it until smooth. Then, transfer the pureed soup back into the pot with the remaining chunky soup. Add the lime juice and stir to combine. Finally, season to taste with salt and pepper. Enjoy!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Easy Black Bean Soup Serving Suggestions
This black bean soup is tasty no matter what, but I like it best with flavorful garnishes on top! Pile your bowl with a scoop of Greek yogurt or cashew sour cream, sliced avocado or guacamole, sliced serranos or pickled jalapeños, pickled red onions, cilantro, and/or pepitas for crunch. My fresh corn salsa would be a wonderful topping here too.
Enjoy the soup on its own, or pair it with cornbread, regular crusty bread, or cilantro lime rice for a heartier meal. It would also be fantastic with a gooey grilled cheese sandwich, a baked sweet potato, or any of these vegetable side dishes:
- Sweet Potato Salad
- Best Broccoli Salad
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Roasted Broccoli
- Maple Roasted Acorn Squash
- Roasted Butternut Squash
- Lemon Roasted Cauliflower
More Favorite Soup Recipes
If you love this black bean soup, try one of these delicious soup recipes next:
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Easy Vegetarian Chili
- Many-Veggie Vegetable Soup
- Creamy Potato Soup
- Best Lentil Soup
- Pumpkin Soup
- Tomato Basil Soup
- Or any of these 30 Best Soup Recipes!
Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans including the liquid in the can
- 2 chipotles peppers canned in adobo sauce*, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons sauce
- 1½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon lime juice, plus wedges for serving
topping options:
- avocado slices
- Greek yogurt or cashew cream
- Pepitas
- pickled onions
- Serrano peppers
- Chili powder
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and salt and sauté until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili powder and stir for 30 seconds. Stir in the beans, chipotles, adobo sauce, and broth and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and transfer half of the soup mixture to a blender. Puree until smooth, then add it back to the pot with the remaining soup and stir. Stir in the lime juice. Serve with lime wedges and desired toppings.
Really good! I added mushrooms, peppers, and carrots. It was served with cornbread
Those additions sound great! So glad you enjoyed it.
This black bean soup was fantastic! The only change I made was I used less chipotle than called for, but I will use the full amount in my next batch. I topped each bowl with red onions marinated in lime juice and little sour cream. This is definitely my go-to black bean soup recipe now!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
This recipe is really amazing!! I use it as a burrito filler and its just out of this world! I juste add a bit less water and it’s perfect
Oh yum!
Note to future self: double the recipe – no – triple it.
This is a winner! Spicy and delicious and the toppings put it over the top.
I’m so glad you loved it!
I’ve made this soup multiple times and just keep dreaming of making it again. Mmmmmm
This was delicious! definitely will make again.
I go back to this recipe again and again. It’s almost effortless and so cozy and filling. It’s also made with things I almost always have on hand, which makes it perfect for a quick lunch or side dish for a last minute dinner party. Love it so much.
I’m so glad its been a go-to recipe!
Love & Lemons creates very solid base recipes, and this one is no different. They come together beautifully on their own and are also so adaptable to truly make it your own.
This Black Bean soup in particular, as it allows me to use some items of our long term food storage/emergency kit to keep stock rotating.
I add carrots and charred green bell peppers to add a tiny touch of natural sweetness and a bright vegetal note to the smokiness..
I also purée 1/3 of the soup vs 1/2 as I prefer a slightly chunkier/stew style black bean soup.
A little Queso Fresco or Cotija cheese on top adds a creamy salty pop to the finish along with a little drizzle of good olive or avocado oil.
Freezes beautifully too!
Hi Stephanie, I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying the recipes! I’m glad the soup was flexible for you to use up what you had on hand!
I usually make recipes as is and then change them later. This was absolutely great just way too hot and liquidity. I added all ingredients to an instapot for 25 minutes high pressure and I will for sure not use the 2 tsb of sauce and only use 1 pepper next time and no chicken broth. I thought the beans had enough liquid. I opted out the chili powder. Really wonderful otherwise
Do you have nutritional information?
Do you need to chop the onion in or do you put the whole head in?
oops! Yes, chopped.
Your recipes never disappoint and has made going plant based SO much easier! Your cookbook is on my Christmas list 🙂
Everyone in the family loved this – it is perfectl amount of heat. Delicious – it will be on steady rotation this winter.
Can you use dry black beans instead of canned? If so would you add more broth?
You can, I would just also use some of the bean cooking liquid as well – about 1 cup of the liquid in addition to 3 cups of the beans. You can use the same amount of broth that’s listed in the recipe. If it’s all to thick after it simmers, you can thin it with a touch of water to reach your desired consistency.
I made this last night, and it was AMAZING!! My husband is a distance runner who’s always craving a little bit of extra protein (at 50, his metabolism still thinks he’s 15!), so I sauteed some tempeh for him to toss in as well. I also made your homemade cornbread recipe with it, which was simply mouthwatering. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch today. Thanks for the great recipes!!
I love how easy this is! Def a keeper!!! As , always, pics are amazing!
Hi!
This looks great!
Quick question- do you simmer it with the lid on or off?
Thanks!
Hi Robin – uncovered, without the lid.
This looks tasty! Curious what veggie broth you use? All the ones I try have a really “off” flavor to me. Thanks!
Hi Carla, I like the Whole Foods 365 brand, the one that’s not marked low sodium.
Wow, that looks interesting. black beans are kinda hard to get here though. Do you think this might work with kidney’s as well?