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!
- Total time
- 55 min
- Active time
- 10 min
- Yield
- 6, 6 servings
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Equipment
- 1 required

Ingredients and Constraints
Ingredients
- Optional
- Optional
Ingredient watchpoints9 watchpoints
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Yellow Onions
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Ribs Celery
3 celery ribs, finely chopped
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Carrot
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Garlic
6 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Black Beans
4 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Sherry Vinegar
1 to 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, to taste, or 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Avocado
Optional garnishes: diced avocado, extra cilantro, thinly sliced radishes, tortilla chips…
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Additional ingredient notes
Required setup
Equipment
large Dutch oven or soup pot
Method Overview
Structured method notes that are separate from the step timeline.
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.
Method Timeline
Prep
ActivePrep
10 min
Prep time from the source recipe card.
Cook
ActiveCook
45 min
Cook time from the source recipe card.
Total
PassiveTotal
55 min
Total time from the source recipe card.
Step 1
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.
medium heat10 min-15 minDutch OvenStep 2
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.
medium-high heat30 minStep 3
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.
Step 4
Return the pureed soup to the pot, stir in the cilantro, vinegar/lime juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Serve.
Handling and Storage
Reviewed hold, storage, make-ahead, and service-timing guidance.
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.
Learn More
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Why this works
Quick kitchen reasons behind the main choices.
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!



Article photos
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Source: Spicy Black Bean Soup
Recipe structure
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Main recipe
Recipe card ingredients and steps.
6, 6 servings
Extra useful notes
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Recipe adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.
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.
SUGGESTED SIDES: Chunky avocado salsa, a little green salad, quesadillas or a grilled cheese sandwich.
More source notes
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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.
Recipe Utilities
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Source and Origin
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Adapted from source
Imported from the cookie-and-kate page for dev review.
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Spicy Black Bean Soup
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