Black bean soup

Ingredients needed to make black bean soup

To make this easy black bean soup recipe, you will need the following basic ingredients:

Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions

• Black beans: I have cooked dried black beans from scratch at home but you can use canned beans too. You can make similar recipes using other varieties of beans too.
• Sweet corn kernels: Adding sweet corn is optional, you can make black bean soup without them too. However, I feel sweet corn makes this bean soup taste better. Fresh, canned, or frozen corn, all are fine. Fresh corn will take a longer time to get cooked. Canned corns are precooked so, you can add them later with black beans.
• Onion: Preferably red onion but, white or yellow onion can be used too.
• Bell pepper: I have used red bell pepper but the color doesn't matter, use whichever variety is available to you.
• Cilantro: Just like Indian food, cilantro is a key ingredient in Mexican food too. The fresh flavor of cilantro is irreplaceable. However, if you don't like cilantro, use chopped green onion.
• Seasonings: I have flavored this black bean soup with bay leaf, garlic, cumin powder, red chili flakes, and ground black pepper. You can use other herbs and spices of your choice to flavor it. I would suggest not skipping cumin powder as it adds a very nice and special flavor to this soup. Instead of red chili flakes, you can use red chili powder too.
• Vegetable stock: Water can also be used but stock makes the soup more flavorful.
• Oil: I have used extra virgin olive oil. You can also use canola or avocado oil. Or, feel free to use any neutral flavored oil of choice.

Other ingredient details and nutritional information are given in the recipe card.

How to make (step-by-step instructions)?

To make this black bean corn soup, follow the easy step-by-step instructions given below:

Step 1: Heat oil in a large pot. Add chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Cook until the onion turns translucent.

Step 2: Add minced garlic and saute for a few seconds i.e. until the raw smell of garlic goes away.

Step 3: Add sweet corn kernels and chopped bell pepper. Saute for 3-4 minutes.

Step 4: Add red pepper flakes and cumin powder. Saute for around 30 seconds.

Step 5: Add tomato paste and cook for around 30 seconds.

Step 6: Add cooked black beans. Cook for 1-2 minutes without adding the liquid.

Step 7: Add vegetable stock.

Step 8: Add bay leaf, salt, and ground black pepper. Mix.

Steps 9 and 10: Cover the pot and cook for around 20 minutes.

Step 11: Remove the bay leaf.

Step 12: Transfer around 1.5 cups of beans and vegetables along with some liquid to a blending jar. Allow it to get slightly colder.

Step 13: Blend to make a paste.

Step 14: Transfer the pureed soup back to the soup pot.

Step 15: Cook for 5 more minutes on medium heat and then turn off the heat.

Step 16: Add fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro.

Your delicious vegan black bean soup is ready to be enjoyed!

Serving black bean and corn soup

Serve this Mexican black bean and corn soup hot or warm.

Top the finished soup with crunchy tortilla chips, they make it taste even better. You can also add some chopped avocado, red onion, jalapeno, tomatoes, lime wedges, or some pico de galo to it.

Non-vegans may also serve this soup with some shredded cheese or a dollop of sour cream on top.

This soup is very filling so you don’t need anything elaborate to serve with it, just these simple toppings make it complete.

However, if you still want to pair it up with some other dish, you can serve a salad, garlic bread, crispy garlic cheese bread, cornbread, quesadilla, grilled avocados, grilled vegetables, or Mexican bean rice on the side.

Storing the leftovers, freezing, and reheating

You can store the leftover bean soup in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It tastes even better the next day.

Vegan black bean soup also freezes well. You can freeze it in batch-size airtight freezer-safe containers, mason jars, or zip-lock bags for up to 3 months.

To reheat transfer to a cooking pot. Add some hot water or vegetable stock, if the soup has thickened, and then reheat covered until heated well.

If the soup is frozen, you don't need to thaw it first before heating it on the stovetop. However, add only a little hot liquid initially because the soup will become thinner as the ice melts. Add more liquid later, if needed.

You can also reheat it in the microwave. To do that, thaw or defrost the soup first, if it's frozen. Put in a microwave-safe container and microwave for a few minutes, stirring once or twice in between, until heated through.

Recipe tips, tricks, and variation suggestions

• Both homecooked and canned beans are fine to be used in this bean soup.
• You can skip adding corn kernels and bell pepper to enjoy a simpler black bean soup.
• A similar bean soup can be made using any other bean of choice too.
• Don't miss to remove the bay leaf before blending the soup.
• You can also blend a portion of the soup using an immersion blender (hand blender).
• The steam of hot soup may explode the stand blender so it's better to allow the soup to become slightly colder before blending. You may add a few tablespoons of water to the soup or transfer it to a wide bowl before putting it in the blending jar to speed up the cooling process.
• I blended around 1.5 cups of the soup. If you prefer thicker soup blend more or add less liquid to the soup. If you prefer a thinner soup, blend less or skip blending.
• More vegetables can be added to this Mexican bean soup like sweet potato, potato, broccoli, green beans, etc.
• You can use readymade Mexican seasonings of your choice to flavor this spicy black bean soup like Fajita seasoning, taco seasoning, enchilada seasoning, etc.

More easy vegan bean soups

There is something so satisfying about bean soups that I have never found anyone who doesn’t love it. If you also enjoy bean soups then don’t miss checking out the following recipes on my blog:

More easy Mexican recipes

If you enjoyed this easy recipe for spicy black bean soup and looking for more easy Mexican recipes, then the following links are worth checking out:

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