I love black bean soup like I love chili. It’s great on its own, but it’s also fun to get creative with toppings and turn it into a bowl full of fun (okay, maybe I get too excited about food). This awesomely flavorful and easy slow cooker black bean soup practically makes itself, which is perfect for hot summer days like this when you don’t want a pot of soup boiling away on the stove making your whole kitchen extra steamy.
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What else is awesome about this soup? Wellll…. It’s vegan, super filling, low cal, high fiber, high protein, full of veggies, and costs next to nothing. Need I say more?
And about those awesome fun toppings? I ate mine with a dollop of sour cream, but you could do crispy tortilla strips, green onions, cilantro, pepitas, cheddar or pepper jack cheese, or even a scoop of cooked rice. Actually, just about anything that goes good in a taco would probably go awesome on top of this soup. Go wild!
Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.41)
- 2 ribs celery ($0.33)
- 2 carrots ($0.28)
- 1 lb. black beans (uncooked) ($1.75)
- 1 cup salsa ($0.85)
- 1 Tbsp chili powder* ($0.30)
- 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin ($0.15)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 4 cups vegetable broth ($0.53)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic, dice the onion and celery, and grate the carrots on a large holed cheese grater. Rinse the black beans in a colander under cool running water and pick out any stones or debris.
- Combine the garlic, onion, celery, carrots, black beans, salsa, chili powder, cumin, oregano, vegetable broth, and water in a 5-7 quart slow cooker. Stir well.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 6-8 hours (you want the beans to get VERY soft). Once the beans are very soft, use an immersion blender** to blend the soup until it is thick and creamy (leave some beans whole if desired). Taste the soup and add salt if needed (this will depend on the brand of vegetable broth used).
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How to Make Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup – Step by Step Photos
Rinse the dry beans under cool water to remove any dust and dirt. If there are any pebbles or other debris, pick them out.
Add the beans to a 5-7 quart slow cooker along with 2 cloves of minced garlic, one onion (diced), 2 stalks celery (diced), 2 carrots (grated on a large holed cheese grater), 1 cup salsa, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1/2 Tbsp cumin, and 1 tsp oregano. Add to that 4 cups of vegetable broth and 2 cups of water. Stir well, place the lid on top, and let it cook on high for 6-8 hours (the goal is VERY soft beans).
After 6 hours on high (it can go 8 hours if needed), the beans will be soft and floating around in a bunch of liquid. You want this to be a thick soup, so you’ll need to purée some of the beans (or all if you want it to be a super smooth soup). The easiest way is to use an immersion blender, but if you don’t have one, it can be done with a regular blender. If using a regular blender, let the soup cool until it’s no longer hot (warm is okay). blend about half of the soup in batches for a slightly chunky soup, or all of the soup for a smooth soup. When blending warm liquids it’s always a good idea to throw a towel over the top of the closed blender to catch any spray if it does build pressure and burst out the top. Never, NEVER, blend hot liquids. (speaking from experience).
I blended about half of my soup and left some beans whole for texture. Blending the beans also thickens up the soup considerably. Once it’s blended, give it a taste and see if you need to add salt. I used Better Than Bouillon soup base for my vegetable broth, which tends to be on the salty side, so I didn’t need to add any. If you’re using a low sodium broth, you’ll probably need to add a pinch to make the flavors pop.
And then go crazy with toppings! Woot!
Despite having this one handwritten down in my recipe book for a few years now, today was the first time I made it. I followed Beth’s recipe exactly to see if it was good with no additions, and it definitely is! It’s hard to believe it’s vegan with how creamy it is. Delicious topped with sour cream and cheddar, and I would have sprinkled some Fritos on top if I had them!
Hello critical food safety step missing here which I just learned about the hard way.
YOU MUST SOAK AND BOIL DRIED BEANS BEFORE COOKING OR YOU CAN GET FOOD POISONING.
Beans contain a natural toxin called phytohemagglutinin. Only the above method will get rid of it. Cooking them at a low temperature might even concentrate the toxin in some varieties of bean, such as kidney beans. Skipping this step can lead to severe food poisoning at worst and major gastrointestinal discomfort at best.
I wish I’d known this before I chose this recipe, thinking I could save myself some time. Instead, I got sick :(
We do mention this in other posts where we use dried red kidney beans, white kidney beans, or chickpeas, but it doesn’t apply to black beans! Any bean can cause a bit of gastrointestinal discomfort, even canned beans, but black beans do not have nearly the lectins that other beans have.
Wonderful base recipe. I used better than bouillon mushroom because that’s what I had, added a cup of frozen corn at the end, sauteed red/yellow/orange bell peppers, some salt and lime juice.
So yummy!
I ended up not blending these as they were consumed before I could get the chance to blend them up and I also didn’t have celery so just increased the quantity of carrots.
I used the entire 16oz jar of salsa because I don’t want to toss out the rest, it was a great call!
This is a very easy recipe and after 8 hours on high in my slow cooker I’ve never had a problem with the beans still being hard (without a pre-soak). The original recipe is quite salty so instead of jarred salsa, I now sub a couple of chopped up tomatoes, a jalapeno (with seeds) and 1/2 an onion, and I also use low-sodium vegetable broth. I taste for salt at the end and add more then, if necessary.
Made this last night with my instant pot. 35 minutes on high pressure and a 20 minute wait to release. Immersion blended it in the pot and served with sour cream and shredded cheese. Delicious and so easy!
Another winner! I cooked it the full 8 hours and ended up with a thick, velvety soup. One thing I love about your recipes is that almost all of them call for things I always have on hand. In this case, I’ve been sick for the past week, so I haven’t been able to make it to the grocery store. But I had a pound of beans! And exactly two carrots! And a package of frozen seasoning vegetables (onion, celery, peppers, parsley)! And even though I was out of chili powder, I had everything I needed to make the Betty Crocker chili powder recipe. And when I ran short on salsa, I found a jar of pineapple salsa, so why not? So I am well fed for a few more meals, at least.
The highest compliment I can give a recipe is that I will make it again. I am in love with this recipe. I like using crock pots as I still work. I am single so I had to cut the recipe in half. I also used less water and may skip the water next time. My topping of choice for this recipe is sour cream. The recipe was easy to make.
This is great to freeze as well. You can get takeout soup containers on Amazon and freeze.
Such a remarkably healthy and cheap way to stock the freezer!
Beth and team, I NEED to know your opinion on adding MSG to dishes while cooking or after please.
Thank you!
Supposedly it makes food taste great, so I say go for it! I didn’t grow up using MSG and haven’t experimented with it as an adult, so unfortunately I don’t have any experience to share as to when or how to use it. :)
I know you said that soaking the black beans isn’t strictly necessary (and thus rinsing after soaking), but it will help get rid of some of the starches that cause gas and make them hard to digest, won’t it? Thoughts?
Hi Maria,
In order to eliminate those starches, they’ll need to soak for eight to 12 hours, and be drained and rinsed every three hours. The cooking time will also change, and as we haven’t tested it with soaked beans, we can’t give you much guidance. Good luck! xoxo -Monti
Let this cook for 10 hours in my instapot dutch oven…beans barely got soft…they needed to be soaked overnight…had to throw everything in the trash😢Learned a lesson!
How old were the beans? I have never had that happen with black beans that weren’t super old from the back of my pantry.
Looks lovely! Do the beans need to be soaked beforehand?
Nope! You can follow the recipe exactly as written and it should produce successful results. (We just rinse them so they’re clean!) Soaking beans helps to soften them so they cook a little faster, but that isn’t necessary for this application since they spend such a long time in the slow cooker. ~ Marion :)
This recipe makes my mouth water. I need to see what I can do to get the sodium level lower. That is so most an entire day sodium intake for me. I look forward to trying it.
Right there with you, Grandma AK!
The sodium has a lot to do with your choices of broth and salsa. Storebought salsas and broths can have a truly wild amount of sodium in them. If you’re making your own, of course you can control the salt level to your needs, but if you’re buying, be sure to check the labels! Newman’s Own was recommended to me as a lower-sodium salsa and it’s pretty good, especially for an application like this I think.
I use the Wegman’s store brand vegetable culinary stock as the lowest-sodium option I can readily find. Pacific also makes a lower-sodium vegetable broth, but it’s twice the price and slightly higher mg sodium. I know Beth recommends concentrates for broth, and I get why, but I find the concentrates tend to be extremely high in sodium, as can other common brands like Swansons. I hope this helps!
Tip: use fire roasted or a smoky salsa. Yum.
I second this!
The only brith I have on hand is turkey or chicken. Will either one of these work? I’m looking forward to making this. It looks delicious!
Of course! Substitute in equal parts.
I have five cans of black beans I don’t want them to go to waste. How will I change the receipe in order to use them rather than uncooked ones?
You’d need to reduce the liquid considerably, but I’d need to test the recipe before offering a concrete suggestion. You might like this black bean soup that is designed for canned beans, instead. :)
Do you have to blend the beans at the end to make it a puree? I tend to like a chunkier soup…
No, you can leave it chunky if you prefer. :)
I have made this several times and it is definitely a favorite. Never have altered the recipe at all – it is perfect exactly as written. Love it!
So this came out great! What I do when making bean soups many times, I will add a can of refried beans, in this case refried black beans. I do this if it seems the soup will be too thin for my taste. It isn’t “home made” but it does work and nobody knows I “cheated.” So it doesn’t count!
I can’t get out and have all but the dried black beans. Can I substitute canned black beans? If so, how would you suggest I alter the rest of the recipe?
That’s something I’d really need to test before offering a solid suggestion because substituting canned beans for the dry beans will also alter the amount of liquid used. Generally I find that one pound of dry beans is usually around three 15oz. cans of beans, but I’m not sure how much less liquid you’d need or how long it would need to cook (since the beans are already cooked).
This recipe was perfect. I was a little worried about not soaking the beans but they were perfectly cooked. I did hold off on adding the salsa to the last 2 hours of cooking. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly. The combination of spices were great and the cooking time in my crock pot was perfect. Thanks for the recipe.
I love this soup so much. I’ve made it probably 50 times in the last few years. I use black turtle beans (the only dried black beans I can get in New Zealand). I use a can of diced tomatoes instead of salsa. So great to pop it into the slow cooker in the morning and come home to a delicious warm thick soup. I love it with sour cream, grated cheese, spring onions, and sourdough bread. Cheap and delicious. Thank you budget bytes!
It was ok. If I had had tortilla chips on hand it would have been more like eating black bean dip.
This black bean soup is delicious! The only change I make to the recipe is soaking the black beans.
This looks delicious! Can it be made in the Instant Pot? If so hat would the cooking time be?
Thank you, Jean
I made this last night in an instant pot – mostly because I totally forgot to put it in the crockpot in the morning. I did it for 30 minutes with about a 5-10 minute slow release. I was scared the beans wouldn’t be soft enough but they were absolutely fine. I used an immersion blender and it was great. I do think it came out a little thinner consistency so I might add a little less liquid next time but my whole family loved it.
I love this recipe! I must say that I have always soaked the beans and there has been no crunchiness. I also don’t tend to add too much salt until the soup is done because I read somewhere once that this Makes it take forever. My kids eat it up and I tend to either use store bought salsa or chop some tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeño without the center, and onions(a rough pico de Gallo) and put it in there if I don’t have that. I love this recipe and I love it with Beth’s corn bread recipe. It does demand some sort of cheese/sour cream combo at the end!
I’ve made this twice now and both times, after 8 hours on high the beans are still not soft enough — almost a little crunchy still. I’m not sure why. I think next time I’ll boil them for 30 minutes first, or something. Aside from that the flavor is great, though!
Your beans may have been very old – they will take forever to cook. Also, the salt (boullion) and the acid in the salsa may have slowed down their cooking process. I don’t know if hard/soft water may be involved as well.
This was wonderful. I doubled it for my family of six. We all liked it with sour cream and cheese.
This is a go-to weeknight meal for our family. My kids love it. If I am out of chili powder paprika works fine.
I have been making this soup for a few years and it’s my go-to when the weather turns cold. I add more chili powder, cumin, and garlic and omit the celery. I started using homemade salsa (using canned tomatoes so nothing fancy) and it gives it a better flavor. It makes more than I could eat in a few days so sometimes I freeze the leftovers but recently, I’ve been reducing the extra soup down to a very thick consistency and using it as refried beans when I make burritos. Making homemade salsa and using the leftovers to make this soup, which I use to make burritos makes me feel rather frugal and a little smug about it lol.
This is so delicious! I doubled the recipe and left it on high for 8 hrs.. I didn’t have some of the ingredients so I substituted what I had. I used 1 lb. dried pinto beans and 1 lb. dried split peas. I used 2 cups canned diced tomatoes since I had no salsa. Instead of oregano I used Italian seasoning. I had no vegetable broth so I just used water. I left it chunky and topped my bowl with sour cream and stirred. I have so much I froze a few containers and will have this wonderful soup for weeks to come. Thank you.
Hi! Love your content. Do you have instant pot sub by chance?
I only have a couple, unfortunately. After I bought one and started using it, I found that I only liked using it for a few select things, and that cooking on the stove top was easier and often times faster for me. :P If you search “pressure cooker” in the search bar at the top you’ll see the few that I have.
Hi Kim – I tried this in my instant pot tonight – mainly because I ran errands this morning and totally forgot to put it in the crockpot but had promised my kids black bean soup. I googled some other recipes for black beans in the instant pot and guessed. I put all the same ingredients in except only 1 cup of water, set it to high pressure for 30 minutes and then natural release for 20 minutes. The beans were cooked completely and easy to blend with my immersion blender. It is a little thinner of a soup but I’m guessing you could leave out the water entirely or let it cook off some fluid once the instant pot is open to make it thick like the crock pot version. My kids all still loved it so I’m calling it a win!
Can you use canned black beans? How many cans would I need to use?
Unfortunately this one is designed for dry beans and you’d need to do a lot of adjusting for canned beans, which are already cooked. Since they’re already cooked you really wouldn’t need to use a slow cooker, you could do basically the same thing in about 20 minutes on the stove top. :) Check out this super quick recipe for Smoky Black Bean Soup as a reference.
This is a fantastic recipe for the best black bean soup my wife and I have ever eaten! I have now made this several times and have adjusted the ingredients slightly to our preferences. We like our soup to be very flavorful, so I add an extra clove of minced garlic and make sort of heaping measuring spoonfuls of all the spices. We lived in New Mexico for more than two years, so I add an entire 16 oz. jar of medium salsa that must be made with green chiles from the Hatch Valley of New Mexico–everyone in the state will agree there is no substitute! Mixing the soup is crucial after it has cooked for 8 hours. I don’t have an immersion blender, but I do have an old dual-beater hand mixer that works very well when I remove one of the beater attachments. Trying to do this in a regular blender was messy and inefficient. We garnish the soup with a bit of shredded Mexican cheese and broken up blue corn tortilla chips. This has become one of our absolute favorite meals!
I have a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce; do you think it would add good flavor to put a couple of these peppers or sauce in this recipe? They have been sitting in my pantry for months and I don’t know how to use them! Making this recipe today regardless :-)
Thank you!!
Absolutely! Black beans and chipotle are made for each other. :)
This is delicious. I am very happy with this recipe. Mine came out a bit too watery so next time I will omit the 2 cups of water.
I’ve been making this since 2017 and its delicious, healthy food my kids actually love! I just checked the recipe to see if you’ve updated and it looks the same. I use baby carrots since I always have them on hand. They soften and blend up just fine so there’s no need for grating. I assume regular carrots cut up into baby carrot size would work the same. A little tip that might save a bit of elbow grease which is a big feature of slow cookers. Thanks again for all the great recipes!
This is my second time making this. It’s in the slow cooker now and smells so good. One of my new fav easy recipes! Thanks so much
Flavor is on point! Unfortunately, I really struggled to get a nice thick texture – I used canned beans which I drained but perhaps there was enough moisture content to make the soup thinner. Really nice with some shredded cheese on top!
Recipe as follows was pretty lackluster in flavor, even with salt added. It needs more spices. Without added toppings like cheese or sour cream I wouldn’t be able to eat it.
Can I subtitute black beans to red kidney?
It’s not a good idea to cook kidney beans in a slow cooker because it doesn’t boil the beans strong enough or long enough to break down the natural toxin (phytohaemagglutinin) found in kidney beans.
This is going in the remake pile. I also waited until the last hour to add the salsa and just tasted, HOLY MOLY. Will never make black bean soup without salsa again.
This recipe is a STAPLE in our house. I’ve made it a million times and it always comes out perfect. We love to serve it over white rice with corn bread.
Think this could be pre-made and frozen, and then thawed later? I’m thinking I could combine everything except the stock…? Now I’m pregnant with our first, and looking to make a ton of pre-made crockpot meals to pull out when in need! Thank you!
I only have canned black beans in my pantry. Could I make this soup with canned black beans and if so how would you recommend I adjust the cooking time/recipe?
Thanks
This one is designed specifically for dry beans, so you’d need to change it quite a bit for canned beans. I’d need to do some testing to properly advise.
I’ve done this black bean soup with canned beans. You can just cook it stove-top. Just cook until the carrots/veggies are soft and then I like to refrigerate overnight and serve the next day. The flavors get to meld a little better since you’re not slow cooking it.
I almost always used canned beans only: two cans of black beans (540mL/19 fl oz each). I usually only add the veggie broth, and not the 2 cups of water, and leave everything else the same. So far, it has always turned out nice and thick once I’ve blended it.
I also reduce the cooking time when using canned black beans. When I’m gone for the day, I put it on low for 6-8 hours, or if I need a shorter time, high for 4hrs (but I check it around the 3hr mark and reduce to low if I feel it’s almost cooked).
I also have some chipotle hot sauce that I add, and I usually through in some kale/spinach for the last 30 minutes before blending.
I made this yesterday with some old [dried] black beans I had in the pantry – I think they required a bit more water (perhaps they were extra dried out?) but otherwise the old beans worked just fine. I followed the recipe exactly, and it was great! We had it with homemade biscuits, and then today had the leftovers again for lunch with toast. Yum! Love black bean soup.
Thanks for posting this! I have some old black beans I want to use and I’m now encouraged to follow this recipe! Cheers!
Wow…made this for dinner last night. Followed all directions except since I found I was out of oregano I subbed w badia complete seasoning. Added fresh cravings salsa w one hour left of cooking per another readers suggestion. I was planning to use my immersion blender but after 8 hours total i found I didnt need to! This was AMAZING! My husband had leftovers for lunch today and I used on my own huevos rancheros for lunch. This is even BETTER the next day! Husband said, you can make this any time! I’m sooo glad to have found your blog! Haven’t made anything from your site that wasn’t a hit! Thank you!
PS My husband is newly vegan and I’m vegetarian and I so appreciate the adaptability of your recipes!!
This was so easy and sooooo good. As soon as I opened the door when I got home and smelled it cooking, I knew I was in for a treat.
Since I can’t find black beans, I’m going to try it with ‘red’ (not ‘pinto’) beans.
This is so good. I started it late, so I used my pressure cooker and cooked everything on high for 40 minutes, then slow cooked for about 5 hours. It turned out great.
One of my go-to easy recipes! I don’t have an immersion blender (and I wasn’t willing to wait for it to cool for the blender route!) so I went at with a potato masher for a few minutes. A slightly chunkier texture, but I like it.
If I pre-soak the beans and discard the water first, do you think I would need to adjust the amount of vegetable broth? What do you think?
I’m sensitive and have come to realize that if I eat dried beans and eat them with the liquid they’ve soaked or soaked+cooked in, I get a little bit of an angry bottom. 😊
If you pre-soak, they will absorb less water during cooking and make the soup more watery. If you simmer the soup on the stove top some of the liquid will evaporate and the soup should thicken.
I would recommend to pre-soak the beans for 24 h and drain & rinse. I use 4 cups of low sodium vegetable broth and 1 cup of water (not the soaking liquid). I always add 1 bay leaf when cooking beans – it is supposed to help with the issue you mentioned:)
Made this the way it was written and we loved it for two reasons — 1. So easy! It’s rare to find a recipe that’s literally just dump everything in a crock pot and go, and this was as easy as that. 2. It was delicious. Even my guy who doesn’t really like beans had to admit this one was a keeper. Thanks again for all these easy, tasty recipes!
Followed the recipe exactly and the soup was great. It took 7 hours on High for the beans to soften completely, but they did get very soft! I loved the consistency and ease of this recipe, but felt the end result needed a bit more flavor so if I make it again I’ll use more spices. But also, that’s what toppings are for! Haha
Yes toppings are everything!
I normally love your recipes, and I think in a normal slow cooker this would have been fine, but PSA for anyone trying to use an InstantPot’s slow cooker feature: It’s not enough to cook the beans! I bought two pounds of black beans. The first pound was used in this recipe. I soaked them overnight, and then through everything in as directed. I slow cooked for nine hours and the beans were NOT tender. I put them back and slow cooked them for TEN more hours (no joke) and the texture was the same the next day. The soup still had good flavors so we did eat it all. I thought maybe the beans had sat on the shelf for too long but when I cooked the other pound, I soaked them overnight then I pressure cooked them for 30 minutes with a full natural release, and they came out perfectly. Unfortunately I gave away my old slow cooker ages ago so I couldn’t do any tests with that. However your more recent black bean soup was a great way to use the other batch of beans! Very tasty!
Thanks for letting us know Anna.
I’ve had good luck with this recipe in the slow cooker overall, but I don’t put the salsa in at the beginning, only at the end. Anything that’s got acid in (like tomatoes) will really slow down the cooking of the beans and potentially make them tough.
Good to know! Thanks Kathleen.
This is one of my favorite recipes! I just got an instant pot and wondered how to modify the recipe to work In the instant pot instead of slow cooker. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!!
We haven’t tried it that way Lori! A few commenters below have had some success.
Hi. This recipe sounds great however I am allergic to tomatoes so I can’t use salsa. Do you think I can make this recipe without the salsa and it still be good?
Unfortunately the salsa provides a lot of flavor in this soup, so I’m not sure how good it would be without it. :(
Kelly, we have a son who has to abstain completely from tomatoes and potatoes. We feel your pain, because you never realize how many dishes have certain ingredients until you cannot eat them.
We made this recently and it was absolutely delicious without the salsa!!! We added sliced avocado, sour cream and tortilla strips and it was wonderful like that without the salsa!
I meant Nikki, not Kelly 😮😃
We make it without the salsa and it’s delicious!
It’s finally soup season again, and I’m looking forward to bringing this for lunch tomorrow. I most often make it on the stovetop using canned beans (adjusting the water) and it’s so easy and fulfilling. The combination of flavours is a winner!
Hooray for soup!!
Is this something that would freeze well, or alternatively could be a crockpot freezer meal (i.e. throw all ingredients in a bag, freeze, and then make)?
Yes most definitely!
I halved this recipe and the beans absorbed all the liquid, so it was just mushy beans. The taste is great, but I really wanted soup. Thoughts on how to avoid this next time?
You can just add some extra broth and that should thin it out to more of a soup for you. :)
I learned from a seller at my local farmers market that acid will keep beans from cooking, so I added the salsa in the last hour the second time I made this soup. The beans cooked much better and were soft when done. I suggest trying this if you find the beans are not cooking thoroughly in the time listed.
Made this today– delicious and absolutely the easiest soup recipe ever!
This recipe sounds delicious.
I’d love to make it but I can only find black ‘turtle’ beans, can you tell me whether these are the right beans? They look the same but Google assures me there are different black beans which have different flavours and textures and I’m hoping for a lovely soft smooth soup.
Thank you!
Yep, that’s the same thing! :)
This is the best soup I have ever made. Everyone raves about it when I take it to potlucks.
Hi Beth! My BF and I have been following your blog for years – starting back on the old server! ;) There was a similar slow cooker black bean recipe that involved dry black beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and some seasonings like garlic, onion, cumin, that I can’t properly remember. I thought for sure it was associated with your “kick the can” post about making your own beans from dry, instead of buying canned. But now that post points to this recipe. Any chance you remember what I’m talking about and are willing to re-share the recipe?
I found it! I’ll email it to you using the email that you registered the comment with. :)
You are amazingly awesome! Thanks so much!!!
I remember that recipe!
Made it and loved it. I love the chilli flavour in the soup. I will make this again, especially for a cold wintery night meal.
Made this soup over the weekend and it’s delicious! I didn’t have any garlic, so I used some garlic powder, and instead of salsa I used a couple of tablespoons of sofrito. My one mistake was adding a bit too much salt once it was done cooking, but I just added more water to help even it out (I’ll only use one tsp. next time). I now have lunch for the rest of the week and even some to freeze!
How many cans of already cooked canned beans would you use in place of the dry uncooked ones? Thank you so much! :)
About 3 15oz. cans, but you’ll need to adjust the rest of the recipe to compensate for the fact that the canned beans won’t be absorbing any liquid. But when you reduce the liquid (vegetable broth), you’ll also be losing some flavor.
Nutrition information on this delicious soup please
I made this today and it’s roughly 200 calories per serving, without any toppings.
Can you use an instant pot instead?
I haven’t tried it, but I imagine it would work well. :)
I have made this several times for my family, for guests, and for events and potlucks. It is always a big hit! I make it according to the recipe with one exception: I add a little green chili powder (a New Mexico staple) and it gives it a little extra kick. We love adding lots of fun toppings like vegan sour cream, vegan cheese, tortilla strips, and crunchy fried onions! Thank you for sharing what has become one of our favorite recipes!
Made it this weekend – whole family ate it – and the baby had 3 bowls!!! Definitely on my “make again” list
Everything is in the pot, we’ll find out in 51/2. hrs. I can’t wait!!!! I love Black Bean Soup!!!
Let you know.
We love this recipe and make it often.
I would highly recommend adding 1/2 a can of chipotles in adobo.
I love your site and ALL these great bean recipes. I am a vegetarian and my family will also eat your meatless wonders!! No complaints here. I am just wondering about the use of the crockpot with dried beans. I feel like I read somewhere that dried beans always must be boiled a bit for safety, the crockpot doesn’t get hot enough? I usually rinse, soak, boil for at least 10 minutes and THEN add beans to the crockpot. I would love to be able to skip this step. Do you have any info you can share with this?
Thanks!
That is true for beans in the kidney bean family (red kidney beans especially, but white kidney beans can also be a problem). Here is a great article from Ohio State University on the subject: https://u.osu.edu/chowline/tag/phytohaemagglutinin/
Hi! I was wondering if you knew how those recipe kept in the freezer? Just made it and it was so delicious I already can’t wait to make it again!
It should keep very well. :) If there is any separated liquid after thawing, it will just stir right in.
The app’s recipe calls for canned beans – typo??
Thanks for catching that! Yes, it’s a typo. I’ll email to have them change that asap.
This soup went WAY beyond my expectations! I’m not a huge black bean soup fan, but as a picky vegetarian I need protein and veggies in any way I can get them, and that normally is via soup. The first time I made this, I followed the recipe exactly and it was DELICIOUS. My godmother (who doesn’t like black beans) loved it. I cooked it for six hours on high and that was more than enough for the beans to soften. BLENDING IS KEY. Totally changes the taste, but only blend half like the recipe says so you retain some of the texture.
The second time I made this, I doubled the recipe hoping that I would have enough servings to last the week. It was still tasty, but wasn’t as flavorful and had too much water left in the soup when it was done (it was much less viscous the second time around). I cooked it for 7 hours on high that time. Does anyone have any experience with doubling the recipe and have a cook time that works best for them? I plan to keep upping it until I find the sweet spot but thought I’d check here first. Still can’t rave enough about this easy soup – meals for the week are made in an hour! Thanks a ton!!
Can this soup be frozen?
Yes :)
This was GREAT! However after 12 hours beans were still hard. Put it in pot on stove to finish. Next time I will soak the beans overnight! Great comment about how it gets better if you let it sit. This is a new fave, along with a new Posolo Verde soup recipe I found on Pinterest. Bother winners.
Okay, so I made this 3 or 4 days ago. It got 2-thumbs-up from the hubs (he wouldn’t let me blend it, though – something about a texture issue. Whatever, dude: okay. LOL.).
He left town on business before we finished it and now it’s just me; I eat a little bowl of this every day for lunch and I still have some leftover in the fridge.
But today – like day 4? OMG the flavors today are stick-your-face-in-the-bowl-and-slurp-it-up good.
The next time I make this, I’m definitely going to let it sit in the fridge for a few days before I enjoy it. It was always delicious; it’s getting even better with age!!!
Thanks for another super-great recipe. Your site is #1 for me as a go-to for vegetarian items. Thank you so much for all the work you do. LOVE your site!!
Thank you, Jodi!!
This turned out great! I followed the recipe completely, except for a couple things. I didn’t want to puree it at the end, so I cooked it on high for half the time and then mashed the beans a little at the end with a whisk. It gave me a stew-like, creamy soup with bean chunks. Very tasty! Adding this one to the regular rotation for sure!
I can’t believe how yummy this is. And so easy and inexpensive!! Another total winner, Beth.
Would this work with canned beans ?or do you know how to tweak it for canned?
This one is designed specifically for dry beans, so you’d need to change it quite a bit for canned beans. I’d need to do some testing to properly advise.
I used the remainder of a jar of salsa verde I had in the fridge and it was delightful!
As someone who is not really into soup I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this soup. immersion blender is a must. I got my black bean fix and didn’t have to think about cooking practically all week! Thank you for the recipe!
I found this recipe last fall and have made it several times! It’s the best black bean soup recipe I’ve ever made and we love it. I use the food processor to chop the vegetables, so that makes it very easy.
So easy and so delicious!
Being in a hurry, I ran all the vegetables through our grinder (mixer attachment) first. Made this a super easy set up before an unexpected extra shift at work. Thank you!
We did have to tweak the spices, because in New Mexico, chile powder is nothing but chile.
Made this exactly except had to use chicken broth bc that’s what I had on hand. This is delicious. Great, easy recipe.
Used lots more garlic, a largish onion, more ground cumin, tsp powdered chipotle pepper, ‘Mexican’ curry powder, lots more dried oregano, a bay leaf, some dried celery leaves, bit of dried (hot) bbq poweder, some crumbled nettle leaf, a small can of fire-roasted chopped tomatoes, a cup of ‘medium’ salsa. Came out spicy-delish, served w/good dollop of 3.8%fat plain yogurt, minced spring onions, small-diced red pepper and ~tsp of lime juice on top of each bowl.
One of my new favorites!!! I followed this almost exactly. I decreased water by one cup because I had soaked the beans for a couple of hours. I also added some crushed red pepper flakes for more spice.
Can I use black beans from a can?
You can make something similar using canned beans, but you’d have to alter this recipe quite a bit to make it work. Canned beans are already cooked and won’t absorb any more liquid, so you’d need to reduce the liquid in this recipe, and then you really wouldn’t need to slow cook it, since the beans are already cooked. :)
Any chance you have made this in the IP and know what the cooking time would be?
I haven’t yet, but I bet you could use the recommended time for cooking black beans and maybe add 5-10 minutes to make sure they’re a bit over cooked and easy to smash. :)
Do you Need to soak the beans overnight? Or can they go straight in?
I’m guessing no because it does say dry.
They can go straight in. :)
Thank you! Making this tomorrow!
Delicious! This is my go-to recipe for black beans. It’s a thick soup so can be served with rice or on the side of nachos!
This recipe is wonderful
I left it 12 hours on low and it works perfectly!
Also, I would suggest to double or triple the amount of garlic if you want an extra kick ;)
Can I leave it on low for 8 hours then high for 2-3? Work schedule doesn’t allow for 6 hours on high.
Yes, that would probably.
This is one of my favorite slow-cooker recipes! I’ve made it a few times now, and it always gets compliments. Also, I couldn’t find black beans this last time, only black soybeans, and I’m happy to report that it works with black soybeans as well, you just need a little extra salt. (The texture is definitely better with regular black beans, but it works lol).
Also, for anyone curious, I ran the recipe through a nutrition calculator and got 260 calories per 1.5 cup serving.
Love this soup. So cheap, so easy, so yummy. My stick blender made this really easy and I doubled the recipe to freeze!
I’m still blown away by how good this soup is. I made a pot yesterday, but had no broth or stock to put in it, so I made it with plain water. It still tastes amazing! How? How is that even a thing?
Hey there! I’m excited about making your black bean soup this afternoon. I don’t handle anything too spicy very well, though. Do you think it will still taste alright if I include the salsa but not the chili powder?
My daughter loves this soup and she complains that black pepper is too spicy. You will be fine making the recipe as is!
The first time I made this it was a disaster, but I suspected my slow cooker runs on the hot side, so I decided to give it another go. Thankfully I did, because on top of being super easy, it’s also delicious!!!!! Great weeknight dinner.
Hi, what is the nutrition on this?
What is the nutritional?
I want to make this soup, but am nervous about not soaking the beans. Will it come out just as good if I soak the beans first, or will that mess with the chemistry?
I made the chicken lime soup several times. It is wonderful!
That will mess with the liquid ratio, since the beans will have already absorbed quite a bit of moisture.
Great recipe, makes quite a bit. We used 1/2 the recipe for soup the first night and only blended that much. Then we used some for nachos another night and finally used it in Black Bean and Avocado Enchiladas. Wow that was a good recipe.
I made this soup and it was wonderful. I made a few additions, adding a red pepper and jalapenio, some cilantro, smoked paprika and some chorizo sausage. I’m starting a soup diet and this was a good start(ok, I cheated with the sausage).
I want to make a double recipe but my crock pot is not big enough. Could I do this on the stove in a pot? I’m a guy learning to cook and not certain of the order of operations. If I soak beans, how much water do I remove. Do I sautee all the veggies first and add everything or boil beans first and then toss everything else in. I see different recipes but not sure what is the best way. Thanks a bunch!
You can sauté the vegetables first if you prefer, or you can just add everything to the pot just as you would with the slow cooker. Bring it up to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer over low (or the lowest temperature that maintains a simmer) until the beans are very soft. It may take a couple hours, but it should be a little faster than the slow cooker because even a low simmer is usually a bit hotter than a slow cooker. You should be able to use the same amount of liquid as long as you use a lid to hold in the steam. If it starts to look dry as it’s simmering, just add a little more water.
I have heard from many sources that adding acid, like salsa or tomato products and also adding salt (say in the broth) can keep beans from softening. I am not sure how you would recommend cooking this- I am trying it now and adding the salsa in after the beans are soft. (I also soaked them over night) I am also going to add vegetable bouillon at the end rather than drain the cooking water to add broth. Am I just being paranoid? I have made lentils before that never got soft because I added tomato to it at the beginning. I threw them out.
From what I’ve heard, the salt thing is a myth and it’s acid and the mineral content of your water that can prevent beans from softening. Also, if beans are too old they will not soften. Despite the acid from the salsa, my beans still softened nicely. If you have super hard water in your area it might not work as well. The problem with adding it after cooking is that the flavors don’t get cooked into the beans.
I made a double batch of this soup as written and cooked for 8 hours on high this weekend. The beans got super soft and blended beautifully. Give it a shot as written; it worked for me! The only thing that I would do differently is add about a 1/4 tsp of cayenne for some spicy kick.
This recipe is full of flavor, quick and effortless! I make this soup once a month!
Love it. We ended up taking a potato masher to it so it was more mush with some texture still. Served it over some rice with parsley on top. Absolutely to die for.
I just found this recipe and made it today. This recipe is a KEEPER. Best black bean soup I’ve ever had. One note: I did not have any cumin on hand, so I substituted Adobo seasoning, which contains some cumin. I also forgot the oregano, so I’ll try that next time. Nice to know that I don’t have to presoak the beans for this soup. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I made this yesterday and it was sooooo good and easy and cheap! I didn’t have to add any salt but I did sprinkle feta cheese on top. There’s no reason someone who doesn’t make a lot of money couldn’t eat healthy. This recipe proves it! My whole house smelled good all day too while it was cooking and the beans were perfect. I did let it cook for the full 10 hours though. Yum!
Could this be made in the instant pot? How long would I cook it and how much liquid?
You’ll probably need the same amount of liquid and I think I’d use the “bean” button on the IP or check the table in the booklet that comes with it to see the suggested cooking time for black beans.
Can we use canned black beans? I have canned black beans in my pantry and wanted to use them.
This one is designed for dry beans. If you sub canned beans you’ll need to reduce the liquid quite a bit because they won’t absorb any moisture like dry beans and you won’t need to cook it for nearly as long. :) I haven’t tested the recipe with canned, though, so unfortunately I can’t give any more detailed suggestions.
I was recently laid off. Thank God for Budget Bytes
I have a 3.5 quart slow cooker and I halved the recipes do I still cooks the beans 6-8 hours?
Yes, you’ll still want to cook them for the same amount of time.
Holy Moly just made this yesterday for my lunch all week and it’s great. I was even to lazy to do the immersion blending and it didn’t matter a bit. THANKS!
The Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup is delicious!! I soaked the black beans overnight, and cooked the soup on low for seven hours. I was becoming extremely impatient and decided to cook the soup on high for one hour, because I was starving. I served the soup with some homemade tortilla chips, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. I have plenty of leftovers for dinner this week, and will make the soup again. Thank you, Beth!! :-)
Oh, I do believe I struck gold with this recipe. I forgot to mention that I used smoked paprika as well. I did have a little trouble balancing liquid versus solids. I added more BTB as I went along as well as two cans of diced tomatoes, half a cup of pickled jalapenos, more of the same seasonings, a can of mushrooms hanging around, and half a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Despite the extra veggies, it still seemed to have too much broth. I tripped across a great idea by accident. I added one can of black beans and then used my immersion blender. Very nearly there but not quite so I added a second can of beans and used my blender again. Perfect. It tastes good now so I can only imagine what it will be like refrigerated and reheated. That was my first time using the blender and I got splashed a little. Beware. I don’t believe I’d especially recommend this as a slow cooker, UNSUPERVISED recipe for a beginner since I did need to juggle the solids and liquids. An easy recipe, though, and a good one if you are going to be at home anyway but don’t want to hang over the stove the whole time. Because I altered it a fair amount, I won’t submit a rating, but I will definitely make this again.
Bay leaf, too!
Great looking base recipe, Beth. This is a chilly, rainy Sunday so it’s a fine day to make cozy bean soup with what you have in the house. I have jury duty tomorrow and you know what that’s like. I may be leaving in an hour or I may be tied up for days. Wanted to have something all made so I can just have dinner and fall into bed. Being me, I’m improvising. I don’t have a slow cooker so I’m making this on the stove. Doubling the vegetables. Garlic, bell pepper, celery, and onion. Doubling the beans as well. Since I have very hard water, I’ve presoaked the beans for a while. I added the cooking broth from your roasted chickpea recipe for some of the cooking water. I’m holding off on adding Better Than Boullion, tomatoes and pickled jalepenos for a while until I’m sure the beans are softening all right. I don’t have any salsa or Rotel. I don’t have any chili seasoning mix so I’m winging it with mixed Italian seasoning, ground chilies, turmeric, cumin, and black peppers. I will adjust seasoning as I go. Didn’t know how much liquid I’ll need so I added enough to cover, laid foil over the top of my soup pot, and put on the lid. I’ll get back to you to let you know how it goes. Thanks for all your good recipes, excellent notes and instructions, and all the comments are useful. You’re the only food site, I’m following.
Everything is in the pot. Took 10 minutes. I may have to create a “dirt cheap and stupid easy to make” collection in Yummly for this recipe.
Nice!!
Something about this did not taste good at all. I followed this recipe closely and found the results inedible.
Hello! I would love to make this for my work lunches for next week but I do not have a slow cooker. I do have a dutch oven and oven. Would I be able to cook it in that? If so, do you recommend a time and temperature? Or should I just pre-soak the beans, reduce the water/broth and cook at a slow simmer on the stop top?
I would do the second suggestion (presoak, reduce liquid, simmer until beans are very tender).
This is exactly what I need to make tonight to use up the whole lot of nothing hanging out in my kitchen and pantry. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for a great recipe that never fails! It’s delicious served as a soup with tortilla chips for dipping, and it’s also great as a topping for taco salad: a bed of lettuce to start, topped with rice, a scoop of black bean soup, some crushed tortilla chips and a spoonful of salsa. It’s a dish that satisfies everyone, including the vegans and gluten free members of the family. The grandchildren always ask for seconds!
Just made this soup and it turned out awesome! Thank you!
Hello! I just made this and even after I used the immersion blender the soup is extremely thin. What did I do wrong? Can I do anything to thicken it up before serving? Help! Thank you!
Did you use dry beans or canned? Did you pre-soak them (you aren’t supposed to, but if you did they will absorb less water during cooking and make the soup more watery). If you simmer the soup on the stove top some of the liquid will evaporate and the soup should thicken.
This soup is super easy to make, and absolutely delicious. It is insanely flavorful!
This recipe sounds super delicious! I’m making it now as I’ve been craving some bean soup :). I didn’t read all the comments but wanted to give a bit of advice to those who stated they aren’t having success with dry beans in a crockpot. Old beans might never soften cooked in a crockpot. Further, if your crockpot is not reaching a temperature of at least 275 degrees on high anymore it is time to get a new one. New crockpots heat to 300 on high. You can test your crockpot by filling it halfway or more with tepid water and turning it to high for a few hours. Using a candy thermometer test the water temperature after two to three hours. On low the crockpot should reach a temp of 200. As a wife of a retired firefighter it was not uncommon to see fires caused by old appliances and crockpots are a common culprit. If you’ve had your crockpot for over ten years you might consider a new one. Happy and safe cooking everyone!
This is another great recipe from this site that has become a winter staple. It’s great to just throw everything in the crock pot on a Saturday morning, go about my business, and end up with a filling delicious dinner. We usually top it with cheese and crushed tortilla chips for some crunch.
Did you soak the black beans before adding them to the cooker? Thanks, Beth!!! :-)
Nope, they went in dry. :)
Delicious soup! I topped it with some more salsa and some diced red onion, and I imagine it would be good with some fresh lime juice and chopped cilantro as well. Can’t wait to eat this for the rest of the week!
This recipe is delicious! Highly recommend!
So good – added a slice of cheddar on top (to melt into the soup) – Yummy!!!
Hi. I tried this recipe, and the beans burned. The plastic crockpot liner fused to the crockpot. I have to buy a new one.
I know modern crockpots run hot and tend to burn food, so I don’t blame the recipe entirely. This is just a caution not to make this if you’re not home to keep an eye on it. (Which, for me, defeats the purpose of having a crockpot.)
Honestly the issue here seems to be operator error, and not the recipe’s fault at all. Plastic and heat are never a good combo, and it makes sense that there would be issues with the bag burning and fusing when it was used with a recipe that calls for the crock pot’s highest setting for such a long time (most recipes only use the high setting for 4 hours). This IS a recipe you need to keep an eye on once the 6 hour mark rolls around. Is it possible that you cooked it for longer than 6 hours?
Hi Beth! I was so excited to try out this soup today but it didn’t quite work out for me. I have a 2.5 quart slow cooker so I halved the recipe.. and after 6 hours there was water on my counter (from boiling over?) and there was no liquid inside and a burnt ring around the top.
Is there anyway I can modify this recipe for my small slow cooker or use a Dutch oven instead?
Thank you!
Huh! That’s really bizarre. The fact that there was a burnt ring around the top is the most puzzling part. Usually heat elements are on the bottom and sometimes around the sides, but not usually near the top of the sides. You can actually do this on the stove top by simmering on low and it will take maybe a couple hours. I’ve heard that a dutch oven cooked at 250 is similar to a slow cooker, but I don’t know the conversions for how long it would take.
I think with the water boiling over it was food that was burnt around the top? I do think that my heating element is on the bottom. I kind of want to try my slow cooker again, but on low instead of high, and see how that goes. I feel like stove top might be my best choice though.
Thank you!
I made this recipe a few days ago, and it was delicious! Due to having a smaller slow cooker, I halved the recipe and ended up with an extremely thick soup that was closer to refried bean consistency. More water would likely help with this. Definitely not a flop though – the ‘soup’ ended up making a wonderful burrito filling. It would go quite well with tortilla chips, too.
Excellent recipe. Followed directions without any changes, it was Delicious.
I love black bean soup. I was wondering if the addition of the salsa at the beginning makes the beans take longer to cook. My mom always told me to hold out the tomatoes or acids until the beans were soft. Have you found this to be a problem?
I’ve heard that as well, although it didn’t cause a problem for me when I made this recipe. Maybe it wasn’t enough acid to make a difference. If you’re concerned, you can try adding a teaspoon of baking soda, which will help neutralize some of the acid.
Never use Baking Soda in Cooking! It destroys the Vitamins, Salt will toughen the beans too, add it last. I made this today. I created a phenomenal Soup using Black Beans, that I pre-soaked them a few minutes when I washed and rinsed them. Then I put them in a 4 quart pot and cooked on High for 5 Minutes, Black Beans do not need to be soaked overnight. I put the beans with the cooking water into my Slow Cooker. I added cooked – stir fried onions, peppers, celery, garlic, Jalapeno pepper without the seeds – minced, in EVOO. I cooked them in batches, adding as I went along to the Slow Cooker on top of the beans. I had two small red potatoes, i cut in small cubes, and stir fried them as well. I added a jar of homemade soup stock, pint size as it was condensed. Then added Apple Cider Vinegar 1 T. I had a small amount of left over canned Pumpkin puree, added that, then iincluded a package of premixed seasoning – Cumin, Salt, Oregano, Chili, and added my own Cumin, and a Tsp of Italian Herbs, then to finish a tsp of Kelp. The Peppers were sweet – Red, Yellow, Orange,cubed and a Jalapeno in smaller cubes. When it is done I will add a small can of peeled tomatoes, large shredded carrot pieces also to let them cook, and add crunch and color.
Another amazing hit! by Beth on a budget!! This recipe was amazing! I added some ground turkey meat for an extra protein punch and it was delish.
I made this recipe in a 2qt crockpot in my dorm today, I let it cook overnight and it came out perfectly. I was so flavorful and thick. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn because I cut it in half for smaller crockpot but it worked wonderfully. I served it with brown rice and fresh jalapenos and salsa it was delicious. I had it for lunch and I can’t wait to have it for dinner!
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe. I just made it tonight, followed all instructions, with the only difference being that I added in some frozen sweet corn. It is deeeeeeelicious!!! Seriously, so very good and thick and filling. I’ll definitely be making this often!
Beth, I’ve got some black beans I made from dry in the freezer that NEED to be used up. Do you think it’d be OK to use in the crock pot for this recipe? Perhaps I don’t need to cook it as long. I’m trying to find a good way to revitalize and season the beans since they’ve been in the freezer a bit. What do you think?? I’m on a kick making sooo many of your recipes, love them!
Yes, you can definitely do that, but you’ll want to reduce the broth to maybe around 2 cups? Also, because the broth is reduced, you may need to add a bit of salt at the end. :) Oh, and you’re right, you won’t need to cook as long because the beans are already soft. Just until the vegetables are mashably soft.
I did it and it turned out great!! I actually used 4 cups liquid and 4 cups beans. Maybe would have reduced liquid by 1/2 a cup but not really by much. It was light and smooth and creamy, not too watery or thick! I love how customizable your recipes are! Delicious with your corn bread!!!
Nice!! Thanks for updating me. I’m sure other people want to try it that way, too. :)
First, THANK YOU! I have to tell you I really wish I could print this on less than 5 pages! I cannot tell you haw many times I’ve come back and searched for this recipe! It is one of my absolute favorites and I keep losing the printed pages…or spilling and tossing!
Just know that this one little recipe has truly brought me and those I’ve been sharing with, so much comfort and happiness. Seems silly really and I NEVER write the authors of recipes but I’ve literally re-searched & made at least 10 times so I figured I should offer a proper thank you!
Happy New Year!
I’m so glad you like the recipe!! If you use the “print” button on the recipe card, it should open a separate window with just the recipe and no other text or photos for easy printing. Or, if you try to print the main page, you should be able to choose to print just page one, or pages one and two from the printer options pop up box on your computer. I hope that helps!
I am eating the leftovers right now for lunch, and wanted to send a review. I buy my beans in bulk, so I used a little over 2 cups to make this recipe of dried black beans. I left the recipe as is, except I had an open veggie broth in the fridge that was about a cup, so I used 5 cups of vegetable broth, and then added about 1.5 cups water. I cooked it on low all day, and used my immersion blender for a little bit for the texture of soup we like. I serve mine with a dollop of sour cream, some diced avocado, and a topping of hot salsa! Hubby likes his beans and cornbread, so I made a batch of Mexican cornbread on the side, but it is great all alone (like I am having for lunch right now!).
Very good recipe, and I will be adding this to the list for take to work lunch soups and Meatless nights. This is a keeper!
Would you be willing to share your Mexican cornbread recipe? Sounds delish!
I was wondering how this could be adapted to cook on the stovetop. My current slow cooker is too small (I have a larger one, but I’m in the middle of a move and can’t find it) and really want to try this soup. Thank you! 😊
You can try simmering it on low until the beans are soft. It will probably take less time because even on low, the stove top is hotter than the slow cooker. You’ll probably also need to stir it occasionally because the heat is only coming from the bottom, whereas it comes from all sides in the slow cooker. :)
Thanks! I will try that next time, but my sister let me borrow her 6-quart slow cooker yesterday, so this is definitely on the menu for tomorrow night! 😊
I do it on the stove top with 4 cans of drained black beans. I probably could reduce the liquid but it turned out great tonight without really any changes.
Such a simple and delicious recipe! It came out so divine. I’ve made this twice so far with just a couple modifications for preference. I’m even posting it on my blog (with credit to you of course) because it is such a gem of a recipe. Simplicity at it’s finest. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t have a blender of any kind. Is there any way I could still make this/would mashing beans up against the side of the slow cooker be enough? Black beans are my favorite bean so I’d love to try.
Yep, you can use a potato masher, but it will just take some work. :)
Try straining until larger pieces are left. Then place on a cookie sheet with sides. Either mash with fork, bottom of glass, rolling pin, etc.. hard to mash with liquids. Place back with liquids after mashed to your liking.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing that.
Thank you for posting this recipe. Can I use canned black beans? I have a few cans and need to use them up.
Thank you again.
Yes, but you’ll need a lot less vegetable broth. Maybe 1-2 cups. :)
I almost didn’t make this because it looked too plain and I’ve never had success with cooking dry beans in the slow cooker in the time given in the recipe. This proved to be a great recipe. I couldn’t believe the beans cooked in the given time, and the flavor was more complex than I thought it would be! Thank you!
I just bought a slow cooker and cooked for this soup for 6 hours on high, the beans turned out fine, but the vegetables turned into black mush :O Is that normal because they look pretty disgusting? This is my first time using a slow cooker.
Yep, that’s normal, but once you blend the soup you won’t be able to see the vegetables anymore. It will just be a thick, black soup. :)
I have made many Budget Bytes recipes and generally love them all! I followed this recipe to a T and it just did not turn out properly. After cooking the soup on high for 8 hours, I used an immersion blender as suggested. The soup did not turn out creamy at all, rather, it was very grainy in texture. The texture was very unappealing. I blended for quite awhile so I’m really not sure what went wrong here.
Hmm, that makes me wonder if the beans were really soft enough. Sometimes, depending on the minerality of your water, they can take a bit longer to cook. Sorry that didn’t turn out well for you!
Thanks for the response! It sounds like I should have cooked them for awhile longer. If I try the recipe again I’ll report back!
I made this last night and it was delicious! I love your recipes! You ROCK, as does your baked fajitas recipe. I plan to look for recipes here first from now on.
Thank you!
This soup is so cheap and easy to make. My husband and I make it all the time. So glad I found your site. Thank you.
Can you use canned black beans instead of dries beans???
The recipe would need some adjustment because a lot of the liquid here is soaked up by the dry beans. You could probably use somewhere around 2 cups of broth instead of 4 cups broth and 2 cups water. I’d need to experiment with it to know for sure, though.
I made this tonight, but in the pressure cooker and with a small, seeded habanero thrown in, and served with corn bread. I cooked it for 20 minutes and it came out delicious! This one’s a keeper.
This’ll be the second time I’ve made this. I don’t have a stick blender, and by the time dinner rolls around I don’t have the patience to wait for the soup to cool enough to stick it in the blender. Even still, it tastes great.
After trying so many of the recipes on here, I find when it comes to adding spices, I like stronger flavors. I added a bit more chili powder and cumin, to no ill effect. I went to a local Mexican restaurant once that put so much cumin in their black bean soup it made me want to choke; even adding a tsp extra goes a long way.
Ridiculously cheap and easy! Should have taken Beth’s advice and not doubled the recipe. Crock pot nearly overflowed! Amazing recipe though…we are eating it as a soup and used it as a bean dip for Labor Day cookout. THANKS!!!
This looks amazing and simple, I would love to make it, but I am allergic to tomatoes… any thoughts on what I could use in place of the salsa?
You can make your own tomato-less roasted salsa, like I did for this other black bean soup, then just cook the soup in the slow cooker like this recipe.
Amazing! Thanks for another keeper. It was easy, cheap and fast, and my three year-old loved helping me throw it together. I don’t have an immersion blender, so I used a potato masher.
After many years of cooking and baking, this is the very first time I have successfully cooked dried beans. Thank you!
I made this dish in a 4 quart crock pot – i think it fit and worked out fairly well. I did make a major boo boo- i didn’t stir well before plugging the dang thing in >.< !
Also – i don't have an immersion blender so i just at the beans as is with a bolillo (a nice personal loaf of bread).
It worked out okay – I shall try again – and make it correctly.
Made this today to help me cope with the cold rainy June weather.
As I was feeling rather lazy, I didn’t bother mincing the garlic or chopping any of the vegetables–except for cutting the onion into eight pieces. The immersion blender took care of all of everything once it was done.
So this took about six minutes of active time at the start and two minutes at the end to blend! Amazing! This will be a lifesaver.
This recipe is so good! But I’m trying to make this for a big group and was wondering if I could double this recipe in a 6qt crockpot. Will this overload the slow cooker?
I think my slow cooker is about 6 quarts and it filled mine about half way, so if it does fit, it would be a very, very tight fit. I’m not sure I’d recommend it.
Made this yesterday for dinner and my family loved it, even the picky 4-year-old. We served it with sour cream, cheese, green onions, and tortilla chips. (I added guacamole to mine instead of sour cream – delicious!)
Late start but I have this in the crockpot now! I cannot wait for this deliciousness! I threw in a hambone I had hanging around for good measure.
This soup was fantastic! I added some fresh ground black pepper, a bit of salt and about 1/4 tsp cayenne at the end. Served with a dollop of homemade Creme Fraiche and a nice warm flour tortilla for dipping. Yummy!!
WOW! Didn’t have any salsa, added half amount cayenne pepper and some leftover ham. GREAT! No problem in the blender. Made it super smooth (liquified). Salt & pepper to taste. Fantastic and easy recipe
Has anyone tried adding bacon or pork to this recipe? Mmm love me some bacon.
This got rave reviews all around; will definitely make it again. For stovetop cooking with precooked beans (three cups), I got good results letting it simmer with the other ingredients for an hour before adding the beans to let them get super-soft. Adding extra of the vegetables covers not having premade or powdered stock.
I won’t rate this one right now until I try it one more time but this didn’t come out for me. Which may be my fault because I didn’t do it in a crockpot and I may have used too many beans. I did the traditional soaking, rinse, cooking dried beans and then adjusted the water/broth content in the recipe. I thought it came out bland and I eneded up adding my own seasonings. I am very interested in trying this again though and doing it exactly as written. It made lots of cheap leftovers that I froze. Thank you!
I’ll start with .. I don’t crockpot well…
Everything I’ve made so far tastes the same, but I’m just starting out. I’ve also never cooked beans from dry.
This recipe sounded very interesting and so did the reviews.
I made it the other night and OMG it was good!!!!! I added cilantro and more salsa, and soaked the beans for an afternoon. We picked from toppings – had sour cream, avocado, cheese, crushed taco chips and green onions ready to go.
I have some left over so I’m going to put it over some enchiladas and bake for dinner tonight.
I will make it again this week and freeze some for lunches. It was SO easy, filling and so good!
thank you!
This recipe is the bomb.. although I throw in some diced Louisiana smoked sausage and a jalapeno… for a `lil more kick.. It’s the Cajun in me..
Beth, this was so awesome! I subbed a can of Rotel for the Salsa and added some Smoked Paprika and dried Chipotle Chili powder and it was on point. Thanks again for another keeper from a long time budget bytes fan.
As an FYI for other readers, I have a Hamilton Beach 5qt programmable slow cooker and the beans cooked down very soft in just 6 hours on High. I used beans that were totally dry and hadn’t presoaked them. Hope that helps!
Have you tried freezing this? I made it this week and it’s great, it just made a lot for one person and few others seem to appreciate black beans the way I do :) I just worry about the texture being ‘off’ once it’s thawed, any thoughts?
long-time fan of your site, by the way!!
I froze some and found it to be just as good after reheating. :)
I was skeptical about this tasting good…but it’s delicious!!! Another great recipe. Thank you so much for all you do for us!
I thought the black bean soup was awesome! I put it over brown rice and put chopped onion and sour cream on top yum o thanks keep the recipes coming.
I made a batch of this, but wasn’t happy with it. I ended up throwing the entire batch out. I think that soaking the uncooked beans overnight in cold water first would have been a better way to go. Also, you might want to include a physical measurement of how much a pound of black beans is. I used four cups. It was a bit much.
Or, you could weigh the beans, with like, a scale or something. Maybe just buy a bag that’s 1lb….
Four cups of dried beans is about two pounds, which is why it didn’t turn out well for you. Try again with half the beans, it’s delicious. If you aren’t sure on a measurement conversion, Google is a great tool.
i have made this several times and we love it. its great the first time around as soup and i love to use the leftovers in burritos or on tostadas. last time i made it i had company and my unpleasable 4 yr old nephew said, “i dont like these beans. i LOVE them” thanks for another great recipe
Updating to share this tip in case it interests anyone. I made this again the other day but happened to have 2 cups of budgetbyte amazing enchilada sauce and i subbed that in for 2 cups of the liquid; wow! It was even tastier. A nice twist on 2 recipes we already love
Oooooh! Nice!
Another hit! I had my wisdom teeth pulled recently and it was a delight to eat such a nutritious and delicious soup to get me through these rough days. I appreciate your recipes Beth and this blog oh so very much.
Hi. I LOVED this recipe: so easy but such wonderful results and the depth of flavor got better and better each day. No one in my house would eat this except me as my family is against anything ‘healthy!’
I’d like to know if this is something that I could freeze and if so what’s the best method for doing so & then using. I want to make again but don’t think I want to eat for a week straight again! :) Thank you!
Yes, this one should freeze very well. I like to freeze soups like this in individual resealable containers (single serving portions), so I can just pop them in the microwave to defrost and reheat one at a time. Or, you can cool it down in the fridge, then pour it into quart sized freezer bags. To reheat, just cut away the bag and reheat in a sauce pan over low heat.
Made this for dinner tonight and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out! I questioned how much salt I’d need at the end but it was practically perfect with very little added! So happy I found this recipe…now to look around your blog and see what other goodies I can find :)
I am planning on making this tomorrow while I’m at work. Is it a big deal if I leave the slow cooker on high for 10-13 hours, or should I lower it to low for that time? Could it potentially “burn” the broth?
I would definitely cook it on low if it will be going for that long. :)
This recipe is excellent. I put in completely dry, packaged beans, no soaking. 8 hours later, the black bean soup was delicious. One of the best dishes I have made.
Just made it today, on difference was adding leeks and some cheddar on top (didn’t realize we had sour cream… but we did so I added both haha). Tastes awesome.
I have a large amount of canned black beans (thanks Costco!), any suggestions on how to modify it for them? Probably can just throw everything in a pot and cook it for half an hour, since the beans are already cooked and just need to be made uber-soft. Then maybe just add one cup of chicken broth since the beans wont be taking up liquid. What do you think?
Yes, that’s exactly what I’d do! :D It should be a really easy and fast dish using canned beans.
Can I double this in my 5qt crock so I have enough for a larger group?
I’m not sure if it would fit in a 5qt if doubled. Mine is somewhere between 5-7 qts (not sure what size) at it was about half full. So, even if it was a 5qt, doubling it would bring it dangerously close to the top.
I made this and added like a half cup of tomato plus the salsa. It’s been cooking on high for more than 10 hours and the beans are still too hard for my liking. I quick soaked them on the stove before putting them in the crock pot. Are they hard because of the acid in the small amount of tomato? But isn’t the salsa acidic anyways? I was very excited about this recipe, but now I’m sad :( I guess pureeing it will help, but just want to know where I went wrong. I’ve heard it could be old beans, but I don’t think these are old….
Sometimes if you live in an area with hard water, that can prevent the beans from softening, too. I’ve heard that a little baking soda helps. Sorry to hear it didn’t turn out for you. :(
I have read in various cooking magazines that cooking beans with acid (like tomatoes) will make the beans tough, so that could easily have been the problem. Maybe try this recipe again, but wait until after the beans are cooked to add the salsa (like for the last 30 min or so).
Another possibility is that your beans were old. Sounds crazy, but even dried beans retain some moisture, but if they’re on the shelf too long, they’ll dry out even more and it takes longer to cook them.
I hope that helps!
Making this today… Our oldest daughter just got get braces on Friday and her poor mouth is sore… very excited to try this… Added half each of a red, yellow, and orange pepper. Also added about four large handfuls of chard, kale, and spinach… Which I chopped pretty fine. And added a bag of frozen butternut squash.
This made just over 10 cups…plenty to freeze… we are having it for dinner tonight with sour cream, avocado and a squeeze of fresh lime. Thank you for a great recipe!
I love your website! I use it all the time! It helps me to stay in budget while having enough to feed my husband and 5 kids. :) I am making this soup for the first time today. :) Thank you so much for all the time you put into doing this.
I made this soup yesterday in my slow cooker and had some for lunch today. It was so easy to make, took me only 6 1/2 hours on high, and the taste is incredibly rich and satisfying. Thank you, Beth, for this delicious recipe, I know I will be making many more from your site! When I recommended this recipe to my daughter who loves black bean soup, she told me she loves your site.
Another wonderful recipe. I was gifted with almost 15 pounds of black beans for Christmas (who has the best parents? Me!) and this was the first attempt to use them up. Even better is that after we were both very full, we happily put 6 portions in the freezer!
Hahaha that IS an amazing Christmas gift!!
This was delicious!!! I recently learned that I like Black Beans. So glad I found you site as there are many yummy, cheap recipes. The first recipe I tried was the Apple Dijon Kale Salad. That was yummy too!
I’m trying to add some vegetarian meals to our rotation and trying to add more beans, after learning about their health benefits. This recipe does both and is really, really good! Thank you!
This looks delicious, but I don’t have a slow cooker. Could this be made on the stove?
Yes, you could probably simmer it on low in a thick/heavy pot until the beef is tender enough to shred.
I don’t have an immersion blender. Can I use the old electric hand held mixer and blend it right in the crock pot? My only other choice would be pouring it into my stand mixer and doing it that way. I really don’t want to have to cool it down to mix it in a blender then warm it back up. Thanks for any info!!
Hmm, I’m really not sure if a hand mixer would work. It might, but you’d still want to be careful with that hot liquid! It seems like it would splash.
Use a potato masher
Hi. I use my Nutribullet to immerse soup. It works very well.
Try using a potato masher!
I tried making this tonight but after following the instructions minus the chili powder and letting it cook for 9 hours, the beans are still not soft. What am I doing wrong? The recipe didn’t indicate the beans should be pre-soaked, but I am thinking that is what I should have done.
Sometimes the mineral content in the water can prevent the beans from softening. If you find the water in your area has that issue, I’ve heard that adding a little baking soda helps. I’ve also read that really old beans won’t soften, but I doubt that any beans bought in the store will be “too old”.
The beans should be soaked overnight before preparing the soup. That is the rule with all dried beans but it slipped my mind before trying this recipe and ours also ended up hard.
I cook all dried beans in the slow cooker and never soak them. The only time I have beans that won’t soften is if they’ve been in my pantry for a very long time. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen occasionally.
Black beans, like all dry beand contain a toxin which must be boiled for 10 minutes to render safe. Slow cookers generally do not produce enough heat to do this. I would advise adjusting the recipe before people start getting sick
From what I’ve read, that’s only kidney beans.
I’ve had black bean soup all my life and I’ve never boiled my black beans- nor my kidney beans when mom made chile con carne, and gotten sick.
This rocked! I doubled it (filled my 7.5 cooker to the brim) for a work pot luck and it was really popular, thanks!
Tried this recipe and the whole family really enjoyed this simple, yet wholesome soup! I shared this recipe on my blog via the link to this page.
Thanks for sharing!
I’ve made this before and loved it, but this time I had a little more than a pound of beans. I put them all in, but didn’t increase the liquid. They are done, and there is very little liquid left, not soupy at all. I think I’ll make a batch of corn bread, and spoon the beans over. Then I’ll add all the toppings. The flavor is very yummy!
I made this recipe for my wife last night along with the spinach tomato quesadillas. Everything turned out GREAT. Thank you for the wonderful recipes! Tonight I made two more of your recipes for dinner, the vegetable polenta casserole and chili potatoes. I’ll post tomorrow after we eat dinner tonight. Thanks,
Made this and followed the recipe to a T. Came our fantastic! Thanks :)
I made this today and was a little skeptical because previous slow cooker black bean soups did not turn out very good but I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t have any celery or vegetable stock. So I had to make some tweaks. I ended up using 6 cups of water, 3 veggie bullion cubes and 1/2 a cup of almond milk. Overall, super creamy once blended and crazy delicious. I am off to the kitchen to make some homemade bread to compliment my soup. Thanks for the recipe!!!! I will make this again!! : )
Made this last week and it was AWESOME! I omitted the celery (didn’t have any) and added one chopped bell pepper and some chopped ham (at the very end) I also added some dried cilantro. I love your inexpensive recipes – especially the slow cooker ones! Thanks Beth!
Has anyone made this without a blender? I’m trying it today (in the crockpot as we speak), but I don’t own one at all.
You can try mashing them up with a potato masher. It will be chunkier, but still very tasty!
Made this today for dinner. Amazing taste! My kids ate some, too. My chili loving son had two bowls. Thanks for another great recipe from budgetbytes.com!
i started the slow cooker later in the afternoon and I just had my sample cup of soup at 9pm. VERY yummy! I only used half a tbsp of chili powder instead of a whole and I topped mine with Greek yogurt (tastes just like sour cream) and green onions. Even husband wanted some bc the kitchen smelled so yummy after hours in the slow cooker. Thanks!
Making this tomorrow. You think if I soak the beans overnight, it will be alright and cook faster? I have lots of experience cooking but almost none cooking beans from dry.
It might cook slightly faster, but you’ll still want to cook them for a long time so they are very soft. If you do presoak, you’ll probably want to reduce the amount of liquid, too, but since I haven’t tried it I’m not sure of the exact amount.
not that this will help you know but Pioneer Woman has a quick cook dried bean shortcut that is like soaking them overnight,
Has anyone tried adding a ham bone or hock to this recipe? TIA
Did you soak the beans overnight, or did you start with dry beans?
I just started with dry beans. :)
Great recipe! Started it this morning before school and ate it for dinner. Perfect for a broke college girl!
Can’t wait to try this recipe…if it’s anything like your other recipes, I’m sure it will be very good! I do have a question though. What size is your crockpot? With a family of 6 I usually have to double recipes. Just want to make sure that I don’t overflow my crockpot, lol.
I’m not sure exactly, but it’s either a 5 or 7 quart.
Doubled it with no problem in my 7 quart crockpot. Just made this for the second time and it’s a hit with everyone!
Love this recipe!!!! I found that beans were soft enough (at least in my opinion) after about 5 hours or so — but that could just be my slow cooker. It was nice to be able to come home after work this summer, and have something I could eat for dinner without much extra effort!
I know the recipe calls for vegetable broth, but I completely forgot to pick it up at the store. I have chicken broth. Would that suffice or would the flavor be wonky?
Yep, chicken broth would also be awesome in this. I just used veg to keep it vegetarian. :)
This turned out great! I added 1 large golden beet (trying to use up my CSA box) in place of one carrot. I also used green salsa since that’s what I had on hand. I was worried when I filled up my crock pot that the beans would expand and spill over (I have a smaller crock pot), but I had just about an inch of clearance and it worked fine. Froze some to have later.
This is a fantastic recipe. Easy to make and very flavorful.
As someone else pointed out, I used Medium salsa and added half a jalapeno. It really gave it some extra zing. Honestly, for me it could be spicier, I’ll probably add a whole jalapeno next time, and there will definitely be a next time on this one!
Tried this recipe. Kids LOVE it. It is SO versatile! Used mild salsa. Next time I will use medium or add a jalapeno to the mix. (We like a little more spice.) Served it with a little more salsa and some sour cream.
My kids took some of the pureed bean mixture and slapped it inside a tortilla shell with some diced tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. We then had TWO uses for it: Soup AND tacos. I could add less water and use the black bean mixture in place of refried beans (which no one in the family will eat). My 15 year old also suggested cooking the beans in the slow cooker and then using them to make a black bean hummus!
Made this soup earlier this week. My husband really enjoyed it, but I love Beth’s other black bean soup way more (black bean and roasted salsa). Regardless, an easy, very inexpensive vegetarian dish.
This looks delicious! Just making sure… I cook on HIGH for 8 hours?! Before finding this recipe I was going to make plain black beans in the slow cooker and I was only supposed to cook them for 3 hours on high. Just making sure!
I did cook mine on high for about 8 hours. You might be able to do less, like 6, though. I definitely wanted to cook them longer than when I just cook regular black beans because I wanted them to break down more and be easily mashable.
Keep in mind that the author did not soak the beans prior, which leads to a longer cooking time as well. I’d definitely soak. I’ve heard it breaks down some enzyme that makes you gassy when you eat the beans…. worth it to me lol.
Didn’t quite go as planned. It smelled amazing when I got home, but imagine my disappointment when I took the lid off and found the mix completely dried up and charred on the edges :( I only set it to 6 hours too.
Probably just needs some reworking on my end due to my slow cooker, but it wad not salvageable this time.
Would recommend that you do this recipe when you can monitor the slow cooker so it doesn’t dry out.
Oh no! Sorry to hear about that.
Eating this right now with sour cream, cilantro, and green onions atop… and it’s love! (I also just got an email from my boyfriend who is also at work and just dug into his soup, too… he’s a fan, too).
Two things:
– The soup is doubly delicious after sitting in the ‘fridge overnight!
– At the end/after blending the soup, I added an extra cup of broth and a can of black beans (left them whole) to pump this soup up further. As if it needed more pumping.
Fantastic! Thank you for this new staple!
Family loved this! With the toppings (green onions, sour cream, cheddar, and tortilla crispy strips) it’s like a burrito in a bowl.
Just be careful, you’ll want to go back for seconds because it’s so good, but about a half hour after eating you’ll be super stuffed!
Ack! Forgot to rate it.
Made this last night. This is really tasty! A keeper in my book. Both my husband and myself really enjoyed it. Thanks for the recipe!
We made this last week and it was a huge hit. Had some leftover guac in the freezer, so used guac ice cubes to cool it down. :)
How long will it keep in the fridge?
thanks! keep up the good cookin!
Probably about 5 days in the fridge, but it also freezes REALLY well (I ate a reheated bowl from the freezer today for lunch!) :)
We made this and I really liked it, but I felt like I needed some chips to go with it. It kind of felt like I was eating a chip dip for dinner!
We buy black beans in bulk, so we’re always looking for good recipes for them. So excited to try this one!
Jacques Pepin makes a similar black bean soup. What really stood out to me was he added bananas and cilantro as a topping which I thought was really interesting.
It’s in my slowcooker right now, I can’t wait to try it :-)
Hi, I bought some better than boullion at the super market and its chicken based. Do you still use that in this recipe, or is there a vegetable version? Thank you!
You CAN use the chicken flavored one if that’s what you have, but there is also a vegetable flavor Better Than Bouillon (actually, they probably make about ten different flavors!) :)
Thank you! My supermarket only carries the chicken flavor. :-( I will look at other stores!
It might be worth checking online retailers, too, like Amazon. :)
This was amazing! Mine came out a lot thicker than yours did but that could be because 1. I was using a crockpot from the 70s and 2. I ended up staying late at work so it was on high for almost 10 hours. I also added a couple teaspoons of chipotle powder to mine and it was an awesome addition. I highly recommend it. I don’t even like beans very much and I couldn’t stop eating this!
This looks DELICIOUS! I’ve been looking for a black bean soup recipe, you totally read my mind!…. :D
made this tonight and was a hit, even with the non-chili liking daughter! Thanks for a great one, Beth!
Hey! I just realized this calls for dry beans instead of canned. Can I still do it with canned? Just use less water?
Delicious! Thanks for the easy, tasty recipe.
My family loved this recipe!!
Made this soup this week and LOVE IT. It is hearty and filling but still so healthy! I added two chopped jalapeños for extra spice. We set up a toppings “bar” so we could each make it our own. YUM!!
“It smelled so good, I thought it couldn’t be vegetarian,” said my roommate as he scooped himself a bowl of this delicious soup, upon learning this was meat-free. Beth, every soup recipe I have tried of yours has always come out delicious. I never have leftovers for the freezer!
I made this last night, and it’s definitely the best soup I’ve made in a slow cooker. Heavenly with a little sour cream and cheddar cheese.
I love everything about black bean soup – the thicker the better! And the fact that it’s a great vegan staple is a HUGE plus! Thanks for the recipe!
I made this soup this past weekend and it was delicious.
Unfortunately for me, there was a lot of evaporation of the liquids. I had to add more broth at the end. Did I do something wrong? Any suggestions what I can do next time I make the soup?
It might just be due to variations in slow cookers. Perhaps yours allows more evaporation than mine? And that’s how cooking goes, you always have to tweak a little for your own situation. :)
Did you use dry beans? And if so, did you pre-soak them over night?
Yes, they were dry, uncooked black beans and no, I did not soak. That’s the beauty of using a slow cooker to cook beans. :)
Awesome, thank you! I’m super excited to try it!
This looks great! Do you think it would freeze well?
Yep, it freezes very well. :) Just make sure to stir it as it reheats incase any water separates out.
Tried it today, and it turned out delicious!
I just made this and it was delicious! I also added some rice, cheddar cheese, and sour cream to the soup, but I like the suggestion of adding avocado, cilantro, and lime. I’ll have to try that next time.
We eat a lot of soups, a lot of beans, and I use my slow cooker often, but I have never made black bean soup. I have no idea why. Thanks so much for the recipe. Pinning it now!
OHHHH my goodness. this sounds amazing. I’ve been slacking on using my crockpot lately, I might need to bust it out for this! :)
So, I just finished slow cooking a pound of black beans. Do you think it would be OK to just boil all of these ingredients together on the stove top with the pre-cooked black beans?
Yep, but you’ll need much less liquid. I’d start with maybe 3 or 4 cups broth.
This looks great and I bet it freezes pretty well. How long do you think it would take to cook on the low setting? I’m gone for 10 hours during the day so I don’t know if it’s better to do 10 hours on low and have the beans be slightly less tender.
Yeah, I think I’d do ten hours on low and then if they aren’t soft when you get home, you can crank it up to high for an hour or two.
This looks DELICIOUS! I’ve been looking for a black bean soup recipe, you totally read my mind! Definitely on my to-try list :)
Looks great! I love black bean soup, especially with topped with avocado, cilantro, and lime juice! Going to put this on the meal plan for next week!
Oh this looks so good! I love it. I’m always looking for new vegetarian recipes and we’ve been on a black bean burger kick lately (like 4 different ones in the last week) and while my husband could eat them every day I’m a bit burned out. Maybe I’ll see if I can sneak this in.
I totally agree about the toppings – completely transforms the dish! This looks incredible!!