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.
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
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!
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?