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
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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!
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.