This Mexican style black bean soup is one of my favourite quick and easy soups that I make all the time! It’s a super simple recipe where veggies, in this case onions and peppers, are cooked before adding broth, beans, and tomatoes and simmering a little. The soup is seasoned with garlic, paprika, cumin, chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, oregano, worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce, making for one flavour packed soup! You can either leave the beans whole, or you can puree some of them to make the soup creamy with some texture, or you can puree everything for a smooth soup! This is the quick version which uses canned beans but it also works really well when starting with dried beans that are soaked, and cooked. I like to garnish the soup with crema, crumbled cheese, cilantro and corn chips but you can use your favourite Mexican style toppings!
Mexican Style Black Bean Soup
A smooth and creamy Mexican style black bean soup with smoky chipotles, cumin, and oregano.
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth (or beef broth or chicken broth)
- 3 (14.5 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (or apple cider vinegar)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (optional)
directions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the onion and bell pepper, and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic, cumin, paprika, and chipotle chilies in adobo, and cook until tender, about a minute.
- Add the broth, beans, tomatoes, oregano, worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Puree some, or all, of the soup with a stick blender or in a food processor or in a blender.
- Add the lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste before mixing in the cilantro and enjoying.
Option: Add chorizo!
Option: Add bacon!
Option: Add 1/2 cup lentils and 1 additional cup broth.
Option: Add 1/2 cup quinoa and 1 additional cup broth.
Option: Garnish with crumbled queso fresco or feta.
Option: Melt cheese into the soup!
Option: Garnish with crema or sour cream.
Option: Mix sour cream into the soup!
Option: Garnish with tortilla chips or corn chips.
Option: Garnish with pepitas.
Option: Garnish with avocado.
This soup is excellent! I made a batch (vegetarian stock) and found it very tasty, as did the friend I shared it with. Thank you!
Closetcooking is my go to place for recipes when I am in doubt. I have to say this one, I had to toss. It was just way too hot, even though I followed the directions completely. After having to toss it ….I think what I did wrong (for our taste): when chopping the chills in adobe…I should have removed the seeds AND used half.
If this is not the issue, what did I do wrong? The taste was EXCELLENT, just could not stand the spiciness. Sorry.
I made this with a pound of chicken chorizo and 1 cup of sour cream. I substituted the chipotle chilies with 1 1/2 teaspoons of brown chipotle powder. The chipotle flavor was there with a little twang. I used a handheld immersion blender to partially liquify the beans to make it a more chunky version. I will use what’s leftover as a hot dip, maybe with extra sharp cheddar cheese on top. This is a good recipe.
great, thank you, eat a lot of pintos and black beans as part of my diet, and it’s definitely nice to have them in a different way – soup!
Is the oregano dried or fresh?
I use dried oregano, though fresh would also work. (Use 2 to 3 times as much fresh.)