Looking for a delicious, nourishing meal that the whole family will love? Look no further than vegan black bean soup! It's nourishing, tasty and full of plant-based protein and veggies.
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We love experimenting with new and delicious vegan soup recipes. And this easy vegan black bean soup has become one of our favourites!
This hearty and flavourful dish is easy to make and fun to customise with yummy toppings of your choice.
Black beans, aka turtle beans, are our favourite kind of beans. Like other beans, they are high in protein, but we also love how they taste. They are rich in antioxidants and get their dark colour from healthy anthocyanins.
When you're in the mood for a cozy dinner option, this vegan black bean soup is sure to hit the spot!
Ingredient tips
Here's what you'll need to make this easy black bean soup:
You can use either canned black beans, or beans that you have precooked yourself at home.
We use black beans that are canned with no added salt. But as many are canned with salt, we recommend that you taste the soup and add salt to taste for the best results.
You will need approximately 240g or 1 ½ cups of dried black beans to make the equivalent of three drained 400g / 15 oz cans of cooked beans.
For the veggies, we like to use a mix of onion, carrot, celery, and red bell pepper for flavor and texture variety. Feel free to tweak the veggies to suit what you have.
In terms of spices, we use ground cumin, dried oregano, ground coriander and cayenne pepper. It's subtly spicy, but if you like more heat then you may wish to increase the cayenne or use your favourite chili powder for more heat.
The touch of acidity from the lime juice adds an important seasoning element that brings out the flavours of this soup - don't skip it!
Step by step pictures
Here's a visual guide on how to make this easy black bean soup recipe. For the full, adjustable and printable recipe, see the recipe card at the end of the post.
Step 1 - In a large pot, heat up the oil and saute onion, carrot, celery, and pepper.
Step 2 - Add garlic, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cayenne and briefly fry.
Step 3 - Add vegetable broth / stock and black beans and simmer for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.
Step 4 - Add lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.
Step 5 - Use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup until you have a thicker, but still chunky, texture. Alternatively, you can remove a portion of the soup and blend it in a regular blender until smooth and then add it back to the soup.
Top Tip
Add a splash more vegetable stock to the partially pureed soup if it gets too thick!
Substitutions and variations
Gluten-free: The basic soup recipe is naturally gluten-free, just check that there's no gluten in your brand of vegetable broth or in any of your topping choices to keep it free from gluten.
You can change up the veggies to suit you:
- No carrot? Then add a green pepper instead.
- Fancy some more variety? Add some cooked corn or frozen corn towards the end of cooking the soup.
- Want a nutritional boost? Stir in some leafy greens, such as spinach, and cook until wilted down.
Serving
This soup goes amazingly with a variety of toppings. You can serve them in little bowls so everyone can have fun customising their own bowl. Here's some of our favourite additions:
- Tortilla chips
- Sliced avocado
- Lime wedges
- Fresh cilantro / coriander leaves
- Sliced green onions, scallions or spring onions
- Raw red onion
- Vegan sour cream or yogurt.
- Vegan cornbread
- Vegan garlic bread
- Cilantro lime rice
- Pico de gallo
Storage
Keep leftover soup in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
To reheat, place in a pan on the stove and stir often until thoroughly heated through. Add a splash of water or extra veggie broth if it gets too thick or dry.
You can also reheat individual portions in 30-60 second intervals in the microwave, stirring each time, until thoroughly heated.
This soup can easily be frozen, so it's great if you want to make a double batch to save on time!
To freeze, let the soup cool and transfer it to freezer-friendly containers, label and freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.
More easy dinner recipes
We hope you love this delicious vegan black bean soup as much as we do! Try these other tasty and popular meals:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 carrot sliced
- 2 stalks celery sliced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 3 400g / 15 oz cans black beans drained and rinsed, or 720g / 4¼ cup cooked black beans
- 3 cups (720 ml) vegetable broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 - 2 tablespoons (½ - 1 lime) fresh lime juice
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, heat up the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the diced onion, carrot, celery and pepper, and saute for 5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic, cumin, oregano, coriander and cayenne pepper, and briefly fry for around 30 seconds.
- Add vegetable broth / stock and black beans and simmer gently with a lid on for 15 minutes, or until carrots are tender.
- Add lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. TIP: Check the label of the black beans if they already contain salt, and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
- Use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup until you have a thicker, but still chunky, texture. Alternatively, you can remove a portion of the soup and blend it in a regular blender until smooth and then add it back to the soup.You can blend it more or less, according to your preference.
- Garnish with sliced avocado, fresh cilantro/coriander, a spoonful of vegan yogurt or sour cream and a wedge of fresh lime. Serve with tortilla chips or cornbread.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Loved our recipe? Have a question we can answer? We'd love to hear from you! Sophie and Paul 💚