Black Bean Soup
This vegan black bean soup is easy and quick, yet full of flavor that satisfies!
I found this recipe over ten years ago on a site with a name that included “beach babes.” It was a nutrition/recipe blog, and apparently the idea was that if you ate like the “beach babes” you’d look like them. Maybe that is why their picture had them in their bikinis…
Anyway, I didn’t come back to the blog, but I did come back to this recipe again and again. It was originally a crockpot recipe, but since you needed to sauté the onions and green peppers first, I felt it defeated the purpose of a crockpot and switched to just stove top. I’ve made a couple other tweaks here and there too.
I personally get tired of this recipe, since the chili type cuisine is not my favorite, but my family loves it and so I continue to make it! Serve it with some diced avocado, chopped cilantro, and tortilla chips and call it good!
Black Bean Soup
This vegan black bean soup is easy and quick, yet full of flavor that satisfies!
Ingredients
- 1/3 c olive oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 2 T cumin
- 1 T salt
- 1 1/2 T chili powder
- 1 1/2 t oregano
- 1 1/2 t basil
- a pinch (or more) cayenne pepper (optional)
- 2 t cocoa powder
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 6 c cooked black beans with cooking water or 4 cans black beans
- Juice of one orange
- 1 T apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add onions and green pepper and cook a couple minutes.
- Add the salt, spices, herbs, and cocoa powder. Cook a couple more minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute.
- Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Fill tomato sauce can with water and add the water. Add the black beans.
- Bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the orange juice and apple cider vinegar.
Notes
- Cocoa powder is an unusual ingredient, but I have found it to be the secret ingredient. It adds a depth to the flavor that I love.
- I have often forgotten the orange juice and apple cider vinegar, so it's ok to leave them out. They do step up the flavor though, so I still recommend using them if you can!
- To make it in a slow cooker, follow steps 1 and 2. Add to onion mix to the slow cooker. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for six hours.
