This is a fantastic recipe! Now know why there are so many glowing reviews. It's so easy (I was done, from start to finish in 15 minutes. We're vegetarian and it's difficult to find a black bean soup in restaurants that's not made with chicken stock or doesn't have bacon. Now I can make the black bean soup that my husband loves so much right at home. Upon other reviewers suggestions, I saved one cup of beans to add whole, I added 3 teaspoons lime juice, triple the cumin, 1 teaspoon garlic, freshly chopped cilantro and 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper. I also used the immersion blender and blended the soup right in the pot (talk about a great invention!). The soup came out perfect and tasted great with quesadillas. Next time, I'll probably saute some onions and add some corn for a different taste in the soup. Thanks very much for this recipe. It is definitely a keeper!!
We have looked into the sodium, and it appears the excess was coming from the vegetable broth. We linked that ingredient to a more generic vegetable broth, and it seems to have reduced the sodium. To address the beans issue, the sodium will go down by an additional 500 mg if using no-salt-added black beans. Rinsing and draining should also help.
Add Sherry! I've used hundreds of Allrecipes and this is the first time I felt compelled to add a review. This is fantastic soup! I used the suggestions of sauteed onions and garlic in pan first, used three cans of beans (two pureed, one left whole), extra cumin, splash of hot sauce, and added chopped cilantro. I also added a splash of Sherry, as I know this is the secret ingredient in my favorite restaurant soup. Delectable! I planned to freeze the leftover but we ate it all.
Very tasty soup! I agree with other reviewers to reserve some of the black beans whole. I used 1 can low fat low sodium chicken broth and 1 can Rotel instead of the salsa. I also sauteed some sweet Vidalia onion and garlic before adding beans, broth, and Rotel. I added cumin, dash red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Then I used a hand held blender (Emeril calls it the boat motor) and blended until I got the consistency I wanted. Then added the reserved whole black beans. I left lid off pot and let it simmer to reduce the amount of liquid and concentrate the flavors. At the very end I added the juice of a lime. It was delicious. Great base recipe to add your favorite flavors! When serving I added a dollop of no fat sour cream and some chopped green onions. A meal in itself! Thanks for a great recipe!
This soup was wonderful! I did make a few changes: I used chicken broth vs. vegetable broth. I used homemade salsa that was heavy with garlic and cilantro. I didn't have enough black beans so I added about 1/4 cup refried beans. I followed the advise of some other reviews and left some black beans whole. I also added cayenne and sauteed chopped onion to the bean mixture. To make it a heartier meal I added 1-1/2 cup rice and 1/2 cp corn to the soup. I can't wait to make this again!
I've made Black Bean soup from scratch which takes so much longer than this recipe and yet the taste is the same, so why make it from scratch again? Thanks for the recipe. I added cubed grilled chicken to the soup which was good too. Remember to leave a can or so of the beans out of the blender so you have some whole or mashed type beans in the soup for texture. I also added alittle sherry to the recipe. It's how I've always made black bean soup. Try it, it's great:)
This the easiest soup I have ever made and my boyfriend loved it! We have also omited part of the broth to make it into a black bean dip. Excellent with tortilla chips :)
This was AMAZING!! I loved it.
I modified the recipe by making it for 6.. 1 1/2 cups salsa, 1 1/2 tsp cumin, 3 cans beans, and 2 cups vegetable broth.
I blended everything but 1 can of the beans. I drained and rinsed those and added them to the pot, then added the blended mixture to that.
This gave the soup more 'substance', I really liked it with some beans in it. Great, great soup!!
Adding to all of the other great comments I thought this was very delicious and very easy to make. In spite of the simple ingredients it was very flavorful. I added some leftover cooked rice (about 1/2 cup) to this and it added a nice texture to it. It also freezes very well without effecting the taste or texture. I have already added this to my "must-make" soups list.
If you are looking for a Black Bean Soup recipe this isn't it. The taste of the salsa really overpowers the beans and it tasted more like salsa soup. I was disappointed and threw the soup away as it was inedible. Someone in the house thought it could be salvaged as a dip but I have better recipes for that. Still looking for a good vegetarian Black Bean soup.
