Name: Quick & Creamy Black Bean Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1/3 cup diced red onion; 1 garlic clove (minced); 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper; 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth; 2 15 ounce cans black beans (drained and rinsed); 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves (chopped); 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice; 1/4 cup pico de gallo for topping

Skip to Recipe Print Recipe

This easy, creamy black bean soup has only a few ingredients and comes together in less than 30 minutes, making it the perfect winter warmer!

Red bowl filled with black bean soup topped with pico de gallo

This post may contain sales affiliate links. Please see my full Disclosure Policy for details.

I originally wrote this post in January of 2014. It was what seemed like the never-ending winter in Chicago. They called it the Polar Vortex - I had never heard that term before and hope I never hear it again!! Since it was so cold, COLD, COLD it seemed like the perfect time for some soup, so I decided to post an easy soup recipe that was ready in less than 30 minutes.

Adding homemade soup to your weekly meal prep routine is a great way to have lunch on hand and it also makes a good option for a quick weeknight dinner. Generally, making soup from scratch is pretty easy and you usually end up with something much tastier than you would get from a can.

Contents:

Notes from the Kitchen
Key Ingredients
Recommended Tools
How to make this recipe
More soup recipes
Quick & Creamy Black Bean Soup

45 degree angle shot of bowl of black bean soup

Notes from the Kitchen

Make it spicy! I like to make this soup a little spicy by adding a dash of chipotle pepper. It you like things extra spicy, add a bit more.
Have fun with the toppings. You can get creative here with some fun things like a little greek yogurt, a big scoop of pico de Gallo, chuncks of avocado and some crushed tortilla chips.
Double the recipe. This soup freezes well, so if you want to have extra you can make a double batch. I recommend freezing in 2-3 cup portions for easier defrosting.

Key Ingredients

The full list of ingredients and quantities can be found in the recipe card below.

Bowl of black beans, measuring cup of chopped red onions and a bunch of cilantro

Canned black beans: I use canned beans for this soup. I actually often used canned beans. You can generally find them with no salt added, which is what you want to look for. Keeping a few cans on hand in your panty gives you lots of options for quick and easy meals.
Vegetable broth: This soup is naturally vegetarian if you stick with veggie broth. If you're not worried about that you can substitute chicken broth.
Lime juice: For the best flavor, I always recommend freshly squeezed lime juice.
Spices: ground cumin, dried oregano, ground chipotle pepper, kosher salt, ground pepper
Pantry staples: olive oil

Recommended Tools

Immersion Blender – In general, I prefer soups being a bit more creamy than chunky so I often use an immersion blender to partially, or fully, puree them. If you don't already have one I'd recommend thinking about adding this to your collection of kitchen tools. It's very useful for pureeing soups and has a number of other uses.

Handheld Juicer – This is now my favorite juicer! The design allows you to extract the juice from the citrus easily, and it works with both lemons and limes.

How to make this recipe

This soup is the ideal winter warmer for two and it comes together in just a few easy steps.

Onions and garlic cooking in pan — **Step 1 | Start with the veggies**. Heat the olive oil in a pan and then toss in the onion, garlic and spices. Saute until the spices are fragrant.

Black beans soup cooking in pan — **Step 2 | Add the beans.** The beans get cooked in the veggie broth to form the base of your soup.

Pot of black bean soup after beans were pureed — **Step 3 | Puree**. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup to your desired consistency.

Bowl of black bean soup topped with pico de gallo and crushed tortilla chips — **Step 4 | Serve.** Add your favorite toppings and serve! juice just before serving too. You can definitely customize with our favorite Mexican inspired toppings.

More soup recipes

I'm a big fan of making a pot of soup or two over the weekend and then having it on hand for the entire week. Many soups can be frozen too. If you are looking for some other good soup options check out this Easy Tomato Bisque or this Tuscan White Bean & Sausage Soup.

Click here to subscribe to Urban Foodie Kitchen's Newsletter for free and fresh small batch recipes right to your inbox!

If you try this recipe, be sure to let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below.

You can also take a photo & tag @urbanfoodiekitchen on Instagram.