Easy Black Bean Soup with Canned Beans

This easy black bean soup with canned beans blends into a creamy, smooth bowl packed with warm spices and a hint of roasted red peppers. You can keep it a vegan option or add shredded chicken or rotisserie chicken if you want something a little heartier. You'll find simple recipes and healthy soup ideas that make this a go-to fall soup recipe or winter soup recipe when you need something quick and nourishing. Pin it now so you always have one of your best easy soup recipes ready for busy nights.

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Why is this the best easy black bean soup with canned black beans recipe

This black bean soup recipe is versatile. It's perfect for any family gathering, allows your guests to customize it to their liking, and is easy enough to make on any day or night, even those busy weeknights!

This easy black bean soup recipe with canned beans is absolutely delicious! The combination of sautéed onions and fresh garlic with canned black beans, roasted red peppers, sour cream, and a few spices, is absolutely divine when all put together. But the flavors keep coming: when you add toppings like shredded cheese, fresh or pickled jalapenos, fresh cilantro, and sliced avocado, it goes from great to phenomenal!

This recipe makes the best soup anytime! Every spoonful is delightful for both kids and adults alike. No one will want to stop at just one filled bowl of this bean soup!

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This is a quick and easy recipe for game day, potlucks, or holiday parties. Start by sautéing your onion-and-garlic base, then add the remaining ingredients and simmer. Pour the soup into a food processor and blend until it's the consistency you like. Add some beans back and and add your favorite toppings. That's all there is to it!

The ingredients for the dish are common and easy to find. You likely already have most of the simple ingredients for this easy black bean soup in your pantry. If you need an ingredient or two, you can easily find them in most local grocery stores or on Amazon!

This black bean soup recipe tastes amazing! This soup is absolutely delicious on its own! To be a bit more creative and add extra texture, you can serve it with fresh cilantro, pickled or fresh jalapenos, a dollop of sour cream, tortilla chips, salsa, red onions, Mexican blend cheese, sliced avocado, and a squeeze of lime.

What you'll need to make easy black bean soup

Equipment

• Garlic press - This is the easiest way to mince fresh garlic into a fine paste. If you don't have one, you can use the flat part of your chef knife to crush the cloves, then remove the papery skin, and use the sharp edge to mince the garlic as small as possible.
• 4-quart pot - You need a pot big enough to hold all the ingredients.
• Blender - A blender or food processor helps if you want to make your soup smooth, but it's not necessary. You can also use an immersion blender if you have one of those. The pot needs to have a lot of extra room for the immersion blender to work without overflowing the pot.

Ingredients  

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See the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page for all measurements and nutritional information.

• olive oil - You need some kind of fat to sauté the onion and garlic. I suggest olive oil, but you could also use butter or even bacon grease.
• red onion - This should be diced fine.
• Fresh garlic - I like to press the garlic so that it is better distributed throughout the soup, but if you are going to put it all in the blender at the end anyway, it's not a huge deal if you leave it bigger.
• black beans - Black beans are the star of the soup. You can use all black beans as I suggest, or you can use a variety of different types of beans for a slightly different flavor. If you want to control the amount of salt in your soup, buy reduced sodium beans and then add just enough salt at the end to make the soup taste good.
• chicken broth or vegetable broth - I use chicken broth for my soup, but if you want to make a vegan version, vegetable broth works just as well.
• roasted red peppers - You can roast and peel your own peppers if you're really ambitious, but I just buy these. Drain and rinse them before adding them to your soup.s
• sour cream - You can use Greek yogurt for a higher protein, lower fat alternative. For a vegan alternative, you can use the thick cream from a can of coconut milk or an equal amount of silken tofu blended with a splash of fresh lemon juice.
• oregano - This is a dried herb for flavor.
• cumin - This is a ground spice, also for flavor.
• salt - The salt is important in this recipe to balance and enhance the other flavors. Your soup will taste flat if you don't add some salt or a salt substitute.

Optional garnishes

You can use any garnishes you want. Here's what I like on my black bean soup:

• sliced or chopped avocado
• fresh or pickled jalapeno slices
• fresh cilantro
• salsa poured through a strainer so the liquid drains off (or it will make your soup watery)
• sour cream
• shredded Mexican blend cheese
• finely diced red onion

How to make black bean soup with canned beans

1. Heat a large, heavy saucepot over medium heat. Add oil and onion and cook slowly 5-7 minutes until onions are soft and translucent.
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2. Add garlic, cook 30 seconds. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pin
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3. Serve your soup with beans whole or allow the soup to cool and puree. You can purée the soup right in the pot with an immersion blender, if your pot has enough empty space for the soup to move around. An immersion blender is the easiest and safest way to purée your soup.
   To purée using a traditional blender or food processor, turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool for 10 minutes. Working very carefully, in small batches, blend until smooth in a blender or food processor. Return to the pot and reheat. Taste the soup and adjust seasonings, if necessary.
   *Puréeing boiling hot soup can make your blender explode, so it is critically important that you let the soup cool before putting it in the blender and only place a small amount of hot soup in the blender at a time.
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4. Garnish with avocado, red onion, jalapeños, diced tomatoes or drained salsa, sour cream, and/or shredded cheese. Serve hot.
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Substitutions & variations

Add in pinto beans, kidney beans, or great northern beans. I only use canned beans, but if you are ambitious and want to cook them from dry, go right ahead and do it. Both work really well.

To add more depth to the roasted red peppers, you can add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, or fire-roasted diced tomatoes.

This can be loaded up with veggies by adding corn, zucchini, spinach, or diced sweet potatoes, before or after puréeing.

You can also load it up with protein by stirring in shredded rotisserie chicken, cooked ground turkey, or spicy crumbled chorizo.

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Storing leftovers

Let the soup cool. Transfer to an airtight container. Leave a little space on top; beans thicken as they chill. Refrigerate up to 4-5 days.

Freezing: portion into freezer-safe containers or freezer-safe bags. If using bags, lay them flat for easy stacking. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or reheat from frozen over low heat, adding a splash of broth or water to loosen it.

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Check out more delicious soups, stews, and chowder recipes

• Cheeseburger Soup from Taste of Home
• Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup
• World's Best Bacon Chili
• Cheesy Vegetable Soup
• Crockpot Corn Chowder
• Simple & Easy Cheesy Cauliflower Soup
• Hot and Sour Soup - Uses grocery store ingredients, nothing fancy!
• Crockpot Beef Stew
• Slow Cooker Potato Soup

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