This Mexican Black Bean Soup is packed full of bean protein. An easy 4-ingredient soup base that can be topped with whatever is your favorite.
Beans, or legumes in general, are pretty much the very best vegan food you can eat to cover your body’s protein needs and fill up your iron tank.
Now I understand that many people stay away from legumes because of its “secondary effects”. Those flatulent effects can easily be avoided though if paying attention to prep and cooking method.
If you properly prepare your legumes at home instead of using canned, you can make them easier to digest. It’s a once a week thing if you eat a lot of legumes, and a once a month thing if you eat little because you can freeze them!!
How to Cook Dried Black Beans for Black Bean Soup
- Soak your beans: the most important step is to soak your beans for at least 8-12 hours and up to 24 hours with an in-between rinse and water change. This step is crucial! Soaking is essential to get rid of anti-nutrients and the number 1 cause of those secondary effects I was talking about further up. This step takes literally 1 minute, so why fuss about having to soak?? Put your beans in a big bowl, fill the bowl up with abundant water (at least a fist above the beans), cover with a clean cloth and let sit on the kitchen counter. I do this the night before I plan on cooking beans.
- Rinse beans really really well under cold water once finished soaking. This step is required to rinse away all those anti-nutrients and gunk that causes you to pass wiiiiindddd.
- Put soaked and thoroughly rinsed beans in a big pot, fill with water to about 1″ above the beans and bring to the boil. Then reduce heat to low, put on the lid and let simmer for 3-4 hours. ORRRR way easier Cook your beans in the Instant Pot. Super fast and easy!
- Once cooked either eat right away, make your Mexican Black Bean Soup, or just let sit at room temperature until cooled down so you can store it in freezer-safe containers. I freeze 2 cups at a time because about 2 cups with liquid and all make about the same amount as a can of beans and this way I have about 5 “cans” of beans in the freezer for whenever I need them.
- Enjoy enormous amounts of beans without any stomach upset and take advantage of their nutrient density :)
How to make Mexican Black Bean Soup
To make the soup, all you have to do while the beans are cooking brown some chopped onion and garlic and then blend with the beans and some broth.
Beef broth is my favorite but vegetable broth works great, too if you’re vegan or vegetarian.
To blend you can either use a regular blender or an immersion blender.
And now all there is left to do, is finish seasoning your Mexican Black Bean Soup with salt and pepper and top it with your favorite toppings.
My favorite Black Bean Soup Toppings are:
- Fried tortilla strips
- Corn kernels
- Chopped up cilantro
- Cubed avocado
- Sour Cream
- Sliced Jalapeño Chili
Mexican Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 cups cooked black beans (preferably soaked and home-cooked)
- 4 cups beef broth (vegetable stock for vegan/vegetarian)
- salt
- pepper
- 4 corn tortillas
- 1 cup corn kernels
- olive oil
- fresh coriander
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat.
- Peel and finely chop onion, peel and crush garlic.
- Once pot is hot, add a dollop of olive oil, then add onion and garlic and fry until translucent.
- Add 3 cups of black beans with its cooking liquid and all.
- Add 4 cups of broth.
- Add salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes
- In the meantime, heat a small pan over medium heat.
- Put about 1/8 tsp of oil on a tortilla and spread it with your hands, then turn and do the same thing. You can also use a brush and brush on the oil on both sides.
- Cut tortilla into fine stripes.
- Once pan is hot, add tortilla strips in batches and toast until crisp. Set aside.
- Add corn kernels to same pan and stir-fry until starting to turn black. Set aside.
- Now blend the beans and broth with an immersion blender or pour it in batches into a stand mixer to blend into a creamy soup.
- Pour soup into bowls, add a 1/4 cup corn kernels to each bowl, top with toasted tortilla strips and sprinkle with coriander.
Nutrition
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Jack William says
Can’t wait to make this! Thank you