At Last! Black Bean Soup Recipe

Cooked on the Stove or in a Slow Cooker or "Slow Cooked in the Oven"

Have you ever looked and looked (and looked?!) for the perfect way to make a certain something? At Last! Black Bean Soup became my "only" black bean soup recipe, gracious! more than 30 years ago now and today is one of my "signature" recipes. It's super simple to make, just dried black beans, tomato, corn, potatoes and/or sweet potato and a touch of jalapeño. Some times I add ham hocks, other times I skip the meat for a vegan black bean soup that really lets the beans themselves stand out.

Budget-Friendly. Fresh & Seasonal, Perfect for Cold-Weather Meals. Easily not just vegan, Vegan Done Real. Very Weight Watchers Friendly. Naturally Gluten Free. High Protein. Great for Meal Prep. Freezes Well. Rave Reviews.

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BEST RECIPES

• At Last! Black Bean Soup Made the List!
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COMPLIMENTS!

• "This is now my favourite!" ~ mym(e)

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A Many-Year Search for My Homemade Black Bean Soup

In the seven years I masqueraded as a Texan, I looked and looked (and looked) for a great black bean soup to make at home. After several uninspiring batches, at last! I discovered the right recipe, one worth making and adapting again and again.

The original recipe came from Laurie Colwin, the food and fiction writer who died too young in 1992. She wrote a monthly column for Gourmet magazine where I was a brand-new reader.

Sadly, she was already gone by the time I discovered her writing but since she wrote ahead, her columns continued to appear for a year after her death. I read each one with building sadness, knowing the columns would too soon reach an end.

And I felt cheated: her work deserved to continue a long time.

As it turns out, the work of Laurie Colwin lives on. Her books remain in print and contain simple home cooking at its finest. Check your library for copies of her two food memoirs and especially her fiction.

Reading, you too may feel as if you’ve lost a friend.

LAURIE COLWIN RESOURCES

• Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
• More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen
• Affiliate Links My Disclosure Promise
• Laurie Colwin: A Confidante in the Kitchen from the New York Times

Evolution of a Recipe

Over time, I've adapted Laurie Colwin's recipe for black bean soup to suit my own style and kitchen in the thirty-some years I've been making it.

• Laurie specified two cups of dried black beans. That's fourteen ounces of beans, a bag is 16 ounces, so I chuck in the whole bag.
• She used a smidgen of corn. For both color and texture variation, I like quite a lot.
• She listed tomato, we use either tomato or tomatillo.
• She called for vegetable stock. I use the always-on-hand chicken stock and a totally-worth-making-special ham stock.
• Spices! I add both cumin and pimentòn, the alluring smoky-red paprika.

The next idea? Hold out half the corn and half the potatoes, adding them in the last hour or so for more distinctive color and texture.

Just Dump

Once the black beans soak for an hour – yes, just for an hour, it works, I promise! – just dump in the remaining ingredients and let it cook. This makes At Last! Black Bean Soup so extra-easy to make.

And while I have forgone the one-hour soak, and yes it does work, I always go back to that quick soak. For one, I just like the texture of the beans better. But for two, without soaking first, I find that the pot needs more attention because it may need more water than usual.

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AT LAST! BLACK BEAN SOUP RECIPE

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 7 – 9 hours
Makes 14 cups

QUICK COLD SOAK
• 16 ounces dried black beans
• 3 cups cold water

NOW JUST DUMP!
• 1 - 2 ham shanks or ham hocks, optional but recommended
• 4 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock (ham stock is especially good)
• 28 ounces (800g) canned diced tomatoes or canned tomatillos, diced
• 1 16-ounce (454g) bag frozen corn
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 small unpeeled red or 2 medium Yukon gold potatoes, diced or 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium poblano or 1 jalapeño pepper, minced, optional but recommended
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin, optional but recommended
• 1 tablespoon pimentòn (smoked paprika), optional but recommended
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Salt and pepper to taste

TO FINISH
• Juice from 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons, don't skip the lime!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

QUICK COLD SOAK Place the beans in a colander. Sift through the beans with your fingers, discarding shriveled beans and foreign objects. Wash them thoroughly and sift through again. Place the beans and cold water in a four-quart (or larger) dutch oven and soak for one hour. (Yes, an hour! No need to soak overnight! It works, I promise!)

NOW JUST DUMP! Put the pot onto the stove on medium high. As the pot heats up, add all the remaining ingredients (except the lime juice and the finishing salt and pepper) and stir. Bring it all to a boil.

TO CONTINUE ON THE STOVE Cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer. Cook for 5 – 7 hours or until the beans are soft and fully cooked. While cooking, stir occasionally, adjusting the heat and adding additional stock as needed. Taste as you go along, adding salt and pepper as needed.

~or~ CONTINUE IN THE OVEN Cover and let slow cook in the oven for 4 hours at 300F or for 8 hours at 200F. (A combination also works, 2 hours at 300F and 6 hours at 200F, very convenient for making in the evening and cooking overnight!) Check occasionally to see if extra liquid is needed and for seasoning but in my experience, in the oven, it's not.

~or~ CONTINUE IN A SLOW COOKER I know I've made this in the slow cooker before but have no particular notes about how it goes. That said, this recipe seems well-suited to a slow cooker, I would recommend 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low. Because different slow cookers all work so differently, please stay close and watch how it goes until you have a sense how it works with your own slow cooker.

TO FINISH Remove the ham shanks or hocks and let the meat cool. Pull the meat off the bone and shred into the soup, discarding the fat. Before discarding the bones, if you used ham shanks, do enjoy the bone marrow with a tiny spoon: cook's treat! Laurie Colwin then recommends puréeing about 2 cups of soup in a blender or a food processor (I use an immersion blender right in the pot, it works fine) to add back into the soup. That said, I don't find this blending step necessary every time; especially in the oven, the beans become quite creamy. So use your own judgment, guided by personal preference on texture.

Now, most important, squeeze in the lime juice, it makes ALL the difference!

MAKE-AHEAD BLACK BEAN SOUP I make this soup ahead of time all the time, it reheats beautifully though some times does need additional liquid.

HOW TO SERVE The soup is excellent all on its own but to gild the lily, top with diced avocado and some Lime Crema or sour cream. Warm tortillas on the side? Sure!

ALANNA's TIPS Fourteen cups is a lot – a LOT – of soup so you'll want to choose your very largest pot and even then, make sure it'll hold all the soup. It completely fills our four-quart LeCreuset Dutch oven, fine for cooking in the oven but too small for cooking on the stovetop since there's little room for boiling over if the simmer gets away from me. For the stove, I have to pull out my biggest stockpot. The first time you make this, stay nearby until you identify the proper temperature setting for your stove or slow cooker to maintain a slow simmer. It's one of the reasons why I've come to prefer the oven where I can just set the temperature and let the oven do its work, no adjustment required. Plain diced tomatoes are fine but if you find them, the ones with added green chilies make an especially fine bowl of black bean soup. A finely minced jalapeño pepper adds a welcome extra kick. Just be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after dicing for pepper oil can cause great pain if accidentally rubbed on your eyes or lips. Yes, that's experience talking. :-( To avoid the gas that beans can cause, try a few drops of that stuff called Beano, easily available in grocery stores and also, naturally, on Amazon. (affiliate link) Whatever you do, don't skip the lime! The soup will taste like "nothing" – completely bland – without it. Without lime juice, you'll be thinking I'm a crazy woman, loving this soup so much. Restaurants, especially, garnish black bean soup with chopped green onions, shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Go ahead, load up if you like, it's good that way, if unnecessary, since the soup itself is so-so-SO good. Great news! At Last! Black Bean Soup freezes beautifully!

NUTRITION INFOMATION Per Cup, without/with ham: 176/214 Calories; 1/2g Tot Fat; 0/1g Sat Fat; 36/36g Carb; 10g Fiber; 105/427mg Sodium; 0/13mg Cholesterol; 4g Sugar; 9/15g Protein WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 4/5 & SmartPoints 5/6 & Freestyle 1 & myWW green 4/5 & blue 1 & purple 0 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = half cup/two-thirds cup (6/7g protein).

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More Supper-Hearty Soup Recipes

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(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ canned & dried beans ~
~ tomatoes ~
~ corn ~
~ potatoes ~
~ limes ~

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~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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