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30-Minute Black Bean Soup
[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]
About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Managing Editor of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.
About This Recipe
| Yield: | Makes about 2 quarts, serving 4 |
| Active time: | 20 minutes |
| Total time: | 30 minutes |
| This recipe appears in: | 3 Easy Bean Soups in 30 Minutes or Less |
| Rated: | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 green bell peppers, stems and seeds discarded, finely diced
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced on a microplane grater
- 1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, stems and seeds discarded, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
- 1 chipotle chili packed in adobo, finely chopped, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce from can (optional)
- 1 quart homemade or low-sodium canned chicken broth
- 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, with liquid
- 2 bay leaves
- Kosher salt
- To serve (all optional):
- Roughly chopped cilantro leaves
- Mexican-style sour cream
- Diced avocado
- Diced red onion
Procedures
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1
Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add peppers and onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, jalapeño, cumin, and dried chili flakes and cook, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chipotle and adobo sauce (if using) and stir to combine. Add chicken broth, beans and their liquid, and bay leaves. Increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a bare simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
-
2
Discard the bay leaves. Use a hand blender to roughly puree part of the beans until desired consistency is reached. Alternatively, transfer 2 cups of soup to a blender or food processor and process until smooth (start on low speed and increase to high to prevent blender blow-out). Return to the soup and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt.
-
3
Ladle soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately with cilantro leaves, sour cream, diced avocado, and diced red onion (as desired).


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