Spicy Vegetarian Black Bean Soup
This Spicy Vegetarian Black Bean Soup will warm you up from the inside out. This healthy and easy recipe is gluten free, vegetarian and vegan.
This Spicy Vegetarian Black Bean Soup will warm you up from the inside out. This healthy and easy recipe is gluten free, vegetarian and vegan.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- chopped cilantro
- lime wedges
- diced tomatoes
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- sour cream or greek yogurt
- 3 cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 large onion (diced (about 1.25 cups))
- 2 large plum tomatoes (chopped (about 1.5 cups))
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more if you prefer it extra spicy)
- diced avocados
- Carbohydrate 38.0218285433348 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.05051615809749 g
- Fiber 12.6820321339212 g
- Protein 11.812579142903 g
- Saturated Fat 0.376111064810239 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (380g)
- Sodium 506.515773588158 mg
- Sugar 25.3397964094136 g
- Trans Fat 0.304710648663986 g
- Calories 206 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
- Add in onions, garlic and tomatoes. Cook until onions become translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Add salt, black pepper, oregano, thyme, cumin and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for another 4 minutes until very fragrant.
- Add in vegetable broth, black beans and stir. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. The soup will be boiling by the end.
- Uncover and with a hand held immersion blender, blend a few times until the soup reaches your desired consistency. Cook uncovered for another 15 minutes.
- Stir and serve. Top with diced avocados, diced tomatoes, a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt, cilantro and lime wedges.
Crushed red pepper flakes carry the primary responsibility for heat here, releasing their capsaicin directly into the olive oil during the initial sauté to permeate the entire pot with a sharp, sustained warmth. Cooking these dried flakes alongside cumin, oregano, thyme, black pepper, and salt for four minutes transforms raw spices by blooming their essential oils in fat, a technique that prevents a muddy flavor profile later. Fresh aromatics like onions, garlic, and chopped plum tomatoes provide the structural moisture needed to sweat the base without scorching the spices, yielding translucent onions in roughly three minutes over medium-high heat. Using canned black beans that have been drained and rinsed offers convenience and consistent starch levels, though incorporating fresh plum tomatoes alongside the canned varieties adds an essential bright acidity that canned whole tomatoes often lack. Blending the mixture partially with an immersion blender creates a dual texture, leaving whole beans intact for bite while pureeing enough of the legumes to thicken the vegetable broth naturally without adding flour or cream. Simmering the uncovered soup for fifteen minutes after blending evaporates excess liquid to concentrate the flavors further. Finishing the bowls with cold garnishes like diced avocados, sour cream, Greek yogurt, cilantro, and fresh lime wedges introduces necessary contrast in temperature and acidity against the piping hot, spiced legumes.
