Happy Monday, friends!
At the time this post goes live, I will be on the final stretch of a 13-hour road trip heading off the grid into the Smokey Mountains for a week of cabin life. I can’t say that I’m super-looking forward to the 13 hours. But after four back-to-back trips this month, I am soooooo looking forward to arriving in the land of no wifi, switching off my screens, heading out into the sunshine for some long hikes, coming home to cook some leisurely (and photo-free!) meals, cozying up with in the evenings with slippers and some good books, and spending lots of time with this guy after being apart for nearly three weeks.
Can’t. Wait. :)
So I may be happily out of touch for awhile. But of course, I wanted to leave you with a few recipes while I’m gone. The first is a crock pot version of one of my all-time vegetarian comfort meals, which always seems to perfectly hit the spot this time of year. It’s incredibly simple to make, packed with protein and healthy ingredients, naturally vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free, and it is wonderfully comforting and delicious.
It’s my Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup.
Most people just think of black bean soup as a big bowl of brown mush. But lest we ever forget, there’s usual a rainbow of fresh ingredients that go into it. The usual suspects are present — onions, carrots and lots of garlic. But I’m also a big fan of adding chopped red peppers (or a jar of roasted red peppers) to the mix, as well as some fresh jalapeno for a little heat.
Once the Crock Pot does its work and cooks everything until tender, you have the option of either:
- serving the soup as-is (brothy and chunky)
- pureeing the soup completely (uber-thick and smooth)
- or — my favorite — pureeing about half of the soup so that it’s thick and smooth but still a little chunky
Totally up to you. If you with the second or third options, you can either puree part (or all) of the soup with an immersion blender. Or you can transfer it in small batches to a blender or food processor, and puree until smooth. (Always be careful blending hot liquids, though, since they will expand in the process. I recommend pureeing in small batches, never letting your blender or food processor be more than halfway-filled.)
Then once the soup is blended (or not) to perfection, dish it up! I love just topping mine with some simple fresh cilantro and avocado, but a dollop of sour cream, some chopped red onions, a sprinkling of crushed tortilla chips, or any other toppings would also be tasty. Whatever sounds good to you sounds good to me. :)
Have a great week, everyone!
Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large white or yellow onion, chopped
- 2 red bell peppers, cored and chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
- 4 cups good-quality vegetable stock
- 4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- optional toppings: chopped fresh cilantro, crumbled corn tortilla chips, diced avocados, sour cream and/or shredded cheese (dairy-free, if making this soup vegan)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, until all of the vegetables are cooked and tender. Remove the bay leaf.
At this point, you can either:
- serve the soup as-is (brothy and chunky)
- use a blender or food-processor to puree the soup completely (uber-thick and smooth)
- use a blender or food processor to puree about half of the soup (so that it’s thick and smooth but still a little chunky)
- Serve the soup warm, garnished with your desired toppings. Or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
Simply delicious! We made it for our vegetarian daughter who was visiting! ❤️
Can you please advise how many cups would it be if I tried to do it with dried beans and if the cooking time would be the same? I’m trying to cut on the sodium intake. Thank you.
This soup was absolutely perfect for our first chilly day here in NC. Only thing I added was a can of corn! This will be one of our new favorites!
AMAZING! I added an extra yellow onion and a can of rotel tomatoes and chilis, and left out of the bell pepper, carrot, jalapeno and cayenne. I also switched the vegetable broth for chicken broth and because I was using bagged beans not canned [which had been soaked overnight] I cooked for 5 hours. Finally, used an emulsion blender at the end to puree about 75% of it. And oh my goodness! This is going in my lunch rotation! Yum!
So easy so awesome I don’t use food processor .. I just make it and go. So healthy!
I make my own beans in the Instant Pot. According to my research four 15 oz cans will yield 6 cups of beans. Is that what you used in this recipe?
The house smelled so good while it was cooking. I brought half to a friend who is ill and we had the other half. I already want to make more….so good! (I left out the jalapeños because I don’t like spicy stuff).
Loved this recipe! I had about 1.65lbs of beans and added a cup of water to the recipe due so the amount of beans. blended half of the beans toward the end of cooking and it was a nice thick creamy delight! I was hesitant my 2 and 3 year old werent gonna it it but everyone enjoyed it with a avacados and a slice of baked bread.
This hasn’t the real flavor of a meaty black bean soup. It’s decent but nowhere as good as my old and trusty pressure cooker navy bean soup, made with a ham hock. It’s a resipe from years and years ago published by Presto. I have my mother’s old pressure cooker for some 40 years, and she had ir for many more!
This is the most delicious black bean soup I’ve ever had. While I was making this my friend and I tasted the mix before carrots and the liquid were added and it would make a great salsa. So I bought the same ingredients again and made a salsa while the soup was cooking. I don’t have a crockpot so I cooked it on the store for about 3 hours. I made this soup yesterday and it’s almost gone, it’s that good!!!
Ali, I love your recipes! I don’t have words to thank you. I’d like to use dried beans for this soup. After having soaked them overnight, should I cook them before adding then to the slow cooker?
Thanks again!