Recipe: Spicy Black Bean Soup

Looking for a nutritional, protein-packed recipe? Batch cook dried beans and freeze them for use in quick, budget-friendly recipes like this one!

Yields: 4 Servings
Total Preparation Time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 3 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 4½ teaspoons ground cumin
• ¼ - ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime, juiced
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Garnish with diced avocado, extra cilantro, and thinly sliced radishes or red onions

TIP: You can use one 14 oz. can of black beans in place of homemade cooked beans. Just be sure to drain and rinse well before adding to your soup.

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, celery and carrot and a light sprinkle of
2. salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetable are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic, cumin and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the beans and broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook, reducing heat as
4. necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, until the broth is flavorful and the beans are very tender, about 30 minutes.
5. Use an immersion blender to pulse the soup until it has thickened but still has texture. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can puree about 4 cups of the soup in a blender until
6. smooth – being very careful of steam escaping. Return the pureed soup to the pot.
7. Stir in the cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Serve garnished with avocado, cilantro and sliced radishes or red onions.