Slow-Cooker Black Bean Soup Recipe (2024)

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Mostly Vegan

Actually you can but modify the cooking method not the recipe. You can just use the Dutch Oven like a slow cooker. Instead of placing the Dutch Oven on the stove top (not a great idea for this length of time) put it into your oven instead at about 200 degrees (average temp for a Slow Cooker on Low) for the same time. It effectively turns your Dutch Oven into a slow cooker.

Joe

I make a broth from ham hocks, celery, carrots, and cilantro to use as a base for this soup. After making the broth, I cut the meat off the hocks and use it in the soup. The day before serving the soup I refrigerate it then remove the congealed fat before reheating and serving.

sandra, copied from notes

Soak your dry beans in Zinfandel overnight and add the whole thing to the slow cooker along with whatever other liquid you are using. I’ve done this many times.

dlm

Can you make this in a Dutch oven?

Bellaverdi

Best black bean soup ever! Followed recipe to the letter. It did need the full time for adequate tenderness of beans. The heat from the chipotle was just right. On regular rotation now.

Sandi

I would soak the beans overnight. I would sauté the onion and garlic in a little oil and add in the ground spices, then the liquid and remaining ingredients. Depending on the age of your dried beans start checking around 1 hour into the cooking. Now that I am retired I seldom use my slow cooker..I may have to dig it out, I forgot how handy they are.

Frank

Yes, simmer for a couple hours until beans are tender. Keep an eye on the pot as the recipe only calls for 6 cups of water. That's not very much for 1 lb of beans and cooking in a dutch oven the liquid tends to evaporate much more than in a crock pot. I might even start with 8 cups (2qts) liquid and still need to add some more, especially if you puree the beans at the end. Hope that answers your question. Happy Cooking.

Julia K

Any idea what changes would I make to the recipe if I were to use canned beans?

Carole

It comes in cans and you should be able to find it at your supermarket.

Kit

Planning to make this tomorrow, but if you've already cooked this recipe, were you really able to remove the chile after 8-10 hours of cooking to put it in a blender? Seems like it would have fallen apart by then. I can see that the garlic and onions are big chunks that you could remove to blend but not so sure about that canned chipotle pepper.

Thierry La Jambe

A careful cook will add the garlic during the last 30 minutes or so of the cooking. It's a general rule. Garlic after 10 hours cooking is no longer garlic.

Carol Komstock

We don't blend our bean soup, we take a potato masher to it til we have the desired consistency.

Nancy

I had no trouble fishing out the chile after 10 hours. Remarkably, it stayed whole. The soup is delicious—I made it as written. Will make again.

judi

How would you do this in an insta pot ?

MARIAC

I’d sauté the onion, garlic and Chile with the spices, and cook it together with the canned beans for 30 mins on the stove.

Pileated960

I made it exactly as directed other than, since my slow cooker runs a bit hot, I only cooked it for 7 hours on low. Excellent, easy recipe!

Lizzi

I’ve made this, as directed, more than once. Best ever!

Gabrielle

Made with navy beans. DELISH and is basically bean dip soup

Tom

I don't know where I went wrong, pretty sure I followed the recipe (even used more of the spices/chipotle than called for because NYT), but the result is BLAND.

JKG

A few notes that may help. Old, desiccated beans will NEVER soften. Buy bagged, check dates, stay away from bulk bins. Also, acidic water or broth can impact the beans ability to break down. Add 1/4 teaspoon baking SODA (not powder) to your liquids. It may even bubble and sizzle. Stir well. The pectin in beans breaks down on alkaline not acid…

Kurt

A very good black bean soup. I did the recipe with canned black beans and in the oven at 220 degrees.Left overs are great as refried beans with eggs.

Lisa

Followed the recipe and loved it! I DID simply stick blender the solids then added it into the soup and stick blended the whole thing. Worked well.

Ariel

Good - took the “soak beans in Zinfandel overnight” suggestion, added depth. Served with sour cream and cilantro. Chipotle provided right balance of heat.

Jeri

Is it supposed to be one can of chipotle chili or just one chili in the ingredient list?

Judy A

Subbed in a cup of red wine for the liquid. Needed to add 1/2 C of water. A little bland - more chipotle next time, maybe some tomato paste

Josy

I make this on repeat for my big hungry Mexican - American blended family. We don’t eat as soup, just as beans. It has become a delicious staple for us-start it in the morning for dinner, start it in the evening for breakfast. I just put another pot in now.

Katherine

2 cups black beans

Kate

Made this. Best ever.

SBC

Cooked this in a Dutch oven at 225 for nine hours and it worked perfectly. I don’t have an immersion blender (ordering stat!) so I diced the onion and pepper and then just used a potato masher at the end to smoosh it all together (technical term). Worked great and was delicious!

Kim M

I made it with the addition of a ham hock that I had in the freezer and substituted some of the water with leftover juice from slow cooking a corned beef. Fished out the ham and used an immersion blender before adding it back without the bone and fat. Fabulous.

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Slow-Cooker Black Bean Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What beans should not be cooked in a slow cooker? ›

Kidney beans should not be cooked from raw in a slow cooker. If you care about the scientific reason – it's that the beans contain a protein, called phytohaemagglutinin, which is toxic.

Do beans need to be soaked before slow cooking? ›

If you're the impatient, bean-hungry type, you can cook your beans from dry without any soaking at all. Here's the thing: Beans that have not been soaked ahead of time will always take longer to cook, but they will, indeed, cook.

Do you need to soak black beans before making soup? ›

In the course of his testing, Yonan found that soaking only cut down cooking time by 25 to 30%, and it also had real drawbacks. "You lose a lot of flavors when you soak them," Yonan says. "I've never had a pot of black beans as good soaking as when I don't soak them.

How to make black bean soup thicker? ›

Stir together cornstarch and water in small bowl until combined, then gradually stir about half of the cornstarch mixture into the soup; bring to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to fully thicken.

Why are my beans still hard after slow cooking? ›

Cooking with hard water

If you pre-soaked your beans and still find that they are not softening, it may be because you are cooking them in hard water.

Do you cook beans on low or high in a slow cooker? ›

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours: Cover the pot and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. If this is your first time cooking beans or you're cooking an unfamiliar kind of bean, begin checking the beans after 5 hours and then every 30 minutes until they are cooked to your liking.

What happens if you don't soak beans first? ›

But, then I learned something astonishing: You can actually skip soaking beans over night, and actually you should. Not only does it shorten the amount of time until you have ready-to-eat beans, it also produces a more flavorful end result.

What happens if you don't soak beans long enough? ›

Modern cooking websites often say it doesn't matter. In a way, they're both right. Soaking beans can help improve the texture of the final product once the beans are cooked and reduce the gas produced when the food is being digested. But it isn't necessary to soak them.

Do I drain canned black beans for soup? ›

For soups, stews and anything else liquidy, feel free to use the whole can — just keep in mind that you'll be adding more liquid than if the recipe calls for drained and rinsed beans.

What happens if you don't soak black beans before cooking? ›

"Black beans cook so quickly soaking only saves 30 minutes or so. It also marginally helps keep them whole, but you're going to be pureeing some anyway. and the flavor is so much better.

What happens if you don't rinse black beans? ›

"If you rinse your beans thoroughly, you will have a consistently flavored product, but if you do not rinse them, different amounts of salt will remain in the dish each time you cook it, and it will be hard to cook consistently," he says.

What if my bean soup needs more flavor? ›

Garlic and onions will bolster the taste of bean soup. Be sure to take a portion of the beans and mash or purée them for extra texture. Aromatics like celery or carrot will add more complex flavor notes. Despite being expensive, both mushrooms and Parmesan cheese will add some real umami (i.e., mouth feel) to the soup.

Why did Panera stop selling black bean soup? ›

Panera recently removed Black Bean Soup from their menu, saying it was a seasonal item. I think everyone can agree that Black Bean Soup is an Autumn Soup if anything, and its departure from the chain has impacted many.

Is black beans soup good for you? ›

The antioxidants, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates in black beans make them nutritionally powerful. A diet rich in beans can reduce your risk of several serious medical conditions and help your body to process calories more effectively.

What happens if you slow cook kidney beans? ›

Slowly heating raw kidney beans in a slow cooker may increase the toxicity of the beans. Studies have found slow cookers do not reach a high enough temperature to destroy the harmful bacteria in undercooked beans.

What are the symptoms of kidney bean poisoning? ›

nausea and vomiting, followed by diarrhoea and sometimes abdominal pain; recovery is usually rapid.

Is it safe to cook dried kidney beans in a slow cooker? ›

But research now suggests that one tough ingredient shouldn't be cooked in the slow cooker at all — beans. All beans contain a compound called “phytohaemagglutinin,” also called PHA, or kidney bean lectin. Lectin is a type of protein that performs many functions in both plants and animals.

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