This tasty Cuban Black Bean Soup Recipe can be made with dry beans in your Instant Pot or cooked on the stovetop. Either way, you’ll love the flavor of this vegan dinner recipe! (See notes for using canned beans.)
Hey friends, wow, what a week. I hope you are hanging in there and doing ok. This vegan Cuban Black Bean Soup is comforting, wholesome, and sticks to your bones without being overly heavy. Full of amazing Cuban flavor, this hearty soup satisfies the tastes buds!
What I like about this recipe is that you don’t have to soak the beans if you don’t have time, so the whole thing comes together rather simply- although there is a little bit of chopping. 😉 Serve it up with roasted sweet potato or rice.
What you’ll need (Ingredients)
- Dried black beans (or sub-canned black beans)
- Onion and garlic cloves
- Bell peppers diced (red and yellow are nice)
- Chilies: ancho chili or poblano chili (optional, not traditional )or sub green bell pepper
- Tomato Paste
- Spices: oregano, bay leaves, ground cumin, smoked paprika ( instead of ham hock), cayenne, salt and black pepper
- Vegetable broth (or chicken stock)
- Sweetener: agave, sugar or honey
- Squeeze of fresh lime juice or red wine vinegar
- Olive oil – for sauteeing
Optional Garnishes: thinly sliced red onion (or scallions), cilantro, avocado, sour cream or vegan sour cream, toasted coconut, tortilla chips, roasted sweet potato or plantain “chips, sliced fresh chilies, or orange zest. Pick something crunchy, creamy and green. 🙂
How to make Cuban Black Bean Soup (Instant Pot instructions)
Step 1: Chop the veggies! This Black bean soup recipe is loaded up with onion, garlic and peppers – all great for immunity!
Step 2: Saute. Using the saute function in the Instant Pot, saute the onion, garlic and pepper in olive oil, until very soft, about 10 minutes.
Step 3: Add the spices, tomato paste, broth, water and dry black beans and give a good stir.
Step 4: Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes, then manually or naturally release. While the soup is pressure cooking, you could make the optional crispy roasted sweet potatoes to serve as a garnish.
Step 5: Blend part for creamier consistency. To give this a creamier texture, take 2 cups of the soup and blend or puree until smooth in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and add it back into the pot.
Step 6: Serve! Divide it among bowls, and then it’s just a matter of adding the delicious toppings! Generally, aim for crunchy, creamy, and herby.
Cuban Black Bean Soup Toppings
- Avocado slices
- sour cream or vegan sour cream
- cilantro or scallions (or both)
- pickled onions or thinly sliced red onion
- crunchy toasted coconut or tortilla chips or plantain chips (most traditional)
- roasted sweet potatoes (see recipe notes)
- lime wedges
Variations
- Stovetop (Dry Beans): Allow 2 hours of cooking time. In a large Dutch oven, saute the onion, garlic, peppers, and 2 teaspoons salt over medium heat on the stove until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Add the spices and tomato paste, and saute for one minute. Add the veggie broth and water (leave out the water if you soaked your beans). Scrape up any browned bits and bring to a simmer. Stir in the beans. Cover tightly, and simmer on low or medium-low until beans are tender about 1 hour. (If the liquid looks low, add a little more water.) Check for doneness- if using unsoaked beans, these may take an additional 30-45 minutes to get soft. Continue with step 6 in the recipe card.
- Stovetop (Canned Beans): Allow 30 mins cooking time. In a large Dutch oven, saute the onion, garlic, peppers, and 2 teaspoons salt over medium heat on the stove until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Add the spices and tomato paste, and saute for one minute. Add 6-7 cups of drained canned beans ( roughly 4 to 5, 14-ounce cans) and 2+ cups veggie broth. Bring to a simmer, adding more broth as needed and simmer for 15 minutes covered. Continue with step 6 in the recipe card.
Serving Suggestions and Storage
This hearty soup can be served on its own or with a leafy green salad and vegan cornbread muffins!
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator in an air-tight container or can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More Favorite Black Bean Recipes!
Hope you enjoy this wholesome meal! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
xoxo
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Cuban Black Bean Soup (Instant pot and Stovetop)
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: soup, stew, legumes, vegan dinner
- Method: instant pot or stovetop
- Cuisine: Cuban
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A delicious Cuban Black Bean Soup recipe can be made in an Instant Pot with dry beans or on your stovetop. Vegan and delicious! See notes for the stovetop version or canned beans.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 bell peppers diced (red and yellow are nice)
- 1 ancho chili, diced (optional, not traditional)
- 6 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/8– 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or chipotle (optional)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 cups veggie (or chicken) stock or broth
- 2 cup water
- 1 lb dried black beans , unsoaked (see notes)
——-
- 1 teaspoon sugar or honey
- squeeze of lime
Optional Garnishes: thinly sliced red onion (or scallions), cilantro, avocado, sour cream or vegan sour cream, toasted coconut, tortilla chips, roasted sweet potato or plantain “chips, sliced fresh chilies, or orange zest. Pick something crunchy, creamy and green. 🙂
Instructions
- Heat oil on the “Saute” function in your Instant Pot. Add the onions, peppers, garlic and SALT and saute for 10-12 minutes, until very soft. Take your time here.
- Add oregano, bay, cumin, smoked paprika and tomato paste. Saute 1 minute.
- Add veggie broth and water, scraping up any browned bits. (If using soaked beans, leave out the water.)
- Add the dry, unsoaked, black beans, give a stir and set instnat pot to high pressure for 30 minutes. ( if using soaked beans see notes). At this time you could make the roasted sweet potatoes if you like- see notes.
- Manually release (or natural) and give a stir.
- Add the sugar and lime. Fish out the bay leaves.
- For extra luscious, Blend 2 cups of the soup until very smooth and stir back into the soup. (Recommended!)
- Taste, and adjust salt, lime and heat- adding more cayenne if you like.
- Serve and garnish with a few toppings- they really do add to it! Something creamy like avocado ( or sour cream) something crunchy like the sweet potato chips or totasted coconut, something fresh- cilantro or scallions or onions.
Notes
To have the veggies look bright and colorful like the photos, remove half before pressure cooking, then stir them back in at the end.
Dry Beans Conversion -1 pound of dry black beans is roughly 2 ½ cups dry beans. If using cooked beans you’ll need 6-7 cups cooked beans ( or 4 -5 cans, 14-ounce cans).
Soaking Blackbeans: When talking with the farmer who grew these black beans, she told me that there is no need to soak black beans before cooking, because they are small and fresh. Other beans, yes, black beans no. So I’m not soaking them anymore. That being said, do as you please. 😉 If your beans are old, maybe best to soak them first. If you do soak your beans, reduce the pressure cooking time to 15 minutes, and leave out the 2 cups of water.
Sweet Potato Chips To make the sweet potato “chips”, thinly slice sweet potatoes or yams (do not peel) and lightly coat with olive oil and salt. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan in a hot 425 F oven – for 10-12 minututes, flip, continue roasting until golden and crisp.
To toast coconut flakes, place in a skillet in a single layer on the stove over med- low heat. Stir occasionally, until golden and dont walk too far away. They brown quickly!
Stovetop w/ Dry Beans: (allow 2 hours cooking time for unsoaked dry beans) Follow the directions above, saute onion, garlic, peppers, and 2 teaspoons salt in a heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven, over medium heat on the stove, until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Take your time here. Add spices and tomato paste, saute one minute. Add broth and water ( leave out the water if you soaked your beans). Scrape up any browned bits and bring to a boil. Stir in the beans. Cover tightly, and simmer on low or medium low until beans are tender, about 1 hour. (If liquid looks low, add a little more water.) Check for doneness- if using unsoaked beans, these may take an additional 30-45 minutes to get soft. Resume the directions above starting at #6.
Stovetop (with Canned Beans): Allow 30 mins cooking time. In a large Dutch oven, saute the onion, garlic, peppers, and 2 teaspoons salt over medium heat on the stove until tender, about 12-15 minutes. Add the spices and tomato paste, and saute for one minute. Add 6-7 cups of drained canned beans ( roughly 4 to 5, 14-ounce cans) and 2+ cups veggie broth. Bring to a simmer, adding more broth as needed and simmer for 15 minutes covered. Continue with step 6 in the recipe card.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup with no toppings
- Calories: 301
- Sugar: 8.3 g
- Sodium: 729.5 mg
- Fat: 6.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 49.4 g
- Fiber: 11.7 g
- Protein: 14 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
My bf is Cuban (20 years Cuba, 8 years Miami) and these are the first Cuban black beans I’ve made that he LOVED, which is kind of funny since the other ones were all “authentic” recipes from his Cuban family and friends. I did have to serve them over rice because according to him, you can’t have black beans without rice. 😉 Thanks for such a yummy and easy recipe!
Haha! Love this Mariah. Good to know about the rice- thanks!
Bean + Grain = Complete protein
Fundamental vegan rule to live by and occurs naturally in many traditional food combinations 🙂
I love this recipe. It has been a crowd pleaser both times I have made it. However, I can never get the beans to completely cook in 30 minutes. I have had to pressure cook for 1 hour. By then, the vegetables loose their vibrant color. So next time I’m going to cook the beans and vegetables separately to retain the beautiful colors.
Oh shoot Danny. You could try soaking the beans for 6-8 hours first. Older beans take longer to cook- or so I was told.
Sorry about that Amy! Did you make this on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot? Make any changes to the recipe that you can recall? Thanks, any specifics are helpful here!
Very delicious. I will definitely make this again.
Great to hear Debbie!
Very delicious. I will definitely make this again.
Great to hear!
I made this for dinner last evening and it was wonderful. Prepped earlier in the day. Was so homey and loved the spices. Lime juice adds a real freshness. My carnivore husband loved.
Great to hear Amy!
This did take longer in the instant pot. 40 minutes is about right. I only used half the salt and it was utterly delicious! Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
Thanks Laure!
Hi Sylvia, if I was to use canned black beans instead, how many cans would you recommend?
I am guessing here Melissa- but roughly 4-5 cans? Start with 4?
I’ve made this several times and love it! I’d like to make a larger batch to feed 12 people. Do you think I can double this recipe in the instant pot or would it be safer to make it on the stove?
Thank you!!!
I made this in my instant pot and it turned out perfectly!
Blending some of it is a good idea. Just delivered some to my niece who has a new baby. It is so nutritious!
Great to hear Deb!
Wish I’d read the comments first to see that most reviewers did not IP this. I did, using unsoaked and beans that were store bought versus fresh and after 30 minutes high pressure, the beans were still hard. It took around 10 more minutes (7 low and 5 high pressure) to get them tender. Cooking time aside, this is a very flavorful and healthful soup. Recommend giving it a try!
Turned out quite well! Thank you for another winner!
I had poblano instead of ancho chili— had to cook my beans a bit longer (they probably were not as fresh as yours!) but the flavors, oh my! Can only imagine it will be even better tomorrow!
All the delicious flavor I was hoping for. This was worth all the chopping and prep. I doubled the batch to make half for my friend who is having surgery so she can reheat and have meals. Que rico!
Thanks Sarah, glad you liked it!
I’m sitting here with a full belly and a warm heart after eating a delicious bowlful of this amazing soup! I realized earlier today that I had all the ingredients on hand, and I’m excited that I’ve now got lunch and dinner for tomorrow all set. I made this with a couple of Serrano chilis with a bunch of baby bell peppers that needed to be used up. It was absolutely delicious without being too complicated to put together. Thanks for another great recipe!
Awwww, thanks so much Maigen! Glad you enjoyed it!
I have made this twice now and plan to keep it on the rotation. What a fresh, delicious recipe!
Thanks Amanda! So happy you like it!
substituted hatch chilies for the red and yellow peppers
I made this on the stove top using dry beans. Turned out perfectly. Keep em’ coming Sylvia.
I had to modify a little as there are no dry beans anywhere to be found at my local stores right now, and I do not have an instant pot, but use what you have/can find seems to be the theme at the moment. I sautéed everything on the stove, put it in my crockpot with a couple of large cans of black beans and it is fantastic. I should have skipped the broth or strained the beans, but a little masa harina thickened it up nicely. I’m excited to eat it with roasted sweet potatoes, but I suspect I’ll be making corn tortillas for my family who think they are non-sweet potato eaters (maybe they’ll try it). Thanks for sharing!
Appreciate you sharing your adaptions!
Looks good. I am going to make it in regular pot. I use to do it before, a little different . Where is the huge amount of sodium coming from?
It might be from the vegetable broth- my nutrition calculator always adds more sodium with the broth.
Clarification please – in the recipe you say to use 1 lb of dry beans which equals about 2 1/2 cups. However, in the instructions, you indicate to add 2 c of beans. So is it 1 lb or 2 c? If it is 1 lb, what do you do with the other 1/2 c of dry beans (the 2 1/2 c indicated to equal 1 lb).
Hi Leslie, Sorry about that- my mistake. Add the whole 2 1/2 cups ( 1 pound) I will update the recipe. 🙂
Do not be afraid to use the 1/2 cup of beans left over! Be adventurous!
Yes, there was a typo, use the full pound ( 2 1/2 cups).
Thanks for posting a dry bean recipe! I made this on the stovetop today, just following your instructions, but simmered the beans for about an hour. Had to add a little more water- but all in all, delicious!
This is the best black bean soup I’ve ever made. It was so easy to follow and the flavors were top notch. Add avocado, cilantro and tortilla chips- perfection!
I do not have an instant pot. Can you make this on the stovetop.
Yes, working on stovetop directions tonight!
I do not have an instant pot. Can you cook this on top of stove?
Yes, I just posted directions in recipe notes.
Really enjoyed this recipe! I made it on the stovetop using a not-at-all-instant pot, and used 2 cans of black beans (drained). I removed about 1 1/2 cup after the soup had been simmering for about 15 minutes, pureed it, then added it back to the pot which made the soup thicker. Then I tossed in 2 sweet potatoes (about a pound, peeled and diced the the size of the bell peppers). This simmered for another 15 minutes until they were tender. Served over steamed rice topped with a spoonful of plain yogurt, orange zest, sliced scallion, and minced cilantro. Awesome. My husband said that he could eat this ever day. 😊 Thanks!
Thanks Victoria so glad you liked this.
Quick question, when using the canned beans, was the soup watery? My guess would have been to use 3 cans, but thought I’d check.