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)
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- 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
