Start the year on a healthy note with a virtuous and tasty soup recipe! While Black Bean Soup is not the most photogenic entree, it IS delicious! And black beans are little nutrition powerhouses as well!
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My daughter, the Diva, (of Vintage Glamour Diva Den fame) made this for us recently and it disappeared remarkably quickly. The Diva lived in Miami for a couple of years which cemented her love affair with Cuban food (I mean who DOESN’T adore sweet plantains and flan???), and while this recipe isn’t TOTALLY Cuban, it is Cuban-ish…and did I mention 100% delicious and actually healthy? And since we are STILL working our way through the 25 lbs (about 8 lbs to go) of pandemic black beans, she was looking for a new recipe to use them in and she wanted one that used our beloved Instant Pot (this is the one we have), which is ideal for cooking anything that normally needs to simmer a long time on the stove and requires babysitting…like black beans.
She found a recipe that looked promising for what we had on hand at A Cozy Kitchen and based her soup on that. And although it doesn’t technically require an Instant Pot, having one sure saves time and maintenance! A Cozy Kitchen’s recipe is vegan. Ours was decidedly not because we had prosciutto that needed to be used up. I know…so maybe Cuban-Italian black bean soup?! And, it IS still gluten-free, which should count for something!
Anyway, here is the recipe the way we made it…she also snuck in a whole lot of cilantro, which I generally loathe in its raw form, but buried in the soup was quite delicious!
Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium red onion (~290 grams), peeled and chopped (or any onion you happen to have on hand)
1 carrot (~60 grams), peeled and chopped (this was an addition because we were using up vegetables on hand)
1 green bell pepper (~175 grams), chopped (any color bell pepper you have is fine)
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2+ tsp kosher salt
2 tsp dried cumin
2 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
1 lb dried black beans
3+ oz prosciutto
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (stems and all)
4 1/2 cups water*
Garnishes
avocado
lime wedges
chopped onion
sour cream
cilantro
Directions
Turn the Instant Pot to the sauté setting and add the olive oil, onion, pepper, garlic, carrot and all the dried seasonings except the bay leaves. Sauté 5 minutes until softened.
Stir in prosciutto. Add remaining ingredients.
Set Instant Pot to pressure cook on high pressure for 40 minutes. Timer will begin when it comes to pressure.
When timer is done, allow pressure to naturally release (rather than using the quick release function). This allows the beans to continue to soften.
When depressurized, remove bay leaves and blend soup ingredients using an immersion blender (or transfer in batches to a classic blender). This will thicken the soup to a porridge consistency (and completely disguise the presence of cilantro!).
Note: water may be added if a thinner texture is desired
Garnishing is an all-important step, not just for the bit of added flavor, but for the appearance…black bean soup is, at best, lackluster looking unadorned, and at worst, well…unappetizing. This is much too tasty to be rejected based on appearance, so zhush it up with some pretty garnishes! Garnish bowls of soup with avocado slices, chopped onion, sour cream, and lime wedges as desired. Add some decorative cilantro leaves if you are in the “I love cilantro and more is better” camp. The bright yellow-green of avocado slices and dollop of white against the deep brown soup looks quite appealing!
Alternative Stove Top Directions
To do this without an Instant pot, use a large, heavy dutch oven on top of the stove.
Sauté vegetables as directed, add prosciutto and stir.
Add beans, water (*you’ll need more like 8 cups of water), bay leaves, and cilantro and bring to boil
Partially cover and simmer 1 to 2 hours until beans are softened, stirring occasionally and adding more water as needed.
Remove bay leaves and blend and garnish soup as directed above.
