I love cooler weather, partly because I love soup and stews and cooler weather makes it more ‘acceptable’ to cook soups and stews more often. I would, honestly, eat soups year round – but, they do taste better when there is a little nip in the air.

For black bean soup, you could certainly start with dried black beans – but, this is a recipe for a quick and easy black bean soup. That said, I used canned black beans (the picture shows 3 cans, but I actually used 4). Along with the black beans, I added in some carrots, onion, celery and a jalapeno. As far as seasonings, I kept it simple – just cumin and salt. I diced all the vegetables pretty small.

In a large pot, I warmed a bit of olive oil. To that, I added in the chopped vegetables and seasonings.

I allowed the vegetables to cook until the vegetables started to soften.

Finally, I added in the black beans and beef stock.

I also remembered that I had a jar of roasted red peppers in the refrigerator (it was about 3/4 full). I drained them and threw that in.

Since I chopped the vegetables pretty small, it doesn’t take long to cook this soup – but, it is good to let it simmer long enough for all the flavors to meld. I would say let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.

This soup is great on it’s own – but, you can add any variety of toppings if you like. I topped mine with a little bit of sour cream.

Also – this recipe is super easy to make vegetarian – just use vegetable stock, in place of the beef stock!

Easy Black Bean Soup

2 carrots, chopped small
1 stalk of celery, chopped small
1/2 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced small
1 tbsp minced garlic
4 cans black beans, undrained
6-8 oz roasted red peppers
1 carton (4 cups) beef stock (or vegetable stock, if you want it to be vegetarian)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil

• Prep vegetables
• In large pot, add olive oil and heat
• Add in onion, garlic, celery, carrots and jalapeno
• Add in seasonings and stir through
• Add in the stock, black beans and roasted red peppers, bring to boil
• Once boil is achieved, cover and reduce heat.
• Let simmer for at least 30 minutes

Soup can be served with various toppings: sour cream, cheese, avocado or chips