Slow-Cooker Black Bean Soup
Updated Feb. 8, 2023
- Total Time
- 10 hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1pound dried black beans (not soaked)
- 1yellow onion, peeled, trimmed and quartered
- 5garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 1chipotle chile in adobo plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
- 2teaspoons ground cumin
- 2dried bay leaves and/or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼teaspoon baking soda (optional)
- Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
- 1teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- Any combination of sour cream, Greek yogurt, corn chips, pickled red onion, cilantro, lime wedges or poached eggs, for toppings
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a 5- to 8-quart slow cooker, combine the beans, onion, garlic, chipotle chile and sauce, cumin, bay leaves and/or oregano, and baking soda, if using. Add 6 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low until the beans are tender, 8 to 10 hours. Taste more than one bean to ensure they’re all cooked through; they should also flatten without much effort when pressed between your fingers.
- Step 2
Remove and compost the bay leaves. Transfer the onion, garlic and chipotle chile to a blender or food processor, along with about 2 cups of the beans and broth. (You can purée more or less of the soup, depending on desired consistency.) Blend until smooth. Pour puréed soup back into the slow cooker, stir in the vinegar, then season to taste with salt. Eat with desired toppings.
- Beans should reach a simmer and cook until tender to be safe to eat. If your slow cooker does not reach a simmer on the low setting, increase the heat level to high, and ensure the beans cook at a simmer for at least 15 minutes at some point in the cooking process.
Private Notes
Comments
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.
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.
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.
This was the first receipe from NYT Cooking I haven't enjoyed eating. I made it exactly as-is and it was very bland. Even with adding sour cream, a dash of lime, some cilantro and fritos (!) it was just so bland.
The soup lacks body, even after blending a majority of the beans. It also lacks smoke/spice that they chipotles in adobo sauce should impart. I'd recommend 5 cups water and 4-5 chipotles with additional adobo sauce to taste. Lime juice instead of ACV.
Exactly what is 1 Chipotle Chile in Adobo? one can? What size if so?
The chipotles in adobo come in a can, but this recipe calls for one pepper (a can contains about a dozen of them)
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