Crockpot Wednesday: Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Rating: 4.5/5

This week's dish is a soup, one with beans. I've joined a challenge at Healthmonth.com and one of my goals for the month is more beans and nuts in my diet. So I decided to start it off with this hearty soup.

The soup does not call for meat, but you can add a browned chorizo or shredded cooked chicken if you want. I had some left over pork belly from the weekend. I sliced it and seared it and then cut it up into cubes and tossed it in. I also chose to puree about a third of it at the end so that it would be a creamier consistency.

This is a spicy soup. For me it's a medium hot level. Another note is that it does not call for salt. Salt will toughen beans so you never add it while they are cooking. But after it's finished I would suggest adding a teaspoon of salt to bring out the flavors a bit more.

Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Crock-pot cookbook

1 lb dry black beans

2 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 4 oz can of mild green chilis, chopped and drained

6 c chicken or vegetable broth

2 t cumin

toppings: sour cream, cilantro, salsa

Rinse and sort beans. Place in a large bowl and cover with water. Let beans soak 6-8 hours or overnight. Drain beans and rinse. Place in crockpot. (The water rehydrates the beans but also removes the indigestible complex sugars that make us get gas. If you are soaking during the day, I suggest changing the water at least once during the 8 hours.)

Add chopped carrots, celery, and onion. Add broth. In a medium bowl mix together the tomatoes, chilis, cumin, and chipotles. Add to crockpot. Stir everything together.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours, or until beans are tender. If desired, you can puree some or all of it in a blender. Serve with toppings if desired.