The ONLY reason this soup takes a long time to make is because the beans have to soak and then be cooked.  The actual hands-on time in the making of this soup in minimal.  The result is a phenomenally healthy (if you take it easy on the cheese and sour cream) and nummy soup.

The recipe comes off the back of a bag of Market Pantry black beans; I’ve VERY slightly modified it.  Julie actually introduced me to this when she made it last year.  I’ve made it multiple times since then.  The recipe makes a ton of soup – I fed 8 people (6 adults and 2 kids) last night and I have leftovers.  When I make it for just our family, I refrigerate half and freeze the other.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry black beans
• 14 cups water (divided into 4 and 10 cups)
• 1 tsp salt
• at least 24 ozs salsa (I use one each of 12 oz Trader Joe’s Organic Tomatillo & Roasted Yellow Chili salsa and 12 oz Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Salsa)
• 2 tsp cumin
• sour cream
• shredded cheese – Mexican blend, taco blend, sharp cheddar, Cojack
• fresh cilantro

Preparation

• Rinse the dry black beans.
• Bring 4 cups water and the black beans to a boil.  Boil 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and cover.  Let stand for 1 hour.
• Drain and rinse.
• Combine soaked beans, 10 cups water, and salt in a stock pot.  Bring to a boil and cover.  Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.
• Add salsa and cumin.
• Run everything through a food processor if you like a non-chunky soup like my kids and husband.  If your family is less picky, just mash up about 1/3 of the black beans.
• Return everything to the stockpot and simmer for at least another 15 minutes.
• Serve with toppings!

See the corn in the picture?  Last night, my dad added it to his soup.  The rest of us followed suit!  It was so good!  I didn’t have any red onion but that’s super nummy.

Use bread or corn chips for dipping.  We had apples and Gouda cheese, too.

If you try this recipe, share your “snapshot.”