Instant Pot Black Bean Soup

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: 8 servings
  • Total: 1 hr 40 min
  • Active: 25 min
Thanks to your Instant Pot® (a slow cooker, pressure cooker and stove-top stand-in, all in one), the beans for this creamy Mexican soup don't need to be soaked overnight. And they cook, under pressure, for just 1 hour. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can puree the beans in batches in a regular blender (but take care, they will be hot).
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Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium white onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

4 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 1/2 cups dry black beans, picked over and non-beans removed

2 bay leaves

Kosher salt and freshly grated black pepper

Sliced avocado, cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, lime wedges and sour cream, for serving 

Directions

Special equipment:
an Instant Pot® multi-cooker and an immersion blender
  1. Set the Instant Pot® (see Cook's Note) to normal saute. Add the oil and once shimmering, but not smoking, add the onion and cook, stirring, until translucent and soft, about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beans, bay leaves and 7 cups water. Follow the manufacturer's guide for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to pressure cook on high for 1 hour.
  3. After the pressure cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release and wait until the quick release cycle is complete. Careful of any remaining steam, unlock and remove the lid and remove the bay leaves. Then remove 1 cup of the beans with a slotted spoon and set aside. Use an immersion blender to blend the black beans with 1 tablespoon salt until thick and creamy. Stir in the reserved whole beans and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with sliced avocado, cilantro leaves, chopped scallions, lime wedges and sour cream.

Cook’s Note

Settings may vary on your Instant Pot® depending on the model. Please refer to the manufacturer's guide.

Let's Get Cooking!

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soprano o.

We really enjoyed this soup!<br />My changes: <br />No salt: we don’t use any salt, so I routinely increase the seasonings in a recipe. After reading several of the reviews, I doubled all of the seasonings, including the garlic, and added a tablespoon of Mrs Dash. We don’t handle really hot spice, so I used a small amount of chili powder, and the rest I used smoked paprika, which worked well for our taste preference.<br />No oil: I sautéed the onion and garlic in a few tablespoons of water.<br />Measured, then soaked the beans overnight: I drained and rinsed the beans, and then cooked everything in the IP for 10 minutes on high pressure, with a natural release. Since the beans were pre soaked, I added only five cups of water to the IP, which made a nice, slightly thick, creamy soup.<br />Additions: I stirred in some frozen corn and the juice of a lime after I had puréed most of the soup. I topped each soup bowl with chopped cilantro, and several small grape tomatoes. We were out of tortillas, so we had crackers along side, plus a large chopped salad. Very filling and satisfying. This is definitely a keeper recipe for us.

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