Years ago, I used to buy this pre-made black bean veggie soup from my favorite grocery store. It was pretty good, but it didn’t have as many veggies as it claimed and I always felt it needed more oomph. So I’d take it home, then cook up a pot full of veggies, usually peppers, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, sometimes corn, usually kale; and then I’d add the soup in, plus some extra spices like oregano and thyme.
As you might imagine, this soup was delicious.
For some reason, I didn’t want to make it completely from scratch. I was totally happy buying expensive pre-made decent black bean soup and then spending extra dollars to jazz it up so it actually tasted as delicious as I knew it could.
Then we moved away. Black Bean Veggie Soup left my life for a few dark years.
Finally, I decided I missed black bean soup too much to live without it and this recipe was born.
I like it with a little rice, but this soup is hearty enough to stand on it’s own, too.
Black Bean Veggie Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients~
2 cups dried black beans (cooked for about 2 hrs in advance of making this) OR 3 15 oz cans black beans.
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small sweet pepper, chopped
1 large stalk of celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 cups sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
4 cups veg broth
2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1 large bay leaf
salt/pepper to taste
Directions~
Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add in the onion and cook until translucent and soft. Then add in the garlic and red pepper, cooking for about 1 minute (don’t let the garlic burn!)
Add in the celery, carrots, and sweet potatoes, stirring well and combing with the other veggies. Cover in between stirring to help the sweet potatoes soften. Add a little broth if the veggies start sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Once the sweet potatoes are tender (but still firm not completely broken apart), add in the herbs, the black beans, and the broth.
Cover and bring to a boil.
Once the veggies are totally soft, remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
And don’t forget to remove the bay leaf unless you want to get a crunchy surprise in your soup.
Serve with rice or as in!
