Cuban Black Bean Soup: Warming Recipe

Cuban black bean soup is hearty, healthy, warming, and one hundred percent vegan. Full of herbs and spices, it makes for an ideal meal on a cold day.

Cuban black bean soup is filling, nutritious, and a warm meal. Cubans often serve it with rice or just eat the beans alone as a starter. Black beans are high in protein, fiber, and other minerals, making this a healthy dish for the whole family. Other serving suggestions are topping the soup with a swirl of non-dairy sour cream or eating it alongside a fresh leafy green salad.

The soup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to six days. To reheat simply warm it on the stove using low heat, stirring consistently, or microwave using thirty-second intervals, stirring in between each interval until warmed through.

We’ll show you how to make Cuban black bean soup in the pressure cooker and on the stove. Let’s dive right in.

Pressure Cooker Cuban Black Bean Soup

If you have a pressure cooker at home, you can put it to good use with this recipe. You’ll want to learn how to cook dried beans in order to get the best flavor.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dried black beans, soaked and drained
• 6 cups water
• 4 cachucha peppers (aji dulce)
• 2 small white onions
• 6 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ tsp ground oregano
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 fresh culantro leaf
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp cane sugar
• 1 tbsp vinegar

Instructions:

1. Rinse the beans and place them in a bowl, cover with water and soak for six hours. Drain the beans.
2. Place the beans in a pressure cooker with six cups of water.
3. Coarsely chop two of the cachucha peppers and one white onion. Peel three of the garlic cloves and add them whole with the peppers and onion to the pressure cooker. Lock and bring to medium heat. Cook for about forty-five minutes, until the beans are soft.
4. At the same time, finely chop the remaining cachucha peppers, onion, and garlic. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium to low heat. Add the chopped vegetables, oregano, and cumin and fry for about three minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside — this mixture is now called sofrito.
5. Quick-release the pressure on the cooker and add the bay leaf. Remove one cup of cooked beans and mash them using a fork, then put them back in the pressure cooker to make the soup thicker.
6. Add the culantro leaf and sofrito and cook without pressure until the beans are extremely soft, around thirty minutes.
7. Season with salt and pepper and add the vinegar, raw sugar, and remaining oil. Cook for a further two minutes. Serve immediately in individual bowls.

Stove-Top Instructions

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can easily make this Cuban black bean soup on the stove. The ingredients list is the exact same, it’s just the preparation method that differs.

Instructions:

1. Rinse the beans and place them in a bowl, cover with water and soak for six hours. Drain the beans.
2. Coarsely chop two of the cachucha peppers and one white onion. Peel three of the garlic cloves and add them whole with the peppers and onion to the pot with the soaked beans and twelve cups of water.
3. Cook on medium to high heat for one and a half to two hours.
4. At the same time, finely chop the remaining cachucha peppers, onion, and garlic. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a medium-sized frying pan over medium to low heat. Add the chopped vegetables, oregano, and cumin and fry for about three minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside — this mixture is now called sofrito.
5. Add the bay leaf. Remove one cup of cooked beans and mash them using a fork, then put them back in the pot to make the soup thicker.
6. Add the sofrito and culantro leaf to the cooking beans. Cover and continue to cook for a further thirty minutes, until the beans are extremely soft.
7. Season with salt and pepper and add the vinegar, raw sugar, and remaining oil. Cook for a further two minutes. Serve immediately in individual bowls.

Read more:

• Tuscan White Bean and Kale Soup: Vegan Recipe
• Lobio Recipe: A Vegan Georgian Bean Stew
• How to Make Scafata: a Simple Fava Bean Recipe

** Links to retailers marked with ** or underlined orange are partially partner links: If you buy here, you actively support Utopia.org, because we will receive a small part of the sales proceeds. More info.

Tags: Guide Recipes Vegan Winter