Vegan Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Whenever I think of black bean soup it brings me back to my college years when I would meet-up with my girlfriends to study at the local Panera. We spent one too many delirious hours there trying our best to memorize hundreds of different diseases along with the corresponding signs and symptoms.
When it came to food I usually settled for a tea (no coffee!) and something from the bakery. Really, who can resist that gigantic display of carbs? Especially the cinnamon French toast bagel. Ugh, forget about it.
Occasionally when I wanted something with a little more substance, I would order their black bean soup. Nutritionally, I thought it was the best of their vegetarian options and I could usually count on it tasting pretty good too. Now I do my best to avoid that tempting bakery but the craving for black bean soup still strikes me on a regular basis so instead I just make my own at home.
I really love one of the older recipe’s on my blog, this Best-Ever Black Bean Soup, but I decided I wanted something a little easier to make.
Something that I could just throw in the Crockpot to come home to at the end of a long chilly day.
Diced jalapenos, crushed tomatoes and a blend of spices including chipotle chili powder (one of my favorites) give it a delicious, slightly smoky tomato flavor.
Overall I would describe it as mildly spicy but you can use more or less or depending on your preferences.
Similar to the Best-Ever Black Bean soup recipe, I removed a few cups at the end of the cooking process and blended them using an immersion blender to give it a thick creamy texture. If you prefer it thinner you can always add more broth or blend less of it at the end.
Feel free to adjust to however you like it just don’t skimp on topping it with avocado, k?
That’s a must in my book.
Vegan Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Yield: 4 bowls or 6 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups or 1 pound dried black beans, soaked overnight and rinsed*
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper, cored and diced
- 2 jalapenos, cored and diced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 3 teaspoons chili powder
- 3 teaspoons cumin
- 3 teaspoons chipotle chili powder**
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire (such as Annie’s)
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups vegetable broth (I recommend Better Than Bouillon)
- suggestions toppings: diced avocado, chopped cilantro, diced green onions
Directions:
Place all ingredients into the slow cooker, stir together, and cook on high for 8 hours. Remove bay leaves at end of cooking.
Scoop out several cups of the soup into a bowl or large measuring cup and blend with an immersion blender until pureed. Alternatively, you can blend it in a regular blender but be sure to allow it to cool beforehand. Once it’s pureed, add it back to the slow cooker and stir together.
Serve warm in separate bowls and top with avocado, cilantro, and green onions.
*Substitute 2 cans black beans, drained (if desired) but you’ll need to reduce the vegetable broth to 3 cups.
**This gives the soup a smoky spice that we love but it might be too spicy for some. You can try starting out with just one teaspoon to see how you like it. You could also use 2 tablespoon adobo sauce (from a can of chilis in adobo sauce) if you can’t find the powder.
Did you try this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out by leaving a comment below or sharing a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #makingthymeforhealth. I love hearing your feedback! 
I love Panera’s black bean soup, and this looks amazing! I’m all about the slow cooker these days . . . will have to give this a whirl!
Panera just opened around here a year ago, so I’m still lured in by bagel Tuesdays and occasionally buy a dozen for my workgroup. I’m always excited about a slow cooker recipe — especially one that I can top with avocado! Mmm.
That looks so good! I got a recipe for black bean soup from a local restaurant and it was awesome but it made a HUGE batch and Alex and I were eating it for days and days. He made me promise not to make such a big batch next time ;) But I think I could eat it every day!
Panera’s black bean soup is my favorite! This looks exactly like it, too! I love that it is made in the slow cooker so it’s ready for me when I get home :)
Yum, I love that this is a soup and not a chili, what a wonderful dish!! I’m loving the “ready when I get home” aspect of this. And the house would smell AMAZING!!
This looks delicious! My husband loves black beans and I think he’ll love this. :)
I love Panera’s soups, but I’ve never had the black bean soup before! This looks really good, though. I try to avoid their bakery too, but that cinnamon crunch bagel is crazy tasty.
Yumm to the y ;) I LOVE black bean soup! Pinning for later :)
I was alllll about the Panera pizza bagels, so I say good on you for taking the healthy route with soup! This may come as a shock but it’s been fooooorever since I’ve had black beans! I’ve always loved the dang things, so I’m thinking I need to make up for lost time by consuming all the black bean soup. So healthy, so easy…just need it with all the avo + sour cream :D
We only have a handful of Panera locations here in Canada so I think I’ve only been twice. I’ve never tried the black bean soup, but I’ll have to try it next time. And in the mean time I’ll make this. It’ll be perfect for easy dinners once I start working!
Oh my yum. I loveeee Panera’s black bean soup and I would love even more to make it at home! This looks so simple and so delicious. Can’t wait to get it on my meal list!
I absolutely love black bean soup… especially with avocado and cheddar cheese! I was just thinking recently that I haven’t made this Cuban black bean soup recipe in awhile that I like, but maybe I shall just give this recipe a try instead. :)
Ahh love love love slow cooker soup! Also, I didn’t know Panera had black bean soup….. am I out of it or what?
Can’t wait to try these! If I’m using canned beans, how many cans would you recommend?
I haven’t tried it with canned beans but I would estimate 2 cans and just halve the amount of broth used. Let me know how it turns out if you end up trying it! :)
When I stopped eating meat the black bean and tomato basil soups became my go to choices! Sadly, I let the doctors talk me into adding chicken into my diet “heart health” smh. They didn’t ask what I had been eating as a vegetarian to have high cholesterol and glucose levels. I have started the vegetarian to vegan trek again and will definitely try this recipe soon. I had soup 3 times last week with the cold, snowy weather we received!!! Thank you for your recipes.
I love how easy this looks to make! And since I could pretty much live off of black beans this soup looks totally amazing! I could eat it with avocados for lunch everyday :) I don’t have a slowcooker, but the more I see delicious soups like this, the more I want to buy one!
Oh Panera! I spent so many days there in college too! The cinnamon crunch bagel was always my favorite :)
This black bean soup looks so darn good – I love using my slow cooker and am always looking for new recipes to try!
This looks so great! We’re working on a sugar-free cleanse on our site for the month of March and there are very few recipes we’ve seen on the blogsphere that are compliant with the challenge! Thanks for posting a healthy recipe I can enjoy now!! I am definitely going to make this. I love love black beans and there is NO WAY I’m going to skip the avocado! :)
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This is a delicious recipe, Sarah! I’m always up for spicy flavors in a thick, hearty bean soup! Regarding soaking, I agree with you on the digestibility part, but I was thinking that since, in a crock pot, the beans cook over a long period of time, could this slow cook be a replacement for soaking?
Soaking the beans isn’t necessary because the slow cooker will cook them adequately without that step. However, slow cooking them doesn’t reduce the phytic acid.
Soaking allows the anti-nutrients to leech into the water so that you can discard the water and rinse the beans prior to cooking. So it just depends on how much you believe or care about reducing the phytic acid. I try to soak all of my grains and dried beans because they are such a large part of our diet. But that might not be important to everyone. :)
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Really 8-10 hours on HIGH? First time I have seen a recipe that cooks on high for that long so just want to verify. This looks amazing!
Hi Melanie! Yes, that time is correct. The acid from the tomatoes makes the beans take a little longer to cook but if you are worried it is too much, you can try 6 hours on high to start and go from there.
Could you use canned black beans, rinsed and drained?
Absolutely! You can use 2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed, but I would reduce the vegetable broth to 3 cups. You could also get away with cooking it for 4-6 hours instead of 8-10. I hope that helps!
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Thank you so much for this recipe! It tasted great and saved me a lot of time. I actually cut back on the broth a lot more and used regular canned tomatoes since I didn’t have any of the fire roasted ones. I can’t wait to try it with the fire roasted ones. Cooked it for 8 hours, and it didn’t disappoint. I gave you a shout out on my website since I used your recipe. Hope you don’t mind :) Also, just curious, how did you embed the recipe onto your site?
I’m so happy you liked it, Hayley! Of course I don’t mind you sharing it on your blog. I think that’s great, thank you! :)
For my recipes I use a WordPress plug-in called Zip List. But honestly I’m thinking of switching to a different one because I really want to have a rating system for reviews. Easy Recipe is one I have my eye on. I hope that helps! :)
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Thank you for the response! I’ll look into the plug in :)
Hi Sarah! My husband and I made this recipe tonight and liked it a lot. It was too spicy for me with the jalepenos so when we make it next time we are going to leave them out!
Thanks for the feedback, Tiffany! My husband is a huge fan of spicy food so I try to add a little for him but I understand not everyone likes it. Hopefully it suits you better next time!
My husband loved it! I don’t think it was too spicy for him. I think I may just have him add some extra spice next time. Thank you for such as great recipe!
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I love this recipe and am planning on making it tomorrow but was hoping to double it. Will it cook in the same amount of time if doubled?
Hi Katerina,
It might take a little while longer, unless you used precooked black beans. I can’t say for sure because I haven’t tried it but please let me know how it turns out!
I was wondering how freezer friendly this recipe was? I’m the only one in the house that eats black beans so just curious if I could freeze some for later.
Thanks!
Hi Ashley! I haven’t tried freezing this soup but my suspicion is that it would work fine. Just be sure to cool it to room temperature prior to freezing.
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I was so bummed because I didn’t see the comments to read that you should use less broth if using canned beans. You should include that by the asterisk that says you can substitute for canned beans. Otherwise, yum! :)
I’m sorry about that, Mackenzie! I added the part about the canned beans after I wrote the recipe and forgot to include the note on reducing the broth. I just added though. Thanks for letting me know!
Really like it! Great flavor. Easy to make.
My partner’s mom made this for us during the holidays and it is one of the best black bean soups I’ve ever had! It’s creamy, smoky, filled with goodness, and is perfect with a big of sour cream or plain yogurt. I liked it so much that I had to recreate it and I’m so glad I did! I didn’t have any canned tomatoes so I opted for a cup of salsa instead, but it was still delicious. I’m so glad I found your website, all thanks to my mother-in-law! Your recipes are easy to follow, healthy, and creative.
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I love this recipe and have made it several times. I’m with the camp that finds it too spicy, so I leave out one or both jalapeños and 2 tsp. of the chili powder. This is SO good and perfect for my WFPB vegan diet. Whole grain avocado toast goes great with it. Thanks, Sarah!
Thank you for the feedback, Dawnae!
Love this recipe.