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Bon Appétit

Instant Pot Black Bean Soup

4.4

(42)

A bowl of silky black bean soup topped with sour cream corn chips cilantro and pickled red onions.
Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Kate Buckens

This black bean soup is seasoned with a heavy hand. If you are salt- or spice-averse, decrease the amount of salt to 1½ tsp. and use 1 chipotle chile with 1 tsp. adobo sauce instead.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    8–10 servings

Ingredients

8

oz. slab or thick-cut bacon, cut into ¼" pieces

1

large red onion

2

medium carrots, scrubbed, coarsely chopped

6

garlic cloves, smashed

2½

tsp. kosher salt, divided, plus more

3

canned chipotle chiles in adobo, sliced crosswise, liquid reserved, plus 1 Tbsp. adobo sauce

2

tsp. dried oregano

1

tsp. ground cumin

1

lb. dried black beans, rinsed

2

Tbsp. fresh lime juice

Sour cream, corn chips, cilantro leaves, and lime wedges (for serving)

Special Equipment

An Instant Pot or pressure cooker

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Cook bacon in Instant Pot on Sauté setting, stirring occasionally, until browned and most of the fat is released, 6–8 minutes. (If using a stovetop pressure cooker, cook bacon over medium-high heat.)

    Step 2

    Meanwhile, cut onion into quarters; set one quarter aside. Coarsely chop remaining onion. Add chopped onion, carrots, and garlic to Instant Pot, season with a big pinch of salt, and cook on Sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened but haven’t taken on color, 6–8 minutes.

    Step 3

    Add chiles along with their liquid, adobo sauce, oregano, and cumin to Instant Pot and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beans, 2 tsp. salt, and 2 quarts water. Lock lid and cook soup at high pressure 20 minutes. Release pressure manually. Taste soup and season with more salt if needed.

    Step 4

    Meanwhile, thinly slice reserved onion and transfer to a small bowl. Add lime juice and remaining ½ tsp. salt. Let sit, tossing occasionally, until ready to use.

    Step 5

    Using an immersion blender, purée soup in pot until smooth (or, working in batches, purée with a regular blender).

    Step 6

    Divide soup among bowls. Top with sour cream, corn chips, cilantro, and drained pickled onions. Serve with lime wedges for squeezing over.

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Reviews (42)

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  • Excellent soup! I make it regularly.

    • Adrianne Ryan

    • NY NY

    • 12/8/2022

  • I got an Instant Pot that does air fryer and a lot of other things in addition to pressure cooking and tried this recipe about 3 weeks ago for the first time (and only the second time in my life to use a pressure cooker). I read the comments thoroughly and made some of the recommended adjustments. The group who ate loved it but it was pretty thick and kind of bland so we were adding hot salsa and extra Tabasco Chipotle to our bowls. Today I made it again and followed the recipe in terms of water, chipotles and adobo sauce while increasing the cooking time to 42 minutes and being liberal with the cumin, oregano and garlic. The consistency and flavour are excellent! I will definitely come back to this recipe time and again - we love it.

    • Michelle B

    • Regina, Saskatchewan

    • 5/10/2022

  • This soup was delicious, but it needed another 20 minutes in the pressure cooker (40 min. total).

    • Melissa

    • Atlanta

    • 3/10/2022

  • The flavor was fantastic with the spice balanced by the sour cream. I have a small Instant Pot and so cut the recipe in half. The soup came out perfectly with the 20 minute cooking time and use of the immersion blender. The only change I made was to omit the carrots as I don’t care for them. I loved the soup and will make it again.

    • Suzs

    • Oak Ridge, Tennessee

    • 2/1/2022

  • Delicious, the whole family loved it. I did use about half beef broth because I had some to use up. And followed other suggestions to cook for 42 minutes. I'd up to 45-50 minutes next time, or let the soup natural release for 20 minutes or so. Mine was ultimately pretty thick. This is definitely a keeper!

    • Nicole

    • Philadelphia, PA

    • 1/3/2022

  • Made some modifications to this but it came out great - my first time using an instant pot! Based on other reviews I used 6 cups of liquid instead of 8 and pressure cooked for 25 minutes. I noted that many on here thought that 20 minutes was not enough time for the beans to become soft, so I soaked my beans overnight in salted water and bumped up the time by a few minutes. The beans were perfectly soft and pureed easily once the soup was done cooking!

    • Anonymous

    • 9/1/2021

  • I LOVE this soup. It is a staple dish in our household. Ditto for my daughter and her family and untold number of her friends. Using the recommended 1 chipotle chili and one adobo sauce is PERFECT for our family. It just gives it a slight kick. I cook this soup (using dry, rinsed black beans) in my Instant Pot for 42 minutes. Instead of reducing the amount of water, I take half of the quantity to my Vitamix blender and make it into a thick liquid. Return that to the pot, mix it all up - and you would not believe how wonderful this soup is, thick enough but still there are beans and carrots to chew on! Thank you to whoever created this delicacy

    • sonjamye

    • Houston, TX

    • 5/27/2020