A few weeks ago, I was sitting in Breckenridge, Colorado enjoying a wonderful black bean soup. And of course, I rudely investigated and picked and sniffed the soup before the waiter even left. I’m sure I made a great impression. I wanted to make this at home and so I needed to get a good look at what I was eating. I could tell it had cumin, chipotle, and possibly lime. I love the chipotle lime combination on vegetables, so I’m sure it would work in this soup. And I was sure this would be a great soup for the slow-cooker. No need to pre-soak or pre-boil.
Crock pot Chipotle Lime Black Bean Soup
- 1 lb of dry black beans
- 8 cups of broth or water
- 1 cup of chopped tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes
- aromatics of choice-I used onion and garlic
- spices-chipotle, cumin, salt, pepper
- Juice of half a lime. Save other half.
- For heartier soup, add protein. Sausage is a good choice.
Cook on high for 4 hours. Low for 8-9 hours. Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, splash of lime.
While the soup was slowly cooking away, THIS is what we were doing.
This is a craigslist find. We knew a few years ago that when it came time to get a bigger table, we wanted round and I did not want a matching traditional China cabinet. I want open shelves for all my dishes. After seeing some tables in Colorado that really caught my attention, we decided to find an old table and refinish it. This one is a double pedestal that can expand to 8ft oval. That’s a huge table! Correction: that’s a huge refinish job!
On the way to pick up the table, I wondered about the history of it. I knew the seller was a woman who was moving to another state and just couldn’t take it with her. She later explained that she has served her 4 kids many meals on that table. Now they are moving to Seattle because her youngest autistic child will have access to some amazing resources to help him and the family. Looking at some scruff marks on the pedestal, I can picture swinging kids’ feet getting closer and closer as they grew taller. I could see her and her family sitting down together and eating a meal, knowing one of them has a difficult path to lead, but they were a family and would support each other. Seeing the worn finish on the edges, I can imagine little hands in various projects over the years. Needless to say, this is a table that I wanted to help restore. It’s been a great table to one family, now it’s time for it to join another family. I hope Frankie approves….
We got a lot of work done the first day. All 3 leaves and the 6 under pieces were stripped, treated, and sanded. One half of the round table was stripped, treated, and sanded. Stephen had full control of the orbital sander while I watched. My main job was to strip off gunk, use the brass brush, and complain about sweat running out of my blue gloves. I did a great job at all 3. I know it gets hot down here, but sweat running out of a pair of rubber gloves is just nasty.
Now that dinner is done, the table is resting, I need swim in a deep cold pool. Got to find someone with a pool, first.
katie's cucina says
This looks wonderful. I have all the ingredients on hand. I can’t wait to give this a try–found you via tastespotting. Hope you’ll stop by Katie’s Cucina!
Great job on the table & being so descriptive… I could picture a family sitting at the table. Love it.
Katrina says
Thanks for stopping by! Try that soup over brown rice if you need some extra texture or to make to go a little farther 🙂
Jenny says
This soup looks great! Approximately, how much of the spices-chipotle, cumin, salt, pepper did you use? I wouldn’t want to over.under do it with the spices.
Thanks
Katrina says
I rarely measure my spices, going by our preferences for taste. Chipotle is a powerful spice so I would stick to 1 Tablespoon for it, 1.5 for the Cumin (we like the mix of smoky flavors). As far as salt, we are both on low salt diets so I only used about 2 teaspoons. I never measure salt and pepper.
Shirin says
This is a very Mexican dish!
Traditionally, in Yucatan it is served on Mondays for lunch and usually for protein, we put cubed pork shoulder in. Delicious!!
I’ll be making this for tomorrow’s lunch.
Thanks for the inspiration and the table looks fantastic!!
Katrina says
Thank you!
kerry says
instead of dried beans, how many cans of black beans should I use? Also, how should I alter the broth?
Thanks!
I am going to try mixing in some hot italian sausage too, thanks for the tip.
Katrina says
I’m not sure I would put canned beans in the crockpot. They will turn to mush. If you’re doing this on a stove top, 3 cans would be about the same as a 1 lb bag of beans. It will make a large pot. 2 cans of broth or water would be sufficient since the beans won’t be absorbing much liquid.
Mandy says
This recipe looks amazing! I am somewhat new to cooking from scratch. When you suggested that we could use broth or water, does that mean chicken, beef, or vegetable broth? Or does it even matter?
Can’t wait to try this! Thanks for posting 🙂
Katrina says
It is strictly up to your taste. I used chicken for this because that is what I had in the freezer 🙂
Jenny says
Thanks for letting me know about the spices 🙂 It’s in the crockpot cooking right now. It’s only been cooking for about 2 hours and I don’t know how I’m going to make it to 8-9 hours – it smells delicious already!
amanda says
Yum. We are trying this recipe for our Freezer Cooking Group. How many servings is this? I need to make enough for 6 families….?!
rachel says
is this soup very spicy? 🙂 i’m 3rd trimester pregnancy and can’t handle spice right now. let me know! thanks 🙂
Katrina says
The chipotle and cumin are more smoky than spicy. I would cut down or even eliminate those spices and put in any southwest or Tex-Mex flavors you CAN handle. Paprika is a mild spice. Also, if garlic is bothering you, remove that as well. As long as you do not put in any peppers or ground peppers such as jalepeno or red pepper flakes, you should be able to tolerate this. 🙂 You could easily turn this into an Italian flavored dish with some oregano and basil instead of the cumin and chipotle.
Carrie Raab says
This looks so delicious! We love to pull out the crock pot in the wintertime. Living in FL we don’t use it too often or make soups as much as we’d like. I am adding this one to my list! I think I will put a twist on my soup and use oregano essential oil and basil essential oil versus dried herbs! That will really make it POP! Blessings and thanks for sharing!!!
Dawn says
Do I have to soak beans over night?
Thanks so much!
quotes says
Hi just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you
know a few of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its
a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different
web browsers and both show the same outcome.