Pressure Cooker Black Bean Soup Recipe (2024)

I added 3 stalks celery, 1/2 orange pepper & 1/2 red pepper. Increased garlic to a bulb, added a lg onion. Doubled cumin & oregano. Better Than Bouillon chicken base was essential, I added about 2 Tbls., tasting after each addition. I added about half a cup of sour cream, but a little at a time. I upped bay leaves to 3. Without the bouillon and the sour cream the soup was flat, had no depth. I upped the chorizo to a package of chorizo instead of 4 oz. all done stovetop.
It was great!

Made soup without pressure cooker. Instead of chorizo (I don't eat meat), I used some tomato paste. Tasty.

I used the pressure cooker and it is way too much liquid. I like my black bean soup to be thick. This was not remotely thick. I would try it again with maybe 5 cups of water or increase the black beans to 3 1/2 cups.

You can do the pre-soaking of the beans first in about 6 minutes--(Google "how to presoak beans in pressure cooker" for instructions) and then rinse out the pressure cooker, and proceed with this excellent recipe, which you will cook in the pressure cooker for about 8 minutes. I add about a cup and a half of cut-up ham (or any other meat or poultry) instead of chorizo. We add tortilla chips when the soup is done. Dinner in under 20 minutes!

We loved this soup, especially with the salsa. I made mine vegetarian, so to replace the texture and flavor of the chorizo I added portobello mushroom and an extra teaspoon each of cumin and oregano. As other reviewers noted, the soup was initially a bit too liquidy, so I used an immersion blender to thicken it up a bit.

I love Lorna Sass, and have made this soup many times from her cookbook, "The Pressured Cook". I think it's funny that many of the suggestions from other cooks below are more similar to the original recipe. She uses 3 cups onions, double the spices, double the chorizo and half broth/half water. She also includes a turkey drumstick for more flavor. It's delicious!

Made this in the Instant Pot tonight with alterations:
- added a red bell pepper
- doubled oregano and cumin
- added approx. 2 tbs better than bouillon
- reduced water to 5 c
- sautéed about 1/2 lb ground chorizo along with the onions
Standard soup setting on the Instant Pot was perfect, though it took about 30 minutes and some help to naturally release. Delightful and easy!

As per comment below, we made with tomato paste instead of chorizo. We also used some homemade veggie stock instead of water. The results were phenomenally rich and delicious.

For soaked beans, reduce water/stock to 4.5 cups and pressure cook for 20 minTriple spicesAdd tomato paste 2TBNo meat

For vegetarians: try Trader Joe's soy chorizo in place of the Spanish chorizo. Delicious!!

Has anyone made this in a slow cooker??

Had to add an additional 10 mins high pressure cooking time in Instant Pot. 30 mins left beans only partially cooked. That done, the recipe is delicious as offered by Bittman and Sass. Granny taught me to make recipes as written (at least for the first attempt), to get the full benefit of the writers' experience; customization comes later. This was just wonderful as is.

Add chipotle sauce 1 T
Add celery and peppers
double cumin and oregano
3 bay leaves
add cilantro when finished to soup
Use ancho chile powder

Added 2 T better than bouillon vegetable base paste to the water, since I was not adding chorizo. Set electric pressure cooker to 40 minutes on high. Once time was up, scooped out and blended about 4 cups of beans and broth with a hand blender, then returned to the soup. This thickened it a bit and gave a nice texture. Delicious vegetarian black bean soup. Would make again.

After reading all the comments I decided to double the spices, and onion. I added a bit of finely chopped carrot and celery with the onion as well. I didn't have chorizo but didn't need it. For the liquid I used 1 can of rotel tomatoes and then added water to make 6 cups. I threw in 4 tsp of "Better than bullion" chicken broth mix. When it was done I pureed about 3 cups and mixed it back it. The soup was fabulous with the avocado salsa! (The salsa is good on nacho chips too!)

This was outstanding. Doubled the cumin, and chorizo and added 2TB of better than bouillon. Threw in some frozen corn at the end and served with cornbread. Fantastic.

I follow this recipe, except I reduce the water to 6 cups and skipped the chorizo. Very good black bean soup, I've made this many times. Oh, I also sauteed half a chopped jalapeno with the onions and use an immersion blender. Pulse until 3/4 of the beans are smooth, and simmer 5-10 more minutes and it will thicken up nicely. Top with whatever you like; avocado, cilantro, scallion, pickled red onion, sour cream... enjoy.

Very watery. I used canned beans, pressure cooked 20 mins. Needed more flavor and I had to cook off some water.

For the first time cooking this recipe, I followed it closely including the avocado salsa. I only added creme fraîche when serving. It turned out great. Made great burritos the next day by adding rice, cheese and green onions. I didn't really taste the chorizo except for the spice kick it added, so next time I think I will omit it and compensate with more spices, plus use some broth instead of all water.

I substituted kielbasa for the chorizo and followed the rest of the recipe. The beans weren’t fully cooked in my instapot. After 30 minutes with 15 minutes natural release I had to put it back on high for another 10. So recommend trying 40 minutes if using an instapot. Next time I’ll had more heat (it was way too mild for me). Overall, a super tasty soup! Will make again and keep experimenting, including adding extra beans to blend some for a thicker version.

Excellent! For some reason, I decided to sauté the chorizo by adding it to the onions after they softened. The fat from the sausage infused the beans and left little pieces of chewy chorizo goodness. I cooked the beans under high pressure for 45 minutes and they were perfect.

This was great! After reading some comments from people who upped the seasoning, I went heavy-handed with it and also added a few dashes of smoked paprika, a tsp of dried shiitake powder and two chopped chilis in adobo. The beans cooked perfectly in 30 mins in the instant pot (I had just bought them and don’t have hard water.) It was indeed a lot of liquid, so I pulsed a little with an immersion blender. I’d reduce the liquid by at least 1 cup if you want thicker soup without having to blend.

We made this with soyrizo instead of chorizo. Threw in some carrots because I had them. Used the Instapot for 30 minutes on high with 15 minute release. I’d cook 40-50 minutes next time to get a less firm bean. It was delicious. Love the salsa.

I used the Instant Pot, and next time I would cook the beans for 35 minutes. Instead of making the salsa, I microwaved a can of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with chiles, and served that with sliced avocado, sour cream, chopped cilantro, and lime wedges. Delicious.

Agree with the other notes… it’s too much liquid. I used 4 cups vegetable broth and added 1/2 cup water and some wine. For the spices, I used harissa instead of chili powder. A few pulses with the immersion blender and some time to cool, really thickened the soup up and gave a great texture!

This turned out AMAZING. I had no chorizo so I used leftover Christmas ham. No chile powder so I ground up some dried chiles. I added some chicken base. SO GOOD. I’m not a fan of black beans but these turned out creamy and delicious.

Very flavorful: between a very sharply seasoned chorizo, and the 1 TBsp of ground chili powder, it might be too much spice for some diners. The salsa helps, though. For use in an Insta-Pot, take the cooking time up to 60 minutes on HIgh pressure. Note that, if using fresh (uncooked) chorizo, it will render into a creamy texture without distinct lumps; no harm in it though. If you wish to use a more flavorful base than plain water, use a cup or so of Fergus Henderson's Trotter Gear (NYT Cooking).

I have used this recipe multiple times and it is now my go to 'jumping off' black bean soup recipe for the instant pot. This last go round I used 4 cups of turkey stock (from our thanksgiving bird) and 1.5 cups of water. I double the spices and add cayenne, as well as use more chorizo. As others have noted, cooking for 40 minutes under pressure yields more consistent results. I puree till it is somewhat smooth but still has some texture. Next time I will reduce liquid by another 3/4 cup or so.

Puréed a couple of the cups once it was finished cooking in pressure cooker and added back - creamy and delicious! Increased oregano by a half and added another bay leaf. I use this recipe all the time and it is a hit

Definitely lower the water amount! I used 5 cups and after cooling leftovers it thickened up nicely. Also increased the spices some. I can give or take the bay leaves.