You might be wondering what an instant pot black bean soup is doing on my channel. I
mean this is the kind of dish that you’d probably find on a quick and easy meals for
busy moms channel. There is nothing tricky about this recipe at all. If you have absolutely
no cooking skills, you can make it. And to make matters worse, it’s healthy and vegetarian.
Basically, it’s a complete antithesis of everything I do on this channel. But it’s
an excellent soup. I mean, really really yummy. The best description I can give you is that
it’s like a savory ganache sort of yummy with a few crispy accents. And I mean, you
know, we can’t eat brioche and duck confit all the time, now can we. So whether you are
a college student, a busy mom, or a serious gourmand who is a little short of time, grab
that instant pot and let’s make a soup. If you don’t have an instant pot or any
other pressure cooker, I’ll explain how to use a regular pot in the end of the video.
Set your pot to Saute on Normal (I think by normal, they meant medium). Add 3 tablespoons
of olive oil and 1 diced yellow onion (or whatever onion you’ve got).
Add a generous pinch of salt.
Cook stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent and slightly brown. I find
that I have to go between saute normal and saute less if things are getting too sizzly.
Add a minced garlic clove and cook stirring for a minute. Then add 2 tsp of spanish smoked
paprika, 1 tsp ground coriander, and 1 tsp cumin. And stir for a minute to toast the
spices. This will smell really good now. Then add 1 Lb of rinsed dry black beans. Yeah,
I know, I didn’t soak them, but don’t worry it will work. Add 7 cups of water, and
a bay leaf. You can improvise with spices all you want, but do not add anything acidic
at this stage. No wine, no tomatoes, no vinegar. Acidic ingredients prevent beans from getting
tender. We’ll fix this lack of acidity in the end. You know me. I’d never serve a
dish that wasn’t seasoned.
I like to add about 1 Tbsp of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. Reduce salt in half if using
any other brand including Morton’s Kosher. Just a friendly reminder that my salt is very
unsalty. Close the lid, set the valve to “sealing” position, press “Pressure Cook,” make
sure you are on “high pressure” and set the time to 30 minutes. I won’t need “Keep
Warm”, so I’ll turn it off, but if you want to assemble this soup in the morning
before work and serve it for dinner, “Keep Warm” will come in handy.
When the 30 minutes are up, let the pressure drop naturally. In other words, wait for the
pressure indicator to drop all by itself. Do not release the steam. It will take roughly
30 more minutes for the pressure to drop and during this time much more cooking will happen.
I am counting on this cooking, so don’t rush it by opening the pot prematurely. Test
a couple of beans to make sure they are done. Remove the bay leaf. Pour about 3 cups of
soup into a blender, add 2 Tbsp tomato paste (that’s our acidity), 2 Tbsp of butter,
1 tsp of pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar (that’ even more acidity) and blend
starting on slow speed. Gradually crank up the speed all the way to the highest possible
and blend until silky smooth. Pour the pureed soup back into the soup pot and watch the
texture of the soup change from brothy to silky smooth and creamy. I added a bit of
water to my blender and ran it to get out the last little bit of the puree.
Don’t forget to taste for salt and acidity.
I think the acidity is fine, but salt needs help.
There. You can serve it right away, but don’t be surprised if it tastes even better the
next day. Anything that can go into a taco would be lovely on top of this soup -- sour
cream, guacamole, cheese, cilantro, but I really like an avocado lime cream. Here is
how to make it. I have 1 big avocado here. Let’s add lots of lime juice (about 1 tablespoon),
salt, ⅓ cup of sour cream, 2 tablespoons of water and blend it all up.
Don’t forget to taste for salt.
Ok, let’s eat. Here are the toppings I have today. Avocado cream, tomatoes, red onions,
cilantro, and crumbled up corn chips. Corn chips are the most important topping in my
opinion. They provide a much needed crunch to this silky soup.
By the way, you have a lot of flexibility with machines for this dish. Both the soup
and avocado cream can be made in either a food processor or a blender. If you are using
a food processor to puree the soup, don’t add much liquid. Mostly use the beans and
add just enough liquid to make them move easily. If you don’t want to wash some machine twice,
first make the avocado cream and then puree the soup in the same machine without washing.
You know, cuz you can go from light to dark, but not the other way around.
Can you make this without an instant pot? Absolutely, but I would suggest you soak the
beans overnight and even with the soak, expect a couple of hours of simmering to get them
completely tender. After you bring the beans to a boil, turn down the heat to extremely
low and keep the pot uncovered. You want a very, very gentle simmer. Don’t be surprised
if you need a bit more water since a regular pot allows the water to evaporate and a pressure
cooker doesn’t. You can always adjust the texture with more water in the end if your
soup comes out too thick. So yeah, unfortunately, something like this does require you to keep
an eye on it if you want to do it on the stove.
As all great cooking ideas, this one was stolen. I got the idea of using a pressure cooker
for unsoaked black beans from Daniel Gritzer on seriouseats.com. I’ll link to his equally
awesome, but somewhat different black bean soup below. And I hope you steal it from me
and make this soup your own. Play around with the spices, the meats, the toppings. I’d
love to see what you come up with. Here are more cooking ideas for you to check
out and if you are ever in the Boston area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.