Instant Pot black bean soup is hearty, creamy, and so flavorful! Cooking the beans from dried is economical and infuses so much extra flavor into the soup. This recipe is vegan, gluten-free, and meal prep friendly!
The Instant Pot makes cooking up a batch of healthy homemade soup so quick and easy. From Instant Pot broccoli cheese soup to vegan carrot ginger soup, and this Instant Pot black bean soup - there are endless options and flavors.
Loaded with flavor thanks to vegetable stock, nutritional yeast and spices, this Instant Pot black bean soup is the ultimate easy weeknight meal made from pantry staples you likely already have on hand. It's hearty, warm, and so creamy!
Best of all, the Instant Pot does all the hard work, and you don't even need to pre-soak the black beans before adding them to the Instant Pot! Just like our Instant Pot black beans recipe, the black beans will cook perfectly from dried thanks to the Instant Pot. Packed with plant-based protein, this recipe is vegan, gluten-free, and freezer-friendly.
Reasons You'll Love This Recipe
- it's hearty and loaded with flavor from the nutritional yeast, chili powder, cumin and oregano
- it's the kind of soup that tastes even better on day two- it's easily reheated through the week for easy lunches or stored in the freezer to enjoy later
- the Instant Pot makes it so easy to cook, and you don't even have to soak the black beans before adding them in
- it's gluten-free, vegan and packed with 16 g plant based protein per serving!
Recipe Video
Watch the video below to see how to cook instant pot black bean soup! You can find more of my recipe videos on my YouTube channel.
Ingredient Notes
- Black beans - this recipe uses dried black beans that cook up in the Instant Pot with the rest of the ingredients in the soup. This Instant Pot black bean soup recipe will not work as written with canned black beans.
- Vegetable stock - you can use store bought vegetable stock, or homemade Instant Pot vegetable stock if you happen to have some meal prepped in the fridge or freezer.
- Spices - we're using a blend of cumin, oregano, and chili powder for depth of flavor
- Nutritional yeast - really helps the flavors pop, we do not recommend skipping this ingredient. Nutritional yeast can be found in the natural foods section of your grocery store.
- Onion, garlic - taking the time to sauté them enhances their flavors and provides the base of flavor for the soup.
Step by step directions
Sauté Onions and Garlic
Select the 'sauté' function of your Instant Pot. Into the stainless steel insert, add olive oil and onions. Cook for 5 or so minutes, until onions are soft and translucent, then make a space and add the garlic; cook for 1 minute.
Add Remaining Ingredients
After a minute, add the vegetable stock and scrape the bottom of the pan to ensure nothing is stuck. Add water, black beans, celery, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, bay leaf and nutritional yeast. Stir.
Note: we do not recommend swapping the vegetable stock for water, as it helps to add lots of flavor to this recipe!
Cook
Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the steam release handle to the 'sealing' position. Pressure cook for 30 minutes. When the Instant Pot completes its cooking cycle, allow it to naturally release for 10 minutes (just let the pot sit without touching it). After 10 minutes, carefully transfer the steam release handle to the 'venting' position to release any remaining pressure.
Purée
Use tongs to remove the bay leaf from the soup, then use an immersion blender to purée the soup until smooth.
Tip - we used an immersion blender to purée, but you could also use a high-speed stand blender, use extreme caution not to burn yourself.
Serve
Serve black bean soup with a dollop of coconut yogurt or cream.
FAQ
No, you do not need to soak the black beans before adding them to the Instant Pot! The cook time as written in this recipe is for un-soaked black beans only. If you do soak your beans overnight, this will significantly cut down on the cook time. We would recommend trying 9 minutes with a 25 minute natural pressure release. Leave us a comment below if you give it a try!
Yes, however we do not have accurate cook times for you. Cooking black beans from scratch takes between 1.5 - 2 hours, so you'd need to budget a significant amount of time. Leave us a comment below if you give it a try!
It sure does! You can store it in the fridge to enjoy throughout the week, or freeze portions to reheat later. See the storage + reheating section below for detailed instructions.
Storage + Reheating
- Fridge - let cool completely, then store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer - let cool completely, then store in glass or plastic jars in the freezer for up to 6 months. See tips below for how to freeze in jars!
- Thaw- thaw for 48 hours in the fridge, or immerse the jar partially in cold water for a few hours to speed the process
- Reheat- heat on medium heat in a pot on the stove; stir occasionally until warmed through
Tips for Freezing In Jars
Here are a few tips for freezing black beans in mason jars to avoid the jars breaking:
- Make sure to select canning jars; repurposed pasta sauce or food jars are not designed to withstand dramatic temperature shifts and can break.
- Avoid jars that have 'shoulders' and taper in at the top, as they are more prone to breaking
- Leave an inch from the top of the jar empty to account for expansion when freezing
- Leave the lids ajar until the beans are frozen solid- at this point, you can secure them!
Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!
Instant Pot Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 celery chopped
- 4 cups stock vegetable or chicken
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups dried black beans note 1
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt note 3
- 1 bay leaf
- ⅓ cup nutritional yeast note 2
Instructions
- Sauté onions & garlic - Select the 'sauté' function of your Instant Pot. Into the stainless steel insert, add olive oil and onions. Cook for 5 or so minutes, until onions are soft and translucent, then make a space and add the garlic; cook for 1 minute.
- Add remaining ingredients - After a minute, add the stock and scrape the bottom of the pan to ensure nothing is stuck. Add water, black beans, celery, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, bay leaf and nutritional yeast. Stir.
- Cook - Place the lid on the Instant Pot and set the steam release handle to the 'sealing' position. Pressure cook for 30 minutes. When the Instant Pot completes its cooking cycle, allow it to naturally release for 10 minutes (just let the pot sit without touching it). After 10 minutes, carefully transfer the steam release handle to the 'venting' position to release any remaining pressure.
- Purée - Use tongs to remove the bay leaf from the soup, then use an immersion blender to purée the soup until smooth.
- Serve- Serve with a dollop of coconut yogurt or cream.
Tips:
- this recipe is formulated for uncooked (dried) black beans, and won't work for cooked (canned ) black beans
- nutritional yeast adds depth of flavor to this soup and should be found in the natural foods section of your grocery store. Do not skip.
- taste soup before serving and adjust salt as needed.
- Fridge - let cool completely, then store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freezer - let cool completely, then store in glass or plastic jars in the freezer for up to 6 months. See tips below for how to freeze in jars!
- Thaw- thaw for 48 hours in the fridge, or immerse the jar partially in cold water for a few hours to speed the process
- Reheat- heat on medium heat in a pot on the stove; stir occasionally until warmed through
Video
Nutrition Information
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Denise Bustard is the creator of Sweet Peas and Saffron, a meal prep-focussed food blog. With a PhD in biochemistry, Denise takes a scientific approach to perfecting her recipes. You can find Denise's work featured on Huffington Post, MSN, Self and more.
Andrea Collins says
Made a batch of this last weekend and I have enjoyed every last bowl of it! Absolutely delicious. I didn’t change a thing in the recipe and it turned out perfectly. It was fantastic for meal prep. We had it as a side with a sandwich for lunches, but I also had a big bowl alone more than once. It’s very filling. And I love that it makes a ton and keeps well.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Andrea, we are so delighted to hear that you enjoyed this IP black bean soup so much! Another great meal prep recipe to add to your rotation 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a rating and review!
Rebeka says
Delicious! This is one of my favorite soups, but I rarely make it because it’s too time consuming and I didn’t believe it would taste as good coming from the instant pot. Glad to be proven wrong. Quick, effortless and still tastes just like mom used to make. This will be on repeat at my house.
My only feedback was that the nutritional yeast flavor was a little strong for my taste. I do use it occasionally in other things & don’t mind the taste, but in the future I will probably only use half the quantity.
Thank you for another exceptional recipe.
Jasmine @ Sweet Peas & Saffron says
Hi Rebeka, we're so glad to hear that this Instant Pot recipe made your favorite soup so effortless! Glad you found a new favorite recipe to make on repeat. Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, and review!