Chicken Black Bean Soup
This tasty Chicken Black Bean Soup is surprisingly low in net carbs and gluten-free, and this is such a lovely combination of flavors.
PIN Chicken Black Bean Soup to try it later!
Salt Lake has gotten about 24 inches of snow in the last 24 hours, so this delicious Chicken Black Bean Soup sounds perfect to warm up the tummy! This is a quick and easy soup recipe, especially if you have some leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge. Best of all, if you do use rotisserie chicken, you can have this on the table in about 30-40 minutes. And this delicious soup has a lot of chicken and not many beans, so it’s surprisingly low in net carbs, FTW!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
- onion
- celery
- Olive Oil (affiliate link)
- ground Cumin (affiliate link)
- Chili Powder (affiliate link)
- Celery Seed (affiliate link)
- Garlic Powder (affiliate link) or Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
- canned chicken broth (affiliate link) or homemade chicken stock
- vegetable broth
- canned petite diced tomatoes
- Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link)
- Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link) or your favorite hot sauce (taste to see if you want this)
- can of black beans
- cooked chicken, cut in very small pieces
- chopped cilantro (see notes if you’re not a cilantro fan)
- fresh-squeezed lime juice, I used my fresh-frozen lime juice
What if you’re not a cilantro fan?
People who like cilantro will love the generous amount added at the end of the cooking time, but if you’re not a cilantro fan just replace it with thinly-sliced green onion.
Can you use other types of beans?
You can definitely use other types of canned beans in this tasty soup, and I think Pinto Beans would be especially good.
How to make Chicken Black Bean Soup:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe, including nutritional information.)
- Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot, then cook the diced onion and celery about 3-5 minutes, until they are soft but not browned.
- Add the ground cumin (affiliate link), chili powder, celery seed (affiliate link), and garlic and saute about 2 minutes more.
- Add chicken stock, vegetable broth, canned tomatoes, and salsa and let simmer 10 minutes. (Boring photo, but this is an important step.)
- While the soup simmer diced up some cooked chicken into small pieces until you have about 2 cups diced chicken.
- Add the chicken and 1 or 2 cans of black beans to the soup, taste to see if you want to add the green tabasco sauce (affiliate link), then simmer on low about 15-20 minutes.
- While this mixture simmers wash, spin dry, and chop enough fresh cilantro to make 1 cup chopped cilantro. (You can use less, but I wouldn’t!)
- Add the cilantro and let the simmer simmer 5 minutes more.
- Then add 3 T fresh-squeezed lime juice and simmer 2-3 minutes more.
- Serve hot, with cut limes to squeeze into the soup and sour cream if desired.
More Soups to Keep You Warm:
Coconut-Lime Turkey and Rice Soup (with cauliflower rice)
Chicken Soup with Collards and Lemon
Chicken Pesto Soup
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Chicken Black Bean Soup
This Chicken Black Bean Soup is a quick and easy option for a tasty dinner and everyone who likes cilantro will love that added to this tasty soup! Use thinly-sliced green onion if you're not a cilantro fan.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, diced small
- 1 cup celery, diced small
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 1 T ground cumin
- 1 T chili powder
- 1 tsp. celery seed
- 1 tsp. garlic powder or minced garlic
- 4 cups canned chicken broth (see notes)
- one 14 oz. can vegetable broth
- one 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 cup Pace Picante Sauce (see notes)
- 6-8 drops Green Tabasco Sauce or your favorite hot sauce (taste to see if you want this)
- one 15 oz. can black beans
- 3 cups cooked chicken, cut in very small pieces
- 1 cup chopped cilantro leaves and stems (optional, see notes)
- 3 T fresh-squeezed lime juice
- slices of fresh lime and sour cream for serving (optional)
Instructions
- In a large heavy soup pot, saute onions and celery in olive oil 3-5 minutes, until soft but not browned.
- Add the ground cumin (affiliate link), chile powder, celery seed (affiliate link), and garlic and saute about 2 minutes more.
- Add the chicken stock, vegetable broth, tomatoes, and salsa, and simmer 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, taste for hotness and add green tabasco sauce (affiliate link) if desired.
- Add black beans and chicken and simmer 15-20 minutes more.
- While the soup simmer, wash, dry and chop enough fresh cilantro to make 1 cup chopped cilantro. and squeeze enough limes to make 3 T juice.
- After 15-20 minutes, add the chopped cilantro (or thinly-sliced green onion) and simmer 5 minutes, then add lime juice and cook 2-3 minutes more.
- Serve hot with fresh limes to squeeze into the soup, sour cream, and additional chopped cilantro to sprinkle on top if desired.
- To make a delicious vegetarian soup, use 3 cans vegetable broth and eliminate the chicken stock, and 3 cans black beans and eliminate the chicken.
Notes
I would definitely use homemade chicken stock if I had some!
I love Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link) because it doesn't have added sugar, but use any tomato salsa you prefer.
The beans don't have to be drained unless you choose to rinse the beans to reduce the amount of sodium.
If you're not a cilantro fan just use thinly-sliced green onion.
This recipe created by Kalyn.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 412Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 101mgSodium: 1408mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 7gSugar: 5gProtein: 43g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This soup is surprisingly low in net carbs; check the nutritional information. Black beans are actually allowed for any phase of the original South Beach Diet and other low-glycemic diet plans, although the portion size is limited for South Beach Diet Phase One.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soup Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This soup was first posted in 2005! It was updated with new photos in 2013 and the recipe was last updated with more information in 2021.
72 Comments on “Chicken Black Bean Soup”
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I would say just substitute a type of beans you like. I'd go for a small red bean if that's an option.
I don't like black beans. What would you substitute? Just in case, I don't care for whole garbanzos, either.
This soup is amazing! I made it on Sunday and have had it for lunch all week. Everyone in the office is complimenting me on its aroma! So glad I found this on Pinterest. I will be sure to try your other recipes, too!
This soup sounds delicious on a cold day in Utah, eh? I just finished the last of the Hopping John soup (frozen portion) and now ready for another kind of soup.
Love cilantro too.
Probably canned chicken stock and canned beans.
when i placed it in calorie counter it said over 1000mg of sodium per serving ?! That is making it 8 servings , but i just copied and pasted it in the counter, and it seems to not recognize the cans of items- wants gms instead.
Any ideas on what ingrediant is causing the sodium? then I can reduce it somehow?
thanks
Jen, so glad you liked it!
Delicious! We happened to have all the ingredients on hand — the limes, cilantro, leftover cooked chicken, everything! — so I tried this and we loved every bite. The soup is very flavorful; the cumin, cilantro, lime juice especially shine. Will be making this again and again; next time will add frozen corn but really does not need it, just excellent as is. Thank you!
I made this soup today and thought it was wonderful! I also love cilantro and enjoyed the large amt. of it in this soup. Thanks for a great recipe. I didn't use the vegetable broth but otherwise prepared it per the recipe.
Barbara, so glad you enjoyed it!
I finally made this recipe last night and it was delicious! I was so proud of myself for making a soup that had flavor to it. I look forward to making more of your recipes.