Panera Black Bean Soup (Copycat Recipe)
Our Panera black bean soup copycat recipe tastes like theirs, only better. It's an easy and healthy black bean dish you can make for dinner with pantry staples. It's vegan and gluten free, and is so delicious, you'll want a second bowl!
Servings: 12 cups
Calories: 169kcal
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups onion chopped
- 1 cup carrots chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1 cup red bell pepper chopped
- 2 tablespoons garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2¼ teaspoons salt
- 1¼ teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste 50g
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 4 15-ounce cans of black beans drained and rinsed or 2 cups dried black beans, rinsed
- ⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed Dutch oven over medium high heat for 2 minutes. Add the onions, celery, carrots and red bell pepper, sprinkle with salt, and saute for 5 minutes, stirring with a large wooden spoon. Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Mix all the spices in a bowl and add them to the pot, stirring constantly for 30 seconds to bloom the spices.
- Lower the heat to medium low and add the tomato paste to the veggies. Allow it to caramelize by stirring it for 4 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium high. Deglaze the pan by pouring in 1 cup of vegetable broth and using a wooden turner to scrape off all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Pour in 7 cups of vegetable broth then add the rinsed canned black beans (or 2 cups of rinsed dried beans).
- Stir, then cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes if using canned beans, or 2 ½ hours if using dried beans. (If you're using dried beans, you'll have to stir and check the liquid level as it cooks, roughly once every 30 minutes. During the last 15 minutes, taste and adjust spices, if necessary.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Use a blender to purée 4 cups of soup. Pour the pureed mixture back into the pot and stir until well combined.
- Serve hot. Panera Bread serves their soup plain, but feel free to serve with chopped cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, red onion, or tortilla chips for added color, flavor and crunch.
Notes
- Craving Tex Mex? Serve with red onion, cilantro, lime wedge, red bell pepper, guacamole, and tortilla chips.
- Need guac? Mash 2 ripe avocados and mix with red onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.
- Like to stretch it? Put freshly cooked rice in the bottom of each bowl and top it off with soup.
- Like it thicker? Decrease the vegetable broth by one cup.
- Using dried beans? Use 2 cups rinsed, dried black beans and cook for 2 ½ hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Add more broth when necessary.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 28.8g | Protein: 8.1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 826.6mg | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 6.6g | Sugar: 4.9g | Vitamin A: 180IU | Vitamin C: 23.7mg | Calcium: 70.6mg | Iron: 2.7mg
