Guatemalan Black Bean Soup

4.93 from 14 votes

This Guatemalan black bean soup is creamy, packed with flavour, and hearty enough for a meal. A mix of toppings make it extra fun and tasty!

Prep Time5

Cook Time1 30

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Guatemalan

Servings:

Calories: 336kcal

Author: Michele Peterson

Cost: $8

Equipment

soup pot
blender

Ingredients

1 pound dried turtle beans
10 cups water
4 cloves garlic
1 onion medium

Toppings

6 tablespoon sour cream or Mexican crema
6 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped
6 tablespoon Queso de Zacapa or Mexican cotija or feta crumbled

Instructions

Rinse the beans well. You don’t need to soak them overnight.
Simmer the beans with the garlic, onions and salt in water until tender but not mushy (about 1 ½ hours)
Remove the garlic cloves from the soup, reserving one clove. Puree half of the beans with the one clove of reserved garlic in a blender (or use an immersion blender) and add back into the pot.
Add more water if needed to reach desired consistency of soup.
Reheat until warm
Top each bowl with swirl of crema, the chopped cilantro and sprinkle of cotija (or feta) cheese.
Serve with a wedge of fresh lime and slices of avocado.

Notes

Don’t be tempted to cut corners and use canned beans, the consistency and flavour of canned black beans are totally different and they contain more sodium.
One of the most popular variations of traditional Guatemalan Black Bean soup is the addition of chicharron - crispy fried pork rinds - into each bowl of soup prior to serving. This adds a burst of salty, smoky flavour that's really delicious.
For hearty version that's vegetarian my husband likes to whisk a large egg and pour it slowly into the pot of simmering soup. He swirls it around so it cooks in ribbons rather like a Guatemalan version of egg drop soup.
If you don't like cilantro (due to genetic reasons cilantro tastes like soap for some people), then you can substitute an equal amount of thinly sliced green onion.
Good substitutes for Guatemalan Queso de Zacapa which is a strong-flavoured, salty, aged dry cheese include Mexican cotija cheese, Greek feta or even parmesan cheese.
Mix up the topping by adding chopped red onion, slivers of thinly-sliced radishes and corn chips as options.

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed to be accurate. It is created by online calculators and although we attempt to provide accurate nutritional information, the figures are only estimates.

Nutrition