3 to 4 slices cracked black pepper bacon
30 oz canned black beans, drained
3 1/2 cups broth (chicken*, pork or vegetable)
6 oyster mushrooms, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
Directions:
In a large pan, fry the bacon until crisp. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of grease. Drain the bacon on paper towel lined plates. Crumble the bacon. Set aside. Saute the mushrooms, garlic, onion, and celery until just beginning to soften. Add the broth, beans and bacon. Heat through.
Yield: about 4 servings
*I actually used reduced sodium Progresso chicken broth.
My thoughts:
I made this soup for a quick lunch the other day but it really is enough to serve as dinner, perhaps with a roll or cornbread.
Normally when I made black bean soup I go the spicy route but for a change I used the pepper bacon to add some spice and smoky flavor and kept it pretty simple. The flavors of the vegetables and beans really stand out. I choose oyster mushrooms because they have a meaty texture that holds up well in soup. A good substitute would be portobello but you will miss the oyster-like flavor of the appropriately named oyster mushroom.
Oh yes, this with cornbread would be so great. Perfect for soaking up whatever may be left in the bowl which we assume would not be much.
We all know that everything is better with bacon, but this just isn’t fair! Black beans AND bacon, yum yum!
Thanks, I was wondering what kind of soup to make this week and this sounds like it will fill the bill quite nicely. It has been my goal for several years to have a soup night every week, but this year I am trying to make the soups myself rather than using the high sodium canned stuff or the dry package mixes. So far we’ve had some outstanding soups and this will add to that list.
Great recipe, it sounds very delicious. I think a nice mixture of fresh oysters and shiitakes would add some more great mushroom flavour to this soup. A piece of cornbread would finish it off perfectly!
– Brittany
At least you inspired me to use up some ingredients I had on hand and make a black bean soup. At one serving, I also fried up some leftover pancetta I had, extra crispy, and dumped that in there. I am very big, during winter, of making soup about once a week,and…getting several meals out of it.
I am sitting here in Montecito, CA and looking out my window at the very, very welcome downpour of rain and thinking this looks like lunch to me. I have some black beans and I can smell the cornbread right now in my imagination…thanks, s
This looks delicious. I’ve made a great lentil soup with bacon and this, I’d imagine would be just as good- if not better! Thanks-I’m going to try this one next week.
Looks super yummy!