Bean & Salsa Blender Soup
Years ago, when I got my Vitamix, I was very excited about the soup function. Being me, I did not read any recipes or directions and simply put the raw ingredients for a vegetable soup in the blender and pressed go. It was disgusting, like a hot garlicky vegetable smoothie. When I looked into the matter further, I discovered that you need to put cooked food in the blender to make soup. Really?! Why would I cook food to make soup instead of just cook soup the usual way?! Fast forward a decade and it occured to me that I could put pre-cooked canned/jarred items and dried herbs/spices that I often have on hand in the blender to make soup. This recipe is my second such blender soup and it's pretty good! I have made it with soybeans that I had made earlier in the week (in my Instant Pot), and with canned black beans (a higher-carb option). While I found both soups satisfying, I do have to warn potential recipe-makers that, texture-wise, there is some chalkiness unless you run the soup function multiple times. See the notes section about this. At first, I found the chalkiness off-putting, but after a few spoonfuls, I didn't really notice it much, maybe in part because I used hot salsa. That said, if you expect you'll be turned off by the chalky texture, best to give this soup a pass, or be prepared to run the soup cycle multiple times.
Yield: 6 servings of about 1 cup (245g) each or 4 servings of about 1½ cups (365g) each, totaling roughly 6 cups (1,455g)
Macros (per 1 cup serving): 210 calories | 12g protein | 15g fat | 5.5g net carbs
Macros (per 1½ cup serving): 315 calories | 19g protein | 22g fat | 8g net carbs
Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 5 minutes
Equipment required: a blender with a soup function and a large (48-ounce [1.5-liter]) carafe.
Storage: refrigerated for up to 5 days. You can store the soup in the blender carafe and run the soup cycle again to reheat it.
Macros (per 1 cup serving): 210 calories | 12g protein | 15g fat | 5.5g net carbs
Macros (per 1½ cup serving): 315 calories | 19g protein | 22g fat | 8g net carbs
Prep: 10 minutes | Cook: 5 minutes
Equipment required: a blender with a soup function and a large (48-ounce [1.5-liter]) carafe.
Storage: refrigerated for up to 5 days. You can store the soup in the blender carafe and run the soup cycle again to reheat it.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (480ml) vegetable broth or 1 boullion cube and 2 cups (480ml) of water ✎
- 1½ cups (258g) cooked or canned soybeans (or black beans ✎)
- 1½ cups (398g) jarred tomato salsa, divided ✎
- 1 cup (240ml) unsweetened soy or pea milk
- ¼ cup (20g) nutritional yeast flakes
- ¼ cup (60ml) light olive oil or neutral-flavored oil of choice
- 1 teaspoon died oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- lime wedges (for serving - optional) ✎
Directions:
- Put all indredients apart from ½ cup (129g) salsa in the blender.
- Select the soup function on your blender and start. ✎
- When the blender has stopped, mix in the remaining salsa by hand.
- Divide equally between 4 or 6 soup bowls (about 1½ cups [360ml] or 1 cup [240ml] per bowl), top as desired, serve with lime wedges, and enjoy hot.
Black Beans (soy-free / higher-carb):
Macros (per 1 cup serving): 195 calories | 8g protein | 11g fat | 11g net carbs
Macros (per 1½ cup serving): 290 calories | 12g protein | 16g fat | 16g net carbs
Macros (per 1 cup serving): 195 calories | 8g protein | 11g fat | 11g net carbs
Macros (per 1½ cup serving): 290 calories | 12g protein | 16g fat | 16g net carbs
✎ Notes:
- If I run the soup cycle 2-3 times, the chalkiness is greatly reduced. However, a lot of water is lost as steam and the soup becomes unpleasantly concentrated. So, if you are going to go this route, add more water (before, during, or after). Also, the soup will get extremely hot, so be careful when removing the lid of the blender. You may wish to let it cool some before handling it at all. Mine appeared to actually be boiling at the end of a third cylce.
- Using black beans increases the net carbs quite a bit and lowers the protein. However, this may still be an option for those with a higher carb limit or if the soup's enjoyed as a small serving and balanced with other very low carb and high protein items in the day.
- Macros on jarred salsas can vary significantly. Avoid ones with added sugars, corn, and beans. I am use Tostitos hot salsa, which has only 1g net carbs per 2 tablespoons (35g). However, macros are calculated with NCCDB data, which states 1.5g net carbs per 2 tablespoons (32g). Made with hot salsa, this soup is quite spicy.
- Vegetable broths and boullion cubes, pastes, or powders are often high in net carbs due to added sugars and starches, so check your labels. I use Edward & Sons bouillon cubes, which have almost no carbs, and water.
- Adding a little lime juice helps to round out the flavors and mask the slight bitterness that many beans have.
- Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the bouillon cubes (Edward & Sons) and nutritional yeast flakes (blend of Bob's Redmill and Foods Alive unfortified).
- Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.