It’s tiiiimmme!!! Soup season is almost here! AKA one of my favorite times of year for many reasons – soups are cozy, filling, and super versatile. It’s one of those dishes that just gets better and better with time so I love making a big pot at the beginning of the week and having a ton of leftovers to heat up for quick meals. Most soups freeze well too so I try to have my freezer stocked with individual portions for those days when I’m in a pinch or simply don’t feel like cooking. I decided to kick this soup season off with one of my favorites – my Zesty Black Bean Soup! This one is hearty, filled with yummy spices, and you guessed it, 0 (Z-E-R-O) Blue Weight Watchers Smart Points! #woopwoop Soup is 6 WW SmartPoints on the Green plan.
This whole soup takes 30 minutes from start to finish and it really couldn’t be easier to make. I love tomatoes in my black bean soup so I use a couple of cans of Rotel along with black beans, beef broth (you can use chicken or vegetable broth here too), and a good amount of warm, smoky spices. I love adding both chili powder and cumin for just the right amount of spice!
Once all the ingredients are cooking you’ll let them simmer and mingle for about 15 minutes before blending things up. Feel free to blend as much or as little as you’d like here – you can totally leave the beans whole if that’s your thing OR blend 100% for a smooth soup. I like mine nice and thick with a little chunk so I blend about half of the pot. After that you just let everything finish cooking for another 10 minutes and then you’re done! Told ya it couldn’t be easier.
Now for the fun part – choose your toppings and your sides! Some of my favorite toppings are greek yogurt or sour cream, salsa, pickled onions, shredded cheese, avocado, hot sauce, cilantro, green onion, jalapenos, fresh lime, and avocado. When I’m serving this soup to a crowd I like to set out a little toppings bar by filling small bowls with whatever I have I hand.
Since this soup is 0 smart points I usually find something fun to serve it with! I love scooping it up with some tortilla chips (I’m currently obsessed with these grain free ones) OR Nabisco Corn Thins (you get a TON for just 3 points). It would also be great served with one of my Broccoli, Ham, & Swiss Hot Pockets or a cheese quesadilla for dunking! For lunch I might even do the classic soup and salad combo. I’m sure it’ll be a hit no matter how you serve it!
The entire pot of soup is 0 Blue Weight Watchers Smart Points. I divided mine into 4 hearty servings that were 1 1/4 c. each which comes to 6 Green WW SmartPoints. Enjoy!
- 3 15oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 10oz cans Rotel (tomatoes and green chilies)
- 1 15oz can beef broth, lower sodium preferred (can sub chicken broth or vegetable broth)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp onion powder
- pinch of crushed red pepper
- salt and pepper, to taste
- olive oil spray
- Spray a large pot with olive oil cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add beef broth, tomatoes, beans, and all spices to the pot.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Carefully transfer about ½ of the mixture to a blender or food processsor and blend until smooth. (Leave the small cap off of the top to allow steam to escape but cover with a kitchen towel to avoid splatters.) Transfer blended mixture back into the pot. OR Use an immersion blender to blend about ½ of the mixture.*
- Stir soup and recover. Allow to simmer for 10 more minutes. Add salt and pepper if needed (mine needed a few cracks of salt and it was perfect.)
- If your soup reduced too much while simmering feel free to add an extra splash of broth or water at the end to get it to your desired consistency. Garnish and enjoy!
*Blend to preferred consistency. You can leave your beans whole, blend halfway, or blend until 100% creamy. Volume of each serving may vary depending on how much or little you blend. I like mine about halfway blended -creamy AND chunky!
Nutritional information is calculated with MyFitnessPal and may vary based on brands used. Smart Points information is calculated with the Weight Watchers app and may also vary based on brands used.
I am so excited you are making one of my recipes and I would love to see how it turns out! Make sure to share it on Instagram and tag me @rachelshealtyplate and use #rachelshealthyplate so I can see your creation!
I made this for my lunches this week and OMG so good! It reminds me of a high point restaurant black bean dip that I love, so I can’t wait to play around with the recipe to make it a dip too.
Yay! It would be fabulous as a dip and really easy to thicken up! I think adding some corn would be wonderful too =)