Cuban Black Beans Soup (Frijoles Negros)
Last updated on 22nd March 2024
Cuban Black Beans Soup is a hearty, flavourful dish that pairs perfectly with rice and meat dishes. This traditional Cuban soup is filled with beautiful aromas from the sofrito, aromatic herbs and spices that are added.
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- What is Cuban Black Beans Soup
- Ingredients to make Cuban Black Beans Soup
- How to make Cuban Black Beans Soup
- Top Tips and Fat Facts
- Recipe card
What is Cuban Black Beans Soup
Cuban Black Beans Soup is a pottage (thick soup) made with dried black beans. This soup has a slight creamy consistency and dark colour, in which the beans remain intact but soft. It is a very flavourful and hearty dish. What makes it so delicious is the aroma that Cuban sofrito provides. Traditional spices such as culantro (a herb similar to coriander) and bay leaf add a lovely fragrance as well.
Cuban Black Beans Soup is not spicy, since chillies are not used to make it. In general, Cuban cuisine is not recognised for using hot spices. Learn more about Cuban cuisine in our “Cuban Food 101” article.
Black Beans Soup is a dish that has been part of the Cuban menu for ages. Commonly, people would cook the soup with frijoles negros (dried black beans). For this reason, the first step of every dish using frijoles negros is to soak them for at least eight hours. However, canned beans could be used as well, since they do not need soaking.
Ingredients to make Cuban Black Beans Soup
Black beans: also known as black turtle beans, black beans are the main ingredients for this soup. I prefer to use dry beans rather than canned ones. This is not only to keep the recipe traditional, but also because there is no question on the final result in flavour and consistency.
Sofrito: the aromatic base for most Cuban dishes, made with olive oil-sautéed garlic and green bell peppers. Although you can add chopped onions to your sofrito, I omit them in this step, since I add them before in the recipe.
Herbs and spices: ground cumin, oregano, black pepper, a bay leaf and culantro or cilantro leaves (similar the coriander) are essential for the typical flavour of this hearty soup. Onions, salt more garlic and green peppers come into the saucepan as well while the beans cook.
Vinegar and sugar: two ingredients that help to balance flavours in this soup. Use red wine instead of vinegar if you prefer.
Water: it seems obvious since it is a soup but definitely a key ingredient! The black beans to water ratio by weight is of 1 to 5 approximately.
How to make Cuban Black Beans Soup
Soak the black beans: rinse the beans under running water. Leave the beans to soak for 8-9 hrs (ideally overnight) in 1.2 litres or 5 cups of water approximately (use 1 litre or 4 cups of water only if you are going to use a pressure cooker to cook the beans).
Simmer the black beans with the vegetables: to a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the beans with the soaking water together with ½ green pepper finely sliced, 2 crushed garlic cloves, ½ onion diced, and salt. When boiling point is reached, turn the heat to low and place the lid. From this point, simmer gently for 45-60 min. If you prefer to use a pressure cooker, set to cook for 35-40 min instead. After this time, check that the beans are soft but not broken down.
Add the dry spices: add culantro or coriander, bay leaf, cumin, oregano and black pepper. Stir and place the lid back.
Make the sofrito: to a small frying pan over medium-low heat, add two heaped tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Crush the remaining 4 garlic cloves with the help of a mortar and pestle. Finely chop the remaining ½ pepper. Add the garlic and pepper to the oil, and sauté until the oil is infused with the vegetables’ aromas (typically 2-3 minutes). Then add a ladle of beans in their water to the saucepan and continue sautéing for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Turn off the heat and add the sofrito to the saucepan with the beans.
Simmer until the soup is ready: simmer the beans for another 30-35 minutes (if previously used a pressure cooker, simmer for around 10 minutes). The consistency of the soup should be not to liquid but not too thick. If it is not thick enough, simmering without the lid will help reduce the liquid.
Top Tips and Fun Facts
If you are going to cook the next day in the morning, it is best to leave the beans to soak overnight. Make sure that they soak for at least 8 hours. If you are cooking for the evening, you can leave them to soak early in the morning.
Culantro is a plant with similar aroma to coriander, but more pungent. It is a top ingredient to use for your black beans soup, but if you can not find it, coriander will do the job.
Aji cachucha (a Cuban variety of sweet pepper) can also be used for the black beans soup in addition to green peppers. As with culantro, if you can not find it, just omit it.
Cuban Black Beans Soup can be enjoyed on its own or with white rice and meat. Recommended with Ropa Vieja, the most flavourful Cuban-style pulled beef recipe.
Cuban Black Beans Soup (Frijoles Negros)
Not too complicated
Equipment
- 1 large saucepan (2 L minimum) – to slow cook the beans
- 1 Frying pan – to make the sofrito
- pressure cooker – (if not using the saucepan)
Ingredients
- 250 g dried black beans
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 6 garlic cloves crushed
- ½ onion finely chopped
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp ground black pepper (optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 culantro leaves, (or 6 coriander leaves, stemmed and rinsed) rinsed
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tbsp rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
- ½ tsp white granulated sugar
Instructions
- Rinse the beans under running water. Leave the beans to soak for 8-9 hrs (ideally overnight) in 1.2 L of water (5 cups approximately)
- To a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the beans with the soaking water together with ½ green pepper finely sliced or chopped, 2 crushed garlic cloves, ½ onion diced, and salt. When the boiling point is reached, turn the heat to low and place the lid. From this point, simmer gently for 45-60 min (or pressure cook for 35-40 min). After this time, check that the beans are soft but not broken down.
- Add culantro or coriander, bay leaf, cumin, oregano and black pepper. Stir and place the lid back.
- For the sofrito: To a small frying pan over medium-low heat, add two heaped tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Crush the remaining 4 garlic cloves with the help of a mortar and pestle. Finely chop the remaining ½ pepper. Add the garlic and pepper to the oil, and sauté until the oil is infused with the vegetables’ aroma. Then add a ladle of beans in their water to the saucepan and continue sautéing for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and add the sofrito to the saucepan with the beans.
- Simmer the beans for another 30-35 minutes (10 minutes in the pressure cooker). The consistency of the soup should be not to liquid but not too thick. If it is not thick enough, simmering without the lid will help reduce the liquid.
- Add ½ tbsp of white rice vinegar (or white wine vinegar). Add ½ tsp of white granulated sugar. Adjust salt to taste. Simmer for an additional two minutes with the lid on. Then turn off the heat and leave to rest for about 10 minutes before serving.