This is an easy copycat recipe for Panera Bread Black Bean Soup. It is a warm, spicy, vegetarian, or vegan dish served with avocado, cilantro, or tortilla chips.
This healthy, comforting soup is seasonal and not always available in restaurants. Learn how to make your own version of Panera bread black bean soup in the comfort of your own home; it's fast, easy, and thoroughly delicious!
And if you like soup as much as we do, try the 4-Ingredient Potato Soup, the Creamy Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Soup, the Chicken and Cabbage Soup, or the Easy Lebanese Lentil Soup.
Ingredients: 14, including spices but without the toppings
Working time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
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What is Panera Bread?
Popular bakery-cafรฉ fast-casual restaurants with over 2000 locations in the United States and Canada. They pride themselves in selling 100% clean food free of trans fats, antibiotics, artificial sweeteners, flavors, colors, or preservatives. The company started 35 years ago as a small cookie shop in Boston and developed into what you know and love today. That is a place offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner in an uncomplicated, mostly healthy way. They sell lots of bread and pastry items, salads, soups, and sandwiches, all made with fresh ingredients.
Check out another copycat recipe: Copycat Chick-fil-A Mac and Cheese.
Recipe ingredients
This is a healthy recipe using just a few budget-friendly, wholesome ingredients; it's made with vegetable stock to keep it vegetarian or vegan, and it fills and keeps you satisfied for a long time.
Panera Bread describes this meal as "a bakery-cafe-inspired favorite made with plump black beans simmered in a spicy vegetable broth with onion, red bell pepper, garlic, and cumin."
Black beans: 2 cans of beans, each weighing 15 oz. You can use dried beans if you like but don't forget to soak them overnight and cook them before adding them to the soup. Cans are faster and more convenient.
Vegetable base: Half a small red bell pepper, 1 small-medium onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 small-medium carrot, and two small stalks of celery.
Spices: Ground cumin, red pepper flakes (or chili powder to taste), and salt. You can add some dried oregano if you like; I do it from time to time.
Toppings: You can use just a few or all of them. My favorites are lime, avocado, and cilantro; the kids prefer cheese or sour cream.
- Sour cream (not vegan anymore)
- Cheddar cheese (not vegan anymore)
- Lime wedges
- Cilantro
- Avocado
- Tortilla chips
- Red onion
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to make Panera's black bean soup?
Step #1: Chop the vegetables needed for the vegetable base and cook them for about 7 minutes until softer. Add a splash of water and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring often.
Step #2: Add cumin, and red pepper flakes, more salt, and stir for about 30 seconds.
Step #3: Add the tomato paste and stir well for about 1 minute.
Step #4: Add vegetable stock. water, and bouillon cubes. Add drained beans and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
Step #5: Use an immersion blender to blend the black bean soup; it should not be smooth but creamy yet chunky.
Step #6: Thicken the soup with cornstarch slurry and adjust the taste with salt and lemon juice.
Serve hot, garnished with any of the suggested items.
Caution: When using a blender, fasten the lid well and never fill past the maximum fill line. Beware the steam that escapes from the top.
Make the soup in advance
Once completely cool, refrigerate the Panera black bean soup for up to 5 days. Then, reheat it on the stove. You can also freeze it (without the garnish) in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Then, let thaw in the fridge and reheat well on the stovetop or in the microwave before serving.
What to serve with this Panera copycat recipe?
Except for the garnishes, you can serve Panera black bean soup with kettle chips or a piece of French baguette or another crusty bread. And an apple. This is how the bakery would serve it.
I also love to serve spicy black bean soup with rice (either white or brown), other sorts of bread, cornbread, biscuits, or quesadillas. To make it a complete meal, I make a salad as well.
More soups
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๐ Recipe
Panera Black Bean Soup (Copycat Recipe)
Ingredients
Soup:
- 1 onion small-medium
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot small-medium
- 2 celery stalks small
- ยฝ red bell pepper small
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ยฝ teaspoon red chili flakes more or less to taste
- ยผ teaspoon fine sea salt more to taste
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cans black beans each 15 oz
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ยฝ - 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Garnish (optional):
- avocado
- red onions
- lime wedges
- cilantro
- tortilla chips
- sour cream
- cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Chop: Finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and pepper.
- Cook vegetables: Heat the oil in a large pot. Cook the vegetables with a pinch of salt, on medium heat, for about 7 minutes until softer. Add a splash of water and cook for further 3 minutes. The onions should be soft, as they will not soften anymore once you add the tomato paste. Add cumin and red pepper flakes and stir for about 30 seconds. Add tomato paste and stir well for about 1 minute.
- Cook soup: Pour in about 2 cups vegetable stock. Drain the beans. Add them to the pot. Increase the heat, bring to a boil, lower the heat again and cook for 20 minutes.
- Blend: Scoop about 4 cups and blend in a blender until smooth (Note 2). Return to the pot. Alternatively, use an immersion blender or potato masher to mash the soup partially; it should not be smooth but creamy yet chunky.
- Thicken: Mix the cornstarch with cold water. Slowly add to the soup and let bubble for 1-2 minutes until thicker. For a thinner consistency, add more vegetable stock, and don't thicken the soup with cornstarch slurry. In this case, you might want to add more cumin and red pepper flakes as well. For a smoother consistency, you can blend the soup more thoroughly.
- Adjust: Remove from the heat and adjust the taste with lemon juice and salt.
- Serve: Serve hot, garnish with any of the suggested items.
Notes
- Nutrition is calculated without the garnishes.
- Caution: When using a blender, fasten the lid well and never fill past the maximum fill line. Beware the steam that escapes from the top.
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