Name: Easy Black Bean Chili
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons of olive oil; 1 15.5 oz can of black beans; 1 cup frozen corn; Seasoning mix (see below for ingredients); 1 16 oz jar of salsa; 1 1/2 cups of veggie stock (or broth); 1 bag shredded cheese; Sour cream; Lime wedges; 3 green onions (thinly sliced); 1 cup of cilantro (rough chopped, optional); Tortilla strips; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon mild chili powder; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1/4 teaspoon cumin; 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper; 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional); 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Jump to Recipe

This quick and easy black bean chili recipe is vegan-optional and only has four main ingredients – making it great for a weeknight meal, or a quick game day snack!

Close up of a bowl of Easy Black Bean Chili topped with tortilla strips, sour cream, cilantro leaves and lime wedges on a white background.

I love soup, but I usually don’t believe in eating soups or stews as entire meals and they’re not always my favorite thing to make at home. Not only do I feel like they take a lot of prep work, but I often feel like I’m hungry like an hour later. But not with this Easy Black Bean Chili!

Tomato salsa is the secret shortcut to this recipe, which serves as a base (along with some veggie stock) and brings along with it lots of aromatics like garlic and onions, and if you pick the right brand, some green chiles too! Then hearty black beans and sweet corn serve as the main stars of the show, providing lots of protein and fiber. When topped with melty shredded cheese, sour cream (omit if making vegan), tortilla strips, fresh lime juice and herbs like green onion and cilantro, this soup quickly becomes a tasty meal that allows you to choose-your-own adventure. I, personally, recommend all of the above.

Make a bubbling pot of this Easy Black Bean Chili in the cooler Fall and Winter months.

Not only is this a dump-and-go kind of chili, meaning there’s very minimal prep work involved, but it’s only got 4 main ingredients and comes together in about 20 minutes. This chili is perfect for meal prep for 1-2 people or for feeding a family.

Ingredients

These ingredients were carefully selected to make prep as easy as possible!

For the Black Bean Chili

Olive oil – to prevent black beans and corn from sticking to the bottom of the pot
Black beans – the star of the show for this chili. I use canned for easy and speed.
Frozen corn kernels – I LOOVVEEE using the frozen roasted corn kernels from Trader Joe’s, but if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you *Ina Garten voice* un roasted is fine…
Salsa – Tomato salsa is a must for this soup. I love Dessert Pepper’s salsa varieties. I use either the salsa with corn in it I use either the chipotle (medium) variety or the kind with corn (and if using the latter, I add half the amount of corn this recipe calls for).
Veggie Stock – serves as the liquid for the Black bean chili. If you don’t have any on hand, you can use water. I prefer stock because it adds more flavor, and as I always say, more flavor, more better *wink*.
Spices – I add a little salt, chili powder, cumin, garlic and onion powders to doctor it up a bit. Technically, you don’t need the extra spices if you prefer a blander flavor, but I do. see the above re: more flavor.

Toppings (optional)

Shredded cheese – I love cheddar or a “Mexican” cheese blend. When it gets all melty on top of the piping hot chili it’s a total game changer.
Sour cream – Adds a little extra creaminess to make this soup more indulgent.
Tortilla strips – Have an amazing crunch factor. Make your own while your soup cooks.
Herbs – I add green onion and cilantro for a little extra freshness and flavor.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to Make Easy Black Bean Chili

Use this section for process shots, alternating between the step and image showing the step. Users don’t like seeing process shots cluttering up the recipe card, so include your process shots here.

Close up of a red measuring spoon with olive oil in it over a large white ceramic pot.

1. Warm olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat.

White ceramic pot with black beans and corn.

2. Add main ingredients. Add black beans, corn and seasoning mix and stir to combine. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes stirring every so often.

Closeup of veggie broth being poured into a large white pot of easy black bean chili.

3. Add salsa and vegetable broth or stock. Cover and bring soup to a boil over high heat. Once soup comes to a boil, allow to simmer for several more minutes. Total cook time should take 10-13 minutes.

Closeup of a white pot of finished easy black bean chili

4. Serve hot. Top with cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips, lime wedges, green onions and cilantro as desired.

Substitutions

If you know how to make the recipe fit a certain diet, let the reader know here. Don’t fake it – only provide guidance on topics you have actual experience with.

Corn – instead of using regular frozen corn, I love using roasted frozen corn (you can find it at Trader Joe’s
Spice mix – if you don’t have all the spices for the spice mix, just use the ones you have, though the most important are the salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Even if your reader doesn’t follow a specific diet (eg. gluten free), they may have friends or family that they’re cooking for that could use this. This is also a great idea to link out to another blogger with a similar recipe that fits a different diet.

Variations

Giving the visitor ideas on how they can change this recipe to better suit their dinner guests, or their cultural cuisine, is a great way to increase the chances they make the recipe

Vegan – Omit the cheese and sour cream from this recipe, or you can swap cheese for vegan cheese shreds and sour cream for cashew cream or vegan sour cream.
With meat – Looking to add a little extra protein? Consider adding in ground chicken, turkey or beef. Just be sure to make extra spice mix (about double the amount if using 1 pound of meat, but season to your liking – no need to actually use it all, especially being cautious of salt levels). Brown the meat first in the pot, after adding the olive oil, seasoning with the spice mix. Then, add your black beans, corn and salsa.

Storage

Store soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator, separate from toppings for 3-4 days.

Top tip

Be sure to taste your soup before serving and add any more seasonings as you like. However, when adding seasonings, especially salt to soup, be sure to give it about 5 minutes to dissolve and stir with a separate spoon before tasting to get a better sense of the flavor.

Looking for other cozy recipes? Try these:

Yield: 6 servings