Name: Vegan Black Bean Tortilla Soup
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 medium onion (diced); 4 cloves garlic (minced); 2 stalks celery (sliced ¼" thick); ½ teaspoon salt (more to taste); 1 teaspoon chili powder; 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin; 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano; 4 cups vegetable broth; 3 cups black beans ((2) 15.5-ounce cans); 15 ounces diced tomatoes ((1) can or 2 large tomatoes); 1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen); 4 ounces diced green chiles ((1) can); 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or lime juice); tortilla chips; cilantro

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Vegan black bean tortilla soup made with tomato, corn, celery, and green chile is packed full of flavor. Garnished with lots of tortilla chips and cilantro, this comforting soup is ready in 25 minutes for an easy weeknight meal.

Vegan black bean tortilla soup in a blue bowl with a spoon over a bright red, orange, and blue napkin.

This soup is great for when you want something quick to make without sacrificing on taste. To make it even quicker, you can buy most of the ingredients pre-prepared, from canned black beans, tomatoes, and green chiles to frozen corn. The main work is giving the pot a stir.

The flavor begins with sautéing onion, garlic, and celery. Then, you bloom cumin, chili powder, and oregano for that extra oomph. Trust me, you'll taste the difference!

Black bean soup is hearty all on it's own, but I like to serve it with lemon quinoa and tempeh crumbles to make it extra satisfying.

Garnishes are where the real fun comes in. An extra squeeze of lime juice, lots of crushed up tortilla chips, and my personal favorite, a big handful of cilantro take black bean tortilla soup to the next level.

Ingredient Notes

You will need these simple ingredients to make vegan black bean tortilla soup:

Ingredients needed to make vegan black bean tortilla soup with labels: spices, lemon juice, olive oil, veggie broth, green chiles, tomato, cilantro, black beans, corn, celery, tortilla chips, garlic, and onion.

There are two key ingredients in black bean tortilla soup: black beans and tortilla chips!

For the black beans, you can use canned beans or cook black beans in an instant pot. Both will taste great! Keep in mind that the salt content will vary, so you may need more or less salt to taste at the end.

But before black beans come into the mix, the recipe starts with browning onion, garlic, and celery. Then you add chili powder, cumin, and oregano to bloom them. I follow this same process in braised white beans and it really helps to infuse the beans with flavor.

Tortilla chips come in at the end when you're serving the soup. Personally, I like to just crush up tortilla chips. You could also slice corn tortillas into strips and then air fry them to get thin little rectangle chips.

The recipe card below includes the full list of ingredients + instructions.

How to Make Vegan Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Cooking onion, celery, and spices in a soup pot.

Cook onion, garlic, celery, and spices.

Adding broth, black beans, tomatoes, and corn to soup pot.

Add remaining soup ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Simmer black bean tortilla soup until ingredients are softened.

Let simmer.

Black bean tortilla soup in a blue bowl topped with cilantro and crushed tortilla chips.

Top with tortilla chips and cilantro. Enjoy!

Serving Ideas

The go-to garnish for tortilla soup is, of course, tortilla chips! I always add cilantro and extra lemon juice too. Lime juice also works great.

Instead of corn chips, if you have some chickpea flour tortillas you can bake chickpea tortilla chips in the oven for a crunchy topping while your soup is simmering.

When I serve this soup, I also like to add nutritional yeast, quinoa, and some tofu or tempeh. Blackened tofu would be a great addition to tortilla soup!

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