Black Bean Lentil Noodle Soup Recipe (Slow Cooker)

This black bean lentil noodle soup is a dairy-free slow cooker meal made from inexpensive pantry ingredients: dry brown lentils, canned black beans, a can of tomatoes, broth, and the usual onion, carrot and celery. Everything except the noodles goes into the cooker raw, with no browning step, and the soup cooks unattended for 7 to 8 hours on LOW.

The lentils soften and partly break down over the long cooking time, which gives the broth body, while the black beans hold their shape. The noodles are added only for the last 20 to 30 minutes on HIGH, because pasta left in a slow cooker all day turns to mush. A spoonful of vinegar stirred in at the end sharpens the earthy flavor of the beans and lentils.

Canned beans are used because they are already fully cooked, which suits the gentle heat of a slow cooker. For another lentil soup, see the bok choy lentil soup; for another use of black beans, the black bean pumpkin soup.

Slow Cooker Black Bean Lentil Noodle Soup

A dairy-free slow cooker soup of brown lentils, black beans, vegetables and tomatoes seasoned with cumin and oregano, finished with noodles cooked in the pot. Makes about 3 1/2 quarts.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 7 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 7 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup dry brown or green lentils picked over and rinsed
• Two 15 ounce cans black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
• 2 celery ribs diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• One 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice
• 8 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 ounces thin spaghetti broken into 1 to 2 inch pieces, or other small soup noodles (about 1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice

Method

 

1. Put the lentils, black beans, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, diced tomatoes with their juice, broth, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper into a 6-quart slow cooker and stir.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the lentils and vegetables are completely tender.
3. If the cooker is on LOW, turn it to HIGH. Stir in the broken spaghetti or noodles, cover, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes more, stirring once halfway, until the noodles are tender.
4. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the vinegar or lemon juice, taste, and add more salt if needed. If the soup is thicker than you like, thin it with a little hot broth or water.
5. Ladle into bowls and serve hot.

Notes

Makes about 3 1/2 quarts, or 8 servings of about 1 3/4 cups. The 6-quart cooker should be no more than two-thirds full before the noodles go in.

Gluten-free option: use gluten-free pasta or broken rice noodles and check that the broth is gluten-free. Gluten-free pasta can turn soft quickly, so start checking it after 15 minutes, or boil it separately and add it to each bowl.

The noodles keep soaking up broth as the soup stands. If planning on leftovers, cook the noodles separately and store them apart from the soup, or add extra broth when reheating.

To use dried black beans instead of canned, cook them fully on the stovetop first: soak 1 cup dried beans overnight, drain, cover with fresh water, boil for at least 10 minutes and then simmer until tender. This replaces the 2 cans. Do not put raw dried beans straight into the slow cooker.

Storage: cool the soup and refrigerate it within 2 hours; it keeps for 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot. The soup without noodles freezes well for up to 3 months.

Red lentils are not a good substitute here; they dissolve completely over a long cooking time.