This soup is quite similar to the Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup that I posted about a few weeks ago (about which I’ve gotten great reviews – thanks, guys!), but it’s just different enough and just good enough that it’s worth sharing, too! We had this at Happy Hour last night and my Crockpot was scraped empty. A bonus is that it’s super easy and fast to throw together, especially if you use canned black beans.
I actually soaked my beans overnight and cooked them in the slow-cooker for a few hours in the morning before draining and adding the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot (soaking beans for 12-24 hours in water and lemon juice — about 1 T per cup of dry beans — helps with digestability and your body’s ability to absorb the nutritional content of the beans). If you’re out of your house all day, you could probably throw the soaked beans into the crockpot with other ingredients and about 2 cups of extra liquid. This soup would probably be extremely forgiving, as long as your beans and chicken are cooked, so feel free to throw it all in on high 3 hours before dinner or on low 9 hours beforehand… either way, I hope your family scrapes the bowl dry!
Creamy Black Bean Chicken Soup in the Slow-Cooker
(Recipe based on Pass the Fresh)
2 chicken breasts (frozen or thawed both work) 1 cup chicken broth (I used 1.5 c water and 1 t “Better than Bouillon”) 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed OR 1 cup dry black beans, soaked overnight and slightly pre-cooked 1 1/2 cup frozen corn 1 cup salsa (I used our family standard, Pioneer Woman’s recipe) 1 1/2 Tablespoons taco seasoning (make your own! Mine included smoked paprika, which added a great smoky flavor to the soup) 1/2 block (4 oz) cream cheese (the original recipe calls for sour cream and cheese, but I like the texture of cream cheese in soup, AND that’s what I had on hand)
Throw everything except the cream cheese into the slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. In the last hour, remove and shred the chicken and add back in. Also, add the cream cheese in chunks and stir occasionally to make sure it is stirred in thoroughly. I served this with cilantro, diced jalapenos and tortilla chips, but you could also serve it with more sour cream, shredded cheese and diced fresh tomatoes. Yum!