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Spicy black bean, beef, and cabbage soup with lime and queso

Hearty and healthy black bean, beef, and cabbage soup. [ThePerfectPantry.com]

What goes into a good soup? First, and most important, fearlessness! Open the refrigerator door and look around. Grab some protein (leftover cooked chicken, or sausage or tofu or hamburger meat), last night's vegetables or scraps a heartbeat away from the compost pile, some homemade broth. Root around in the pantry for canned beans, hot peppers, spices. Chop an onion. Toss everything into a pot, let it simmer for a while, and taste. Adjust with more of one ingredient or another. Have faith, because everyone can make great soup.

My favorite soups come from countries where the weather is hot, and the food is hotter. In this recipe inspired by dishes I've enjoyed throughout Mexico, black beans, chile peppers, and lime take center stage. If spicy food isn't your thing, replace the chipotle pepper with just a teaspoon of the adobo sauce from the can, or with a pinch of smoked paprika, and swap plain chopped tomatoes for the RoTel. If beans aren't your thing, I think Israeli couscous would be great. You can use less ground beef, and more cabbage, or replace the ground beef with ground turkey. Remember, be fearless, and make this soup your own.


Make ahead and freeze! Black bean, beef, and cabbage soup. [ThePerfectPantry.com]

Spicy black bean, beef, and cabbage soup with lime and queso

From the pantry, you'll need: onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, dried thyme, chipotle chile in adobo, chicken broth, beef broth, RoTel, canned black beans, lime, kosher salt, fresh black pepper.

Serves 6-8; can be multiplied.

Ingredients

1-3/4 lb ground beef (I use organic 85% fat-free)
1/2 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp dried thyme leaf, or 2 tsps fresh thyme leaf
1 chipotle chile in adobo, minced
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups beef broth
1 can RoTel (or canned chopped tomatoes)
29-oz can black beans, partially drained
3 cups shredded cabbage
Juice of 1 lime
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

Crumbled queso (Mexican white cheese) or feta cheese, for garnish
A few cilantro leaves, for garnish (optional)

Directions

In a Dutch oven or heavy stock pot, brown meat over medium heat.( You will not need to use any oil if you're using beef. For ground turkey, you'll need to add 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.)

Add onion and garlic, and cook for 2 minutes. When the onion is soft, add cumin, chili powder, thyme, and chipotle pepper. Then, pour in both broths and and the RoTel, plus the beans. Stir everything together.

Raise the heat to high, and bring the soup to a boil.

Then, reduce to simmer, add cabbage and lime, and cook for 5 minutes or until the cabbage wilts slightly.

Taste, and season with kosher salt and fresh black pepper.

Serve hot, topped with crumbled queso or feta cheese, and cilantro leaves. Or, cool completely, pack the soup into airtight containers, and freeze (do not garnish with cheese before freezing).

[Printer-friendy recipe.]


More black bean soups:
Black bean, tomato and sausage soup, from The Perfect Pantry
Turkey soup with black beans, corn, and green chiles, from The Perfect Pantry
Chipotle black bean tortilla soup, from Minimalist Baker
Chicken, black bean, and cilantro soup, from Kalyn's Kitchen

Easy-to-make, Mexican-inspired black bean, beef and cabbage soup. I like it spicy! [ThePerfectPantry.com]


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Comments

What a great way to decrease food waste - making soup with what is in your fridge! Cabbage isn't a favorite in my house but I get it in my CSA, so this looks like a fab way to use it in a recipe that everyone will like. :)

Yes, I love to make soup this way, just adding a little of this and that until it's perfect. This one sounds like a good combination!

Janice, I love making soups like this, with bits and pieces. Using cabbage in place of noodles makes a healthy soup that's pretty, too.

Kalyn, soup making is an art form -- a freeform art! I love it, and find it very therapeutic.


Hello Lydia,

This is something very useful. :)

Just to add up a soup recipe with the ingredients stored in our fridge.

Great combination, could we add up chicken or bacon instead of beef.
Would that too make a great delicious soup like yours.

Thanks for sharing this among us.

Shantanu sinha

Had friends coming for supper tonight, with cabbage from the garden and a quart of black beans I had already cooked in the fridge, this was the perfect meal! I added a chopped bell pepper because I had one that needed to be used. Paired with warmed corn tortillas, shredded cheese, and a zuchinni-tomato-onion crustless quiche, diced fresh peppers and corn tortillas. Thanks for the recipe... I'm keeping it!

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