It’s getting colder outside and you know what that means… SOUP SEASON!!

I love all types of soup. They warm you up inside which is perfect for when it’s cold outside. The best part about this soup is that it is versatile and can be made three different ways, to satisfy all different soup preferences! You can make it super chunky, slightly chunky or smooth; it’s completely up to you. For me, I like to do slightly chunky. Top it off with all the toppings you’d like and enjoy!

Don’t be frightened by the word “spicy” in the name. The soup does have a little heat to it, but I promise it will not burn your taste buds off! Once you read the ingredients and see the entire jalapeño you add, that might sound contradicting, but trust me, just keep reading and you’ll see it’s not that bad!

Ingredients

Soup:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 jalapeño
• 2 medium-sized carrots*
• 1 red bell pepper
• 4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 15 oz. can corn
• 3 15 oz. cans black beans
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• sea salt & pepper, to taste

Toppings (all are optional):

• Avocado
• Crushed tortilla chips
• Cheese
• Sour Cream

*Note: If you do not want to buy an entire bag of large carrots, what I recommend doing/what I do is buy a bag of the baby carrots and then I used about 10-15 of those.

Not only is this recipe vegetarian, but with a few changes, it can be made vegan-friendly as well!

Directions

1. Chop the onion, carrots and bell pepper. Mince the garlic. For the jalapeño, cut off the top and remove all the seeds and spine, then chop into tiny pieces.
   • These parts of the jalapeño are going to be the spiciest; feel free to add these in if you want the soup to be super spicy (I usually don’t add it).
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pot.
3. Add in the garlic and onion and cook until the onion is translucent, about 5-10 minutes.
4. Mix in remaining vegetables: carrots, bell pepper and jalapeño. Also, add in spices. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
5. While the vegetables are cooking, drain and rinse the corn and beans.
6. Place corn, beans and broth into the pot. Bring to a slow boil over medium-high heat.
7. Reduce the temperature and simmer on low for about 20 minutes until the beans are soft.

How you continue depends on how you like your soup.

• Super Chunky: Serve as is with whatever toppings you’d like.
• Slightly Chunky: Use a hand emulsifier, or blender, to blend half of the soup. Add the blended portion back in to rest of the soup and all the soup to cook for a few more minutes so everything is back up to the same temperature.
• Smooth: Use a hand emulsifier, or blender, to blend all the soup.

Test Kitchen: Opinion and Changes

This recipe came from The Glowing Fridge. I liked that it could be made vegan and there were multiple options for how to serve it. In terms of changes, I increased the amount of jalapeño because, personally, I enjoy spicy foods and I felt like there was no spice with just 1/2 the jalapeño. I still don’t taste much spice with an entire jalapeño, but as mentioned above, I do not include the spine or seeds which hold the majority of the spice so that is likely the reason. I also reduced the amount of onion added, omitted the lime juice and cilantro, and changed the red pepper flakes to cayenne.

This soup is absolutely delicious and sure to please any vegetarian. If you’re looking for a great soup for a cold evening, you just found it!

What’s your favorite type of soup? Leave it in the comments below!

Happy Cooking!