Thicker than a soup, thinner than a chili, and probably most like a stew, this unique dish combines black beans and pineapple with delicious results.
Sometimes ideas just come to me. I call it being inspired, but people of my parents’ generation called it being “touched in the head.”
I was sitting here at my desk one day thinking how much I like salsa with pineapple in it (because that’s the kind of deep thinking I do), when it occurred to me that what’s good in salsa should be good in soup. Black bean soup. So I tried it. And you know what? I was right.
If you balk at having fruit in your soup, let me tell you that there was a time when I couldn’t imagine something sweet ever touching my savory. But that was before I opened my palate to the sensations of pineapple mingling with peanuts and kale or cumin-grilled tofu heaped with papaya salsa. Now I’m a believer.
But even if you absolutely know that you don’t like fruit in your main dish, give this unique black bean pineapple soup a try. The pineapple lends such a subtly sweet flavor that my family didn’t even notice it until I pointed it out. But by then, they’d both finished two bowls, even daughter E, who doesn’t like black beans.
Hey, There’s Sweet in This Savory:
Here are a few other savory dishes that contain fruit.
- Grilled Tofu with Blueberry-Peach Salsa
- Wild Plum Sauce
- Vidalia Onions Stuffed with Rice-Lentil Pilaf
- Vegetable Couscous
- Cinnamon-Scented Pearl Couscous from One Hot Stove
- Curried Rice and Fruit Salad with Fresh Mango Dressing from Lisa’s Kitchen
- Quinoa with Cauliflower, Cranberries, and Pine Nuts from VegKitchen with Nava Atlas
Black Bean-Pineapple Soup Stew Chili
Ingredients
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 large red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1-2 jalapeno chiles stemmed, seeded and finely diced
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes preferably fire-roasted
- 2 16-ounce cans black beans rinsed and drained
- 2 cups vegetable broth or water plus bouillon cubes
- 1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder or other pure, mild chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder or to taste
- 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano optional
- generous grating black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 pound yellow squash or zucchini
- 1 cup crushed pineapple and juice
Instructions
- Heat a non-stick pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden and beginning to brown (a pinch of baking soda will speed up this process). Add the bell pepper and jalapeno and cook until softened, about two minutes. Add the garlic, stir briefly, and then add tomatoes, beans, broth, and seasonings (but not squash or pineapple). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the beans are cooking, trim the squash and cut into small cubes.
- Add the squash and pineapple, increase the heat a little, and cover. Simmer until squash is just tender. Check seasonings, adding more to taste, and serve.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please Pin and Share:
Andrea @ Vegvacious
Well, I love pineapple, I love black beans, I love chili and I absolutely adore your cup!! This is my kind of recipe & I can’t wait to give it a try while we are still having some chilly weather!
Mary (What's Cookin' with Mary)
I would ave never thought to use pineapple ! What a great idea. I love black beans and anything soup/stew related. I’m a big fan of sweet potato (kinda sweet like pineapple) with black beans, so I’m thinking I would enjoy this one 🙂
Kristi Link
Looks incredible! I am going to try this over the weekend!
Liliana
What a glorious combination!
It will give some warmth and sunlight to our dark Michigan evening.
I’ll be making this recipe tonight.
Rachel
This soup/chili sounds amazing! What about adding cilantro into it too? Mmmm. I can’t wait to try this 🙂
April H
I just got a pressure cooker, so I’m wondering how to work it in there.
Maybe cook the beans, and the other ingredients and steam for a bit? (Mine has a steam function)
SusanV
That sounds like it should work. After you cook the beans, pour off some of the water or it might be too watery. You can always save it and add it back in as needed.
Heather @ Healthy Vegan Recipes
I LOVE pineapple… love it in everything, or on its own… putting it in chili is such an excellent idea! I like that you named this ‘soup stew chili’ – I always find it’s such a thin line between those 3 forms… I was making chili with sweet potato over the winter for a bit of sweetness, but with summer coming up I will totally be switching over to pineapple – thanks for the recipe!! 🙂
Alexia @ Dimple Snatcher
I’m a little tentative about this combination, but luckily I trust your taste since you’ve never let me down, S 🙂
Lois Gowen
I love your comments as much as your recipes. (Touched in the head). Maybe genius is a better way of saying it. Thanks for all the work you do for us and our planet.
SusanV
Aw, thanks, Lois!
Bonnie
I was skeptical about fruit & savory until I tried the Antonia Demas’ Coucous & African Stew in Dr. Esselstyn’s book. Yummy!
I can’t eat zucchini or yellow squash. Would sweet potatoes be a good substitute, or would I need something more watery?
SusanV
I think sweet potatoes will be great. I advise adding them along with the beans (maybe with some extra broth) and then adding the pineapple when the sweet potato is soft.
Julie
I’m a total cooking idiot trying to get better. Do you suggest peeling squash first before using? I like the skin for fiber but sometimes I’ve found them to be bitter. Thanks for helping those of us trying to learn how to cook!
SusanV
Julie, I never peel summer squash, but I’ve never found them to be bitter. If you think you’ll like it better peeled, go ahead and peel it, but you’ll lose some of the nutrients.
Kristen @ Batterlicker.com
I love black beans (especially soups!), and can’t wait to try this variation with pineapple. Sounds delicious!!
LaJana
This sounds so wonderful!!!! Can’t wait to try this!!!! Guess I will have to wait till the weekend though – need some of the ingredients!!!!
Les Johnson
Wow! Great site which I stumbled across on the in internet. I just started being an oil free Vegan about 2 months ago after reading Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. It has been really hard to find cookbooks or vegan internet sites with vegan recipes not containing oil, since just about every one includes at least olive oil. Since Dr. Esselstyn recommends “NO OIL” it has been somewhat of a challenge to find no oil vegan recipes. Your site and recipes fill the bill and look great. Looking forward to trying some of these. Thanks for filling a niche sorely needed!!!
Jeni Treehugger
GENIUS! This just appeals to me soooo much.
*drools on keyboard*
Sonja Lovas
I can tell from reading this recipe and the peppers and powders you used it will be great and perfect for my family! I’m so glad you thought of putting pineapple in it, we love pineapple and can’t wait to try it. Since it is still cold in NY a nice spicy Stew is perfect for almost any day!
Kathleen @ KatsHealthCorner
I LOVE THIS!!!! THANK YOU! I can’t wait to try it! Black Beans are my favorite! 😀
Gwen~healthymamma
That is genious inspiration my friend, genious. 😉
I eat a version of this cubano style with black beans and brown rice. In fact, we are having it tonight using black beans, brown rice, yams and mango instead of pineapple. I will have to try this in a soup! thanks for the idea erhegghmm, I mean inspiration!
Leslie Paquette
This sounds delicious!!! If I were to use fresh pineapple should I just mince it real small? Or do you not recommend using fresh because you need the juice from the canned. I can’t wait to make this. Thanks!!
SusanV
Leslie, I think that would work. Though you won’t have the juice, you will have the flavor of fresh pineapple, which is always a plus.
Mrsflex
Thanks! I decided I wanted to have the pineapple juice too, so I stopped and picked up a can of pineapple. Too bad I didn’t check to make sure I had 2 cans of black beans, oh well. I subbed in 1 can of pinto beans instead. This was absolutely delicious!!! I loved the spicy sweet combo.
Jessica
I used fresh (cut up small pieces) because pineapple was on sale (used 3/4 of a small pineapple). I substituted chipolte pepper with adobe sauce for the jalapeno (which also gave it a sweeter/ spicy flavor). It was an absolutely WONDERFUL. And made leftovers for lunch. YUM YUM
Wendy (Healthy Girl's Kitchen)
Genius!!!! Thank you for the inspiration! I have been making the worlds easiest bean soups (literally 2 cans of beans, 2 cans of fat free refried beans, veggie broth, a jar of salsa and chopped greens). I never would have used my FAVORITE Trader Joe’s pineapple salsa if you hadn’t thought of this. It will be a perfect combo of sweet and spicy . . . yum!
Terry C
What a great idea! And I, too, love your cup! This is something I’d never have thought of — adding pineapple — and I can’t wait to try it.
SusanV
Thanks! The cup came from Anthropologie and comes in lots of different color patterns. I got lucky and found it on the same day that I was making this soup…er stew…er chili! 😉
Jess
I saw the pic first on Foodgawker, and loved the dish, so I clicked on it, and then to see that it was you! Yea! Can’t wait to try this. Haven’t added pinapple to chili before.
Moonwatcher
Hi Susan,
This looks great, and I look foward to trying it. I am a big fan of sweet and savory together, and I love black beans and pineapple, separately and together. I recently made a black bean pasta sauce recipe that called for a little lime juice, and since citrus flares up my fibro, I subbed with pineapple juice. The results were yummy.
love you new photo, too. And, as always, the humor, insight and wit in your posts.
xo
moonwatcher
Elizabeth
I love this idea, but sadly, I’m allergic to Pineapple. I might try this with a tart Mango though – it’s a great recipe for sure.
Thanks again for sharing!!
Monica
Mmmmm, just finished eating this! I used yam instead of squash, and just added it before simmering for 15 minutes. Great combination of flavours!
FoodFitnessFreshair
Beautiful site! I love adding fruit to certain dishes. It always adds a nice surprise of sweetness. Plus, it’s beautiful in the soup above. I could even picture this topped with a pineapple salsa. Great photo!
France @beyondthepeel
My husband loves pineapple and is such a salsa addict. He’ll definitely love this one. Thanks! I love the sweet and savory contrast of fruit it stews or curries.
Lisa
Made this tonight and it was fabulous! Big hit with everyone. I threw everything in the pot and let it simmer most of the day and then served it over brown rice. Thanks for another great recipe!
Amelia
I always look forward to your next recipe and I can’t wait to make this one. It looks wonderful. I have always really loved pineapple in savory dishes. I always add it to my marinara. I also stuff manicotti with pineapple and spinach – very good.
Lizabet
Very tasty. A keeper. My personal preference is for a more pronounced pineapple taste experience, so next time I will use chunks . It reminds me of a McDougall recipe for Carribean Stew.
Kaitlyn
Hi, let me just start by saying I love your blog! You are truly a culinary genius in my book! This isn’t relating to this recipe, but I recall on one of your posts there was a debate about using fats and oils in the comments section. I understand your reasoning, saying that we should use the entire food rather than just the fat from it, but I was wondering if that applies to other foods. For instance, isn’t drinking soy or almond milk kind of the same? We’re only consuming a little of the actual food and discarding the fiber and other things. I’m not trying to argue with you, but I was just wondering if it’s different! Thanks!
karyn h
Well, it snowed again last night, so I was looking for something just like this for dinner. I can’t wait to try it! I’ll be using some butternut squash instead of summer squash, because I have it here and I’m too lazy to drive to the store. LOL
Thanks for another great recipe. You have never let me down.
katy
This looks amazing – I love pineapple in just about anything. Have you ever tried pineapple with chocolate? Surprisingly delicious! Anyhow, do you think this recipe might be good with canned tomatillos instead of tomatoes? I’m allergic to tomatoes sadly…
Jacqueline
Gorgeous colours in the props and the soup. Really liking the sound of the soup 🙂
Ty/Cameraphonevegan.com
Wow, that sounds great! I will definitely have to try this! : )
Sharon
This was awesome. I cut back on the spices and thought it was still a bit hot for us but we ate every last drop!
Cassie
Oh my gosh, this looks so good! I love how pineapple lends itself to so many savory applications. I also love how you can make simple changes to turn this recipe into three different things, depending on your mood… yummmm
lea
I made this yesterday and it was delicious! I typically don’t bother to get out the measuring spoons, but I am glad that I did for this one. The spice combination was perfect, deeply flavored and complex. Definitely a winner. Thank you Susan!
Karena
I made this tonight and it was absolutely wonderful!! Subbed sweet potatoes for the squash as that was what I had on hand; also left out the chipotle as I’m catering to toddler-tastes in addition to my own. Hands down one of the most well-received meals I’ve prepared – everyone finished their bowl. Will definitely making this one again often — also, so glad I made a double batch so we can enjoy it again tomorrow 🙂