Instant Pot Black Bean & Butternut Squash Soup

This Instant Pot Black Bean Soup is the perfect healthy dinner to make any night of the week. Hearty, easy to whip up and is veggie-loaded with delicious butternut squash. Vegan and gluten free.

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“Mmmmmmm. This is so so so good, Mom! Can you make it for dinner again tomorrow night?” said my 8 year old daughter, Alice, as she inhaled a bowl of this Instant Pot Black Bean and Butternut Squash Soup.

Now, let me tell you. This is not an every night occurrence. Don’t get me wrong, my daughter has definitely been raised to appreciate that she has food to eat and to value the love and effort put into the meals she is served. However, she knows she has an important job to the TNN community.

My family is truly my harshest critics when it comes to recipes. My daughter (who is 8 and takes her job as being the voice for all the kiddos who eat my recipes very seriously) will be the first to tell me when something is a no-go. No sugarcoating. Just “Yeah, no Mom. That looks weird” or she takes two bites of something and will make a dramatic face and say “I’m not eating that.”

Some people might be offended by their child rejecting their food, but I know that when Alice loves something as much as she loved this soup that you all are going to go nuts over it. And this Black Bean and Butternut Squash Soup is a total and complete veggie-loaded hit that you simply have to make!

Is this Instant Pot Black Bean and Butternut Squash Soup kid-friendly?

Oh yes! If you can’t tell from my daughter’s reaction recorded above, she believes that this cozy, veggie-loaded soup is going to be a hit with the littles in your house.

I find that blended soups like this one tend to be well received by young eaters. There is an even conscience instead of random color and textures in one bowl that might overwhelm them.

Can I use dry beans when making this Instant Pot Black Bean Soup?

I love cooking beans from dry and often do it (check out my slow cooker black beans or my Instant Pot Cuban black beans), but the thing about cooking beans from dry is that they take A LOT longer to cook then veggies and require a good amount of liquid. I wanted to make a hearty, veggie-loaded plant based soup recipe that you all could quickly make on the busiest of nights or when you had a hungry crowd asking when dinner was over and over again as you were trying to figure out what the heck to make.

So, no. Dry beans that haven’t been cooked won’t work in this recipe.

I highly recommend either cooking a big ‘ol batch of black beans and freezing them (they freeze so well after they are cooked) to keep on hand or keeping a stash of canned black beans in your pantry. Both options will come in so handy and you will find yourself grateful to have an emergency stash of beans more often than not.

When seasoning, keep your broth in mind.

If I have learned one thing over my many years of soup making, it is that the broth I use matters A LOT in the overall flavor of the soup.

Not all broths are made exactly the same. If you make your own and even brand to brand. Low sodium to regular. Vegetable or chicken or beef. They all will taste different.

Whatever broth you use, be mindful of how salty or seasoned it already is….and adjust the seasoning in this recipe to fit your own unique tastes!

Suggested Adaptions

• Use frozen butternut squash. Don’t feel like you have to stick to fresh. Grab a bag of frozen, pre-cut butternut squash and make the prep for this even easier!
• Use butternut squash puree. If you have a can of that kicking around, totally feel free to add that instead of the cubbed. I mean, the soup is going to be pureed anyway, so knock yourself out! I would say 1 1/2 cups of puree should do!
• Sub the butternut squash with sweet potato or pumpkin. Not a butternut squash fan? Or maybe you just don’t have any on hand? Sub equal amounts cubed sweet potato or pumpkin in this recipe for an equally tasty soup!
• Crank up the spice! I made this mellow in the spice department because I was serving it to a little one with sensitive tastebuds. But if you and your crew love a little extra heat, I totally suggest upping the amount of chili powder in this recipe to fit your personal taste! Also, when buying your diced tomatoes, grab some with green chilis for an extra punch of heat!
• Make it in your slow cooker! No Instant Pot? That’s cool. Just sauté the onions, garlic and spices in a pan before adding them to the slow cooker with the remaining ingredients. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or until the butternut squash is fork tender and puree as normal.
• Make it on the stove top! After you sauté the onions, garlic and spices, add the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and let the soup simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the squash is fork tender. Puree as normal.

Other veggie-loaded soup recipes you are going to want to curl up with…

• Instant Pot Lentil Soup
• Mexican Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
• Slow Cooker Turkey Taco Chili
• Slow Cooker Chicken & Butternut Squash Stew
• Instant Pot Paleo Pumpkin Chili