Delicious! I did not have any jalapeno peppers but I did use an onion and 2 carrots, chopped. I used an immersion blender at the end and added fresh cilantro before serving.

This was my first time making black bean soup and my husbands first time eating it. We both enjoyed it and will make again. I followed suggestions to add onion and fresh garlic. I also reduced the spice a bit since we don't care for things that are too spicy. Good flavor and simple.

Great spicy flava flave. Perfect for vegetarians on a budget!

Whoa, was it just me or was the cooking time really off? I was planning on making this for lunch so last night I brought the beans to a boil and let them soak overnight. I then put the beans and everything else in the crock pot. At lunch, the beans were still way too hard - that's with cooking on high the whole time! So, I kept cooking them until dinner. The flavor of the soup was good. I was worried that it would be too spicy based on my early taste tests but by the end of cooking, it wasn't nearly as spicy. My husband's only complaint was that he thought the soup was a bit too boring with just the beans and stuff. He wanted more in it.

-to make the quantity less i used 1 can of broth, 2 cans beans - slightly less spices - 1/2 red onion - 1 can seasoned diced tomatoes - 1/2 cup of creamed corn - 8 oz of corn - pureed half of the soup after it was done cooking

I love this black bean soup. I used 5 cups of chicken broth, omitted the cayenne and jalapeno and added a can of rotel and chiles. Cooked it exactly as listed and blended with an immersion blender at the end. Better than Bahama Breeze's black bean soup.

Made this soup today. I cut the spices in half...still too spicy for me, but I'm kinda wimpy on the heat level. I like spicy, but not hot, which, I know, is completely subjective. I added a can of Amy's Vegetarian Organic Refried [Black] Beans. Now just right for me. (November 2007)Help me understand why reviewers lower the rating when they don't follow the recipe? The logic escapes me.

I love the flavor of this soup. As others have suggested, it can be dressed up with avocado, sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips, onions, etc. Also, when the family was tired of soup, I drained the liquid off and used the beans as filling for burritos and as a topping for salads. This recipe makes a lot of soup!

This is a fantastic recipe. I followed it exactly as written except the last hour of cooking I tossed in some brown rice to thicken it. I was using it for tortillas and it worked perfect!! I think I may skip the rice next time so that can just enjoy the soup.

The spices are perfect, but it needs more textures. I tasted it after cooking as directed and decided it needed something. I added a can of crushed tomatoes and used the blender to puree half of the beans. That helped a lot. Then I topped the soup with diced onion and cheese. Next time I'll add tortilla chips as well and maybe some diced bell peppers.

I replaced one of the cups of broth with a can of creamed corn, and added a can of regular corn. I also added a little salsa, cilantro, used veggie broth and omitted the hot sauce. Next time I will add even more salsa or maybe even a can of diced tomatoes. Loved it!

WOW. This was fantastic, and I'll be making it many more times. After spooning into bowls, I loaded it w/ chips, sour cream, cilantro and mild cheddar. Yum!

This recipe was actually too spicy for me, though my boyfriend (less of a spice wuss) LOVED it. I added the tomatoes with chiles as some users suggested, but didn't feel that it added anything. When we got tired of having soup, we drained it and put the beans into burritos with guacamole, which made it easier for me to handle the spice. Overall, very very good.

delicious spicy soup.I added the spices slowly. Starting with 1/4 tsp of spices and went up to 1 tsp. That worked for me. I used 1 cup of chicken broth not 6. I am keeping this recipe.

I love how simple and flavorful it is, and how easy it is to tailor to what's in my fridge. Here's what I did: I used red beans (dried--I had them in my cupboard), and left out the jalepenos (didn't have any). I boiled the beans in the broth for a minute and transfered to the slow cooker (high 4 hrs, low 6 hrs). Then I drained the liquid, and boiled 1lb of frozen cauliflower in it, and then pureed it. I added this to the beans and it came out hot, creamy and delicious!

I altered this recipe slightly, and it was DELICIOUS. I used one can of chopped green chiles in place of the jalapeno and omitted the cayenne (two small children in the house!). I also added a pint of homemade salsa at the end of the cooking time and ran my hand blender through it a couple of times. This didn't make it smooth, just thickened it somewhat. I served it with sour cream, cheddar, and tortilla chips. Leftovers were awesome!

I love the flavor here and I'll be using this recipe (with changes) a lot. As is, this is ridiculously watery, but since practically everyone else has mentioned that, I feel kinda silly for not reducing the liquid to 4 c on the first try. I did mash up the beans by hand a bit at the end. Anyone who thinks this is lacking flavor might want to check the freshness of their spices or quality of their chicken stock.