Chilli bean soup
Ready-made pasta sauce makes a great base for this super-quick and easy chilli bean soup. Add soured cream, grated cheese and tortilla chips for a real feast.
Ingredients
- 350–400g jar tomato and chilli pasta sauce
- 2 x 400g tins black beans, red kidney beans, or other tinned beans, drained and rinsed
- 500ml/18fl oz vegetable or chicken stock, made with 1 stock cube
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the toppings
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú cheddar, coarsely grated
- 100²µ/3½´Ç³ú soured cream or Greek yoghurt
- 2–3 handfuls tortilla chips (around 80g/2¾oz)
Method
Put the pasta sauce and beans into a large saucepan. Stir in the stock, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and ladle into bowls. Top with grated cheese, soured cream or yoghurt, and tortilla chips.
Recipe Tips
If you don’t have a jar of pasta sauce, gently fry chopped onion until soft, then add a tin of chopped tomatoes with a little chilli paste, chilli flakes or finely chopped fresh chilli and simmer until thickened.
Add cooked chicken, leftover cooked mince, sliced mushrooms or lightly fried chunks of paneer to make the soup into a chilli-style stew.
Instead of the soured cream or Greek yoghurt, use crème fraîche, fromage frais, natural yoghurt or garlic mayonnaise.
Swap the tortilla chips for crisps or triangles of baked tortillas.
Sliced avocado, a squeeze of lime juice and fresh coriander leaves are great additions to the topping