Black Bean And Corn Soup With Chorizo
This Black Bean And Corn Soup has all the Mexican flavors you love and allows you to control the amount of spiciness to satisfy you family’s tastes. Simple ingredients, minimal prep and multiple cooking methods make this the perfect soup for your next camp trip.

Why I Love This
It’s so nice to prepare easy camping meals that make something delicious out of a combination of non-perishable canned ingredients, spices and aromatics that are shelf stable and don’t require cold-holding in your limited storage space. Add a few additional fresh ingredients and you have a soup that’s the perfect starter to a yummy Mexican dinner.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions

- Chorizo sausage
- Dried spices
- Beef stock
Chorizo sausage: This pre-spiced sausage does a ton of heavy-lifting to add an enormous amount of flavor to this soup. It has enough heat to satisfy taste buds that like mild Mexican flavors without too much heat.
Dried spices: Chili powder and ground cumin add another layer of Mexican flavor to this soup. This is where you can adjust the spiciness of this dish. As written, this is a medium heat level so if you want to keep this soup on the milder side, reduce or totally eliminate the chili powder.
Beef stock: The liquid in this soup comes from using undrained cans of black beans, whole kernel corn, fire roasted tomatoes and beef stock. If you need to substitute beef broth, I recommend dissolving a beef bouillon cube in the broth before adding it to the pot.
Key Equipment
The one thing I really love about this recipe is the versatility of equipment you can use to make it. In my video, I’m using an Instant Pot but you can also make it in a crockpot or a camp Dutch oven.
- Choose your equipment
- Instant Pot
- Crockpot
- Dutch Oven
How To Make
It’s easy to learn how to make this Black Bean and Corn Soup with my step-by-step instructions, printable recipe card and VIDEO.
Step 1. Heat the olive oil. Use a large pot over medium-high heat or an Instant Pot on sauté mode.
Step 2. Brown the chorizo sausage. Break up the meat with a spoon as it cooks. The color won’t change much because of the spices in the meat, so look for the texture change to indicate the meat is browned.

Step 3. Add the onion and garlic to the pot when the meat is almost cooked through.

Step 4. Add the spices and stir them into the mixture to combine well. Remember, this is where you can reduce the spiciness of the dish by reducing or totally eliminating the chili powder. The chorizo sausage will have enough spice in the meat if you like a very mild level of heat.

Step 5. Add canned ingredients and stir to combine well. Remember, you are not draining any liquid from the canned ingredients.


Step 6. Cook according to the directions for the type of equipment you’re using.

- For Instant Pot: Cover with lid and lock it. Switch steam valve to the VENT position. Select the SLOW COOK/MANUAL setting and set the cooking time for 3 hours at HIGH TEMPERATURE. Press start. Adjust for altitude if you’re cooking at an elevation above 2,000 feet (see recipe card below for more details.)
- For Slow Cooker: Transfer hot soup to crockpot, cover with lid and set on HIGH and cook for 2 hours.
- For Dutch Oven: Cover with lid, reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for 1 hour.
Step 7. Remove lid, stir and serve hot. Garnish, if desired.
Expert Tip
There is a difference between Mexican-style chorizo and Spanish chorizo.
- Mexican chorizo is heavily seasoned with dry chilies and aromatic spices. Cinnamon and clove give the raw meat a deep red color making it difficult to know when it is fully cooked.
- Spanish chorizo is cured like a salami giving it a hard texture in link form.
When Mexican chorizo is fully cooked it will turn a slightly browner shade of red and the grease begins to separate. In this recipe the soup will cook long enough to fully cook the meat before serving.
Pairings
I like serving this as a starter for my Mexican flavored main dishes. My Dutch Oven Mexican Chicken uses similar spices and includes rice in a simple one-pot meal. Soup and sandwiches always go together so try this Tex-Mex flavored Diablo Sandwich Recipe that combines a little sweet and a little heat.
FAQs
This recipe calls for canned beans that are already cooked. It also uses the liquid from the can to help create the broth in the soup. So, dried beans are not a substitute for canned beans in this particular recipe.
Your cooking method and elevation can impact the consistency of your soup. If it is too thin, remove the cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until the soup thickens to your desired consistency. Alternatively, you can add some flour or cornstarch to the soup to thicken it, but mix it with a splash of the hot soup in a small bowl before adding it to the pot of soup to create a smooth mixture.
Leftovers
Store leftovers in a sealed food storage container in the refrigerator up to a few days or in the freezer up to a few months. Reheat in a covered pot over low heat until warmed through.
Servings
This soup makes six servings. If you want to scale it up to serve more people, make sure your cooking equipment can handle the increased quantity. Be particularly careful not to exceed the quantity limit in an Instant Pot. You also may need to adjust the cooking time based on how much you increase the quantities.
Similar Soup Recipes
Meal Planning
Use my camping menu planner to stay organized when planning meals for your next trip. It’s FREE and you’ll get it delivered instantly to your inbox!
Watch How To Make It

Recipe

Black Bean And Corn Soup With Chorizo
Equipment
- 6 Quart Instant Pot, Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Mexican chorizo sausage
Vegetables & Spices
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tablespoon chili powder see Note #2
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 pinch black pepper
Canned Ingredients
- 1 (15 oz) can beef stock
- 2 (15 oz) cans black beans undrained
- 1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn undrained
- 1 (15 oz) can fire roasted tomatoes undrained
Optional Garnish For Serving
- Cilantro, spicy peppers, drizzle of sour cream
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat or Instant Pot on sauté mode.
- Brown chorizo sausage, breaking up the meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes.
- When meat is almost cooked through, add the onion, garlic and spices to the pot. Cook about 2 minutes.
- Add canned ingredients and stir to combine well.
- For Instant Pot: Cover with lid and lock it. Switch steam valve to the VENT position. Select the SLOW COOK/MANUAL setting and set the cooking time for 3 hours at HIGH TEMPERATURE. Press start. (See Note #3)For Slow Cooker: Transfer hot soup to crockpot, cover with lid and set on HIGH and cook for 2 hours. For Dutch Oven: Cover with lid, reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for 1 hour.
- Remove lid, stir and serve hot. Garnish, if desired.
Notes
- Cooking times are different based on the equipment you are using. For Instant Pot: Cover with lid and lock it. Switch steam valve to the VENT position. Select the SLOW COOK/MANUAL setting and set the cooking time for 3 hours at HIGH TEMPERATURE. For Slow Cooker: Transfer hot soup to crockpot, cover with lid and set on HIGH and cook for 2 hours. For Dutch Oven: Cover with lid, reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for 1 hour.
- This soup has a medium level of heat. Reduce chili powder to 1 teaspoon for a mild heat or eliminate it completely.
- If you are camped at an elevation above 2,000 feet MSL (mean sea level) you may need to adjust your cooking time to compensate for the thinner air. Increase Instant Pot cooking time by 5 percent for every 1,000 feet above 2,000 feet of elevation.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment, question or suggestion below. I’d love to hear from you so let’s chat.