Pacific Foods offers a handful of thick or “creamy” soups that happen to be dairy-free, and of those, one was well-suited to my husband’s taste buds, the Spicy Black Bean Soup. It came in quite handy on a busy day when preparing lunch hadn’t even occurred to me. Fortunately, heat and serve is right up my husband’s alley when he is reaching that grumpy hunger stage, so he managed to prepare a bowl for himself in an instant. As for the taste, he certainly approved, and was in a much better mood following a nice bowl of this.

I took a little more time to prep my bowl, since I wasn’t quite as ravenous. This is a purely smooth and silky soup, not a bean or veggie chunk to be found. I loved the consistency actually; it was like a light cream rather than a starchy thick soup. But, I can never leave well enough alone. I sautéed three sweet carrots in 1 teaspoon of oil, then added the soup to heat, and served it up with some chopped avocado. The combination was delightful.

The soup on its own had a wonderful taste and just the right amount of flavor in terms of heat, spices, and salt. Nothing was over the top, and it all melded rather nicely. There was just one note that kept tasting “off” to me. It was mostly in the aftertaste, so it didn’t deter me from devouring the bowl. Nonetheless, it left me curious, so I checked the ingredients and finally spotted the culprit … cilantro paste. Yes, I am one of those cilantro supertasters who generally dislike it. Cilantro fans will find this soup spot on, but luckily, the cilantro is far enough down the ingredient list that even most “cilantro tastes like soap” people (such as me) will enjoy it.

I will purchase this soup again either for a quick lunch, or as a recipe starter … it has great potential! This soup comes in a shelf-stable, 32-oz aseptic package that is ready to serve. For brands such as Pacific, I usually keep an eye out at my local grocer for sales in the natural food department (which seem to be plentiful these days!), or I purchase on Amazon. It looks like all of the Pacific Foods Soups are available on Amazon for a discount.

This is a third party review by Alisa Fleming, author of Go Dairy Free: The Guide & Cookbook (also available as an eBook). For more information and to purchase this product, visit the Pacific Foods website.

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