Chè đậu đen is the Vietnamese sweet soup made mainly from black beans, sugar, and coconut milk.
The beans are simmered until tender and sweetened with sugar. The finished dessert can be served warm, chilled, or over ice, and coconut milk may be spooned over it for a creamy contrast. Some versions include tapioca pearls or crushed ice.
It belongs to the broad Vietnamese chè family, a group of sweet soups, puddings, and drinks made from ingredients such as beans, grains, fruit, tubers, and coconut. The word chè therefore describes a category rather than one single recipe.
Chè đậu đen is not the same as chè đậu xanh, which uses mung beans, or chè trôi nước, which features glutinous-rice dumplings filled with mung-bean paste. Those desserts share the chè name but have different textures and main ingredients.