This Taco Soup is one of my family’s FAVORITE meals! I love this recipe because it’s super easy–make it on the stovetop or toss everything into your crockpot and let it simmer all day. Plus, it uses up a whole bunch of refrigerator and pantry staples: canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, taco seasoning (you can even make your own in bulk!), and kidney beans. Oh, and a fresh onion and some fresh garlic. It’s cheap, packed with protein, and feeds a smally army. In fact, my oldest son, who has always been a die-hard chili fan (this Easy Weeknight Chili and Sara’s Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili are two of his favorite meals) declared this his favorite. So. That’s saying a lot.
My favorite topping is a big spoonful or two of Pico de Gallo. It adds a lot of fresh flavor with almost no extra calories. I also love adding some sour cream, shredded cheese, and some crushed tortilla chips (or, if you’re feeling fancy, you could fry your own tortilla strips.
Taco Soup
Description
This family-friendly taco soup is packed with protein and fiber, uses a whole bunch of pantry staples, and feeds a small army!
Ingredients
1 lb. lean or extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
4–5 cloves garlic, minced
1 1.25-ounce packet taco seasoning (or make your own and use about 1/4 cup)
3 cups water, divided
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained (or 1 cup frozen corn)
Toppings: Pico de Gallo, light sour cream, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, tortilla strips, guacamole, etc.
Instructions
Heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. When hot, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic. When almost brown, add the taco seasoning and 1 cup water. Add the remaining ingredients, including the remaining 2 cups water, bring to a medium boil, then, cover and reduce heat. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. Serve with desired toppings. Makes 10 1 1/2-cup servings.
Notes
Slow Cooker Instructions: After browning the meat, place all the ingredients into a slow cooker and cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
Freezer Instructions: Because of all the canned goods, you’ll just take up a lot of space in your freezer if you freeze the whole recipe. However, after it’s been cooked, the leftovers freeze extremely well. You can even try freezing individual portions in 12-oz. freezer-safe containers and then reheating them for a quick lunch.
Nutritional Information (using 93% lean ground beef):
Calories: 188
Fat: 3.6
Fiber: 8.6
Protein: 15.8
Questions & Reviews
Made this soup tonight and it was delicious! This recipe is cheap to buy for and makes a ton of servings! I froze half of it and def will be making this again!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this soup, coming from a non-tomato lover – the only changes I made was to cut the cans of diced tomatoes to 1 and I used petite diced (I did make once before using 2 cans and found there were just too many tomatoes), and I used 1 envelope taco mix and probably another 1/4 of another. DELICIOUS! 🙂 Thank you!!
I liked your comment at the top about how you made this all the time as newly weds. We’re not quite married yet (this June!) but we moved together for a new job one of us had (which turns out harder to plan a wedding from out of town with my church between him taking membership classes and planning the decoration but anyway) and we are seriously broker than broke. It’s a luxury to order pizza. BUT I’m trying to get into doing more slow cooker type meals and freeze them (my mom recently bought me one 🙂 ) and this one looks great! But is there a way to unthaw soups I don’t know of? Last time we tried our vegetable soup tomato base like somehow separated from the water and our noodles were hard and crusty and I hate to waste food. Any ideas?
This is a great soup to add in a little quinoa. It isn’t really noticed but adds in a healthy grain!
I added a can of refried beans. It helped to thicken it.
What is the serving size for 4 points?
made this last night for dinner- so delicious…plenty of leftovers…yummy frozen meals now. thanks again for another great meal 🙂
I would love to see more recipes with WW points, Thank you!
Always looking for new ideas for WW menues. We have a small group up where I live that gets together each week to help each other out loosing weight. I will share.
I have used the Taco Soup recipe…it’s great! I have revamped it at times and used veggies, instead of beans, and it’s very tasty! It’s an idea for something else to try.
I stopped looking for a decent enchilada soup recipe a few months ago because everything I found online was just blah. But I came across this taco soup recipe and its the next best thing. I might tweek this up with chicken and maybe some ancho chile but for now this will do for dinner tonight!
BTW, I found this site yesterday and haven’t gotten off it since. I am absolutely in love with this site. You guys do a great job at connecting with moms who are looking for semi-homemade lifestyles. SIDENOTE: I am amazed at how much in common I have with you guys. Its like you know me!
I have made this recipe but in it my recipe calls for a package of Hidden Valley Ranch mix. It makes it taste even better also don’t drain the bean, or corn. I got it at a weight watchers meeting years ago when my son was 9 so lets see 20 years ago. WOW!!
I LOVE this recipe. I recently tried it and I am totally going to make it again. I really love how much it made, too. I had enough for dinner for my family of four, leftovers for my lunch twice and enough to give as a freezer meal to a lady I visit teach. I had it yesterday for lunch at work and I literally scarfed it down it was so good. Plus, it’s diet friendly. Yay! Thank you so much for sharing.
Sorry… not pinto beans… I ment to put kidney beans 🙂
Making this today in the slow cooker 😉 Do you still have the three cups of water when cooking in a slow cooker?
Yep, you really can make it exactly the same and just pop it in the slow cooker.
Years ago I did WW and they had a mis print in their book that one peanut butter cup was 15 points. I was going along well, loosing weight, and then one night I had a dream that I ate a 15 pt PB cup. I awoke crying.
We love taco soup too for all the same reasons. But instead of the extra water we add a can of V8 juice (spicy works great too). A little more flavor and a little creamier.
Made this today in the slow cooker. We don't eat much ground beef in our house so I threw in a pound of frozen chicken breasts with the soup and let them cook all day. Then chopped them up before serving. This made plenty of leftovers to freeze. I think next time I might use less tomato.
Thank you so much for this recipe, it made a cold turn much warmer. I changed a little the recipe wit products that I have and posted it on my blog with a link to yours.
I made this on Wednesday during a little snow day we were having in NJ, and i have eaten it everyday since, and I am a little sad that there is only 2 cups of it left. It is SO delicious and filling and fits perfectly into my new WW recipes. Cant wait to see what other WW friendly recipes are to come.
I am so excited about your blog! My friend just told me today that I should check out your blog (specifically because of the post about flavored hot chocolate, YUM) and it's definately a keeper! I am making this soup (and the pico de Galla) for dinner as soon as I get home from work and I can't wait! I love that it looks so easy and delicious and low cal! I can't wait to enjoy it!!!
oh my gosh, this is so good! i just made it for my family & the hubby & son loved it! due to my husband's undying love for ranch beans, i substituted 1 can of those for 1 can of the kidney beans, rinsed & drained, and it turned out so yummy! next time i may try my fave, black beans. i also used only 1 can of tomatoes. such an amazing recipe!! thanks so much!
I made this last night for company, but used shredded chicken (because it's what we had) and I accidentally got two smaller cans of tomatoes so I added 1 cup of chicken broth in an attempt to make up for the lost juices. Yikes.
Luckily it turned out GREAT! And I have NEVER thought of putting pico de gallo on soup before but I can't thank you enough for that idea. YUUUUUUUM!
Thanks for an easy, healthy, and cheap meal idea!
My mom makes this a lot and its sooo delish. Its not become a staple in my house. Sometimes we put it over lettuce for a salad (just drain some of the liquid with a slotted spoon). yummy!
I made this for dinner last week (used turkey instead of beef) and both my husband and I loved it. Plus, it was so easy to make. Thanks for the idea!
Thank you Kate! I love your blog and visit often! Here's my take on your YUMMY soup! It's wonderful!
http://deedeecampbell.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-taco-soupoh-so-yummy.html
I made this tonight and it was fantastic! Can't wait for that cookbook! Will recipes from your blog be included in the cookbook?
This is the taco soup recipe I've used for years. It's great, but I use a can of tomato soup rather then the tomato sauce. It's my fave!!
My husband and I have been on WW for awhile, and when I first saw this in my email, I knew I was going to have to make it. I bought all the stuff to make it, and then I had to quit WW! Just found out I'm pregnant with our first child. WW or not, I'm still making this soup. It's on the stove right now and it smells wonderful! I might be making this a lot over the next 9 months.
Just made this last night! Tasted great and was very filling! Hubby said it's one of his new faves! :))