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.
Ingredients Needed
- Lean ground beef
- Diced onion
- Fresh garlic
- Taco seasoning packet – Or make your own Taco Seasoning and use about 1/4 cup.
- Diced canned tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Canned kidney beans
- Canned or frozen corn
- Desired toppings
- Pico de gallo
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheese
- Crushed tortilla chips
- Tortilla strips
- Guacamole
How to Make Taco Soup
Stovetop
- 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.
Slow Cooker
- 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. Transfer to slow cooker, add remaining ingredients and cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.
- 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ground turkey would work well, just avoid the extra lean variety, as it tends to be dry and lacks flavor. You could also use rotisserie chicken.
If you follow the slow cooker instructions you can toss everything together in the morning and come home to dinner already made! Leftovers also taste great from the fridge or freezer, so feel free to make it one day and enjoy it later.
Taco Soup
Equipment
- 1 Slow Cooker optional, you can also cook this just fine on the stovetop
Ingredients
- 1 pound 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, sour cream, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, tortilla strips, guacamole
Instructions
Stovetop
- 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.
Slow Cooker
- 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. Place remaining ingredients into a slow cooker and cook on low for about 6-8 hours.
- See notes for Freezer Instructions.
Notes
- Store cooled soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator and consume within 3-4 days for best results.Â
- 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 was calculated without the use of any toppings.
Questions & Reviews
You are my favorite blog for recipes. I use you all the time! Imagine my surprise (and glee) when you blog the taco soup recipe I use all the time! You guys are the best!
My family loves taco soup! I will usually add a cup of cheddar cheese to it.
This is my go to soup. The only thing I do differently is that I use fire roasted crushed tomatoes instead of the tomato sauce. Super easy and yummy!!!
I just made this soup tonight, and it was delicious! Thanks so much for all your yummy recipes.
I love this soup. My family and I tried Weight Watchers Simple Start recently, and me, a lover of original taco soup, NEEDED to find a nice healthy good recipe for taco soup. I made it one night, and all of us loved it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe… it’s a must-make. 🙂
Delish!! Made it to freeze for later meals and it worked out perfectly. I cannot believe something that tastes so good is so low in fat and calories! YUM!
This was awesome. Added white rice to it as well just to test.
Made this last night and both my children ages 13 and 6 and husband loved it! My kids won’t eat kidney beans so I used one can pinto beans and one can chili beans. They want me to make it again. This mom is happy! Thanks!!
Simple and delicious. Thanks for another great one!