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.
- 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
My recipe for taco soup has a package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing which gives it a zing and I use Rotel or Mexican style tomatoes for an extra zing. Not sure if that would add to the points or not. But it is good and my Taco soup is my 2nd most asked for recipe. I also use a combo of kidney beans and black beans. I love black beans.
Wonder how much of a difference in taste would there be if made with chicken and a little bacon instead of ground beef?
My brother makes this soup too! He makes it a bit different though. Will have to post the recipe sometime soon. His has chicken in it and chili beans.
Thank you so so much for posting the WW points! i can't say it enough! I'm definitely going to tell my meeting about this recipe- they'll be stoked!
I thought maybe our brain sharing was over with 2010 but I was wrong! http://betsylife.com/?p=2260 I love taco soup! I love what you wrote about rinsing the beans too. My husband always tries to rinse the beans in the can and I inevitably have to re-rinse! Happy New year!
Thank You! My daughter and I just joined Weight Watchers and can't wait to try this!
p.s. – Love, love, love your blog!!!
Queen of Dishing–I haven't made it with crushed tomatoes, but I totally bet you could!
Brandi–It has the potential to be really high in sodium, but you can buy some or all low sodium or no salt-added products, including the taco seasoning. Also, rinsing the beans and corn will help a lot with reducing the sodium.
Jenn–I'm picky about my tomato products, too, but I really like the Great Value brand. I also really love Western Family tomato products (if you have stores that carry those).
NikiTheo–Generally, by the time you've lost the weight you want to lose, you've kind of trained your body how to eat healthily. When I lost weight before, I maintained it without tracking anything for about 3 years (until I got pregnant the first time). But you can become a lifetime member and still track what you're eating if you want.
Did not know about reducing sodium by washing. Thanks. First time to your site. Like what I am seeing. Thinking about starting WW. Your site might have just motivated me (I dread thinking of what to make for dinners, esp while doing WW).
I totally get it!! That’s actually why I love Weight Watchers because for me, it’s the easiest plan to follow while still eating “real” food–I always fall off the South Beach wagon because I don’t want to make separate meals for my kids and they don’t appreciate steak… 🙂
Mmm… sounds delicious and healthy! I don't need the extras, so even better.
I've never done Weight Watchers… Can I ask, how does it work when you stop counting the points?
This sounds wonderful. I might try making it with ground turkey which really accents the flavor of onions and garlic (even better than beef).
Great recipe – thanks for sharing it.
🙂
ButterYum
I make it with Turkey all the time. Its great!!
We make it with turkey a lot as well! LOVE IT!! Have never done the pico de gallo on top though so trying that today! =)
Yum-a-rooni! (that's a word, right?!)
I can't wait to make this – it sounds easy, delicious and if it makes as much as it sounds, I can freeze some for later this winter too!
Thanks for this ladies!!!
(I'm not doing WW but am trying to lose weight so this is truly wonderful)
and a question …. do you all find that Great Value brand of vegetables, tomatoes/sauces, etc are just as good as name-brand? I'm funny about textures of my canned veggies (I find some store-brands too mushy) so I've always bought Green Giant or Del-Monte or Hunts.
thanks!