Delicious Taco Soup Recipe – Our Family’s Favorite Go-To Meal

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Taco soup is the one meal my family asks for over and over. I always have ingredients on hand to make this soup and love that I can get in the table in a jiffy. If you’re looking for quick meal inspiration for busy nights, you will love this recipe!

taco soup

Delicious Taco Soup Recipe – Our Family’s Favorite Go-To Meal

I try to always keep ingredients on hand for a couple meals – my go-to meals – which can mean the difference between take-out pizza or a home-cooked meal. One of my go-to meals is Taco Soup – I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Everyone loves it. It’s quick and easy. The ingredients are easy to keep! And I can cook it in a pinch (as long as I have beans in my freezer).

taco soup

It is a  “open can and dump” meal. Now that I don’t use much canned food it’s a bit less convenient, but as long as my freezer is well stocked, it still makes a delicious go-to meal. If you don’t like to use canned food, you can still make Taco Soup, with this easy recipe that doesn’t use cans!

Another reason we love this recipe is it an so easy, even your kids can help! All of my kids know how to make this soup – yay for quick week night meals made by kids!

Want to easily cook dried beans for this soup using y0ur instant pot? Learn to cook perfect dried instant pot beans here. You can also make your own taco seasoning following this easy recipe and learn how to easily can crushed tomatoes here!

taco soup ingredients

How to make this taco soup

Brown ground beef and drain. Make sure the beef is cooked all the way through to 160 degrees.

Add corn, tomatoes, beans, and spices. Bring to a boil. We use homemade taco seasoning and homemade ranch dressing seasoning as well. If you don’t want to make your own, simply use the pre-made mix packets. We use the equivalent of three taco seasoning packets because we like a little more spice. We use the equivalent of one ranch dressing packet in this recipe.

sara making taco soup (1)

Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. That’s it!

Instead of store bought canned food,  I use two quarts home-canned crushed tomatoes, frozen corn, and beans that I cook in bulk and freeze in large quantities.  

Served with homemade corn bread and a salad, I love that I can have this easy to prepare and delicious meal on the table in under 30 minutes! Yum YUM!!

Yield: 10 servings

Taco Soup – My Go-To Meal

Taco Soup – My Go-To Meal

Quick, easy, and flavorful meal the entire family loves.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

For garnish

  • Shredded cheddar cheese
  • Organic tortilla chips
  • Cilantro
  • Sliced jalapeños or banana peppers
  • Sour cream

Instructions

  1. Brown the ground beef. Make sure to cook it thoroughly, until beef is completely brown and the internal temperature has reached 160 degrees.
  2. Dump tomatoes, beans, corn into the pot after the ground beef is cooked.
  3. And seasoning, and bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  5. Garnish with your choice of extras.
  6. Enjoy.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 468Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 1442mgCarbohydrates: 59gFiber: 12gSugar: 22gProtein: 31g

Nutritional data is not always correct.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram tagging @simplifylivelove! I love to see your photos!

If you liked this taco soup recipe, you might like these soups too:

Zuppa Toscana in the Instant Pot or Stove Top

Instant Pot Chili made with Dried Beans

Creamy Chicken Stew

Hearty Hamburger Soup

Having ingredients for go-to meals on hand helps me keep my grocery budget low and healthy food in our bellies. Do you have a go-to meal? I’d love to know what it is.

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About Michelle Marine

Michelle Marine is the author of How to Raise Chickens for Meat, a long-time green-living enthusiast, and rural Iowa mom of four. She empowers families to grow and eat seasonal, local foods; to reduce their ecological footprint; and to come together through impactful travel.

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14 Comments

  1. I love your taco soup! I need to start cooking and freezing dried beans too… it’s on my list! Do you soak and simmer your beans? Crock pot? Pressure cooker? Please share! 😉

    1. Sometimes I soak overnight and simmer, but I prefer the rapid soak – Rinse and sort beans, cover with water, bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Then, cover the pot and let the beans sit in the water for 1 hour. Drain, add new water, simmer until done. Usually, 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

      1. I just bought dried pinto, kidney, and black beans to try cooking for the first time. I read on one of your recipes that you cook your beans separately because different kinds cook differently. Makes sense. Do you add any type of seasonings along with the beans and water when cooking? When you freeze them, do you include any liquid or just drained beans? Thanks!

        1. Hi Lisa, I don’t add seasoning when I’m cooking beans for freezing, but I do have to add extra salt to recipes that use those beans because canned beans are very salty. Yes, I do include liquid when I freeze them. I don’t have exact amounts, but if you picture what you get out of a can of beans, that’s about what it amounts to! 🙂

          1. Thanks for the tips. I successfully cooked black and pinto beans today, and I made taco soup for supper using those beans, a can of kidney beans, and homemade taco and ranch seasoning mixes. I don’t usually love taco soup, but this was delicious! Definitely adding it to the “keep” binder.

  2. I make this recipe on occasion! Got it from a friend in Okinawa, the one I worked with at Kadena HS, LOVE it 🙂 I don’t add the corn or Matt would not eat it. We put Fritos instead of Tortilla chips and add a can of Ro-Tel and an onion chopped.

  3. Make your own taco seasoning mix:

    1/4 cup dried minced onion
    1/4 cup chili powder
    3 Tbsp salt
    4 tsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
    1 Tbsp dried minced garlic
    1 Tbsp ground cumin
    1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
    2 tsp beef bouillon granules
    1-1/2 tsp dried oregano

    Mix together and put in a tightly sealing container. When ready, add 1 Tbsp of taco seasoning mix to a pound of ground beef, 1/3 cup of water and a can of refried beans (optional). Enjoy!

    I would appreciate knowing of a good healthy alternative to beef bouillon granules if someone knows of one. This is not my recipe but one my family has used for several years. I plan to try freezing my cooked beans. Wonderful idea! I always try to soak them at least overnight and they still taste fine to me to cook them after 2 days of soaking. The germination process makes them easier to digest and removes the phytic acid, I’m told.

    1. Thanks, Maria! I’ll give it a shot. The only alternative I have for beef bouillon granules is just to use homemade beef broth in place of water or other liquid. 🙂

  4. This recipe looks awesome. Thanks for sharing! I was planning to make this tomorrow and was wondering how many people this recipe will generally feed. I thought I might make extra to share. Thanks!

    1. It feeds our family of 6 with sometimes a bowl extra and sometimes no extras – just depends on how hungry we are, I guess! Hope you like it! 🙂