I love this easy taco soup made with ground meat and pantry staples! It combines all the best parts of taco night into a healthy, hearty, and delicious one pot soup!
You are looking at 30 minutes to make our taco soup recipe on the stove. It’s one of my favorite cozy weeknight dinners! I’ve even shared how to make it using a slow cooker below the recipe. My family loves tacos (see all of the taco recipes on Inspired Taste as proof). This recipe packs everything we love about the taco and turns it into a soup!
Every time we make this taco soup, we are blown away by its flavor. It’s packed with ground meat, beans, and veggies. I know that you and your family will love it. If you love this taco-inspired soup, I highly recommend taking a look at our chicken tortilla soup!
Key Ingredients
- Ground Meat: For this taco soup, you can use lean ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. It’s up to you! I love this soup with ground pork, which reminds me of my favorite pork tacos!
- Taco Seasoning: Use your favorite store-bought seasoning or try our homemade taco seasoning, which has much more flavor than most packets you can buy at the store.
- Veggies: I love onion for texture, garlic, a can of diced green chiles (I love the Hatch brand), and a large can of tomatoes. When I have it in the freezer, I love tossing in some frozen corn!
- Beans: I add canned beans to bulk up the soup. I love black beans, pinto beans, or kidney beans.
- Broth: Use a flavorful chicken stock, either store-bought or homemade stock.
- Fresh Dill: It seems odd for a taco-inspired dish, but holy smokes, it adds incredible flavor. It’s also our way of adding the flavor of Ranch to the soup. It’s common to add a packet of Ranch seasoning to taco soup. Instead of the store-bought packet, we go for the real thing and stir in lots of fresh (an ingredient in Ranch). Try it, it’s so good!
- Toppings: Add as many of your favorite taco toppings to this soup as you like. I love avocado or a spoonful of guacamole, sliced jalapeños (although candied jalapeños would be amazing), and crumbled cotija cheese. Homemade tortilla chips or corn tortillas are also amazing on the side!
How to Make Taco Soup
This weeknight taco soup might be the easiest soup recipe on Inspired Taste! To make it, you’ll brown your ground meat in some oil, then move it to one side of the pot. Toss in your onions and cook them until softened.
Stir in the taco seasoning and garlic, then follow up with the remaining soup ingredients (tomatoes, chiles, beans, corn, and stock). Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, then serve with your favorite taco toppings. Easy!
Weeknight Taco Soup
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
My family loves this taco soup made with ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, and turkey all work), veggies, beans, and a simple homemade taco seasoning. It has everything we love about taco night made into a delicious soup! The dill in the recipe is a substitute for store-bought Ranch seasoning (a common ingredient in taco soup). It really does make the soup delicious! If you’d like to use a slow cooker, see the tips below the recipe.
You Will Need
1 pound (450g) lean ground meat like beef, turkey, chicken, or pork
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons taco seasoning, try homemade taco seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28oz) can whole or diced tomatoes
1 (4oz) can diced green chiles
2 (15oz) cans beans like black beans, pinto beans, or kidney beans
1 cup frozen corn
3 cups (709ml) chicken stock or vegetable broth
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, optional
Salt and cayenne pepper or hot sauce to taste
Optional for serving: Avocado or guacamole, diced tomatoes or pico de gallo, shredded or crumbled cheese, shredded lettuce or cabbage, sliced jalapeños, cowboy candy, sour cream, tortilla chips
Directions
1Heat the oil in a large soup pot (or Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. As the meat cooks, use a wooden spoon to break the meat into crumbles.
2Move the browned meat to the side. Add the onions and cook, stirring them around the pot, until they soften, about 5 minutes.
3Stir in the garlic and taco seasoning and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4Add the tomatoes with their juices, canned chiles, beans, corn, and the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break apart the tomatoes as the soup simmers. Stir in the dill.
5Taste, then adjust with salt and cayenne pepper or hot sauce. Serve with your favorite taco toppings.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: I actually think it gets better over time! Refrigerate the soup stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Vegetarian or vegan taco soup: Skip the ground meat and use vegetable broth. To bulk up the soup a bit, add extra vegetables. I love to add bell peppers, chopped sweet potatoes, and shredded cabbage. I’d brown the veggies before adding the stock and tomatoes for even more flavor.
- Slow cooker taco soup: To make the soup in a slow cooker, you’ll need a skillet and a slow cooker. Brown ground meat in a bit of oil. Move the browned meat to one side of the pot, add chopped onions and cook, stirring around the skillet, until softened. Add the browned meat, onions, and the remaining soup ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir. Cook on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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I was very surprised that this was so good! There were so many cans I was a little skeptic, but I really was happy how it turned out. I’m in the mountains cooking and freezing for our trips here for the winter. This is a keeper which will be in the freezer until our next trip up😊
I made this last night and it was delicious. Even my husband – who doesn’t like dill – agreed that it was tasty! I made the recipe exactly as called for, and added some chipotle hot sauce at the end which was excellent. Thank you!
Chipotle would be delicious on these. So glad you enjoy them 🙂
This recipe is so flavorful and it is a huge time saver. This soup is a huge hit!
This recipe was a great template, I just threw the stuff together and didn’t need to worry about exact amounts and it came out. A M A Z I N G. I will be keeping this in my weekly pantry meal lineup for sure!
Thanks
Thank you for all your recipes & tips & helpfulness. I know I have always appreciated it & I’m sorry I never said thank you. I have wanted to make my own taco seasoning so thank you for the ingredients to yours. I can’t wait to taste this soup!
Should the canned ingredients be drained? I actually made this soup the other day, and it was awesome and easy to make, but I drained the canned items prior to adding. Still, I was wondering to drain or not to drain?
* Forgot to mention, I made the soup in a dutch oven on the stovetop.
Hi James, We do not drain the canned items for this recipe.
thanks for sharing these tips. These recipes are very useful for me.