Taco Soup
Tired of chilly weather? Many of us are home due to icy or snow-laden roads. What better to do than make a big pot of something warm to make staying home worthwhile?
If your family turns up their noses at chili, then make up a batch of this heart-warming replacement, and I promise you they won’t turn up their noses.
Hopefully you have the ingredients on hand and don’t have to brave the weather to go to the grocery.
Let’s throw together some Taco Soup.
Taco Soup
- 1 Pound of your favorite ground meat
- 1 Packet Ranch dressing mix
- 1 Packet Taco Seasoning (any brand)
- 1 Can Tomatoes and Chilies (any brand)
- 1 Small can tomato sauce
- 1 Can black beans (see below)
- 1 Can kernel corn (optional)
- Goya Mexican Seasoning – Optional
- Couple cans of water
- Brown the meat in a big heavy saucepan, drain.
- With stove on medium, add tomatoes, sauce, beans, and 2 cans of water and mix well.
- Add Ranch and Taco packets.
- Mix well and add more water to the thickness you desire.
- Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes.
OMISSION: The meat is not in this photo. That is because I took mine out of the freezer, already cooked. I know. I’m so good.
SUBSTITUTIONS: You may substitute plain diced tomatoes for the Ro-Tel, if you don’t like spicy. You may substitute chili, kidney, or pinto beans. Don’t worry if you don’t have Goya seasoning. It’s fine without it.
Set oven to 400 degrees while soup simmers for about 20 minutes.
We like to eat ours with homemade tortilla strips made from flour tortillas. They’re easy to make.
Tortilla Strips
~~~~~~~~~
Flour tortillas
Pizza cutter
Cookie sheet
Baking spray
Using a pizza cutter (Termite’s idea), slice flour tortillas in thin strips and place on greased baking sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes until crispy. Bake a pan full because they replace crackers and are actually very delicious with the soup. If you don’t have tortillas on hand, ready-made tortilla chips also go well with this hearty soup.
Garnish with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and lettuce (if you have it) and ole`! Delicious taco soup in half an hour.
This really is an easy dish to prepare, and it is almost impossible to mess it up. I have made it with two cans of different kinds of beans, and every time, it is delicious. I’ve also been told that if you are vegetarian, you can double the beans and leave out the meat.
So, see? We bayou people really can make more than gumbo!
What’s on your stove top today?
Keeping it warm,
BW
I think my husband would leave me for you 🙂 This sounds delicious.
It is sooooo very easy, Sue. Sometimes, when I’m in a hurry, I just throw everything in at one time without browning the meat, provided it is a very lean meat!
That soup sounds really good! My hubby loves anything with Rotel tomatoes in it. Gonna have to make this over the weekend.
It really is tasty, and again, use any kind of beans you like. The black beans just give is that Mexican flare.
This recipe sounds great. I hope everyone is keeping warm. I have been inTucson where we had a hard freeze last night. I heard Silver City was minus 8 last night! I didn’t think it could get so cold this close to the border.
Hope all is warm and well when you get back to Silver City. What are you cooking for this cold weather?
Beef Stew in the belly tonight. I made up a big batch yesterday so I could bring my dad some this morning. I fixed him 6 1/2 pnt. containers for his freezer , 3 qts for ours and still had enough for supper w/leftovers for Hubby tomorrow at lunch.
Tomorrow was going to be baked chicken until reading this.
If I leave out the Mexican seasoning and substitute Kidney for the Black beans, it’s a go for tomorrow night. I even have tortillas in the fridge.
Made beef stew in crockpot last week that ws delicious. Sounds good! Enjoy your taco soup today!
That soup sounds good. Maybe tomorrow.
Some meals just go with cold weather like Gumbo, Chili, Soup, Brunswick Stew, or………. Chicken and Dumplins.
Tonight it was
Chicken and dumplins with the chewy sinker dumplins not those puffy fluffy ones. The kind where you open the can of baking powder and sit it next to to the flour and just think about adding some, ( I used an old Guinea Hen from the freezer).
When it gets nasty cold outside its time for a freezer raid, all that good stuff you know you are saving for a reason.
C & D is something I have cooked but never added to our favorites. The Captain does not like chicken, so that ended that. I didn’t grow up eating them, either, but I bet yours are very good 🙂 I’ve been trying to clean out the freezer, too. Got a good duck recipe?
I love chicken and dumplings. BW you could add a brick of cream cheese and that’s also good. I think my daughter-in-law used chicken in hers.
We add shredded cheddar to our bowls as desired, although cream cheese sounds interesting!
I have made this several times. We use fritos with ours. Nice presentaion. Only I cook mine on stove top.
Colleen, mine was on stove top too. Did I say something else? Fritos, mmmmm. They are salty! I find this dish very, very salty between the taco seasoning and ranch dressing packets. The homemade tortillas balance it out for me, I guess. I do LOVE me some Fritos, though!
MY bad, its the tortillias you were cooking in stove while soup simmered on stove top. 🙂
BW, Frito Lay now makes a “less salty” version of fritos and I love them. They don’t make my feet swell up like the regular ones.
Oh, I haven’t seen them. Thanks, Cam!
I love taco soup but, hubby doesn’t care for it. I usually use chicken in it and add chunked up avocado just as I serve it.
It is ironic that you said Bayou people can make more than gumbo. I put on a crockpot of chicken and smoked sausage, filet gumbo this am and we had it over rice tonight. YUMMY!!! I have enough left to make two more 2-person meals and it will go in the freezer for later.
I have a nice, hickory smoked spiral ham for tomorrow that was on sale for .99 lb this week. I see ham chowder in my future too.
Do you make a “white chili”? It’s good, too, containing chicken and white beans . . . gumbo really does sound good right now. And maybe even an old-fashioned vegetable soup. Momma used to make what she called “vegetable gumbo” in the winter. I loved smelling that aroma when I walked in from school . . . and buttered crackers . . .
Hubby isn’t crazy about white beans either. It is pintos with bacon or ranch style for him. I made the vegetable gumbo earlier in the week with okra, tomatoes, onion, garlic, corn, chicken broth & elbow macaroni. I had the left overs for lunch today.
Sometimes, I put browned, ground meat in it.
I want some of my mommy’s vegetable gumbo. Can somebody please make me some? BigSis? Are you reading this?
my husband thinks I’m crazy for putting butter on my crackers when I eat chili. Glad to see i’m not the only one who does this.
Oh, honey, its just so delicious! Right?
My soup is simmering as I type. I did a taste test after about 10 minutes…I like it. Hubby hasn’t tasted it yet. If he doesn’t care for it, he can eat chicken nuggets tonight along with 4 of the grandchildren. Two of them will probably like it too. One will say it’s too spicy and the last one will look at it and say he doesn’t like it.
Mmmmmm. What time is supper? 🙂
You’ve inspired me. Ingredients for Taco Soup waiting on the countertop. But we’ll be having biscuits with ours. I don’t have any Goya, but usually add a little cilantro.
Ewwww cilantro I hate the stuff bad. I used to hate garlic as well but I overcame that like I did with grits.
I made Carroll Shelby Choupiquer chili this am with cajun beans and real meat not ground. Based on foggy memory of M_D camp out. Too much garlic, remember?
I did eat it with Tostito’s rounds tonight.
Fishing was bad one baby bream and too much snow on ice.
I make a good white bean chili with Cannellini beans (love these white kidney beans) and the Carroll Shelby kit and turkey in a tube. I add half a habanero to kick it..
I discovered plank exercises. Back seems to like them.
Mostly its all about the core and mine is rotten.
Have a super weekend. (giant smirk)
Rotten to the core, eh? 🙂
We are going out to eat tonight! I haven’t been out of this house since Monday. We had 22 inches of snow and got another 3 yesterday. Forecast calls for snow again tomorrow. We have drifts as high as the house. I’m so past winter! Been a rough week with snow and the calf dying. I need a margarita! Lol. I love taco soup, we may have it tomorrow.
Ha! You deserve a night out, Mrs. Coach! Did you actually go to work in all that snow? We would be incapacitated here with just a few inches, much less TWO FEET!!! I went out with a friend tonight to La Casa that has the best margaritas in town! Cheers 🙂 Enjoy your night out!
Our offices were closed from Tuesday until today. We had some damage to our building so we are closed to the clients but still open. We have another 10 inches of snow in the forecast tomorrow!!! Yikes. We need to get open, people need their food.
Oh yes they do need their food! More snow? Oh my goodness, I don’t know how y’all stand it.
I used your tortilla strips idea recently to go along with leftover white chicken chili, BUT I sprinkled them with cumin before baking. They were SO good!
Off the subject but I noticed on my Community Coffee bags there are proof of purchase labels and I saw on their website they donate to local schools that collect those labels. Obviously, none of the schools here do that but if anyone has a school they donate to, I’d be glad to send you mine.
Come to think of it, I don’t know of a school. Let me ask around.