Easy Taco Soup

Easy Taco Soup - this can be made totally from scratch or easily from canned goods! It's delicious, filling and always a crowd-pleaser.

I've been planning to share this Easy Taco Soup recipe with you for months - but it just didn't seem right to share it when it was 100° outside and in the dead-heat of summer.

However, now that it's finally starting to cool down a tiny bit (it was 87 ° a couple of days ago... so sad that that's considered "cool", but whatever), I want to share. We seriously have this Easy Taco Soup almost weekly. It's a go-to meal that's cheap, easy, fast and filling! It's the best of all worlds when it comes to food for 8 people!

There are really two ways to make this soup... and a million variations. I'm going to try to explain what I mean, so this post is probably going to seem like it's all over the map - but stick with me... it'll be worth it!

Easy Taco Soup

The first way to make this soup is from all convenience foods... and that's not a bad way. That is how I started making it years ago and actually fell in love with this soup. It's also how I pack it up when I give it as a gift... be sure to check out that idea here.

However, as I've grown and learned and changed - I do things a little different these days.

Now I cook dried beans in bulk and keep them in the freezer for this recipe (and others). I also buy our ground beef in large quantities, pre-cook it and freeze it.

You can seem more about my bulk bean cooking in this very old post: White Chili and an example of my cooking beef in bulk here (another very old and outdated post from my old blog).

In addition to the beef and beans, I have tons of corn in our freezer that was given to us this past summer (what a blessing!), so I use that corn, cut off the cob, and I used our tomatoes from the freezer too. If that's not "homemade" enough for you.... I also make my own taco seasoning.

Love tacos? Check out this Low Carb Chicken Taco Casserole.

Perfect for the Slow Cooker!

Whew... that sounds like SO MUCH WORK - but I obviously don't do all of that in one day! And when it's the day to make Taco Soup - I just pull it all out of the freezer and dump it in the crock pot with some Hidden Valley Ranch Mix, a small can of diced green chilies, and some water. I let it cook for a few hours and it's done... easy and delicious!

Now - when I say there's versatility... I've made this soup a hundred different ways.

Depending on what beans I have in the freezer, I've been known to only use one or two kinds of beans instead of all three. We've also used ground deer meat instead of beef and I've used canned tomatoes, Rotel and/or just chopped up fresh tomatoes straight out of the garden.

Once I even left the meat out altogether and we had a veggie-only Taco Soup! It was still delicious!!

The same goes for the corn.. fresh, canned or frozen works! You can even use white corn or yellow... plain or Mexican. Really - it's hard to mess it up!

BUT... if doing it from "scratch" is not your thing... you can also do it the super easy way... from all cans and packages! There's absolutely no shame in that and it will still be a cheap, delicious meal!

Oh and don't let me forget the toppings... shredded cheese, sour cream, corn bread, tortilla chips and/or corn chips! Any and all are just fantastic with this Easy Taco Soup!

If you haven't had Taco soup before, I do hope you'll give it a try! I'll include the printable recipe below with both options! Enjoy!

More one-pot dishes for you:

• Tater Tot Casserole
• The Best Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole
• Homemade Chinese Orange Pineapple Chicken
• Instant Pot Black Bean Soup
• Red Potato Soup with Cream Cheese [Video]

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