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Crockpot Taco Soup simmers all day long for a comforting meal at the end of the day. Making it couldn’t be easier!
As we’re easing our way back into our normal day to day lives after the holiday break, I am all about quick and simple dinners – especially if they are Crockpot friendly.
This Crockpot Taco Soup comes together in snap, is loaded with delicious flavors and textures and the leftovers are absolutely perfect for a quick lunch for yourself or your kiddos!
TACO SOUP INGREDIENTS
This taco soup recipe came to be when I was trying to figure out what to do with an excess of leftover taco meat. My friend Amber wondered, “How would that be in soup?”
Well, you guys know me. I’m not going to leave a question like that unanswered.
So I grabbed my trusty crockpot and grabbed some pantry staples and got to work.
I wanted this Crockpot Taco Soup to be simple to make with ingredients you likely have on hand, so it uses:
- Ground beef
- Onions
- Garlic
- Homemade taco seasoning
- Canned diced tomatoes with green chilies
- Canned tomato sauce
- Canned black beans
- Canned corn
If you don’t want to use canned corn, you could always swap it for frozen corn or even fresh corn cut from the cob.
You could also swap the canned beans for home-cooked black beans.
You could even use ground turkey instead of ground beef if you want! That’s the beauty of recipes like this – they’re easy to customize with ingredients you have on hand.
IS TACO SOUP SPICY?
Whether you love your food spicy or mild, this Crockpot Taco Soup is for you. Just like when you’re making Spicy Guacamole, you can make this soup as mild or as spicy as you like.
If you like your soup mild, use homemade taco seasoning and regular canned tomatoes with green chiles.
If you want your soup to be spicier, use a hot and spicy taco seasoning and tomatoes with hot green chiles. You can even add as much of your favorite hot sauce as you like; Cholula, Melinda’s, or Tapatío would be great here.
HOW TO MAKE CROCKPOT TACO SOUP
Thanks to the trusty slow cooker, this soup is super quick to throw together. I let it simmer all day long and am happy to have dinner ready at the end of a long day.
Start by browning the ground beef, onions, and garlic together. Drain any excess oil or grease, then add the taco seasoning. Transfer this mixture to your slow cooker.
If you are using the slow cooker function on your Instant Pot or have a slow cooker with a saute function, you can do this all in your crockpot without having to dirty up a skillet!
Add the tomatoes with green chiles, tomato sauce, black beans, corn, and water to the pot. Give it a stir, then cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
When the soup is done, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve!
SERVING AND FREEZING TIPS
There are so many ways you can top your taco soup. We like to garnish ours with tortilla strips and sour cream, shredded cheese, and green onion.
Sliced fresh or pickled jalapeños would be great as well, as would pickled or fresh onions. And don’t forget the hot sauce!
Whenever I make Crockpot Taco Soup, Tortilla Soup, or Easy Chicken Chili, I like to put out small bowls of a bunch of different toppings so everyone can dress up their soup exactly the way they like it.
This soup also freezes well. Just let it cool and store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months.
For quick lunches, store it in smaller containers that you can grab and toss into your lunchbox as you run out the door.
Crockpot Taco Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1.5 pounds ground beef
- 1 cup diced onions
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning
- 2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies 10 ounces each, undrained
- 2 cans tomato sauce 8 ounces each
- 2 cans black beans 15 ounces each, drained and rinsed
- 1 can corn 14 ounces
- 2 cups water
- salt and pepper to taste
For topping:
- shredded cheese optional
- sour cream optional
- sliced green onion optional
- tortilla strips optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in ground beef and cook until the beef starts to brown. Add in onions and garlic and cook until the beef is completely browned. Drain excess oil.
- Return the pan to medium heat and stir in homemade taco seasoning. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Transfer ground beef mixture to a slow cooker.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, corn and water.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Before serving, top with shredded cheese, sour cream, green onion and tortilla strips.
Video
Notes
- If you prefer to cook this taco soup on the stovetop, simply cook the beef mixture in a large Dutch oven, add in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, black beans, corn and water. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour.
- I included directions for making the taco meat at the same time as the soup, but please feel free to do what we did and use leftover taco meat. If you do that, start the soup with ingredients from the cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles forward.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
what is the recipe for homemade taco seasoning
Hi Tina – You can find the recipe here: https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/homemade-chili-and-taco-seasoning/. I just realized that the link didn’t save in the recipe card, so thank you for commenting! Will add it in now. Happy baking!
Jamie
Very easy and delicious! I made the Taco meat per the Taco Seasoning packet and then added the other ingredients. Ended up adding a half cup of beef broth and another half cup water but only because I like a more broth-y soup. This will definitely go in the rotation. Thank you!
So glad you liked the soup, Nina! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your feedback.
-Jamie
Can use del Monte Mexican style tomatoes, if you can find them, and a jar of salsa
The soup sounds so good, but soups just have too much sodium for my…my limit is 1200mgs a day…so one bowl of soup and about 30mg of sodium for the rest of the day. It is not just your web site, most are so over what makes a day of sodium for me. But I keep looking at things I can exchange, you have 7 cans of various things which is where the sodium is…it does sound so good.
Hi Jan-
Maybe try using lower sodium ingredients to cut the sodium down a bit – that might help.
-Jamie
@Jamie, you can cook dry black beans, frozen corn, etc. to control the sodium. It’s easy to stewed tomatoes and freeze them so you can have them to use instead of the canned. I don’t usually add tomato sauce to my soups, but I do use tomato juice, and I think you can find that with reduced sodium. (I’ve been trying to watch my sodium levels for a while now, but it not easy unless you do most of the prep work yourself. No canned shortcuts for us.)
Soup sounds wonderful–nut I have already seasoned uncooked chopped Taco meat-was going to cook kidney or black beans and after their almost cooked I will add taco meat and everything else to slow cooker 4 a few hours.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Karen! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Happy Baking!
-Jamie
Used up leftover taco meat in this soup and it was a hit! Hubby asked if I would make sure to print out the recipe so we can have it again – definitely a keeper! Thanks for the yummy soup. Added cheese and sour cream to each bowl for a warm and satisfying winter meal.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the soup, Loris! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie
Quite possibly best thing I’ve ever made in slow cooker. Kids loved it. I doctored it up a bit with my own seasonings and peppers. Amazing
So happy to hear you enjoyed the soup, Jacqueline! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie
Cozy and perfect. I love slow cooker recipes – it’s like having someone cook for you!
I agree!
I love taco anything and using my slow cooker so this is my perfect recipe :)
Rachael xx.
theteacozykitchen.blogspot.co.uk
Let me know how you like it, Rachael!