Taco Soup is always a good recipe to have on hand. This recipe is a quick one- 15 minutes and 7 cans to dinner time!
Lori from Lori’s Kitchen Table is back with a great recipe! As a teenager, all of my income came through baby-sitting. Every Friday and Saturday night I would be booked. There was one family that I especially loved baby-sitting. They had one girl and three boys, and whenever I was over there it hardly felt like I was baby-sitting at all because I was having so much fun!
One time, I was at this family’s house watching the kids and it was time for dinner. The mom said that I could give them whatever I would like for dinner, but suggested the leftover taco makings in the fridge. When I asked the kids if they wanted tacos for dinner, it seemed like it was almost the end of the world! They did not want to eat those tacos if their life depended on it! I asked them what they would like instead. One suggested “soup!” and the others quickly agreed.
“Soup!?” I thought. I didn’t know how to make soup unless it was from a can! (mind you I was still a teenager at this point, simply eating whatever my mom made for dinner each night…) However, because I loved these kids so much, I promised them soup.
I went to the family’s pantry and looked around. All I could find was chicken noodle soup and tomato soup – not exactly what I wanted for a dinner. Then I remembered how my mom would make taco soup for my family sometimes.
Did I know how to make taco soup? Nope. Was I going to try? You betcha. The kids wouldn’t really know the difference anyway, right?
Because the mom didn’t plan on me making taco soup, she of course didn’t have everything that I knew would go in it, so I had to make do with what I had – leftover taco meat and canned pantry items.
Turns out my taco soup made from a bunch of canned items was the BEST taco soup I had ever had! Once I had tasted it, I quickly grabbed the cans from out of the garbage can and wrote down what I put in it because I wanted to replicate that recipe for the rest of my life.
Fast forward many years to today. I have now learned to cook, and have even gone to culinary school. However, this is STILL the taco soup recipe that I use. It really is that good! I promise that if you try it, you will love it, too!
- 1 lb. Ground meat
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 2 cans (15 oz. each) beans, undrained (such as kidney, pinto, black, great northern, etc.)
- 1 can (14.5 oz.) mexican stewed tomatoes
- 2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
- 1 can (14.5 oz.) green beans
- 1 can (14.5 oz.) corn
- In a large pot, combine ground meat, onion, and taco seasoning. Cook on medium-high heat until meat is browned.
- Add remaining ingredients. Heat, stirring occasionally, until soup is hot.
- Serve with sour cream and/or cheese if desired. Enjoy!
