Easy Taco Soup Recipe (Stovetop, Crock Pot, or Instant Pot)
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The best easy Taco Soup Recipe! Make it in the crock pot, instant pot or on the stove. Perfect for a quick healthy dinner!
Everyone loves a good taco night, but sometimes in the colder months, you want something that will keep you warm while still having those classic flavors.
This easy taco soup has all the flavors of your traditional tacos while having 34g of protein.
It only takes 9 ingredients (and some spices) and less than an hour to have the most delicious taco soup!
Ingredients
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Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.
Ground Beef: You can substitute ground beef with ground turkey or try our chicken taco soup. Check out: Is Butcher Box Worth it for quality meat.
Veggies: Feel free to add in more or less veggies.
Diced Tomatoes: You can substitute any diced tomatoes in this recipe. Crushed tomatoes will also work.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Beans: Any beans will work in this recipe. Just make sure they are fully cooked, rinsed & drained.
Corn: You can omit corn in this recipe and it will still taste delicious!
How to make Taco Soup
Our favorite way to make taco soup is on the stove, although you can make it in the crockpot or the instant pot (instructions below) Here’s how to make taco soup:
- Brown beef, onions and garlic in olive oil for 10-12 minutes until cooked.
- Add in tomatoes, broth, spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.
Make it in the Crockpot or Instant Pot
You can easily make taco soup in the crock pot or instant pot. Check out the instructions below in the recipe!
How do you make taco soup thicker?
To thicken taco soup, you can add a corn starch slurry. Mix together 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 2-3 tablespoons of broth/water.
Stream into your pot while the soup is over low heat. The soup should thicken as you cook.
We don’t recommend trying to thicken this soup. It’s great as is!
What goes good with taco soup?
Taco Soup is delicious on its own but there are so many things you can serve with it! The best things to serve with taco soup are:
- Shredded Cheese
- Lime
- Sour cream or plain Greek Yogurt
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Green or red onions
- Tomatoes
- Crushed Tortilla chips
- Add a little extra taco seasoning
Storage
How many days is taco soup good for? Homemade taco soup will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Can you freeze leftover taco soup? This soup freezes very well! You can freeze in airtight containers and store for up to 3 months.
We like these containers for freezing soup. Check out this post on How to Freeze Soup.
Reheating: You can reheat this soup in the microwave or on the stove top. It should heat through in about 2-3 minutes.
Love ground beef? Check out this list of 25+ Healthy Ground Beef Recipes or this Old Fashioned Hamburger Stew.
What is the difference between taco soup and chili? Taco soup and chili are very similar in flavor, but different in texture. Taco soup has much more broth and is more liquid based compared to chili which is much thicker and typically does not have any excess liquid.
Other healthy soup recipes:
You can get our free Healthy Soup Ebook here or check out these 35+ Healthy Soups for Dinner. Here are some other healthy soup recipes you may like:
Taco Soup
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup onion chopped (1 medium onion
- ½ tablespoon garlic minced (about 4 cloves)
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 1 quart beef broth low or no salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 can black beans drained & rinsed
- 1 can pinto beans drained & rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn thawed
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- In a soup pot, heat olive oil. Brown beef, onions and garlic for 10-12 minutes until cooked.
- Add in tomatoes, broth, spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.
Crockpot Instructions:
- In a large pan, heat olive oil. Brown beef, onions and garlic for 10-12 minutes until cooked.
- Add beef/onion/garlic mixture to the crockpot with tomatoes, broth, spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.
Instant Pot Instructions.
- Set instant pot to Sauté for 12 minutes. Brown beef, onions and garlic for 10-12 minutes until cooked. Make sure to scrape up any browned bits to avoid a burn notice.
- Add in tomatoes, broth, spices, beans and corn.
- Stir together. Cover and set the instant pot to sealing, Manual Pressure for 6 minutes.
- It will take about 10 minutes for the instant pot to come to pressure.
- Once cooked, quick release the pressure. Stir & enjoy!
- *note: I find that the instant pot can make cooked beans very mushy. You may want to omit the beans and add them in after the soup has finished cooking.
This is a meal constantly in our weekly meal rotations.
This is delicious 😋! I just added some picante sauce and squeezed some lime juice in. And, for me, that was all it needed. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
My family and I absolutely love this recipe. I made it the first time and now I can’t stop-!! I have made a big batch once a week for the last few weeks for lunches, quick dinner etc. I like to sprinkle in some riced cauliflower like Liz recommended and it is filling and delicious!
I’ve made this recipe twice now and it is delicious. I am not a huge fan of tomatoes so I subbed a can of hot rotel for the larger can of tomatoes and that added a nice little kick to the soup. It is very easy to make and freezes well. If you don’t have souper cubes yet – don’t wait any longer!
This looked so good. I felt it needed more seasoning but overall an ok soup.
Sorry you felt that way!
Yummy
Really tasty. I only made a couple changes, using smoked paprika instead of regular and topping the soup with cilantro before serving.
This soup sounded so good. It seemed to be lacking flavor. I added extra spices to add more flavor. I used ground turkey, maybe I will use ground beef next time.
Sorry you felt that way, but you changed the recipe. Ground turkey is completely different than ground beef and lacks flavor because of it’s lack of fat. Next time you leave a 3 star review on a recipe, maybe reconsider it if you changed the main ingredient in the recipe. 🙂 Leaving poor reviews hurts food bloggers, and you didn’t follow the recipe, so how could you rate it accurately?
Made it a number of times…. it’s very good
We love this Taco Soup!!
I was looking for an easy, delicious, healthy meal for the weekend (and for leftovers) and this was IT! Threw everything in the crock pot and enjoyed this super flavorful and hearty soup a few hours later.
Can I substitute ground Turkey for the hamburg, I don’t eat beef.
All of our blog posts have a green substitutions section. Pasting the info about the turkey here: You can substitute ground beef with ground turkey or try our chicken taco soup.
Really enjoyed this soup! I cooked it in the crockpot on low for 7 hrs. I used mild thick and chunky salsa in place of the tomatoes and green chilies, just 1/2 lb ground beef but added an extra can of beans, and used one ear of fresh corn, cutting off the kernels for fresh flavor. I used the immersion blender with half of the soup, and I liked the consistency of the soup that way. The amount of spices was just right. I’ll keep some in the fridge a couple days and freeze the rest. Yum yum. Will make again.
This is one of the favorites in our household! #husbandapproved
Healthy and delicious!!
Such a great recipe. Full of flavor and super quick. I can throw this together in 30 minutes on the stove. Your family will love this one.
So happy you liked it!
So much flavour for a quick simple recipe. I’m going to try quinoa instead of ground beef next week. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Any suggestions?
Glad you liked it! I’d cook the quinoa on the side and add it to the soup instead of cooking it in the pot. I don’t love the taste of quinoa so I wouldn’t recommend this but if you try it let me know how it comes out!
So delicious! Next time I want to try with tortilla strips on top!
o happy you liked it!