Taco soup
Everything you love about taco night in a big, thick pot of soup, built from cans you probably already have and piled high with toppings.
- 45 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.36 a serving
- 380 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 package taco seasoning, 1 oz packet
- 1 package ranch seasoning mix, 1 oz packet
- 1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles, with the juice
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 1½ cups frozen corn
- 1 beef bouillon cube, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
- ½ cup sour cream (optional)
- 2 cups tortilla chips, lightly crushed (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 cups water
Each serving has about 380 calories, 25 g protein, 43 g carbs and 13 g fat, and costs about $2.36 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No black beans? Kidney beans work.
- No pinto beans? Kidney beans work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No frozen corn? Canned corn works.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion. Open the cans, and and the beans in a colander.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Cook the ground beef and onion in a large pot over medium-high heat, breaking the meat up with a spoon, until no pink remains, 8 to 10 minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Let the beef sit for a minute between stirs. That’s how it browns instead of turning gray.Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Spoon out most of the fat, leaving about a tablespoon in the pot.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Spoon the fat into a mug or an empty can and throw it away once it cools. Never pour it down the drain.Stir in the taco seasoning and ranch seasoning and cook for 1 minute.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Add the tomatoes with green chiles, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, water and bouillon cube, and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low and uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until it a little.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: Taco soup only gets better with time. If you’re not hungry yet, let it go 30 minutes.Taste, then ladle into bowls and top with cheese, sour cream and crushed chips.
Dolly’s tip: The seasoning packets are salty, so taste before you add any salt.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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