Crockpot Taco Soup

This Crockpot Taco Soup recipe comes together in just a few minutes. Includes instructions for making a large batch and freezing some for another meal, as well as a smaller batch.

There’s a restaurant chain here in Michigan called Max & Erma’s that has delicious chicken tortilla soup. It’s creamy, lightly spicy and so comforting on a cold day.

The Max & Erma’s locations nearest to me went out of business a few years ago, and I still miss that soup.

This Crockpot Taco Soup is inspired by, but quite a bit different than that restaurant soup. My version is a little lighter (less creamy) and uses ground beef instead of chicken.

But it’s every bit as comforting and warming on a cold day.

I know that you guys love a crockpot soup (and even crock pot ribs and slow cooker beef stroganoff), so, grab a lemon margarita and please enjoy this Crockpot Taco Soup with all the toppings.

How to make easy Crockpot Taco Soup:

First, you’ll need to brown some ground beef, along with chopped onion (also the start of my delicious taco mac and cheese). If you have a slow cooker with a stovetop-safe insert, you can cook it directly in there.

If not, you’ll need to use a skillet to cook the meat, and then transfer the meat to the bowl of your crockpot.

Add beans (buy a few extra cans and make vegetarian fajitas, a fajita bar or a slow cooker chicken burrito bowl later in the week!), corn, tomato sauce, beef broth, water, diced tomatoes, green chiles and taco seasoning, and set it and forget it!

What to serve with this taco soup recipe:

Just like with my old fashioned ham and bean soup and shrimp wonton soup, no side dishes are really needed – this is a meal in a bowl! However, the toppings might be my favorite part of this soup.

I like to top my taco soup with sour cream, shredded cheese (you can also use queso fresco, like I use for lamb tacos), crushed tortilla chips, chopped red onion, fresh cilantro and lime wedges for squeezing over.

Other ideas would be shredded lettuce, chopped fresh tomatoes and diced avocado.

How to make taco soup on the stove:

If you’d like to make this soup on the stove instead of a slow cooker, you can! Simply brown the beef and onion in a 5 quart or larger pot. Drain the excess fat from the meat, then stir in the remaining soup ingredients.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes to let all of the flavors come together.

Can taco soup be frozen?  Yes! Make a large batch and freeze!

So, not gonna lie – the recipe below makes a LARGE batch of soup. It makes 12 cups (3 quarts!). I wasn’t originally planning to make this much, but once I dumped all of the cans in, that’s how much it ended up making.

Now, I don’t like to make recipes using half of a can of black beans (seriously, what am I going to do with the other half can, except maybe make a very small batch of black bean meatballs?), so personally, I would make the entire batch of this soup and then freeze at least half of it for future meals.

Wait for the soup to cool and then transfer to gallon freezer bags or other freezer-safe containers. Transfer to freezer and freeze up to 3 months.

Or, adapt this 6 can taco soup to make a smaller batch:

However, if 12 cups of soup is way too much for you, I get it. As I mentioned above, I’m not a fan of having a half a can of beans left over, so I would adapt the recipe to use black beans OR pinto beans, not both.

I would also use all broth and omit the water, in order to use the entire can of broth.

To make 6 cups of soup (4 servings), please use the following ingredient amounts:

• 1/4 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid
• 1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans OR pinto beans, with liquid
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) less sodium beef broth
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 to 1 can (4.5 ounces) chopped green chiles with liquid
• 1/2 cup frozen or canned corn
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix