Crock Pot Taco Soup

Crock pot taco soup is a warm, hearty and delicious lunch or dinner that's full of flavor. It’s also super quick and easy to put together!

 

Recently I shared taco pasta, which is a cheesy and delicious one-pot pasta recipe ready in 30 minutes.

Cause we love some taco themed dinners.

We also make baked shredded chicken tacos, turkey taco rice skillet and a taco mac and cheese casserole. 

And there’s shrimp tacos or vegetarian tacos to mix things up.

We even have breakfast tacos in the mornings sometimes!

Of course, turkey tacos are our basic taco go-to that my kids demand ALL the time.

And I just love having a variety of other taco-inspired recipes to rotate in to our dinner menu.

Which brings us to today’s recipe.

This crock pot taco soup is going to be one you’ll want to have on regular rotation all year long!

It’s super easy to make - just cook the ground turkey and then throw everything in the slow cooker.

And it uses some basic pantry ingredients that you can keep on hand to be able to make this recipe any time.

Plus, it’s incredibly flavorful - and colorful! - and a meal the whole family is going to just love.

It makes a delicious lunch or dinner, and everyone can add their favorite toppings to customize it.

Seriously a keeper!

OK, let’s get cooking.

Now, I’ve got some notes, tips and substitutions coming up below on how to make crock pot taco soup. Just tryin’ to be helpful.

If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.

Ingredient Notes:

• Turkey: I use a 93% lean ground turkey for this taco pasta. Ground beef could be substituted, but you may need to drain off any excess grease after you’ve cooked it in the skillet.
• Beans: I like the combo of chili beans and black beans in this recipe, but you could use all of one or the other. You could also swap in pinto beans for the black beans if you’d like.
• Corn: You can use a can of regular yellow or white corn. Or substitute a can of Mexican. You can also use frozen corn - a heaping cup or so - if that’s what you have on hand.
• Tomatoes: Regular diced tomatoes work great here. Fire roasted diced tomatoes can be used to give the soup some extra oomph. Petite diced tomatoes would be fine to use, too.
• Taco seasoning: I use and prefer homemade taco seasoning, but store-bought works great, too.
• Spicy: If you want a spicy taco soup, feel free to add a jalapeño pepper to sauté along with the other peppers. You could also stir in some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes for some heat. And/or serve this with hot sauce.

See, it’s very versatile.

Definitely a recipe you can tweak to make your own. Or to use what you have available.

Also, to note, you can easily cook this on LOW or on HIGH in your slow cooker. Both work great.

And because it’s soup and nothing is going to overcook or dry out, it’s a slow cooker recipe that you can let switch over to warm and hang out without a problem.

That makes it a great candidate for days when you’re gonna be gone all day and coming back hungry.

It also makes a fantastic lunch if you want to throw it together in the morning.

Nom nom nom.

OK, now we are almost ready to eat.

Tacos to me mean toppings. (Yes, so do most things…) And taco soup is no different.

Here’s a few ideas to get you started.

Topping Ideas:

• Shredded cheese
• Diced avocado
• Sour cream or Greek yogurt
• Sliced green onions
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Crushed tortilla chips
• Hot sauce

And for the cheese, we tend to go with regular cheddar cheese, but Monterey Jack cheese, pepper Jack cheese or a Mexican blend cheese would all be delicious, too. 

Feel free to mix and match your favorites among these toppings to make your soup bowl just like you like it.

Last thing, let’s talk about what to do with the leftovers.

Storage Tips:

• Once cooled, transfer the leftover taco soup to a covered container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in a pot on the stove until warmed through.
• You can also freeze the leftovers. Let cool, then pack it in a freezer-safe container or ziplock bag, label and date it. Freeze for up to 3-4 months.
• Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then reheat.

You can even heat and pack some of the leftovers of this in a thermos to have for a delicious hot lunch at school or work.

Bring your toppings on the side to add and dive in!

I hope you give this a try soon.

It’s yet another way to make taco night fun and interesting - so it can happen more often!

Enjoy!

XO,

Kathryn