Home › Comfort Food › Taco soup

Taco soup

By Ami · September 7, 2026 · ★★★★★ 4.8 from 210 reviews · Jump to Recipe · Print

Taco soup is the easy dinner recipe that costs about twelve dollars, feeds eight people and takes thirty minutes — a pound of ground beef, five cans and two packets, simmered together into something far better than the sum of it. It's the dump dinner I'm least embarrassed about, and it comes in at 33g of protein and 11g of fiber a bowl.

Save recipes like this straight from TikTok and plan your week in minutes with RecipeLoop, the free AI meal planner.

Five cans, one pound of beef, thirty minutes.

• There is almost nothing to chop. One onion. Everything else comes out of a can or a packet, which is exactly why this recipe has survived on church potluck tables for forty years.
• It's genuinely cheap and it stretches. A pound of beef feeds eight because the beans do half the work — the same economics that make stuffed pepper casserole such a reliable family dinner.
• 33g of protein and 11g of fiber. Beef plus two kinds of beans is a genuinely well-balanced bowl, whatever its potluck reputation. Check what you need on the protein calculator.

Here's what you'll need.

The ranch seasoning packet alongside the taco seasoning is the thing that makes people ask for the recipe — it sounds strange, and it's the whole trick. Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles) rather than plain diced tomatoes. Don't drain the corn or the tomatoes; do rinse the beans.

Here's how it all comes together.

Step 1 — Brown the beef and onion

Cook the ground beef with the diced onion over medium-high for 7 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink remains and the onion is soft. Drain the fat — with 85/15 beef there'll be a couple of tablespoons and the soup is better without it.

Step 2 — Add the cans and seasonings

Tip in the black beans, pinto beans, corn, Rotel and tomato sauce, then sprinkle over both seasoning packets and add the broth. Stir well — you want the seasoning distributed before it comes up to temperature.

Step 3 — Simmer and serve

Simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered, so it reduces slightly and stops tasting like separate cans. Taste for salt, then serve with cheddar, sour cream, avocado and a handful of crushed tortilla chips over the top.

Eating higher-protein on purpose? The Ultimate GLP-1 High Protein High Fiber Cookbook is full of meals like this one.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• Simmer at least twenty minutes. Ten minutes and it tastes like five cans in a pot. Twenty and it tastes like a soup. This is the only patience the recipe asks of you.
• Ranch packet plus taco packet. Not one or the other. The buttermilk and herbs in the ranch round out the chili powder and it stops tasting one-note.
• Don't drain the Rotel or corn. That liquid is seasoned and it's part of the broth. Beans, however, should be rinsed — their canning liquid is starchy and metallic.
• Toppings do half the work. Cheese, sour cream, avocado, lime, chips. A plain bowl of this is fine; a properly loaded one is genuinely great.

Make it ahead, or make it your own.

• It's an ideal freezer meal. Freeze in portions for up to 3 months. No dairy, no pasta, no potato — nothing in it suffers from freezing, which is rare.
• Slow cooker or Instant Pot. Brown the beef first, then everything in the slow cooker for 4 hours on low, or 10 minutes at high pressure with a natural release.
• Swap the protein. Ground turkey or chicken both work with a little olive oil. For a vegetarian version, use a third can of beans and vegetable broth — it loses very little.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Cheddar, sour cream, avocado and lime — set them out and let people build.
• Tortilla chips or cornbread on the side.
• Chicken tortilla soup as a second pot when you're feeding a crowd.
• Sheet-pan chicken fajitas for a bigger Tex-Mex spread.
• Chocolate cottage cheese mousse for a light, high-protein finish.

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: refrigerate for up to 5 days in an airtight container — it improves noticeably by day two as the spices settle. Freeze in individual portions for up to 3 months; it thaws with no change in texture at all, which makes it one of the best batch-cooking soups there is.

Reheating: warm on the stove over medium for 6 to 8 minutes or microwave a bowl for 2 to 3 minutes. It thickens in the fridge, so add a splash of broth or water. Toppings always go on after reheating.

More comfort food recipes...

Chicken tortilla soup — smoky, 30 minutes, 34g protein

White chicken chili — creamy, cozy and ready in 30 minutes

Stuffed pepper casserole — stuffed peppers without the stuffing

High protein cheeseburger bowls — all the burger, none of the bun

If this is how you want to eat every day, this cookbook makes it easy.

The Ultimate GLP-1 High Protein High Fiber Cookbook for Weight Loss is built on the same idea as this recipe — lean protein, plenty of fiber, real food and portions big enough to keep you full. Simple, tested recipes for anyone eating higher-protein on purpose, on a GLP-1 medication or not.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

Meal-plan the whole week around recipes like this with RecipeLoop — save recipes from anywhere, get a grocery list automatically.

FAQ

Why do you add ranch seasoning to taco soup?

The buttermilk, dill and onion in a ranch packet round out the chili powder and cumin in the taco packet, so the soup tastes layered instead of one-note. It's the single most commented-on ingredient in this recipe.

Can I make taco soup in a slow cooker?

Yes. Brown the beef and onion on the stove first, then add everything to the slow cooker and cook 4 hours on low or 2 on high. In an Instant Pot, use 10 minutes at high pressure with a natural release.

Does taco soup freeze well?

Exceptionally well, for up to 3 months. There's no dairy, pasta or potato in the base, so it thaws with essentially no change in texture. Freeze in single portions for easy lunches.

How do I make taco soup less spicy?

Use mild Rotel instead of original, and choose a mild taco seasoning. You can also replace one can of Rotel with plain diced tomatoes, which cuts the heat by roughly half without changing the body of the soup.