Easy Texas Taco Soup | Recipe
An easy stovetop taco soup, featuring ground beef, kidney beans and vegetables.
Taco soup is a quick and easy Tex-Mex style soup that takes very little time to put together, and offers great reward for only a small amount of effort. It's a dish in which flavor is built quickly, and slow-cooking is not a requirement, making this stove top taco soup perfect for any weeknight dinner.
So how do you make taco soup on the stove? It is really very simple. This version of taco soup is beefed up with a generous portion of seasoned ground beef, that is browned, and then removed from the pot and set aside to be strained. Fresh jalapeños, corn and onions go in, and are sautéed until just softened. A can of fire roasted tomatoes is then added to the vegetables. The fire roasted tomatoes are important for this reacipe, and enable us to build big flavors in very little time, and can easily be found in major grocery chains alongside other canned tomato products.
A happy helping of creamy red kidney beans, and the cooked ground beef are added back to the pot. The whole chi-bang is covered by low-sodium vegetable broth, and then simmers for about 30 minutes, allowing all of those wonderful, big and bright flavors to come together. The juice of a lime adds just the right amount of acidity, and the end result is a perfectly balanced soup that both the grown-ups and the kids will enjoy. A weeknight meal you can count on to provide your family with smiling faces, empty bowls and happy bellies. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
3 corn cobs (or 2 1/4 cup of cooked corn kernels)
2 pounds (80/20) ground beef
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons TAK’s Tex-Mex Spice Blend, separated (or 1 packet of store-bought taco seasoning)
1 tablespoon Canola oil
1 yellow onion, diced
6 jalapeños, stemmed, seeded and diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 (14.5 ounce) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
1 (16 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
Juice of half a lime
Optional Toppings:
Freshly grated cheddar cheese Sour cream
Chopped black olives
Minced cilantro
Method:
If using corn cobs, remove the husks from the corn, along with any remaining silk and rinse briefly under running water. Using a sharp knife cut off the shank end of the corn, creating a solid base to stand it right-side up. Cut off the kernels and set aside until ready to use. Discard of the cobs.
Add ground beef and a 1/4 cup of the Tex-Mex Spice Blend (or 1 packet of taco seasoning) to a Dutch oven, or large pot, over medium-high heat. Break apart the ground beef and continue to cook until all of the pink is gone, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the heat. Carefully, transfer the ground beef to a strainer, use the back of a wooden spoon to press out as much grease as possible. Set aside until ready to use.
Wipe the Dutch oven clean and add to it the Canola oil. Place over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapeños and sauté 6 minutes. Add the corn, cover and cook 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Add tomatoes and kidney beans, along with the ground beef and stir. Add vegetable broth, salt and 2 tablespoons of the Tex-Mex Spice Blend (disregard if using store-bought taco seasoning, and use salt and pepper to taste). Stir once more and raise the heat to medium-high, just until the soup comes to a rapid boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer 30 minutes. Finish with the lime juice, stir and serve with favored toppings.
Serves 6-8.
Would pair well with:
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