Crock Pot Meaty Taco Soup

This easy Meaty Taco Soup is made in the crock pot and filled with ground beef, sausage, beans, corn, veggies, taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix. 

The temperature is finally starting to drop here in Texas. Although I won't hold my breath because if you live in Texas than you know the weather can change in the blink of an eye. As the temperature changes so do our meal choices. Time to put away the grill and pull out the crock pot so you can start making soups, stews and beans.

Oh how I love winter nothing warms you from the inside out more than a good bowl of soup or stew. Today I wanted to share an easy recipe for Crock Pot Taco Soup. What I love most about this recipe is that you can just dump everything in the crock pot and pretty much forget about it. Who doesn't love that?

Secondly taco soup is really economical to make and great way to clean out your pantry. All the ingredients in this recipe are everyday ingredients that you usually have on hand. This recipe also utilizes canned beans instead of dry beans, so no soaking needed. Speaking of beans the original recipe called for kidney and pinto beans, but I found myself without pinto beans. 

No problem I just substituted with a can of black beans instead. That's what is so great about canned beans; they're so versatile and can be interchanged to create so many recipes. In fact I loved the addition of the black beans so much next time I make this recipe I will be using all three bean variations. 

Don't forget to bake up a big skillet of homemade cornbread to go along side this yummy soup. I prefer to make my favorite Sweet Corn Cake , but feel free to use one of your own favorite cornbread recipes. In usual fashion I have included a few step by step photos of how easy this taco soup is to make.

Using a large skillet brown the meat together with the chopped onions. Drain and add the meat mixture to your crock pot. Rinse and drain all of the beans. Next just start adding all of the canned ingredients, water and drained beans to the crock pot. Sprinkle the taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix on top and give it a gentle stir. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!!! Yum just look at all those hearty beans.

Crock Pot Meaty Taco Soup

Ingredients:
2 - pound ground beef, ground turkey or
1 - pound breakfast sausage + 1 - pound ground beef or turkey
1 1/2 - cups diced onions
1 - 15 oz cans bush's pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 - 15 oz can bush's kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 - 15 oz can bush's black beans, drained & rinsed
1 - 15 oz can whole kernel corn, drained or 2 cups frozen corn
1 - 14.5 oz can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 - 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
1 - 14.5 oz can mild Rotel (tomatoes with Chile's)
1 - cup water
1 - 4.6 oz can sliced black olives, drained
1/2 - cup green olives, sliced, optional
1 - packet taco seasoning mix
1 - 1 oz package ranch salad dressing mix

Garnish:
Corn chips, Sour cream, Grated cheese,

Green onions, Olives & Pickled jalapenos

Directions:
Brown the ground beef, turkey or meat combination and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker.

Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, Rotel, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, water and ranch dressing mix.

Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

To serve, ladle soup into each bowl and garnish with corn chips, sour cream, cheese, green onions and olives.

Slightly adapted from: Paula Deen