Slow Cooker Taco Soup
Slow Cooker Taco Soup is made with ground beef, ranch seasoning, black beans, and corn, slow-cooked in a Crock Pot until it is packed full of southwest flavor.
This easy Crock Pot taco soup puts all the classic southwestern flavors into one cozy bowl. With easy prep, you’ll love making it almost as much as your family will love eating it!
The broth is flavored with ranch dressing and taco mix, and then you open up a can of tomatoes, black beans, and corn, a little ground beef and simmer it until all those flavors come together.
We make it in a Crock Pot so we can throw all of the ingredients into it in the morning and have a bowl of delicious comfort food at the end of the day. It’s one of the easiest slow cooker recipes you can make!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need and possible substitutions.
- Ground beef – We use 80/20 ground beef and make sure we drain off the excess fat before adding it to the slow cooker. If you prefer, you could use ground turkey or chicken.
- Onion – Yellow or white onions work well for the soup.
- Ranch Dressing Mix – We make our own ranch dressing mix, but you should be able to find a packet at your local store.
- Taco Seasoning – We use our own blend of taco seasoning, but you could pick up a packet if you prefer.
- Chicken Broth – We highly recommend using homemade chicken broth, but you could use store bought if you prefer.
- Tomato Sauce – You can use your preferred brand.
- Diced Tomatoes with Chiles – You can use your preferred brand of tomatoes with chilies.
- Black Beans – We prefer black beans, but red or kidney beans could also work.
- Corn – We use canned, but you could use frozen if you prefer
- Garnish (optional) – We like to top the soup with tortilla chips, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.
We used a 6 quart Crock Pot for this recipe.
There are no hard and fast rules on what to add to this recipe so if you don’t like black beans and you prefer pinto beans, or kidney beans, then go for it.
Instructions for Crock Pot Taco Soup
Step 1 – Saute the onions. Lightly saute the onions in a large skillet over medium high head for 2 minutes.
Step 2 – Brown the meat. Once the onions have sauteed, add in the ground beef and brown the meat. Carefully drain the ground beef and onions to remove the excess fat.
Step 3 – Add ingredients. Add the ground beef mixture and other ingredients to your 6 quart Crock Pot without draining the corn or black beans. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
Step 4 – Serve. Ladle the soup into a bowl and add your favorite garnishments.
Toppings for Taco Soup in the Slow Cooker:
This soup smells so good while it is cooking! I love that spicy tex-mex smell. When it is ready you can ladle it into some bowls and garnish it with anything you like. Some of my favorites are:
- Jalapenos, fresh or pickled
- Black olives
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheese
- Pico de Gallo
- Green onions
- Cilantro
- Squeeze of lime juice
Don’t forget the tortilla chips! I like to scoop my soup up with them, or if I’m feeling lazy, I crumble them into the soup like tasty tortilla croutons.
Yes, you can use lean ground beef, ground turkey, or chicken if you prefer. Both turkey and chicken have less fat and are a great source of lean protein. Which you use is really a matter of preference.
Yes, you can make this recipe in the Instant Pot. If you prefer, the Instant Pot, you can easily follow our Pressure Cooker Taco Soup, which has all the instructions you need to make the soup in the Instant Pot..
Yes! You can freeze it before cooking or after. Prepare your ground beef by browning it, add all of the other ingredients and then pour them all into a gallon freeze bag, or any other freezer-safe container that can be sealed. You can do this before you cook your soup or after it has been cooked.
When you’re ready to eat it remove it from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to thaw for 24 hours. If it was not cooked before freezing pour it into your slow cooker and follow the instructions in the recipe below. If you have cooked it you can heat it up in the microwave, on the stove top, or in your Crock Pot.
How to Make it Ahead of Time
Soups are a great make ahead dish.
You can easily store the soup in individual containers, so you can heat up one serving at a time! For individual portions just microwave for 2 to 3 minutes or heat in a small pot over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes or until warmed through.
Refrigerator: To refrigerate, allow it to cool completely and then store in a sealed container for up to 5 days. You can reheat the soup by pouring into a large pot and heating over medium heat, stirring often, for 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.
Freezer: You can freeze it before cooking or after. Prepare your ground beef by browning it, add all of the other ingredients and then pour them all into a gallon freeze bag, or any other freezer-safe container that can be sealed. You can do this before you cook your soup or after it has been cooked.
When you’re ready to eat frozen soup, remove it from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to thaw for 24 hours. If it was not cooked before freezing, pour it into your slow cooker and follow the instructions in the recipe below.
If you have cooked it, you can heat it up in the microwave, on the stove top, or in your Crock Pot.
Looking for More Easy Recipes?
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- Easy Pork Tacos
- Chicken Taco Braid
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Slow Cooker Taco Soup
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Ground beef
- 1 medium Onion, diced
- 2 packets Ranch Dressing Mix
- 2 packets Taco Seasoning
- 32 ounces Chicken Broth
- 14.5 ounces Tomato Sauce, canned
- 29 ounces Diced Tomatoes with Chiles, canned
- 14.5 ounces Black Beans, canned
- 1 can Corn
For Garnish (OPTIONAL):
- Tortilla chips
- Sour Cream
- Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- In a large skillet saute onions for 2 minutes.
- Add the ground beef to the onions and brown the meat.
- Drain browned ground beef and onions to remove the excess fat.
- Add ground beef mixture and all other ingredients (do not drain corn or black beans) to the slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
- Garnish with sour cream and cheddar cheese (optional).
You are so right. I need to break out my slow cooker so that I don’t have to use the stove in the summer! There are so many different ways to use Swanson Chicken Broth! #client
A family favorite but I’ve never tried making it in my slow cooker. Brilliant!
You’re gonna love keeping your stove turned off while it cooks!
This looks amazing! Pinning!
Yum! I could dive right into this soup – and it’s so easy! Definitely pinning so I can make it soon. Have a great weekend! (Visiting from #FoodieFriDIY)
We love taco soup and I love to use the crock pot. Sounds like the perfect combination! Thanks for sharing!
Looks yummy. Pinned
Yum….looks delicious – but much too hot here for soup! Enjoy!
Did you drain the black beans and corn.before you added them?
No you don’t . Thank you for asking I will add that to the recipe.
I drained them and it still turned out great! I used Trader Joes 32 oz chicken broth. Was that the correct size?
Yes, that is the size we used too. I’m so glad you made it and liked it!
How spicy is spicy? I can do some spice but not hot
It is not hot, hot. We used diced tomatoes with jalapenos but if you are worried about heat just buy plain diced tomatoes.
Oooh my! You got me here! I have a weakness for mexican anything and this looks absolutely amazing!!! Pinning!
XOXO
I absolutely love this! Pinned and tweeted. Thank you so much for bringing such a masterpiece to our party. I hope to see you tomorrow at 7 pm. We can’t wait to party with you! Lou Lou Girls
I love using my slow cooker especially when the temperature is 100= degrees. This recipe sounds amazing. Come share it with our party-goers at Snickerdoodle Sunday. We will be partying each week at 3PM Saturday until 8PM Monday.
Taco soup…now this is awesome.
We seem to be in a bit of a Friday night Mexican right now, so I think I have to add this to the list!
Thanks for linking up to Marvelous Monday on Smart Party Planning.
This looks good! Taco soup is a favorite of mine!
This was so good my family would not stop eating it!!!
I’m so glad they liked it!
I can’t wait to try this! What kind of taco seasoning packets do you use?
We used Mccormick taco seasoning, but any taco seasoning would work.
I made this and it was fantastic!
Janice, so glad you enjoyed it!
Made it but used rotisserie chicken breast. Fantastic also. Thanks for the recipe.
Great idea!! I love rotisserie chicken!
Making this taco soup right now and it smells delicious!
Mine came out soupy? How can I thicken it up?
Smells divine!!
Hi Christy it is a soup not a stew so it isn’t thick. I often crush up some tortilla chips into my bowl of soup which would make it thicker otherwise I don’t think there is much you can do at this point. You could use less liquid next time.
Can you use another kind of beans, such as Ranch Beans or Pinto Beans, as my husband does not like Black Beans. Would love to try this this week-end, but not with black beans. Please let me know soon. Thanks and Blessings to you.
Sure, go for it! Let us know how it turns out.
I use the Bush’s SW beans-we love them!
Why is mine so salty!? The family is loving it, but I’m finding it incredibly salty. Almost too much to eat. I guess low sodium chicken stock next time should help…
I’m sorry Mary. Hopefully low sodium broth will help. You can also use low sodium beans and no salt added corn.
I use low sodium chicken stock, 1 can of rinsed black beans, 1 can of rinsed dark red kidney beans and 1 can of Ranch beans not drained. I also add an extra 32 oz of diced towmatoes and I put 2 cans of rinsed whole kernel Corn, plus 1 can Rotel original tomatoes. We love beans but you could add another lb of meat. I like less salty bc the chips are salty. We like Mission brand strips (less salty).
Hello! Question for you… I hate everything Ranch flavored. (Sorry!!!) Can you taste the ranch dressing packet flavoring in this or is it just a flavor booster? I’d love to try this recipe but don’t want to waste time and money if I won’t enjoy it. Thanks so much!!!
In the soup it just boosts the flavor I don’t think you taste ranch at all.
Thanks so much!
Loved this recipe for tailgating! We are cilantro lovers; so we added it as a garnish too. It was a huge hit. My crockpot was completely empty.
Mmm me too! Cilantro is the best!
Family favorite!
How big of a crockpot do most use, I have a smaller 4qt.
Hi Steve, mine is a 5 quart slow cooker and this recipe didn’t fill it to the top so I think a 4 qt will be fine.
This was delicious! Made it with venison because we have so much! It was fantastic!
It was a big hit at work!! The shredded tortilla chips went great with the soup!
So glad you liked it! It’s a fall favorite in my house 🙂
I’ve made this recipe several times after finding it. It’s an absolute family favorite around my house. Gonna be making it again tomorrow. Thanks for sharing. I’ve shared with all my family and friends and it’s a hit everytime.
I’m so glad your family like sit as much as mine! 🙂
Nice recipe, i too prefer using black beans than kidney beans, a much nicer flavour.