One Pot Taco Soup

Have you ever wanted the taste of tacos but you wanted to eat something a little more filling? Taco soup is the perfect recipe for the fall and winter months when you want to make a quick family meal that could last a few days. There's something in taco soup for everyone in the family.

Ingredients needs are: ground beef (the package size depends on the amount of soup you plan to make, I typically use the 2.5 LB 80/20 ground beef), seasoning salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, 1 onion (your choice of yellow or white), 1 can of black beans, 1 can of kidney beans (your choice of light or dark), 1-2 cans of corn (I typically use 2 cans because I love corn), 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1-2 cans of tomato sauce (depends on how thick you prefer your soup), 2 packages of taco seasoning, as well as shredded cheese, cilantro, guacamole, pico de Gallo, and sour cream for toppings if you prefer. I serve my soup with tortilla chips so 1-2 bags of those are also needed, depending on your family size.

Cooking utensils needed are: 1 skillet with a lid, 1 large pot with a lid, 1 large strainer, 1 small cutting board, a can opener, a small knife, and several spatulas or spoons for stirring.

While my skillet is warming up to medium heat, I chop my onion finely to ensure there aren't any large or uneven pieces in the soup.

After my skillet has reached medium heat, I spray my skillet with Pam cooking spray, then add the onions and ground beef. While doing this, I stir the meat & onions with a spatula or spoon to ensure it mixes together evenly. I also break the meat up from the rectangle it was in from the package so that there aren't any big chunks lumped together.

Now that I have evenly distributed the meat in my skillet, I season it with a generous amount of the following: seasoning salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Stir well after seasoning the meat and add the lid to the skillet to let it simmer.

While our meat and onions are simmering, I like to get my pot ready for my remaining ingredients. Next to the skillet on the stove, I begin heating the pot under medium heat as well. I use the same Pam cooking spray to ensure nothing sticks.

As the pot is warming up, open your canned ingredients- beans, corn, tomatoes, and sauce- and add one at a time to the pot. I typically start with only the first can of the tomato sauce now and add the second can if I see fit.

Once I have added all of my ingredients to the pot, I then use almost the same seasonings I used to season the meat- the ground black pepper, the garlic powder, and onion powder- to season the soup. I stir after seasoning and place the lid on the pot so it can simmer.

Our meat should be about finished cooking now so I remove the lid and stir once more to make sure I don't see any uncooked pieces still in the skillet. Once the meat is evenly browned, I turn the heat off. Place your strainer off to the side where you can easily transfer the meat from the skillet to the strainer without making a mess, I typically place a small pan in my kitchen sink and sit my strainer in the pan. Then I pour my meat into the strainer allowing it to drip any excess grease off the meat. I let this drip for about 5 minutes as the meat cools off.

After 5 minutes of the meat straining, I take about 5-6 paper towels and roll them out on my counter. Then I dump all the ground beef unto the paper towels to soak in any excess grease that could still be on the ground beef. I let this sit for about 10-15 seconds and then I transfer the meat to my pot. This step is not mandatory for a good outcome but I do this to make sure I don't have any grease in my soup.

Once we've ensured there's no excess grease on the meat, add it to the pot of soup. Now that all of our ingredients have been added to the pot, I stir the pot well from the top to the bottom to see how thick my consistency is at the stage in the process. My pot didn't have enough liquid so I added the second can of tomato soup.

Add both packages of the taco seasonings into the pot, stir, and add the lid back to the pot. Let the pot simmer for about 5 minutes and remove the lid to taste your soup.

Once your soup has simmered with everything included and you like your consistency, the last step is to make a bowl to your liking and enjoy!