I’ve tried several different versions of this and we haven’t really been happy with the blandness of them. So this is our version. Go blander for the kiddos if you want by leaving out the jalapenos.
Though I didn’t have the forethought to do it this year, this would make a great crockpot recipe for those cold Christmas parade nights. Or those long cold days shopping. Imagine walking in to a great smelling house and a warm dinner.
Okay, okay, without further ado here’s our taco soup recipe.
Ingredients
1 – 15 oz. can Light Red Kidney Beans
1 – 15 oz. can Bush’s Best (or whatever brand, we just happened to use this kind last time) Chili Beans
1 – 15 oz. can Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 – 10 oz. can Rotel
1 – 10 oz. can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 packet Ranch Seasoning Mix
1 packet Taco Seasoning Mix
2 teaspoons minced garlic (we use those jars of minced garlic for everything, if you don’t have this just substitute some garlic powder)
1/2 white onion chopped
3 or 4 slices jalapenos with 1 tsp of the juice from them (again we use a gigantic jar of sliced pickled jalapenos for about everything so there’s less waste – you’re not opening a can and throwing away what you don’t use every time you need some)
1 cup chicken broth (made from granules or cubes or premade and frozen, the point is just to have an extra cup or so broth in your soup, we omitted this and it was not soup-y enough)
3 boiled chicken breasts shredded
Optional Toppings
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream
Tortilla Chips
Directions
Once again I have to say, if you cook ahead and use freezer cooking, this recipe is super quick. Cooking ahead eliminates chopping the onion, boiling and shredding the chicken, worrying about the broth, shredding cheese, and keeping the minced garlic jar and sliced jalapenos on hand all makes for a very quick meal.
Are you ready for the complexity of this meal?
Open all those ingredients up there except for the toppings. Save those for, you know, the topping.
Dump all those ingredients in your crockpot. You’re not even going to drain the beans or tomatoes or anything. Just put it all in. Stir.
Start the crockpot on low.
Leave it alone, except for maybe an occasional stirring of the ingredients, for several hours. I don’t have an exact number for this partly because very little I do is exact and partly because everything in this recipe is already cooked you’re just waiting for it to all meld and taste good together.
That’s it.
When you serve it, set some shredded cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips on the table. I like to crumble the chips in, some like to dip it.
Oh, I should also include that some people put a can of corn in theirs. But we don’t like the corn addition. It just seems weird and out of place to me. But that may just be my sensory issues at work again. I don’t know.
Enjoy!!
