Taco Soup for the Sniffly
A few weeks ago it started raining in Nashville and hasn’t stopped, so we now have a small pond in the backyard that might be able to support life. One of our neighbors helpfully pointed out that the pond wouldn’t be there if I stopped backing into the yard and parked in the garage. Like a normal person. And I’m all, BUT WHERE WOULD WE KEEP THE BODIES? Kidding! But the rain and all that comes with it have given me a sinus infection that’s starting to inhibit my ability to function as a normal person.
So, since I can’t go around town speaking my mind and shaming my mother, I decided to heal myself a truckload of soup. Not a healthy, restorative, vitamin-packed soup, like a minestrone or a country vegetable. Oh, hell no. It had to be something I could eat with Fritos®. Preferably while watching “The Biggest Loser.”
Thank God and Mama for trashy-good Taco Soup.
Taco Soup, a tailgating staple at Mom’s, is like chili with palm trees painted on its fingernails. Beef, onions, tomatoes, beans, corn, chiles and magical seasonings. But perhaps the best part is that you’re required by law to serve the Taco Soup on a golden bed of Fritos®, the official snack chip of stuffy noses. Use whatever beans you have in the pantry. Add another can of tomatoes, or finish it with some fresh jalapeno slices or grated habanero cheddar. But don’t leave out the Fritos®. That’s how people wind up in our garage.
Taco Soup
Rebecca Crump (EzraPoundCake.com)
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 to 2 diced onions
- 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 (10-ounce) can RO*TEL® diced tomatoes and green chilies
- 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans
- 1 (16-ounce) can pinto beans
- 1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
- 2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans chopped green chiles
- 1 (1-ounce) envelope taco seasoning
- 1 (1-ounce) envelope ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix
- Garnishes: Corn chips, cheese, sour cream, green onions
1. In a large skillet, cook beef and onions over medium heat until beef is no longer pink. Drain, using a slotted spoon, as you transfer browned beef and onions to a Dutch oven, stockpot or slow cooker.
2. Add tomatoes, black beans, pinto beans, corn and green chiles. Stir in the taco seasoning and ranch salad dressing mix.
3. If you’re cooking on the stovetop, cover the pot and simmer soup over low heat for 30 minutes up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If you’re using a slow cooker, cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours.
4. Garnish individual servings with corn chips, cheese, sour cream and green onions, if desired.
Oh, Lordy! This sounds perfect for our winter cookathons at work! Thanks for sharing!
Golly, this sounds wonderful, more exciting that plain ole chili.
I love several things about this post:
1. You’re funny
2. that soup sound and looks like something I could eat a lot of (even with the ranch seasoning!)
3. The ad under your post that I can see right now is for a weight loss plan! Yeah, I’m thinking this post and that ad, don’t have a lot of synergy!
Hope you feel better soon. And, if it makes you feel better, I have helpful neighbours, too.
Well, the ad I'm seeing is one for Bacon Salt…. apparently the missing ingredient in this recipe.
can you eat this if you don't have the sniffles? Or do you need to get the sniffles and stay home from work first? (you know, as a good citizen, don't make your co-workers sick, kindly kind of gesture?)
Oh holy crap! this sounds awesome! seems to be perfect food for football watching.
and, yeah, the rain has been horrible here. if it weren't for the random dry day we've had today i would have started building an ark.
omg! Definitely gonna be making this!
I have used Ranch seasoning in my soup before and every time I do I think…am I really about to do this? Then when I am eating the soup, I'm all "thank you ranch seasoning"…sometimes you just have to go there!!
Ohh, my mom used to make this soup! It's soo good and I can't wait to make it now that it's finally fall!
I like chili-cheese Fritos in my taco salad. But I have to try this next time I'm craving it.
I'm gonna have to try this; we've got the rain over in Memphis too and this sounds like just the thing.
This looks great – I wish it would rain here or at least cool down,,, Too hot..
Cannot wait to try what will know doubt be a big hit in this house~!
This post is hilarious! But it's way too hot still for soup like this. It needs to be below 40, at least at night, for that. Feel better!
Feel better soon. Life is so much easier to bear when there isn't an elephant sitting on your head!!!
I can't eat tomatoes…but my husband is already asking me to make this soup! I've bookmarked it!
That is one tip for a flat belly …I love this soup and I clicked on some get slim fast scam ad on this site right after … say thank you to your mother.
I LOVE it!!!!
do you have any idea how many people this would serve?..i need to cook for a large group (15-20 people) and this sounds perfect! :)
Now that just looks like a little bit of 'trashy" heaven! I would love a big bowl right now.
:) Hope you're feeling better soon!
This is definitely something my kiddos would love! And yes, they'd have it with plenty of fritos (or torilla chips)!
~ingrid
tailgating and taco soup are the perfect combo. and fritos of course!
houston just got a cool front and i am taking this VERY post as a sign that i need to make this. its soup season. hell yah!!!!
how many servings would you guess this would make?…i need to cook for a large group of 15-20 people and this sounds amazing. :)
Hey…just found you on Tastespotting while searching for recipes for my upcoming anniversary.
God girl, you're funny. Loved the Biggest Loser line…needed a good laugh this early in the morning.
I'm an Army wife & we're currently stationed in South Korea where I hear the winters can be brutal & as a Texas girl I'm not sure I'm gonna make it.
But I will definitely have to try this out one night. Just wish I had a football game to watch while eating it…then it would feel like home…but alas, no American TV. Lots of Korean rap videos, but no football.
Much love from an overseas Army wife,
Jennifer
http://www.ourjennericlife.com
I love all the different names people have for this! I've always known it as Frito pie. It's a meal I ALWAYS say yes to: http://tinyurl.com/yb5pyc9
1. Thanks!
2. This is the one and only thing I make that includes ranch seasoning. I figure, I'm already breaking the Fritos® rule, so why not take it all the way?
3. At least it's not the yellow teeth ad. Or the cellulite ad. Those are really, really bad.
I'm definitely feeling better, especially knowing you get loads of helpful advice, too.
I don't see why tvp or soy crumbles couldn't work. Let me know!
Word, my baby! The Fellowship of the Fritos® has no shame. ;)
Any excuse to get more Fritos® into my diet. Love, love love.
I've never heard it called "Sante Fe Soup." Cool. I always start craving it when football season kicks in.
You can TOTALLY eat this, with or without swine flu. The perfect food for a fake sick day.
Holy crap, it IS awesome. And thank God for random dry days. We were on the verge of having to buy a machete to cut a path to the mailbox.
I agree completely. I put the packet back on the shelf and then I think, I'm already getting the Fritos®… Might as well go all the way. ;)
Fritos® in your taco salad? You sick genius. I've got to try that.
People are starting to refer to Nashville as "The New Seattle." Soooo much rain lately.
Let me know what you think of the soup. Oh, and I'm very jealous of your proximity to Interstate BBQ. Love their sauce.
Thanks! I'm feeling much better. Stupid elephant.
Thanks! I'm feeling much better.
Let me know if you try the soup and what changes you make. We're always tinkering around with it …
Hell yeah!!! We've got to make the most of every little cool front. I'd settle for 75 degrees. ;)
It makes A TON, at least 15 servings. To be on the safe side, you could always add an extra can of beans and/or diced tomatoes and maybe thin it with a cup or two of water.
That taco soup looks really tasty!
Great Football Game fare!! We really enjoyed it! Just sorry the game didn't turn as well!
i just made this the other night and it was awesome! thanks!
with nashville skipping fall and going straight for winter, we took tonight as the perfect opportunity to make this soup. it was awesome and so easy. thanks for posting!
I saw this come through in my foodgawker feed, and I have to say, it looks and sounds delicious, but the main reason I want to make it is because you described it as "chili's trashier cousin." Zing!
I loves it. Subscribing to your feed immediately if not sooner.
My daughter loves taco’s anyway they are made…this soup craving of her’s began in Lima, Ohio, when my husband (boilermaker) left for a thirty minute job and me and my two girls were left at a Denny’s buffet place for eight hours. They were so sweet when they found out we were from KY and we really wasn’t try to get three meals out of the all you can eat buffet. I think my youngest ate a gallon of this that day, lol.