When life is busy it is even more important for my family to find time to eat together. There is something so relaxing about sitting around the table together chatting, laughing, and reconnecting.
However, it can be rough to throw together a family dinner when we walk in the door a few minutes before dinner time. Yes, I can throw together a pretty decent meal in 10 minutes, but (confession time) I am not always that cheerful when throwing together a dinner in 10 minutes. And if I have been grumping at everyone while making dinner, it kind of puts a damper on the chatting, laughing, and reconnecting that is supposed to happen around the dinner table.
If I remember to put together a slow cooker meal in the morning on busy days, I am more relaxed at dinner time and my cheerfulness rubs off on the rest of the family.
My kids love taco soup and I love how easy it is to make. All I have to do is add all the ingredients, except for the toppings, to the slow cooker before I leave. Then I come home to a delicious dinner. I keep this meal frugal my using items from my Batch Cooking Day instead of canned ingredients. I was able to pull browned hamburger, cooked beans, cooked rice, diced bell peppers, diced onions, diced tomatoes, and corn from the freezer to use in this recipe.
I add rice to the taco soup, which makes it thicker, almost like a stew. My thicker version makes it easier for my 5 year old to eat it without dripping, which contributes to a relaxing dinner.
Slow Cooker Taco Rice Soup
Yield – 8 servings
Preparation Time – 10 minutes
Cooking Time – 6 hours
Ingredients
- ~1/2 pound hamburger, browned
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup bell pepper diced
- 1 3/4 cups cooked or 15.5 oz. can black beans (Or learn how to cook your own beans here.)
- 1 3/4 cups cooked or 15.5 oz. can white beans
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 3/4 cups or 15.5 oz. can frozen corn
- 3 1/2 cups or 2 15.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
- 15 oz. can tomato sauce
- 2 cups water
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning mix (Or make your own taco seasoning here.)
- 1 cup crushed chips
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
Directions
- If necessary, brown hamburger.
- Add hamburger, onion, bell pepper, beans, corn, rice, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water and taco seasoning to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours.
- Ladle soup into bowls. Top with crushed chips and cheese.
I served the soup with a garden salad.
Mary says
Love the taco soup recipe!
Alea Milham says
Thank you Mary!
Christine M says
If I were to use ground chicken could I put it in raw and let it cook with everything else?
Alea Milham says
Yes, you could put the chicken in raw. I like to cook the hamburger and drain off the fat, but that is my personal preference.
Kristi says
Would it be possible to cook this for longer? I am trying to find crock pot recipes that I can cook for the length of time I am out of the house on a workday…12 hours. Could I cook it longer, and then just have it “Sit” in the pot till I got home? Then warm it up for a bit? Or would that ruin it? Thanks for any help on this!
Alea Milham says
I haven’t let this cook for longer than 8 hours, so I can’t say how it would be at 12. I would recommend leaving the rice out or cutting it in half, as even cooked rice continues to absorb liquid.
I had precooked or prechopped almost all of the ingredients and had frozen them on my Batch Cooking Day. I let mine thaw in the fridge before placing them in the slow cooker, but if you put them in frozen this would allow you to cook them for longer without changing the end result.
tina phillips says
This sounds amazing!!!! Cooler weather will be here before you know it and I just know this would have the house smelling wonderful!!!
Alea Milham says
Thank you! The house smelled too good while this was cooking and we were all counting down the minutes until it was done. 🙂
Teresa Rotramel says
Can I upload this recipe to myfitnesspal.com? I am trying to track my calories, and I would love to share this recipe! I will of course direct them to this website!
Thanks,
Teresa
emily says
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Mandy says
I’m making this for dinner tonight. I didn’t have time to put it in the slowcooker this morning so I sauteed the onions in olive oil and tossed all the rest of the ingredients in a pot. I subbed more beans for the meat because I’m a vegetarian. It’s simmering right now and it tastes AMAZING. So this recipe is totally workable as a quick one-pot meal.