7 Can Taco Soup Recipe
Sometimes when I feel too busy for the homemade lifestyle, I remind myself not to feel guilty for using a few semi-homemade recipes too. I think making a semi-homemade meal at home still beats the other choice of overspending at restaurants or fast food joints. This seven-can taco soup is a good example of a low-effort meal that still feels very homemade.
Yes, if you can get out a can opener and open a few cans and dump the contents into a soup pot, then you can certainly make this “homemade” soup. It can be seasoned with a packet of taco seasoning for easy convenience, or I’ve got the measurements for just using spices you might have in the pantry too.
The canned ingredients you’ll need for this taco soup recipe are:
- Chicken broth
- Corn
- Black beans
- Green enchilada sauce
- Cream of chicken soup
- Diced tomatoes
- Canned chicken
I’ve listed the size of the canned ingredients in the recipe below but that can vary slightly from brand to brand and manufacturers can change their sizing every so often too. As long as you’re pretty close to the size listed below, you should be OK.
And here’s one more idea: you can use this recipe as an easy food gift too! Just gather the needed cans and an envelope of taco seasoning (or a homemade seasoning packet), and put them in a basket for gift giving. You can read more about that here and also find a printable recipe card to put in your basket: Homemade Taco Soup Ingredient Gift Basket
And finally, this soup makes a great leftover too. You might find just as we did, that you like this soup even better the second day around!
More homemade meals:
7 Can Taco Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 can black beans 15.5 oz (drained & rinsed)
- 1 can diced tomatoes 14.5 oz
- 1 can corn 15.25 oz (drained)
- 1 can cream of chicken soup 10.5 oz
- 1 can green enchilada sauce 10 oz
- 1 can chicken broth 14.5 oz
- 1 can chicken 12.5 oz (drained)
- 1 packet taco seasoning (or see notes for DIY)
Instructions:
- Combine the contents of all the cans in a large saucepan.
- Add the packet of taco seasoning or add your own pantry spices (see notes below).
- Heat on the stove until warm and serve.
Notes:
A Few More Notes:
~~ The spice quantities above end up giving you a soup with a fair amount of spicy “heat”. If you have little ones in the family that might not like that much flavoring, you can decrease the chili powder and cumin a bit (and leave out those red pepper flakes!) for a milder mixture.
~~ You can make some frugal adjustments to this recipe by adding your own cooked chicken (instead of the canned) or by using homemade chicken stock or adding 1-3/4 cups of chicken broth made with chicken base, bouillon, or Better Than Bouillon
(instead of the can of broth). Sometimes I also have my own cooked beans in the freezer which I use instead of a can.
~~ I substituted red enchilada sauce in this recipe one time and it still came out just as yummy. Just be aware that red enchilada sauces can be sold as Mild, Medium, or Hot and you may need to adjust any spices you are adding accordingly. (All the green enchilada sauces I ever see in the store are always marked as Mild).
~~ I have also made a more vegetarian version of this recipe by substituting a can of cream of celery soup and a can of vegetable broth (instead of the chicken flavors) and omitting the can of chicken.
~~ We like this soup even better the second day around! It makes great leftovers – the spices really blend in and mellow out after it’s set for awhile.
Thank you for this great recipe. I like to refer to ones like this as: Pantry Soup. I am 69 years old, widowed. We would have been celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this summer. As a young wife and mother of three children I always had a well stocked pantry of emergency food. This was for several reasons: 1. If I became ill daddy would be able to prepare meals easily 2. if the electric went off we could prepare foods. I also stocked up on water and gallon containers of drink mixes. 3. If an extra bill(s) hit we did not have to worry about not going to the store for food. 4. Lets just face it sometimes Moms need a night off. [smile]
I now have nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren. (Three of the grandchildren are married.) It is so wonderful to teach my children and grandchildren how to cook and garden. Now I am teaching my oldest grandchild (age five) how to cook and do gardening too.
You sound like an awesome woman Kathleen with lots of great knowledge and experience about homemaking. And like you said – sometimes Mom just needs a night off from cooking. This soup is something my husband can easily put together on nights when I just need a little break from the kitchen. Keeping sharing what you’ve learned with the next generation. That’s a wonderful gift to give your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.