7 Can Taco Soup Recipe

I recently shared a few of the reminders I give myself when I feel too busy to live the homemade life. One of those important reminders is that I don’t let myself feel too guilty if I rely on some semi-homemade types of recipes too.  I think the trade-off of a semi-homemade meal at home usually beats the other choice that’s so easy to fall back on of overspending at restaurants or fast food joints.  I also promised to follow up with the recipe I mentioned in that post for an easy 7 Can Taco Soup  – and here it is!

7 Cam Taco Soup Recipe

A recipe like this 7 Can Taco Soup can be a refreshingly simply way to put a quick meal on the table.  If you can open up cans, then you can make this recipe.  Having a few recipes like this in your stash also makes it easy for kids to help get dinner ready, or for hubby to help on a busy night (if he’s not the one who usually does the cooking).

I’ve listed the size of the canned ingredients in the recipe below however 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.

7 Can Taco Soup

Make this quick and easy soup using canned items and spices from the pantry.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Author: TheMakeYourOwnZone.com

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:

Instead of the packet of taco seasoning you can add:  2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp minced onion, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp garlic salt, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
To make a vegetarian option, omit the chicken, replace the cream of chicken soup with cream of celery (or other vegetable cream soup), and replace the chicken broth with 1-3/4 cups of vegetable broth.

 

7 Cam Taco Soup Recipe

As mentioned in the recipe above, you can use a couple different options to spice the soup.  The first option (if you’d like another shortcut) is to just add a packet of taco seasoning to the mixture.

I prefer the second option of just using my own spices and my single batch homemade taco seasoning works perfectly. Those spices and quantities are listed in the notes in the recipe above. This is also a nice way to be able to add as much (or as little) spice as you want to the mixture.

 

7 Cam Taco Soup Recipe

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.

 

 

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2 Comments

  1. 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.

    1. 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.