Taco Soup
Posted by Wona Miniati at 2/2/2010 
Categories: Vegetarian and Vegan ,Food Recipes
Tags: soup chicken taco
Categories: Vegetarian and Vegan ,Food Recipes
Tags: soup chicken taco
Superbowl Sunday is coming up this weekend, and if you're looking for an easy, crowd-pleasing dish, here's one you can try for game day. One-pot meals like this are great for crowds because each person can tailor the toppings according to their own tastes, and you can serve it all buffet style. (See vegetarian option below)
This soup combines the flavors and textures we all love about tacos, into a hearty soup. I was inspired to create this dish when I spotted Taco Seasoning Mix on the "new items shelf" at my local TJs. I'd often wondered why TJ didn't carry taco seasoning, so when it finally appeared, I had to find a way to use it. I decided to make a soup rather than regular tacos for two reasons: it's been raining heavily for weeks, and a soup just felt like the right thing to have for dinner; and also because a soup is easier for my young kids to handle than regular tacos.
I had originally intended to put some jalapenos or chiles into the soup, but decided to wait and see how spicy the taco seasoning was. Yowza, it has a kick! The spice level was just perfect for the spice-loving adults at the table, but the kids ended up adding quite a bit of sour cream and yogurt to cut down the heat. So if you like fiery-hot spices, you could try experimenting with jalapenos or chiles. But if you prefer mild heat, don't add any additional spices.
I used chicken, but for a vegetarian version, try substituting Trader Joe's Chicken-less Strips in the refrigerated section. It has gotten good reviews, and apparently people really like the flavor AND texture. Please report back and let us know how you like it!
Offer guests any combination of toppings you'd like. I think the one that is mandatory is tortilla chips!
Taco Soup Recipe
1 (approx 1.3 lb) pkg boneless chicken breasts or thighs, or 1 pkg Chicken-less Strips (vegetarian option)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pkg Taco Seasoning Mix
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (15 oz) cans black beans
1 (15 oz) can corn, or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
2 cups chicken broth (optional; omit for a thicker stew)
Your choice of toppings:
Tortilla chips
Fresh cilantro
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Avocado
Fresh chopped tomatoes
Chopped green onions or red onions
Jalapenos or chiles
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions for 5 minutes, or until softened.
2. Add remaining ingredients and heat to boiling. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 1 hour.
3. Remove chicken, shred, and return to pot. Stir and heat through before serving.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Hands-off cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 6-8
Slow cooker method: Place all ingredients into a crockpot and cook for 5-6 hours on low setting. Remove chicken, shred, and return to crockpot. Stir and heat through before serving.
This soup combines the flavors and textures we all love about tacos, into a hearty soup. I was inspired to create this dish when I spotted Taco Seasoning Mix on the "new items shelf" at my local TJs. I'd often wondered why TJ didn't carry taco seasoning, so when it finally appeared, I had to find a way to use it. I decided to make a soup rather than regular tacos for two reasons: it's been raining heavily for weeks, and a soup just felt like the right thing to have for dinner; and also because a soup is easier for my young kids to handle than regular tacos.
I had originally intended to put some jalapenos or chiles into the soup, but decided to wait and see how spicy the taco seasoning was. Yowza, it has a kick! The spice level was just perfect for the spice-loving adults at the table, but the kids ended up adding quite a bit of sour cream and yogurt to cut down the heat. So if you like fiery-hot spices, you could try experimenting with jalapenos or chiles. But if you prefer mild heat, don't add any additional spices.
I used chicken, but for a vegetarian version, try substituting Trader Joe's Chicken-less Strips in the refrigerated section. It has gotten good reviews, and apparently people really like the flavor AND texture. Please report back and let us know how you like it!
Offer guests any combination of toppings you'd like. I think the one that is mandatory is tortilla chips!
Taco Soup Recipe
1 (approx 1.3 lb) pkg boneless chicken breasts or thighs, or 1 pkg Chicken-less Strips (vegetarian option)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pkg Taco Seasoning Mix
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 (15 oz) cans black beans
1 (15 oz) can corn, or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
2 cups chicken broth (optional; omit for a thicker stew)
Your choice of toppings:
Tortilla chips
Fresh cilantro
Sour cream
Shredded cheese
Avocado
Fresh chopped tomatoes
Chopped green onions or red onions
Jalapenos or chiles
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions for 5 minutes, or until softened.
2. Add remaining ingredients and heat to boiling. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 1 hour.
3. Remove chicken, shred, and return to pot. Stir and heat through before serving.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Hands-off cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 6-8
Slow cooker method: Place all ingredients into a crockpot and cook for 5-6 hours on low setting. Remove chicken, shred, and return to crockpot. Stir and heat through before serving.
We made it TWICE this past weekend and I can't believe how good and how easy it was. I don't even cook! It tasted great and the toppings (chips, avocado, cheese) were fantastic.
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Love the blog!
This was delicious and sooo easy! I was a little skeptical that a packet of taco seasoning could really add that much flavor but it did! The DH and I love spicy stuff but we both felt this had enough kick!
I made it in the crockpot and it needed more like 6 to 7 hours on low (for the chicken to shred nicely.) We topped our with avocado, sour cream and cheese.
Will definitely make again!
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Hello. Great site and recipes. Love Trader Joe's foods. Can you tell me why the plastic heating tray on frozen entre TJ Vegetable Panang Curry with Jasmine Rice may have melted? Followed directions for conventional oven and reviewed it carefully after rushing melting plastic covered oven rack outside to our deck...fumes were terrible, possibly toxic. Opened all of our doors and windows! We don't see any instruction for preventing this. Oven 350, remove film and place alum foil over top. place in center of oven, heat for about 45 mins. Should be good to go! But I was drawn to the kitchen due to fumes. I don't see why it happened. Very strange...and disappointing because we had to throw all the food away. ??? What do you think? I looked to see if others have experience this but found none in search. I can't believe I'm the only one who would up with melted plastic! Thanks, Judy
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It's possible your oven was hotter than 350. Years ago, I bought an oven thermometer and was shocked to find that my oven temperature was actually 50 degrees higher than it was supposed to be. You could try that and see if your oven temperature is accurate. I've never actually baked in those trays, and even though the instructions say you can, I'd feel safer putting the contents into a baking dish. Lastly, you can contact Trader joe's directly at http://www.traderjoes.com/static/contact_us.html.
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I just found my oven covered with melted white plastic. I also followed directions for heating Trader Joe's Vegetable Panang Curry with Jasmine Rice - and immediately googled to see if anyone had had this problem. I examined the plastic and it doesn't have the normal markings for food-safe plastics whatsoever. Hmmm.
This looks like a major oversight on TJ's end.
Thanks for noting this Judy.
Jerry
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was deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!!!
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i tried this recipe at home.it was delicious,yummy, all my friends liked it too. thanks for this awesome recipe.
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