A friend of mine recently asked me for this recipe, and I was reminded that I had not posted it to this web site yet. Shame! Since it's a super easy crockpot meal and the weather finally feels like Fall in Texas (at least for a few days), I thought it was about time I share the ingredients here.
The original recipe is from 2001 in North Texas when my college roommate's mom wrote it down for me. It has all the great flavors of taco night and is highly customizable to what your family likes. Try subbing ground turkey; my family doesn't even notice the difference.
Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey or beef
1 10-ounce can fire-roasted rotel
1 15.25-ounce can whole kernel corn or use 2 cups of frozen corn
2 15-ounce cans pinto beans (I buy the one with jalapenos added)
1 14.5-ounce can stewed tomatoes or fire-roasted diced tomatoes
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 yellow onion, small diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and small diced
2 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
2 tablespoons jarred jalapenos plus 1 tablespoons juice from the jar
1 package taco seasoning
1 package dry ranch dressing
Brown the meat
Cook the pound of ground meat over medium-high heat, breaking up with a spoon, until no longer pink. Add to crockpot.
Get your can opener ready
While meat browns, start opening and dumping the cans, juice and all, into your crockpot. (Rotel, corn, beans, tomatoes)
Add veggies and seasoning packets
Chop vegetables and add to the crockpot along with the taco seasoning and the ranch seasoning. Add jarred jalapenos with juice at your discretion. Stir to combine all ingredients and add one to two cups of water or chicken broth. The ingredients you have added will release a lot of juice, so do not worry if this doesn't look like soup right from the start.
Set it and forget it
You have the option to cook this on high for 4 hours or low and slow for 8 hours. It really gets better and better the longer it sits, so don't rush it if you can help it.
Serving options
You can serve this with warm tortillas, or tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, fresh or pickled jalapenos, shredded lettuce. Actually, anything you would see on a taco can be piled up on top of this hot soup.
Comments