A blend of Tex-Mex seasonings, pantry staples and some cooked chicken make for a quick and hearty chicken soup. Shown here with my Honey Jalapeno cornbread.

Chicken Taco Soup

I absolutely love this soup, whether it's made with ground beef or chicken. It's got such great flavor and it's about the easiest soup there is to throw together.

You can start with raw chicken that you poach, a deli chicken or chicken that you previously put up in the freezer, which I tend to have the most. Thanks to on-sale whole chickens, an Instant Pot and a Food Saver, there is always some cooked chicken in my freezer. I chose to chop up my chicken this time, though shredded is also good for this.

Today I used chili beans including the juices, along with drained and rinsed white beans, black beans and pinto beans - primarily because that is what I happened to have in the pantry! That's the beauty of this taco soup. Just use whatever your favorite beans are that you typically have on hand. 

I'm using a can of regular diced tomatoes as well as Rotel, because both are also pantry ingredients for me. If you have no tomatoes but salsa or picante sauce, use that. Some folks like to use cream corn instead of whole kernel corn and you can also use frozen corn. I've even seen recipes using mixed vegetables. Some people use plain water, some chicken broth. I prefer Kitchen Basics stock myself. Some people even like to add pasta, like a small shell or elbow macaroni pasta. 

I'm also using a mix of "packets," for the sake of convenience and I like the flavor combination of the two in this soup. These packets are a pantry staple for me, but you can certainly make homemade substitutes for both. 

Bottom line? If you don't like or have the selection of "cans" here, mix it up and make it your own!

Here's how to make my Chicken Taco Soup. As always, full recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, are a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll past the step by step pictures below.

Heat bacon drippings or oil in a soup pot over medium heat, add onion and cook over medium until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add chopped, cooked chicken and stir in a packet of ranch dressing and taco dry seasoning, and cayenne if using; cook and stir for another minute. Add un-drained, diced tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes, and an extra can of green chilies; cook and stir for 5 minutes. Stir in chicken broth and the undrained chili beans.

Drain and rinse the white beans and pinto beans and add to the pot with the chicken broth and the corn. Drain and rinse the black beans separately and add to the pot. Bring up to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. May hold longer over low heat.

Serve with a garnish of shredded cheese, chopped tomato, diced avocado, broken tortilla chips, green onion and/or a dollop of sour cream, or whatever your own favorite toppings, if desired.

For more of my favorite soup recipes, check out this collection on my Pinterest page!

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