Creamy Taco Soup satisfies those taco cravings when a one-pot meal suits your desired level of effort come dinnertime.
Tacos are fire, but there are times when I want that classic taco flavor without the to-do of prepping and setting out all of the components. This Creamy Beef Taco Soup achieves that goal in a one-pot wonder - seasoned ground beef, tender black beans, sweet pops of corn, and rich tomato goodness all combined into one hearty soup. A smidge of cream cheese lends a subtle creaminess, which ups the cozy factor another notch.
Creamy Taco Soup comes together pretty quickly - prep takes around 10 minutes with a cook time right around 30 minutes. This makes a pretty sizable amount of soup - around 10 cups. Definitely enough to feed a family of four. Or serve as really delicious food prep for a couple. Similar to chili, I think this easy Creamy Taco Soup gets even better as it sits overnight. Hello, tasty lunch leftovers!
You’ll want to pair this Creamy Taco Soup with an understated, yet stand-out side dish. Try pairing this soup with Instant Pot Spanish Rice, Air Fryer Nachos, and Tajin Cucumber Salsa with tortilla chips.
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What you need to make Creamy Beef Taco Soup
Don’t let the number of ingredients fool you - there’s not a lot of prep work required, thanks to the use of canned, ready-to-use ingredients. There are also suggestions for shortcuts in the Substitutions section if you need to further lessen the time investment.
- ground beef
- yellow onion, diced
- bell pepper, diced
- garlic cloves, minced
- ancho chili powder
- cumin
- paprika
- Ro-tel diced tomatoes
- canned corn
- canned black beans
- vegetable broth
- cream cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste (optional)
- toppings such as grated cheddar cheese, sliced avocado, sour cream, or tortilla strips
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to make Creamy Taco Soup
Take the cream cheese out of the fridge first so that it has time to soften while you prepare the Creamy Taco Soup.
Add the ground beef to a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook beef, stirring occasionally until it’s cooked through, around 7 minutes. I like to season the meat after it’s browned for a few minutes. Add the ancho chili powder, cumin, and paprika as the meat cooks.
Strain excess fat off into a separate container and spread ground beef onto paper towels. Add a little of the strained beef grease back to the Dutch oven. Add yellow onion and green bell pepper and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add garlic and continue cooking for an additional minute, stirring the whole time.
Strain corn and black beans. Add the corn, black beans, Ro-tel, and vegetable broth to the Dutch oven.
Increase the heat to high to bring the soup to a boil. Upon boiling, immediately turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for around 15-20 minutes.
While the soup simmers, add cream cheese to a bowl. Spoon out some of the soup liquid into the bowl with cream cheese.
Stir until the cream cheese has completely melted in (you can use a blender if you’d like to speed up this process).
Add the melted cream cheese mixture to the soup and stir to combine. Remove soup from heat.
Taste and season the soup with salt and pepper (if desired). Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla strips!
Hint: Strain the ground beef well after it finishes cooking. Let it rest on paper towels while the peppers and onions cook to remove as much excess grease as you can. You don’t want too much oil to get into the resulting soup.
Soup-er Substitutions
Here are some suggested substitutions for this Creamy Beef Taco Soup.
- Ground beef - This soup is also fantastic with ground (or shredded) chicken, turkey, or pork. A vegetarian version could include an additional can of black or pinto beans.
- Fresh bell pepper and onion - Take a shortcut with this soup and use frozen diced onion and bell pepper in place of fresh. Added bonus: less veggie chopping.
- Seasonings - In lieu of the seasonings called for in this Creamy Taco Soup recipe, you could use 1-2 tablespoons of a taco seasoning mix. The resulting flavor will be similar.
- Ro-tel - You can also use canned crushed tomatoes here instead. Fire-roasted tomatoes are my go-to when I don’t have Ro-tel on hand.
- Corn - Go ahead and use frozen or fresh corn instead.
- Black beans - Pinto beans work great, as do navy beans and garbanzo beans.
- Vegetable broth - Use chicken or beef broth instead. Or, make your own, like this Instant Pot Beef Bone Broth.
- Cream cheese - Stir in sour cream instead. Sour cream will add more tang than cream cheese, so start with 3-4 tablespoons, then taste and adjust to suit your tastes.
Spicy Creamy Taco Soup Variation
Try these tips to achieve spicy Creamy Taco Soup perfection.
- Add 2-3 finely diced jalapenos; leave the pith for extra heat!
- Add a few dashes of cayenne pepper and/or red pepper flakes.
- Finish with a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce - I tend to reach for OG Tabasco.
Equipment
Dutch oven (I own and love this fabulous Le Creuset Dutch oven).
Storage
Store leftover Creamy Taco Soup in a lidded container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 3-6 months.
Top tip
Don’t be afraid to experiment! This is one of those soups you should feel confident tweaking to suit your tastes and use what you might have on hand. For me, the Ro-tel and the seasonings are the key ingredients. Once you have this soup “base”, you can add most anything you like - such as potatoes, garbanzo beans, or pasta.
FAQ
If you want the resulting soup to be a little less chunky, blend one can of the Rotel before adding. This adds a creamier body to the soup. You could also add in more cream cheese than is called for in the recipe.
As instructed, the Rotel and three choice seasonings bring the taco flavor to this soup. Of course, you could omit the cumin, ancho chili powder, and paprika and use taco seasoning in a pinch. See the Substitutions section for more easy swaps.
Creamy Taco Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced (around 2 cups)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 6-8 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
- ½ tablespoon cumin
- ½ tablespoon paprika
- 2 10 ounce cans Ro-tel diced tomatoes
- 1 12 ounce can sweet corn
- 1 15 ounce can black beans
- 1 32 ounce container vegetable broth
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste (optional)
- toppings such as grated cheddar cheese, sliced avocado, sour cream or tortilla strips (optional)
Instructions
- Take the cream cheese out of the fridge first so that it has time to soften while you prepare the Creamy Taco Soup.
- Add the ground beef to a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the beef, stirring occasionally until it’s cooked through, around 7 minutes. I like to season the meat after it’s browned for a few minutes. Add the ancho chili powder, cumin, and paprika as the meat cooks.
- Strain excess fat off into a separate container and spread ground beef onto paper towels. Add a little of the strained beef grease back to the Dutch oven. Add yellow onion and green bell pepper and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic and continue cooking for an additional minute, stirring the whole time.
- Strain corn and black beans. Add the corn, black beans, Ro-tel, and vegetable broth to the Dutch oven.
- Increase the heat to high to bring the soup to a boil. Upon boiling, immediately turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for around 15-20 minutes.
- While the soup simmers, add cream cheese to a bowl. Spoon out some of the soup liquid into the bowl with cream cheese. Stir until the cream cheese has completely melted in (you can use a blender if you’d like to speed up this process).
- Add the melted cream cheese mixture to the soup and stir to combine. Remove soup from heat.
- Taste and season the soup with salt and pepper (if desired). Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla strips!
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