Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup

There are a ton of crockpot taco soup recipes out there. This is, by far, my favorite one.  It's got a great flavor with a little spicy kick to it.  My family loves this on a cool, crisp Fall day.

This can be an easy "dump" recipe if you have all ingredients on hand.  Just dump them all in the pot and turn it on.  Oddly when I went to make the taco soup this time, though, I didn't have taco seasoning.  I always have that on hand!

I remember seeing a homemade taco seasoning on allrecipes.com so I thought I'd try that out.  The recipe for the taco seasoning is linked below or you can just use a package of taco seasoning.  My husband told me this was the best the taco soup I've made yet, though.  I feel like I might not go back to pre-packaged taco seasoning again!

Cool thing about this recipe is that it uses the ever versatile Ro-Tel (another staple in my kitchen).  The Original Ro-Tel is a little spicy so if you don't want that, you can use Mild.  If you like your mouth burning a little, just use Hot Ro-Tel.  They're all good!

Crockpot Chicken Taco Soup

Printable Version

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Ingredients
1 can black beans, drained

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can corn, drained

2 cans RoTel, diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained

1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz

1 can or bottle of beer, any kind

Taco Seasoning

1.5 pounds chicken breast

1.  Drain the beans and corn and place them in the crockpot.

2.  Add the RoTel, tomato sauce, and beer.

3.  Add the taco seasoning and stir to mix.

4.  Place the chicken breasts on top of the mixture.  I did use frozen chicken breasts.  It might take longer to cook but I'm never in a time crunch when I crockpot dinner so it always cooks well.

4.  Set on low for 7-8 hours, or high for 4 – 5 hours.  Here is what my crockpot looked like after I left the ingredients for 8 hours.

5.  Before serving, shred the chicken into bite sized pieces.  It should break up easily within the crockpot with just a spoon or a fork. 

6.  Serve with your choice of toppings: cheese, sour cream, avocados, tortilla chips.  I just used cheese with a bit of tortilla chips; however, if I had my choice I'd throw some sour cream and avocado on it too!

Spicy Crockpot Goulash

Goulash is something I never grew up with but my husband always enjoyed when his mom made it with cornbread and pinto beans on the side.  Goulash is

historically Hungarian and is actually one of national dishes of Hungary.  I'm fairly certain that my recipe for goulash does not remotely resemble Hungarian goulash so we'll call it American goulash.

Goulash is like a chunky stew.  One of the great things about goulash is that it's one of those dishes that doesn't necessarily need to follow a recipe as long as you have basics of meat, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and pasta.  Once you have those ingredients, you can change and add different spices, throw some different veggies in there, like corn or beans, and change it up the way your family likes.  It can be a pretty cheap way to feed a large group.

I haven't found the recipe my mother-in-law uses so I've adapted my recipe from a recipe titled Bobby's Goulash in Paula Deen's cookbook, Paula Deen Celebrates.  The main changes I made were making this a crockpot recipe and using less meat and ground chicken .

I've also spiced it up by using Ro-Tel, which I use all the time in place of diced tomatoes.  If you don't like it spicy, there is a mild version of Ro-Tel and if that's too much, just use diced tomatoes.  If you are in an area that doesn't stock Ro-Tel you are missing out!  If you're curious, you CAN purchase it online here.

Remember, goulash is a recipe that can be different every time you make it.  If you want to use ground turkey, go for it or add some different seasonings.  Make it the way you want.  Also, onions are never added to my recipes for my husband's sake but you can always saute 2 chopped yellow onions when you brown your meat.

Spicy Crockpot Goulash

Printable Version

easilymadeeasilybroken.blogspot.com

1 lb lean ground beef

1 lb ground chicken

2 large yellow onions, chopped (optional)

2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce

2 10-ounce cans Ro-Tel diced tomatoes and green chilies (undrained)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

3 bay leaves

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp House Seasoning

1 Tbsp seasoned salt

2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked)

1.  In a large pot, brown ground beef and ground chicken over medium-high heat until cooked through.  Break up the meat while cooking.  Drain off any excess grease.  Add the garlic to the pot and saute for 2 minutes.  If you want to use onions, add the chopped onions here and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.

2. Move the meat to the crockpot.  Add 2 cups water, tomato sauce, Ro-Tel, garlic, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, soy sauce, House seasoning, and seasoned salt to the crockpot.  Stir well and add lid to crockpot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

3.  Add the macaroni to the pot 30 minutes prior to serving and continue to cook on low.  Do not cook it longer than 30 minutes or your pasta will turn to mush.

You can also cook the pasta separately and just add it right before serving.  This will ensure you cooked it well enough and won't get mushy sitting there.  I prefer to cook it in the crockpot to give it the full flavor of the goulash but do what's easiest.

You might notice that my pictures show penne pasta.  I was out of elbow macaroni so I made a substitution.  It worked well. 

4.  Remove the bay leaves before serving.  Dish up and serve with cornbread.

Serves 6.