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A Vegetable Beef Soup with Ground Beef
In my family, a bowl of my mom's vegetable soup represents home.
Growing up, my parents were French professors, and we lived in a small tight-knit community. From church families to college students, we shared our table with many different people, both through dinner parties and casual meals. My home was the first place I learned how connecting over food could build friendship and community.
Mom created this Vegetable Beef Taco Soup herself before taco soup was ever a thing, and it became one of her classics. I can still remember when she started adding cabbage and when she took my suggestion of adding a can of corn. I felt so important to have made such an important contribution to the Veggie Soup.
My sister and I both live far from home, and every time we'd make the long trip to visit, Mom would always -- always! -- have a pot of her veggie soup already cooking on the stove.
And now, you can make it in your own home for your friends and family.
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How to Make Vegetable Beef Taco Soup
1. Add the undrained green beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, water, onions, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage to the pot and place over medium heat.
2. Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for an hour.
3. While waiting for the soup to boil, brown ground beef, drain, and prepare with taco seasoning, according to the packet. If you're looking for a gluten-free or dairy-free taco seasoning, I recommend Spice Islands Premium Taco Seasoning. It's a little spicy, so I typically use less than the container calls for and just add a little extra salt and cumin. You can find it at Costco or on Amazon.
4. Add taco meat to the pot and bring back to a simmer.
5. Towards the end of the simmering time, add the undrained chili beans and corn.
6. Serve with cornbread (I use Jiffy mix) and enjoy!
How to Make Vegetable Beef Taco Soup in a Crockpot or Pressure Cooker
It's easy to make this soup in a Crockpot or pressure cooker.
To cook Vegetable Beef Taco Soup in a Crockpot: Just add all ingredients, including the ground beef already seasoned with taco seasoning, to the pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
To cook it in a pressure cooker: Brown the ground beef in the pressure cooker, drain, and season with taco seasoning. Then add all of the ingredients and cook on High Pressure for 15 minutes. Quick Release.
What Goes With Vegetable Beef Taco Soup?
In my family, we always serve Jiffy cornbread with our vegetable soup, crumbled on top of the bowl. It adds just a touch of sweetness and texture to the soup.
If cornbread isn't your thing, a loaf of warm, crusty French bread would be delicious, too.
Is Vegetable Beef Taco Soup Healthy?
Yes! Filled with good-for-you vegetables and hearty ground beef, this soup is healthy without sacrificing flavor. If you want to lower the sodium, you could use low-sodium taco seasoning.
I happen to believe this soup is the best vegetable soup in the world. It tastes similar to taco soup, but you can feel good knowing that you're eating a bowl full of veggies.
Put this soup on your menu plan this week or pin it for later! Come back and let me know in the comments if you try it!
Vegetable Beef Taco Soup
This vegetable beef soup will be the last one you ever try! Filled with good-for-you vegetables, it's light on calories but full of flavor. It's also very versatile -- leave out anything you don't have on hand, and it still tastes great.
Ingredients
- 1 16-ounce can green beans, with liquid
- 1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes, with liquid
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
- ¼ cabbage, chopped
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon sugar (optional)
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 2 Tablespoons taco seasoning (or more, to taste)
- 1 16-ounce can chili beans, with liquid
- 1 16-ounce can corn, with liquid
Instructions
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Pour all ingredients up to the ground beef into a large soup pot. Place pot over medium high heat.
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Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for at least 1 hour.
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While waiting for the soup to boil, brown beef in skillet. Drain.
Add taco seasoning and ¾ cup of water. Cook until liquid is absorbed.
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Add taco meat to the pot and bring back up to a simmer.
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Near end of simmering time, add chili beans and corn. Add extra water, if desired, until the soup is as thin as you'd like.
Recipe Notes
This recipe is super versatile. You can use fresh or frozen vegetables in place of the canned, and you can mix and match amounts as needed. You can even leave out a vegetable if you don't like it. The taco seasoning is the key to the flavor, though, so don't leave that out!
Serve with cornbread or a crusty French bread.
Cynthia Zander
This looks delicious! I'll definitely have to try this recipe sometime soon!
sandi
Let me know what you think!
Tami
This looks SO good! I definitely need to make this with some cornbread! 🙂
sandi
If you make it, come back and tell me!
Nikole
Taco soup is one of my favorites! Can't wait to try this recipe!
sandi
It's one of my favorites. Thanks for stopping by, Nikole!
Jill Tilley
What a perfect way to remember your mom. I'll be trying this soon!
Chichi
This soup looks yum. The part about you, your sis and dad making the same soup on the same day to remember your mom was so sweet and touched my heart deeply. She must have been a sweet soul.
sandi
Thanks, Chichi! It is definitely our go-to when we're missing her. Thank you for stopping by!
Heather Cook
This sounds delicious! I am looking forward to fall with soups and stews!
Life Diet Health
What a delicious sounding soup - I've never seen taco seasoning before but I'm going to check it out and make my own! My Mum used to make a veggie soup for (my late) Dad which she called 'Big Soup' as it was packed full of veggies like this is... it's definitely soup season here now so I think we'll try this and take her some. What a great recipe to remember your late Mum by and it must have been really special for you all to make it at the same time. Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday (I couldn't find your party links?)
Pat
Is it possible to see any nutritional information? Looks really good.
sandi
I will try to add nutritional information soon! But in the meantime, you can just plug the ingredients into a calorie calculator.
Korey Ellis
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I did it in the crockpot- so easy! It was amazing for a crowd. I'm excited to try out some of your other recipes!
sandi
I'm so glad it was a hit!