This easy Taco Chili is a blend of your favorite Mexican dish and that hearty chili you love. It’s full of ground turkey, corn, fire roasted chiles and loads of flavor!
Easy Taco Chili Soup Recipe
I’ve been thinking how amazing it would be to head off to a snowed-in cabin this winter. Cade is all beach, and I’m a diehard for a cabin. So until I convince him, I’ll make soups like this taco chili to warm his heart up to the idea…haha!
That will totally work, right?
While I’m at it, I’m also making a pot of our Instant Pot Chili (just because it’s about the best thing ever!), which will be followed by our roasted tomato basil soup and then our Instant Pot chicken noodle soup. If those don’t to the trick, then I’ll just start working my way through all our soup recipes! Snowed-in cabin here we come!
I’m packing our bags for a cozy winter cabin because I know this taco chili is going to convince Cade that is exactly what we need! Bold, hearty, and full of all your favorite taco flavors!
What Goes Into Taco Chili?
We are all about quick, convenient, and delicious for this recipe. Almost everything is coming from a can or packet, so you can practically just dump and go. Here is what you will need:
- Beans
- Hominy
- Corn
- Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles
- Tomato Sauce
- Ranch Dressing Seasoning
- Taco Seasoning (or make your own taco seasoning and 1 packet equals about 2 tablespoons)
- Pasilla Peppers (roasted, peeled and diced)
- Red Onion
- Ground Beef
We will go into the specifics of making the chili in the next section, but you basically just need to brown the meat, roast the peppers and dice the onion. Then you just dump it and go! Easy peezy!
How to Make Taco Chili
This chili can be made in the slow cooker, on the stove top, or in the Instant Pot (pressure cooker). Get out your blender too because you’ll want that for making the flavorful base for this chili. Here’s how to make it on the stovetop:
- In a dutch oven style pot, brown the ground beef until it is no longer pink (8-10 minutes) crumbling it up into small pieces. Drain any excess grease.
- Rinse and drain all the beans, corn and hominy and add them to the ground beef.
- Add about 3/4 of the diced canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, ranch and taco season packets, half the roasted pasilla peppers, salt, and onions to the skillet.
- Place the rest of the roasted pasilla peppers and canned tomatoes into the blender and puree until it is smooth and add it to the dutch oven.
- Stir everything together and cook on the stove top on low for 3-6 hours until the flavors are blended just how you want them.
- Top with all your favorite taco chili toppings — we’ve offered several suggestions in the section below.
Other Ways to Cook Taco Chili (Instant Pot or Slow Cooker)
Instant pot instructions: Follow all the instructions for cooking the chili using the stove top method except the ground beef (or turkey) can be sauteed in the Instant Pot if you would like. Once all the ingredients are added to the Instant Pot, lock the lid and select the “chili” setting (manual setting can be used too) and cook on high for 18-20 minutes. Allow pressure to release for 10-15 minutes or quick release with the vent. Serve with your favorite toppings!
Slow Cooker instructions: Again, follow all the same instructions as the stove top method. Brown the meat on the stove top, add all the ingredients to the slow cooker, and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
What Toppings Should I Put on Taco Chili?
I am ALLLLLLLL about the toppings for this taco chili! They really take it over the top and allows each person to totally personalize their bowl. These are some of our favorites:
- fresh chopped cilantro
- chips (Fritos, tortilla chips, multigrain chips)
- sour cream (or plain Green yogurt)
- diced tomatoes
- avocados
- olives
- roasted red peppers
- jalapeños (fresh or pickled)
- pico de gallo
- radishes (thinly sliced)
- salsa
- cheese and more cheese
What to Serve with Chili
I think there needs to be a law that chili has to be eaten with cornbread! They are just the perfect pair! But if you are a heretic and don’t want cornbread, go with some crusty no knead artisan bread or our favorite potato rolls.
FAQ
Is Taco Chili Gluten Free?
Yes! Just keep an eye on your ranch and taco seasoning packets. I know Hidden Valley Ranch packets have a gluten free symbol on them. If you make your taco seasoning, it is gluten free.
How Long Will Chili Keep?
If stored properly, chili will last in the fridge for 3-4 days. If you want it to last longer, freeze it and it will be good for 3-4 months.
Is Taco Chili Healthy?
Chili is one of those dishes you can go all out and crank up the calories and fat or you can reel it in and make it healthier. To make this recipe healthier, substitute the ground beef with lean ground turkey. Skip the cheese and chips on top and go with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt rather than sour cream.
Is Ground Turkey Better for You than Ground Beef?
This is a hotly debated topic. If you get the leanest ground turkey, it will cut back on fat and calories, but ground turkey tends to be slightly higher in cholesterol compared to ground beef. So it depends on what you are trying to cut back on. Lean ground turkey is also going to lack slightly in flavor and will be drier. In a recipe like this, that doesn’t matter as much because there is so many other components adding so much flavor.
Tips for Making Taco Chili Soup
You are completely in control of the heat in this recipe! The pasilla pepper is a mild pepper, so you aren’t going to get much heat from those. If you want more heat, you could roast a jalapeno or two to add in. This particular taco chili recipe is mild. I’m not a big spicy fan, so I like to keep it pretty low heat, but you can easily dial it up if you want to!
We used a blend of kidney beans and black beans in this recipe, but you’re welcome to use chili beans or pinto beans too!
Note that this chili freezes very well and will keep up to 3 months in the freezer!
Here are some more CHILI RECIPES that you’ll love:
- Classic Instant Pot Chili
- Instant Pot Turkey Chili
- Cheesy Ground Beef Enchilada Chili
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili
- Pumpkin Apple Cider Chili
- White Chicken Chili
- Surprise Chili
- White Bean Turkey Chili
- Dr Pepper and Chocolate Chili
- Healthy One Pot Chili Macaroni
- All our Chili, Soup, and Stew Recipes here!
Taco Chili
Description
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds Ground Beef, (or Ground Turkey)
- 1 Can Black Beans, (15 oz.)
- 1 Can Kidney Beans, (15 oz.)
- 1 Can Hominy
- 1 Cup Corn
- 2 Cans Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, (15 oz. each)
- 3 Roasted Pasilla Peppers, , peeled and diced
- 1 Can Tomato Sauce, (8 oz.)
- 1/2 Red Onion, , diced
- 1 Envelope Ranch Dressing Seasoning , (not the liquid dressing)
- 1 Envelope Taco Seasoning
- 1 Can Diced Tomatoes with Diced Green Chiles
- Salt, , to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook and crumble the ground beef using a meat chopper over medium-high heat until no longer pink, 8-10 minutes, drain any grease.
- Rinse and drain all beans, corn and hominy. Add the browned beef to a stockpot, along with 3/4 canned tomatoes, and half the roasted pasilla peppers, tomato sauce, onion, the dressing and seasoning mixes and salt.
- Puree remaining pasilla peppers and remaining 1/4 can diced tomatoes in a covered blender until smooth; stir into beef mixture
- Cook, covered, on low until flavors are blended, 3-6 hours. Serve with toppings as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Jennifer J. Harmon
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Sweet Basil
Hope you enjoy it!