Enjoy one of my favorite recipes: a hearty slow cooker taco soup that's also a freezer meal! This can be warmed up in a slow cooker or over the stove. It freezes well and feeds a crowd!
Slow Cooker Taco Soup Freezer Meal
We attend three hours of church every Sunday. When you add travel time, before and after church meetings and meet-ups, and then the child round-up, it's usually more than four hours before we get back home, all hungry and exhausted. These are the occasions when I am least excited about cooking a big meal for the cranky brood (and usually some guests) when I'm just as pooped and hungry myself. I've found that crock pot meals are just the ticket, as long as I remember to turn on the pot before we leave! Now whats even better about a slow cooker meal is a FREEZER DINNER meal that didn't take any prep time the morning of our Sunday scramble. Friends, I bring you my favorite go-to slow cooker taco soup freezer dinner recipe.
The recipe I'm going to give you makes 2 freezer bags full and each bag holds about 8 1-cup servings of taco soup. While I was making this, I decided to multiply this recipe by six, so what you see in the picture above made 12 bags.
The first step is to brown your meat and then cook according to the taco seasoning directions, which entails adding some water and simmering for a few minutes. 6 lbs. of ground beef in my wok worked great, but any more meat would have been tough.
Let cool completely before you attempt scooping it into bags. You don't want to burn yourself with that mess. While you're waiting, start opening your cans and combining in a big bowl. Don't drain anything except for the corn. For a double batch, use just one can of everything, except only ½ a can of the corn. I would have loved to throw in some olives, but no one else in my family appreciates them, so I add them to my plate at mealtime.
Divide the contents of this bowl into 2 freezer bags, with about 8 cups of mixture in both. Add 2 cups of taco seasoned meat.
Seal them up and let the bags cool, label them with a date, then load up your freezer!
I find that letting them freeze in a stack makes them easy to store if you later want them upright on their side. By the way, I priced this out to cost about $4.75/bag, which isn't bad for an 8-serving meal!
When I'm ready to warm one of these up, I add a little more seasoning to the pot. This was a Mrs. Dash chipotle seasoning. Add a half of a bar of cream cheese during the last 30 minutes of cooking and stir occasionally to make it creamy.
Cook for around 4 hrs on high, then add chips, cheese, and sour cream! Eat up and enjoy knowing you have all those taco soup freezer dinners ready when you need them! You're all set for Fall!
Slow Cooker Taco Soup Freezer Meal
A slow cooker taco soup that's also a freezer meal. Ingredients for 2 freezer bags, or two meals of 8 1-cup servings
Ingredients
- 1 can Black beans (29 oz)
- 1 can Pinto beans (15.5 oz)
- 1 can Light red kidney beans (29 oz)
- ½ can Whole kernel golden sweet corn (15 oz)
- 1 can Petite diced tomatoes in juice (28 oz)
- 1 can Petite diced tomatoes with onion, celery, green pepper in juice (14.5 oz)
- 1 bar Cream cheese
- 1 lb Ground beef
- 1 packet Taco seasoning
Instructions
-
Brown your meat and then cook according to the taco seasoning directions, which entails adding some water and simmering for a few minutes. Let cool completely before scooping it into bags.
-
While your meat cooks, start opening your cans and combining in a big bowl. Don’t drain anything except for the corn.
-
Divide the contents of this bowl into 2 freezer bags, with about 8 cups of mixture in both then add 2 cups of taco seasoned meat to each bag.
-
Seal them up and let the bags cool, label them with a date, then load up your freezer!
-
Cook for around 4 hrs on high.
-
When I’m ready to warm one of these up, I add half of a bar of cream cheese during the last 30 minutes of cooking and stir occasionally to make it creamy.
-
Serve with chips, cheese, and sour cream.
If you're looking for other slow cooker meals, check out our slow cooker barbecue chicken, slow cooker beef stew, slow cooker fajitas, slow cooker pumpkin curry, slow cooker buffalo chicken nachos, and for dessert, slow cooker candied almonds. We've also got an easy chili recipe with ground beef that's a hit around here!
Rachel C says
This does look perfect for fall, and I'm trying to stock up for when the new baby comes!
I'm pinning this recipe 🙂
Camille says
Great idea! A freezer full of meals always helps me feel prepared before a new arrival. Congrats and thanks for pinning!
Molly says
This looks so good! On the part where it says to divide contents of bowl into 2 bags and add 2 cups of meat - is that 2 cups per bag? Or 1 cup per bag to = 2 cups? Cant wait to make this! Thank you!
Camille says
Yes, divide, and then add 2 cups of meat per bag. Sorry if that was confusing!! So easy and so good. Can't wait for you to try it!
Era Light4 says
Thanks for such an awesome recipe. I like black beans and they are highly nutritious and packed with lots of vitamins and minerals i would love to try the recipe as it looks delicious and healthy..
Jessica Kelly says
Is the cream cheese necessary for the recipe? This meal looks amazing but with 3 in our 5-person household that has a dairy allergy (me, husband, baby daughter), any dairy products whatsoever have us in agony for almost a week. 🙁
Lisa Schweizer says
Now this looks delicious! I am always looking for something fun to cook for my family, thank you for sharing 🙂
RANDY FULGHAM says
thanks for the recipe --this sounds so good that i am gonna buy the stuff and make it....CHOW
Cami says
What a great idea! This soup looks so good, too!
Carol L says
OMG ! This is amazing. I've been wanting some new recipes. My daughter is going to love this. So perfect for the fall and winter. Thanks for the recipe.
Carol L
Anna @ Sunny Side Ups says
Yum! This soup looks really really delicious, and I love the convenience of making it into freezer meals! Gotta try this out soon!!
Gentle Joy says
A friend brought taco soup to us once and it was delicious. 🙂 Thank you for the reminder that I should make it. 🙂
[email protected] says
This looks yummy! I've got to ask--what container do you have the bag in to hold it upright while you're putting in the soup? If I'm not careful, I frequently end up with something on my counter as I'm trying to hold it upright with one hand and filling it with the other.
Jenny says
I love Taco Soup and using my crockpot so this is perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Nicole says
That soup looks perfect for a cold winter day! Yum!!
Jaren (Diary of a Recipe Collector) says
Love good make-ahead recipes like this! Thanks for linking up with SNF! Pinned to our party board!
Michelle says
Thank you for sharing with See Ya in the Gumbo. I love having freezer meals on hand for busy nights. Taco soup sounds really good on this rainy day. Your soup was the most viewed link this week and will be featured at tonight's party!
G K says
This would be perfect for winter. A nice, hearty soup to warm you up.