Your whole family will love this Easy Low Carb and Keto Friendly Ground Beef Taco Soup!
Tacos are basically the perfect food- portable and delicious. Maybe this soup isn’t as portable as the humble taco, but it sure does pack a massive punch of flavor. If you love ground beef tacos then you will absolutely LOVE this easy Taco Soup.
When you’re craving tacos, it’s super cold outside, or you’re just looking for that cozy feeling soup gives you, this recipe is for you.
When you’ve finally decided to dive head first into your low carb or keto lifestyle it can be a little scary. A lot of times we end up focusing on all the foods we “can’t have” instead of thinking about all the ways we can create new favorites.
This post is all about creating an Easy Ground Beef Taco Soup that the whole family will love!
Easy Ground Beef Taco Soup- Low Carb and Keto Friendly
Before you freak out and think I’m about to say you can no longer have delicious tacos, you absolutely CAN have tacos on a low carb diet. Grocery stores carry tons of low carb tortilla options. Or you can ditch the tortilla altogether and make lettuce boat tacos or a taco salad.
Enough with all the chit chat, let’s get this soup started!
Taco Soup- Mise En Place
What the heck is “mise en place”? It’s a French culinary phrase which means “putting in place” or “everything in its place”. I absolutely live by this! It really helps with ensuring all ingredients are either prepped, washed, chopped, measured and ready to go. I think this step is missed by a lot of us “home chefs”. Having to scramble for ingredients while your food is on the stove can open the possibility of you burning your food or even forgetting an important step.
Ready for step one? Here we go.
Dice your onion. I have a really easy method for chopping onions, just follow the below steps:
- Cut the onion in half, slicing downwards through the root, then peel.
- Lay the onion half flat, slicing horizontally and keeping the root intact.
- Cut vertical slices into each half, still leaving the root intact.
- Slice downwards through these cuts to dice.
Open your can of chipotle peppers and weigh out 2.11 oz or 60 grams. Place in bowl and set to the side.
Measure out your spices. We’ll use the following:
- Cumin
- Garlic Powder
- Chili Powder
- Smoked Paprika
- Onion Powder
- Red Chili Flakes
- Cayenne Red Pepper
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Coriander
Ground Beef Taco Soup-Assembly
We’re pretty much prepped and ready to go. The only items left are the canned goods, and we will open those right before we dump into our pot. Now take out your favorite soup pot and preheat on low. I used my favorite Dutch oven which is why I am using a low heat. If you’re using a a stock pot or soup pot you may turn your temp up a little higher.
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To our pot we’ll add the avocado oil and then our chopped onion.
The ground beef that I am using is 85/15%. What this means is that it is 15% fat to 85% lean meat. I like using this percentage of ground beef for soups and chilis so I don’t have to drain the fat… because I’m lazy ☺. Please feel free to use whatever ground beef you have on hand. There is no need for you to go out to the store and buy the same percentage that I have or splurge on grass fed, organic, pasture raised-holy cow. Always buy what you can afford and what you like eating. Okay?
Do I have to use ground beef?
We’ve decided to make our taco soup with ground beef. You may swap this out with any meat of your choice. If you prefer a different ground meat then go for it. You can even use cubed or shredded chicken, pork or beef.
We have decided to use ground beef for a few different reasons:
- Inexpensive= more bang for your buck
- Super tasty
- We just like ground beef
We have also decided to use ground beef because we are making a taco soup inspired by the “not so authentic” beef tacos.
Add your ground beef to your pot.
See that black thing in the bottom right corner? That is my FAVORITE kitchen tool (for now 😉 ). That thing is a meat chopper.
Next up are the seasonings. Go ahead and dump all your seasonings onto the beef and the Worcestershire sauce.
During this time, continue to break up the ground beef and allow it and spices to kind of hang out and get to know each other. Once our ground beef is close to being cooked all the way we’ll add our chipotle peppers.
I will actually leave mine whole and then use my meat chopper to dice them up in the pan. You may chose to dice them up beforehand, just make sure you do that during the “mise en place” step.
Easy Low Carb Ground Beef Taco Soup- Homestretch!
This is it! We’re about 20 minutes away from sitting back and eating a massive bowl of this delicious taco soup! Once the ground beef is completely cooked, we’ll add the canned items.
First up is the diced tomatoes and the diced tomatoes with green chilies. I like to dump them in and chop them up a bit with my meat chopper (see why it’s my favorite? hehe) but this step is no necessary.
Add garlic and cream cheese and keep mixing until the cream cheese melts. Do you see the tool I’m using? 😉
In no time (about 3 minutes) it will be super creamy. At this point we add the corn (make sure you drain the liquid).
Corn isn’t low carb or keto!
Okay okay I know! I know what you’re thinking. However, there’s no such thing as a ketogenic food. Remember ketosis is a metabolic state k?
This soup makes 14- 2 cup servings and we’ve only added one can of corn. If you want more corn then go for it! Or you can just omit it. This soup is totally up to you, so customize it according to what you and your family love.
And finally the water. Allow the water to warm up a bit. Make sure you taste and add seasoning or more water if needed. You’re done!! Grab a bowl and add your favorite toppings!
Taco Soup Toppings
Am I the only one that gets excited about yummy taco toppings? You can eat this soup exactly as is, or you can add your favorite toppings. Here are a few of ours:
- Shredded cheese
- Tomatoes
- Onion
- Sour cream
- Avocado/guacamole
- Jalapeno
- Salsa/hot sauce
- Iceberg lettuce or cabbage
Let me know what sort of toppings you enjoy, or even what veggies or meats you added. Chat soon!
Easy Ground Beef Taco Soup-Low Carb and Keto Friendly
This soup is absolutely perfect on a cold day. Whether you're craving tacos or just that warm and cozy feeling that soup gives you, we've got you covered.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 can (14.5 oz) of corn
- 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes
- 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 2.11 oz (60 grams) chipotle chilies
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 oz yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 heaping tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 3/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne red pepper
- 1/2 heaping tsp coriander
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- ½ tbsp salt
- 7 cups water
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
Instructions
- Preheat Dutch oven (or stock pot) on low. Once hot add avocado oil, diced onion and ground beef.
- Break up ground beef a bit and add all seasonings, including Worcestershire sauce.
- Once meat is a bit browned add chipotle peppers and continue to brown meat. You may want to cut chipotle peppers up before adding or you can simple chop them using your spatula or meat chopper.
- As soon as meat has browned add diced tomato and the can of tomatoes and green chilies. Once incorporated add the garlic and cream cheese.
- Continue to stir cream cheese. This will only take 3-5 minutes.
- Once creamy, add corn and then water. Allow water to get hot (this may take 10 minutes) and remove from heat. Taste and make seasoning or water adjustments.
- Ladle into your favorite soup bowl, top with favorite toppings and enjoy!
Notes
You can taste test your soup by adding a small ladle full of soup to a bowl. Taste and determine if more salt is needed. Because there is so much liquid in this soup you may need to add more salt and/or other seasonings.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1.5 cupsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 511Total Fat: 36.7gSaturated Fat: 17.1gCholesterol: 133mgSodium: 534mgCarbohydrates: 10.7gNet Carbohydrates: 9.2gFiber: 1.5gSugar: 4.7gProtein: 33.5g