Chicken Taco Soup Recipe

Sinkology is proud to present Emily Schuermann, our food-loving guest blogger who runs Food for a Year. Emily is here to share some recipes she has created exclusively for the Sinkology blog that reflect her view of a copper sink: simple, timeless, affordable, and beautifully rustic.

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I am not sure there is a better way to warm up on a chilly December day than to sit down with a warm, spicy bowl of homemade chicken taco soup. This particular recipe calls for only 6 ingredients and takes only 10 minutes to put together before simmering away in the oven until dinnertime.

The secret to this recipe, whether using fresh chicken or frozen, is to cook the ingredients at a low temperature in a covered dutch oven. I like to call this cooking method “No Peek” because once the pot goes into the oven there’s no peeking until it’s time to serve.

No Peek meals are my go to meal when I have just a few minutes to prepare a meal but those minutes come in the middle of the day. I have a large list of no peek recipes (you can check them out HERE) so even if a busy month calls for 12 no peek meals, there won’t be a repeat recipe in our month. Meals like Beef & Veggie Stew, 12 Bean & Ham Soup, Beef Curry, Cajun Red Beans, Chicken Veggie Soup, White Chicken Chili and the list goes on.

Oh and another bonus with no peek meals is that there are always leftovers. I purposely make a little more than my family of six can eat in one sitting so that I have a few yummy lunches to look forward to. Is it just me or do leftovers seem to be even tastier than the first time the meal is served?

Okay – back to our Chicken Taco Soup! This recipe uses only 6 ingredients (not counting salt, pepper and water). Because there are so few ingredients, it’s important to make sure everything you use is high flavor and great quality ingredients.  For this soup, all the flavor comes from my homemade, low sodium taco seasoning blend that has no fillers or preservatives and a couple of cans of diced tomatoes & green chilies.

If you don’t have all of the spices to make your own taco seasoning, simply select a pre-made mix that has no fillers and is low sodium.

I used frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs to make this soup, but fresh works nicely too. Just be sure to reduce your cooking time and lower the oven temperature accordingly. Details for cooking with fresh chicken is included in the notes of the recipe card.

Once all the ingredients are added to the pot, give everything a stir, cover and place into the preheated oven for 4 to 6 hours. I love adding dried beans to no peek soup recipes for an added heartiness. Dried beans do great with this cooking method, just be sure to have enough liquid in your pot because they’ll absorb so much during the cooking time. If you’d prefer to leave dried beans out, you can add canned beans 30 minutes before dinnertime and place the pot back into the oven so everything has time to get hot. Just omit the 3 cups of water.

Fresh green beans, carrot chunks, raw potato and even raw sweet potato would be a great addition to this taco soup. Simply add 2-3 cups of your favorite raw veggies to the pot before it goes into the oven.

At dinnertime, remove the pot, give everything another stir, add additional salt and pepper as necessary and serve.

I like to garnish taco soup with a little diced avocado, some cilantro, and some shredded sharp cheddar cheese. I think a side of chips and salsa is the perfect accessory to this hearty meal!