Over the years I have made quite a few different versions of taco soup, but it was not until recently that I made it with pasta in it. And now I am wondering why I never tried it before now.
Today’s recipe for taco twist soup comes from the cookbook Taste of Home’s Big Book of Soup. (It looks like this book is out of print, but you can still find used copies for a great price.) I have mentioned before how much I love Taste of Home and how in many ways they taught me how to cook. I have many of their old cookbooks and magazine and I love them all.
This Big Book of Soups cookbooks has a large variety of soups. And most of them contain everyday ingredients, which is why I love Taste Of Home’s recipes so much. I picked up this cookbook a few years ago when Taste of Home was having a big $5 cookbook sale because it was such a great price.
I really liked the book when I got it, but soon realized that many of the recipes were in cookbooks I already had from Taste of Home. That does not make this a bad cookbook, it is still a great cookbook, but if you have been getting Taste of Home as long as I have, or have very many of their cookbooks, a lot of these recipes will be ones you have seen before.
If you are newer to Taste of Home or newer to cooking, this book is a great cookbook because the recipes are simple to make and use basic ingredients.
Does anyone else have this cookbook?
Now for the recipe. And there is one thing I changed on this recipe. I did not realize until the day I went to make it, that it did not contain meat. My family is a meat loving family and I knew I would hear some complaints if I served a taco soup without meat. So even though this had pasta in it, which would have made it plenty filling, I added a pound of ground beef to it. So, I wrote the recipe with the beef added, if you want to make it less expensive to make or a little healthier, feel free to leave out the ground beef.
Taco Twist Soup
![taco twist soup](https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Taco-Twist-Soup_.jpg)
Taco twist soup is a deliciou twist on a basic taco soup.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 3 cups beef broth- or use water and beef boullion
- 1- 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups salsa
- 1 cup uncooked spiral pasta or gluten free pasta for gf version
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 pound ground beef
- shredded cheese, sour cream, etc. for serving
Instructions
- In a large pan cook ground beef, green pepper, and onion until beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain off any fat.
- Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
- Add broth, beans, tomatoes, salsa, pasta, chili powder, and cumin. Stir well.
- Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
- Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender.
- Serve with cheese, sour cream, etc.
- Enjoy!
Notes
For gluten-free version use gluten-free pasta and read labels to make sure that your ingredients are gluten-free.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 320Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 55mgSodium: 1152mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 7gSugar: 5gProtein: 24g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
this sounds really good! i don’t know why adding pasta to taco/mexican soup has never occurred to me either. will have to try it soon!
Thank you for a great new recipe to try! Any suggestions for the best GF pasta to use? How was the soup the next day with the GF pasta? (if you had any leftovers) Thanks so much Lynn, I visit your website daily to get new recipes and you have made going GF so much easier and less stressful for me. You are my favorite blogger!
We didn’t have any leftovers of this. With three kids, two of which are teenagers, leftovers are becoming more and more rare at my house. 🙂 But I think it would probably be ok leftover, it would just be thicker as the pasta would soak up some of the liquid. I used Heartland gluten free pasta in this and it worked great. And yesterday we talked about the best gluten free pastas in my allergy section, so you might find that post helpful. https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2014/01/best-gluten-free-pasta.html
I made this for dinner tonight. I tweaked it based on what I had on hand (only 1 c. salsa instead of 1 1/2, left out the green pepper, and used tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes…and also animal shaped pasta instead of spiral–ha!), but we really enjoyed it! My hubby isn’t a soup fan at ALL (he says he hates soup!), but he wanted to know if there were leftovers for tomorrow. 🙂
I am so glad you enjoyed it! I think it is an easy soup to change up to whatever you have, so I am glad it worked for you. And I am glad your husband liked it. I think the pasta makes it a heartier more filling soup.