As I am typing this most of the US is hitting record low temperatures. This week in Oklahoma we hit 0 degrees. Some parts of Oklahoma dipped into the negative numbers. Now that is cold. And although the weather forecast says it will warm up soon, it is only January. We have plenty of winter weather ahead of us.
Winter weather means soup and chili weather at my house. The colder it is the more I want a nice big bowl of hearty and healthy soup.
One of our favorite soups to make is taco soup. It is easy to make and uses ingredients I almost always have on hand. Not only that, but it is a meal my whole family likes.
Taco soup is one of those recipe that I love because it is easy to change up by using a different variety of beans or meat.
A few weeks ago I had taco soup on the menu plan and I had planned to make your basic taco soup with hamburger, but then I decided to change it up some by adding some quinoa to it.
Last week I talked about what quinoa is and how much I love it. It is one of my favorite healthy grains to use in recipes. And recipes like this slow quinoa taco soup are a simple way to incorporate it into your diet.
When I told my family what kind of taco soup I had made, they were very skeptical of it, but in the end they all enjoyed it. They said it was a nice change from the taco soup I usually make.
If you looking for ways to add more quinoa to you diet this is a good place to start. And if you are looking for ways to cut back on meat I think this would be a great recipe to try. Simply leave out the ground beef and add a little extra quinoa. It would also make it less expensive and yet it would still be delicious.
Slow Cooked Quinoa Taco Soup
Change up your basic taco soup by adding quinoa.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1- 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 - 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 can chicken broth
- 2- 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
- 1 package taco seasoning
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
Instructions
- In a pan brown beef with onion until meat is done and onion is tender. Drain off any fat.
- Place meat in a 5-6 quart slow cooker and add remaining ingredients. Stir well.
- Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until quinoa is done. In my slow cooker it takes about 5 hrs.
- Serve with cheese, sour cream, chips, etc. and enjoy!
Notes
If you are gluten-free be sure to read labels to make sure your ingredients are gluten-free.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 487Total Fat: 21gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 102mgSodium: 1118mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 11gSugar: 6gProtein: 40g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
This sounds wonderful Lynn! I’ve never had a lot of luck with quinoa in the slow cooker so I can’t wait to give this one a try. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks. This is the only way I have tried it in the slow cooker, but I plan to try it in a few other soups. I am thinking it may be one of those things that works in some things but not in others when used in the slow cooker. And I love your site!
Agreed! I’ve never tried it in soup in a slow cooker and my casserole slow cooker quinoa attempts have failed. You’ve inspired me to try again. By the way, if you are interested I have a brand new (as in started today) Google+ Quinoa Community that I would love to have you share your recipes in. I don’t want to link drop, so just let me know if you are interested.
Thanks so much for your kind words!
Thanks Lynn! This looks so yummy and is on our menu plan for tmrw. Do u think adding some pasta to it would be over kill? Just thinking up ways to use up some leftover tricolor pasta fro
m tonight. 🙂
I have added pasta to taco soup, in fact I have a recipe coming up in a week or two that has pasta in it, but I am not sure I would do the pasta and the quinoa together. I would probably leave the quinoa out or and just stir in the cooked pasta towards the end. I hope that helps.
Do you know about how many servings this makes?
I would say 6. It served my family of 5 with a little leftover.