How often do you need to throw together a quick, healthy meal? Everyday? It feels that way sometimes! With 3 kids our schedule is pretty packed. 2 nights in particular are especially challenging and I have resorted to only cooking crockpot meals on those days. It has been a perfect solution for us! I put the meal together in the morning and then it is ready when we are. This Crockpot Taco Stoup is on the menu at least once every other week from about November till March.
I know for working moms in particular, mornings can be crazy trying to get everyone ready and out the door. I promise you that you can fit this recipe into your morning, especially if you make the vegetarian option! You literally are opening cans and packets and tossing them in the crockpot. If you really can’t fit one more thing into your morning, this recipe could easily be thrown together the night before and then just put in the crockpot and turned on in the morning.
Although this is almost as easy as opening cans and dumping the contents into the crockpot, there is one step I don’t recommend skipping – rinsing your beans and corn. I love the convenience of canned foods. Although we don’t use them all the time, there are times when the convenience can’t be beat. However, canned food can be very high is sodium and this is true of beans! So please take the time to rinse. This article from Cooking Light talks about the benefits and if it really helps (spoiler: it does)!
So will your kids eat this? To be honest I can’t answer that for you. My kids enjoy beans and this is one of our family favorites. When I first started making it I always made it with meat. For some reason I thought it was necessary to sell my kids on it. Now I rarely add the meat and they love it just as much! If you’re nervous about it, use the meat, lessen the beans and serve it with tortilla chips. Most kids love foods they can eat with chips! You could even try it as a nacho topping – mmm – just thought of that… May be a little soggy though so dipping may work better.
Whatever you decide, let me know how it goes. I hope this becomes a go to meal for your family!
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- 1 lb ground turkey optional, leave out for vegetarian option
- 2 15 oz cans black beans
- 2 15 oz cans chili beans in sauce
- 1 15 oz can corn
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 small can diced chilis
- 5 tbsp Wildtree taco seasoning can also use 2 packets taco seasoning from store
- 1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
- 2 tsp Wildtree Chipotle Lime seasoning optional, adds great kick
- avocado optional topping
- sour cream optional topping
- cheddar cheese optional topping
- hot sauce optional topping
- crushed tortilla chips optional topping
- lime juice optional topping
Ingredients
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- If using, brown the ground turkey in a pan, drain the fat, and pour the meat into the bottom of a large crockpot (at least 6 quarts).
- Rinse the black beans, corn and 1 can of chili beans in a colander. This will remove a good bit of the sodium. Then throw the beans, corn and all the remaining ingredients into the crockpot.
- Stir well and cook on low for 6-10 hours (very forgiving recipe in terms of time) or on high for 3-5 hours.
- Serve with any or all of the optional toppings.