Tex-Mex Taco Soup
Taco soup is the weeknight shortcut every Tex-Mex kitchen keeps in its back pocket: a pot of beans, corn, and tomato carrying the flavors of a taco with none of the assembly. The usual version leans on a seasoning packet heavy with salt, so this one builds the same warmth from scratch, toasting whole cumin and cooking the tomato paste down to brick red for the savory depth a packet fakes with sodium. Two beans give it texture, charred-sweet corn rounds it out, and a hard squeeze of lime at the end does the lifting salt usually would. It only improves overnight, which makes it a good pot to cook once and eat all week.
Ingredients
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 1 Bell pepper, red, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 JalapeƱo, seeded and minced
- 1 tbsp Cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 1 tsp Dried oregano, Mexican if you have it
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp pure chile powder
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups Canned crushed tomatoes, no-salt-added
- 1 1/2 cups Pinto beans, cooked, from dried or no-salt canned, drained
- 1 1/2 cups Black beans, cooked, from dried or no-salt canned, drained
- 1 1/2 cups Frozen corn
- 1 tbsp no-salt vegetable bouillon
- 2 tbsp Lime juice, fresh
- 1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
- 1 Avocado, diced, to serve
Method
- Toast the cumin seed in a dry pot over medium heat until it darkens and smells nutty, about a minute, then tip it out and grind it. Toasting and grinding whole cumin is several times louder than the pre-ground jar, and cumin is the flavor most people read as taco seasoning.
- In the same pot, sweat the onion and bell pepper in 3 tablespoons (45 ml) water until soft, about 8 minutes, adding a splash more water whenever the pan runs dry. There is no oil here, so the water is what keeps the aromatics cooking instead of scorching.
- Stir in the garlic, jalapeno, ground cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, and pure chile powder and cook for a minute, until the spices smell toasted rather than raw. Push the vegetables aside, drop the tomato paste onto the bare pot, and let it sit until it darkens to brick red, about 2 minutes. That caramelized paste is where the broth gets its body without a bouillon cube's salt.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, pinto beans, black beans, corn, no-salt bouillon, and 5 cups (1.2 L) water. Bring to a simmer and cook, partly covered, for 20 minutes, so the beans drink up the chile and the pot tastes like more than the sum of its cans.
- Mash a ladle of the beans against the side of the pot and stir it back in to thicken the broth. Off the heat, stir in the lime juice and half the cilantro, then taste and add more lime rather than salt if it falls flat.
- Ladle into bowls and top with the remaining cilantro and the diced avocado. It keeps four days and thickens in the fridge, so loosen the leftovers with water and a fresh squeeze of lime.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 210 calories, 9 g protein, 11 g fiber, 90 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
