Instant Pot Taco Soup is one of the easiest dinners of all time. Made with mostly pantry ingredients, it is full of flavor, delicious and nutritious.
We love anything tacos – Instant Pot shredded chicken tacos, taco salad or taco skillet, we love them all!
Pressure Cooker Taco Soup
Often when I don’t know what’s for lunch or dinner, Instant Pot taco soup it is. Just because all ingredients except meat come from your pantry. It’s like turkey tacos meet vegetarian chili meet pressure cooker stuffed pepper soup. And even then if I forget to thaw meat, I defrost it within 15 minutes using this Instant Pot frozen ground turkey recipe.
Kids love taco soup. Their friends love it. It just never fails. A co-worker shared a stove top version of this taco soup recipe with me 10 years ago. And she got it from the cafe “downstairs”. Now I adapted it to a pressure cooker, which wasn’t hard at all, and we have Instant Pot taco soup.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Taco Soup
Instant Pot taco soup recipe ingredients could not be easier! Similar to vegetarian quesadillas plus meat plus tomato sauce.
- Ground meat: I use ground turkey. Another lean choice is ground chicken. Yes, you can use ground beef and soup will taste more like this Instant Pot chili. Yum!
- For beans I like to use a combo of black beans and any larger light coloured beans like pinto and kidney beans.
- Tomato sauce is plain and low sodium.
- Corn I use is frozen but can be fresh or canned (drained).
- Broth can be vegetable, chicken or beef. I use low sodium bouillon cubes with water. Easy!
- Seasonings: Taco seasoning, garlic and onion powder. That’s it!
How to Make Taco Soup in Instant Pot
- Prep: Open cans and rinse/drain beans. I usually cook beans in Instant Pot from dried but appreciate convenience of Instant Pot black bean soup made with dried beans.
- Saute meat: All you have to do is saute ground meat until small pieces. I would drain most fat from beef.
- Add all ingredients to the pot finishing with tomatoes to prevent Burn.
- How long to cook? 10 minutes is actual cooking time with about 15 minutes pressure build up time. If you have time on hand, cook taco soup in Instant Pot for 20 minutes. No harm. Taco soup will be more flavorful. But so you know 10 minutes is plenty since we use all pre-cooked ingredients.
- I would wait 5 minutes before releasing pressure to avoid lots of splatters on the counters. Or you can walk away for hours and pressure will come down on its own.
More Recipe Tips
- Forgot to thaw meat: Please see this how to thaw meat in Instant Pot. It will come out half cooked. Then just break it into small pieces and use as per Instant Pot taco soup recipe.
- Crockpot: Yes, you can make this soup in a slow cooker. Saute meat, then combine everything in crockpot and cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours.
- To thicken soup: Add 1/4 cup cold water whisked with 2 tbsp cornstarch and saute for a few minutes.
- Fresh garlic and onion can be used. No need to saute.
- A can of diced green chiles will make soup taste more “Mexican” but not spicy.
- For spicy soup add chopped jalapeno with seeds to cooked soup.
Our Favorite Taco Soup Toppings
Pressure cooker taco soup toppings are the same whether it is Instant Pot chili, tostadas or Instant Pot carnitas that we are serving. Here are the ones we like:
- Tortilla chips
- Plain yogurt (learn how to make yogurt in Instant Pot) or sour cream
- Shredded cheese like Tex Mex, Colby Jack etc.
- Chopped green onion, cilantro and red onion
- Diced avocado and lime juice
How to Store, Freeze and Reheat
Storing: Instant Pot taco soup lasts in the fridge for up to 5 days because there are no tender veggies or pasta to get soggy. That’s why I love to make a batch for lunches.
Freezing leftovers: It freezes amazingly! Cook, cool and place in glass airtight container leaving some room for expansion. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw on a counter for 4-5 hours or in the fridge overnight.
Freezer meal: Saute turkey until small pieces. Add all ingredients to gallon size bag with tomato products going first and no broth. Freeze for up to 3 months. Then cook from frozen with broth for 20-30 mins on High pressure with QPR or NPR.
Check out my full list of 20 healthy frozen dinners. I’m obsessed!
Reheating: To reheat, simmer on the stove on low. Always reheat only as much as you will eat that meal. Refrigerate the rest. Helps to keep soup fresh.
More Favorite Recipes
- Baked chicken quesadillas
- Easy chicken tacos
- Easy shrimp tacos
- Ground chicken tacos
- Taco pasta
- Browse 45 best Instant Pot recipes.
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Instant Pot Taco Soup {30 Minutes}
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey beef or chicken
- 2 x 15 oz cans tomato sauce low sodium
- 2 x 15 oz cans low sodium red kidney or pinto beans, drained & rinsed
- 2 cups corn frozen or canned (drained)
- 1 1/2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 2 tbsp onion powder or flakes
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 3 cups low sodium broth or water
- 1 tbsp oil for frying
- 1/2 small bunch cilantro finely chopped
- Yogurt cheese, lime and tortilla chips, for serving
Instructions
- On Instant Pot, press Saute and wait until display says Hot. Takes 3-5 mins.
- Swirl oil to coat, add ground turkey and cook for about 5 minutes, constantly breaking into small pieces and stirring. Press Cancel.
- Add ingredients in the following order (to avoid Burn): beans, corn, taco seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, maple syrup, salt, pepper, broth and tomato sauce. Do not stir!
- Close the lid, move pressure valve to Sealing and press Pressure Cook on High for 10 – 20 minutes (longer – deeper flavours but overall soup is ready fast).
- Release pressure using Quick Release method – turn pressure valve to Venting.
- Add cilantro and stir (I didn’t have any and it was fine).
- Serve hot with tortilla chips, yogurt, cheese and limes (if desired).
Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container or inner Instant Pot pot with a fitting glass lid for up to 5 days.
Freeze Leftovers: Fully cook, cool completely and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on a stovetop covered on low.
Freezer Meal: Saute turkey until small pieces. Add all ingredients to gallon size bag with tomato products going first and no broth. Freeze for up to 3 months. Then cook from frozen with broth for 20-30 mins on High pressure with QPR or NPR.
Video
Notes
- Forgot to thaw meat: “Thaw” meat in Instant Pot using this method. It will come out half cooked. Then just break it into small pieces.
- Crockpot: Yes, you can make this soup in a slow cooker. Saute meat, then combine everything in crockpot and cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours.
- To thicken soup: Add 1/4 cup cold water whisked with 2 tbsp cornstarch and saute for a few minutes.
- Fresh garlic and onion can be used. No need to saute.
- A can of diced green chiles will make soup taste more “Mexican” but not spicy.
- For spicy soup add chopped jalapeno with seeds to cooked soup.
- Salt: You might need to use less salt if using regular (not low sodium) tomato sauce.
Nutrition
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My name is Olena Osipov. I'm a mom to 2 boys, a wife to Alex and we reside on magical Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. This is our healthy family recipes blog. Originally from Ukraine, I grew up on real food. As an adult, I struggled with diets for years because none worked long-term. Now for over 10 years, I cook easy healthy meals for my family. I can help you with “What’s for dinner?” too.