Crockpot Tacos

A while ago I found a recipe for Taco Soup on Stephanie O'Dea's crockpot blog. It seemed easy enough, so I tried it. Honestly, when I took the lid off the crockpot at dinner time, I was less than thrilled. It smelled amazing, but that particular day I just wasn't wanting taco soup.

So my husband said, "Why don't we just drain it and have it on tacos?"

Brilliant! That DID sound good to me!!

We had a bunch left over and I stored some in the freezer for a quick taco meal later. The leftovers were good too!

So this time I decided to just make crockpot tacos, instead of soup! I have the same ingredients, but changed a few things.

Here is what you will need:

2 lbs ground beef
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans corn
1 large can petite diced tomatoes
1 can rotel
1 pkg taco seasoning (or 1/4 cup)
1 pg ranch dressing mix (or 1/4 cup)
tortillas
taco toppings




As you can see, we have the massive bottles of taco seasoning and ranch powder. We bought those at Sam's a while ago and I never thought we would use all of it, but we actually have gotten pretty darn close!

So first, you brown your ground beef and drain it. Pour ground beef into crockpot.


Drain and rinse pinto and kidney beans and add to crockpot.


Completely drain the rotel. Then slightly drain the tomatoes.

Add both to crockpot.


After opening all those cans I really started wishing I had an automatic can opener! I never understood why someone would really need one of those, but now I do!

Then I still had two more cans to open, but when I looked at them I smiled...


No can opener needed!! Yay!

Drain just one can of corn and add both to crockpot.


Add your seasonings. (I actually added a little more than 1/4 cup)


Give it a good stir.


Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours.


After it was done cooking, I spooned a little bit into a strainer to let the juices drain.


We had them on tortillas with sour cream and cheese.


They were SO good!!


We also had lots of leftovers! There was enough for two more meals! I put the rest in two freezer bags. Using a slotted spoon, I drained off some of the liquid, but not all of it. I wanted a little of it to stay in there.

When we have these tacos again, I will pull the bags out of the freezer to thaw, warm it up, then drain it.


The next time I make these Crockpot Tacos, I will probably drain everything. This time I slightly drained the large can of tomatoes, and didn't drain one of the cans of corn, but next time I will drain both of those. This will hopefully keep the liquid level a little lower. It will still produce some liquid from the beans and tomatoes.