What do you do when you want to eat tacos in a different style? Simple, you transform it into a soup.
Yes, taco soup, and if you haven’t tried it, you’re missing something big.
Taco soup is a type of soup that contains ingredients typically used in tacos, including onion, ground beef, corn, beans, tomato, green chiles, and taco seasoning with a topping.
It’s delicious, hearty, and makes you full.
Like tacos, the soup version is also versatile.
It pairs well with many items like corn muffins, crispy zucchini chips, bacon-wrapped jalapenos, oven-fried plantains, pico de gallo, and sweet corn salad.
Why Consider Serving Side Dishes with Taco Soup?
Soups are stand-alone dishes; you can feel whole with just one bowl if it has the right ingredients, like taco soup.
But it can be a bit boring to eat a single item, even if it’s delicious.
Besides, if you have company, it won’t look too good with a lone dish sitting on the table.
It will also make your guests awkward to eat anything if they see only the soup.
Side dishes make meals more fun, and you also get to enjoy a complete meal.
You saw what you could serve with taco soup, so how can you not consider not having side dishes with the delicious soup?
What to Serve with Taco Soup? 10 BEST Side Dishes
So, let’s find out what else you can have with taco soup.
1 – Mexican Rice Casserole
Make your meal even heartier by adding Mexican rice casserole to your menu.
It makes an excellent side dish for taco soup, and you get to satisfy your cravings too.
Mexican rice looks appetizing, colorful, and elegant, and you might think it’s challenging to cook.
But it’s precisely the opposite because making the dish isn’t hard.
If you use the right ingredients and follow the proper steps, your Mexican rice casserole will taste as good as the one cooked by an expert.
Chicken broth, grated cheddar cheese, tomatoes, onion, green chiles, and spices provide the flavors and make the dish what it is.
2 – Roasted Chili Corn Salsa
Taco soup may be delicious, but its taste can reach another level when you add something different to the mix.
Roasted chili corn salsa is one of the items which can do that and more.
It also adds a slightly crunchy texture and tangy flavor and refreshes your palate.
Hence, you get a complete meal when you make the combo and serve the two dishes.
Frozen variety is the preferred choice for the dish, but you can also use fresh corn.
But don’t buy corn out of season because it doesn’t taste like when it’s in season.
The salad needs only seven items, including corn, red onion, salt, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno, and poblano pepper but tastes excellent when it’s done.
3 – Garlic Bread
Soup and bread make a nice combination, so it will be unfair not to add it to the list.
Any variety will do, but you can add elegance to your menu by including garlic bread.
The name sounds fancy, but garlic bread is pretty simple to make.
It’s also called garlic toast, which is usually made of baguette, but you can also use other bread.
You top it with butter, garlic, and other herbs and grilled or baked it in the oven.
Garlic bread is a popular dish that many people eat for breakfast.
It’s delicious and aromatic, and you can serve it any time.
It goes well with taco soup, and it will make you full.
4 – Grilled Veggie Salad
Soups combine well with all vegetables, so adding a grilled veggie salad to your menu can be useful as it will complete your meal and provide a fresh aspect.
All vegetables taste good when roasted or grilled, so you have plenty of choices.
While you can’t use all, there are several that you can, like butternut squash, asparagus, onion, carrot, zucchini, bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes.
Salt and pepper are the only seasonings you’ll need besides a herby lemon vinaigrette.
You can add crumbled blue cheese topping once you finish chopping and mixing the ingredients.
5 – Crispy Zucchini Chips
Potato chips are the most popular snacks and make a great side dish.
But other chips or fries can work just fine too.
You can make and serve zucchini chips for a change; they’re delicious and complement taco soup.
Zucchini or courgette chips don’t need numerous ingredients to be flavorful.
Salt, cumin, olive oil, and smoked paprika are the only other items needed for the chips.
But big-sized zucchini tend to be watery and flavorless, so they won’t be suitable for chips.
Hence, you may opt for small-sized veggies to make the perfect fries.
6 – Pico De Gallo
It’s a dish popular in Mexican cuisine and is also called by many names like salsa Bandera, salsa cruda, and salsa Fresca.
Pico de gallo is a fresh, crunchy, tangy salsa that complements taco soup.
The salsa can cleanse your palate if you feel overwhelmed after eating the soup and other heavy dishes.
Since it has fresh veggies, it completes the meal.
Pico de gallo comprises tomato, serrano peppers, onion, salt, lime juice, and cilantro.
Use plum tomatoes as they’re relatively low in water content.
It takes only a short while to make the dish, so it can be a suitable item to serve large crowds.
7 – Bacon-Wrapped Jalapenos
Do you want to include a crispy and spicy dish on your menu? Something that’s not only delicious but also compatible with taco soup? We have the correct item for you.
Try bacon-wrapped jalapenos baked in the oven for about 35 minutes.
You won’t see the dish too often, but it is wonderfully tasty, and it isn’t hard to make it.
Besides bacon and jalapenos, you will only require cream cheese and cheddar cheese, but the result will be outstanding.
8 – Corn Muffins
If you like ordinary muffins, you’ll love cornbread muffins because they’re incredibly flavorful.
Though sweet, they combine taco soup very well, and you can consider them as dessert too.
What do you add to making cornbread muffins? The yummy muffins don’t need anything out of the ordinary.
You can make the item with cornmeal, milk, oil, egg, salt, flour, baking powder, and sugar.
You can also make sweet and spicy muffins, so if you want a little heat, add jalapeno or cayenne powder to the mix but go with only a little.
9 – Oven-Fried Plantains
Yes, they look like bananas, but you have to forget this fact when planning to oven-fry or bake them.
They’re less sweet than bananas but taste great when cooked.
Oven-fried or baked plantains also make a nice side dish with taco soup.
When baked, you may think of them as a substitute for potatoes than as bananas because they taste more like spuds.
Oven-fried plantains taste yummy with a mild flavor, but you may be amazed to know that the dish requires only two ingredients besides the veggie; salt and oil.
You can add pepper or other spice if you want extra flavors.
10 – Sweet Corn Salad
We will wind up the list with a fresh, sweet, and crunchy dish, sweet corn salad.
We’re adding corn again, but it’s such a versatile ingredient that we can’t help it.
Of course, the salad pairs well with taco soup too.
Besides corn, you also add several other vegetables, but there isn’t any cooking involved.
Hence, it differs from grilled veggies and corn salsa.
Radish, cucumber, green onion, tomato, jalapeno, and fresh herbs are the raw items needed for the salad.
Other ingredients include olive oil, salt pepper, feta cheese, garlic, and red or white wine vinegar.
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