One-Pot Taco Pasta
This easy, lightened up One-Pot Taco Pasta is rich, creamy, and tastes decadent! This recipe is definitely family-friendly, my five-year-old loved it and asked for seconds. I wasn’t surprised, because it’s cheesy, meaty, saucy, and satisfying. It definitely doesn’t taste lightened-up! Every bite is full of flavor, with taco seasoned meat, salsa, garlic, onion, cheddar cheese, queso dip, taco sauce, beef broth, sour cream, and sweet bits of corn. Plus, it all cooks together in together in one pot with minimal prep, so it’s perfect for an easy weeknight meal. I like to serve it with a simple side salad for an easy, tasty dinner! A serving of this One-Pot Taco Pasta is just 237 calories or 8 WW Points. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Recipe Notes
- Serving Size: This recipe makes almost nine cups total, so I did eight servings of one lightly rounded cup each.
- Pasta: I used radiatore, which is one of my favorite pasta shapes (the ruffles hold so much sauce), but you can use any medium-sized pasta shape like rotini, orecchiette, or medium shells.
- Liquids: The liquid totals in this recipe worked perfectly for me, but since all stovetops and burners cook a little differently, feel free to add a bit more water toward the end when cooking the pasta if needed.
- Meat: I like to use a blend of extra lean ground turkey breast and lean ground beef when I want to have a recipe taste beefy, but still be lower in WW Points. The flavor of the two meats together still comes across as beefy! If you prefer to use one or the other rather than a blend, you of course can, it will just affect the nutrition info/WW Points.
- Salsa: Choose a runnier salsa rather than a super thick and chunky one if possible. I love using Wegmans Roasted Tomato Salsa, but any brand should be fine. If the salsa you have on hand is super thick, you can always water it down a bit before using it.
- Corn: I always have a bag of frozen corn kernels on hand for using in recipes, so it was easy to use those here. If you have canned corn instead, that’s perfectly fine.
More Tasty Lightened-Up One-Pot Meals
One-Pot meals are one of my favorite types of recipes. I love the ease and simplicity, and I really love not having to wash a pile of pots and pans. If you’re looking for more tasty One-Pot recipes like this One-Pot Taco Pasta, check out my One-Pot Cheeseburger Pasta, Chicken Taco Rice Skillet, One-Pot Turkey and Veggie Spaghetti, One-Pot Chicken Florentine Mac and Cheese, One-Pot Cajun Chicken and Sausage Pasta, One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese, Turkey Sloppy Joe Pasta, One-Pot Spicy Dirty Rice with Chicken and Sausage, Chicken Pot Pasta, Lemon Chicken Orzo, Beefy American Goulash, Rustic Sausage and Potato Skillet, and so many more in the One-Pot Meals category of my recipe index!
One-Pot Taco Pasta
Ingredients
- ½ lb uncooked 99% lean ground turkey breast
- ½ lb uncooked 95% lean ground beef
- 1 oz packet reduced sodium taco seasoning
- 1 tablespoon taco sauce, (I used Ortega medium heat)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 cups reduced sodium beef broth
- ½ cup water
- 1 cup salsa, (on the runnier side is better than super thick and chunky)
- ½ cup frozen corn kernels
- 12 oz uncooked medium-sized pasta, (I used radiatore, but rotini, medium shells, orecchiette, or any pasta of a similar size will work great)
- 4 oz shredded 2% milk sharp cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup queso blanco dip, (I used Tostitos brand)
- 2 tablespoons light sour cream
Instructions
- Lightly mist a 5 QT Dutch oven or a large pot with cooking spray and bring over medium heat. Add the ground turkey and ground beef and cook, breaking up with a spatula or cooking spoon until it starts to brown a bit and break into small chunks. Add the taco seasoning and taco sauce and stir together. Add the chopped onion and stir. Continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes until the onions are softened and the meats are cooked through. Add the minced garlic and stir. Cook for another 30-60 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the beef broth, water, and salsa and stir together, scraping up anything stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the corn and pasta and stir again. Use the back or your spatula or spoon to flatten out the ingredients to be just under the surface of the liquid as best you can. Turn the heat up to med-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to med-low to simmer. Simmer for 12-15 minutes (mine was good at 12 minutes, but it will depend on the pasta used), stirring the ingredients every few minutes to make sure the pasta gets rotated and doesn’t stick to the bottom.
- When the pasta is cooked through and most of the liquid is absorbed, remove the pot from heat. Stir in the cheddar cheese, queso dip and sour cream until well combined and melted into the sauce. Serve warm.
Notes
237 calories, 24 g carbs, 4 g sugars, 6 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 20 g protein, 1 g fiber, 733 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
6 per (1 lightly rounded cup) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info above)
Can you clarify in the written recipe you list taco sauce and tomato sauce, but neither of those items is in the list of ingredients? “Add taco seasoning and taco sauce” “Add broth, water, and tomato sauce”. I’m sure one of those is the salsa, but it isn’t clear. Thank you.
Oops! Thanks for catching that, I fixed it. Just my error in copying the recipe over, sorry for the confusion!
This was wonderful! I had to make a few substitutions because I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand but it turned out so well! All four of my kids loved it! They said it tasted like homemade hamburger helper but way better! I loved only having to use one pot. I’ll be adding this to my rotation!
This recipe was fantastic! So flavorful. My husband especially loved it and it will definitely be going into the rotation. Thanks Emily!
This was fantastic! Thank you so much. I hope you have a cookbook soon!
I made this for dinner last night. I couldnt get the queso blanco so I substituted with feta cheese.
It was a big hit. really delicious full of flavour and not too much prep for a week night dinner.
Will definitely be a regular dish in our house
I’m really excited to try out this One-Pot Taco Pasta recipe. It seems to hit all the right notes in terms of flavor, ease of preparation, and nutritional value.
Absolutely delicious! A lightened up tasty dish- my grandson went back for seconds and thirds. I used 1 pound of pasta, 4 cups of beef broth and a little more ground turkey and ground beef. I was feeding 5 people and this was enough coupled with a salad. And an easy recipe that my 10 year old grandson could follow and make with me supervising.
My wife and I made this last night. It’s so easy and soooo tasty. We used the medium shell pasta and it turned out great. Thanks for posting!