Hey, y'all! Not all taco meat is created equally -- that's a hill that I'll die on. In an effort to create the most flavorful, foolproof taco meat, I developed my newest recipe: Slow Cooker Taco Meat With Salsa. Dump the ingredients into a slow cooker and go on about your day; a delicious dinner will be served with little to no effort!
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Slow Cooker Taco Meat With Salsa
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the leanest ground beef that you can find. This meat mixture will have more liquid than typical due to the salsa. Having less grease/fat from the beef will help immensely!
Simply drain and/or scoop out the excess liquid. This will help the flavor still be locked in -- don't rinse!
If you're cooking on high, cook for roughly 3 hours; on low, cook your taco meat for 6 hours.

Ingredients, Shopping List: Slow Cooker Taco Meat With Salsa
Meat: extra-lean ground beef
Seasonings: taco seasoning, course black pepper, garlic powder
Produce: vidalia onion
Canned/Jarred Goods: salsa of choice

How To Make Slow Cooker Taco Meat With Salsa
- Place ground beef in a slow cooker. Top with taco seasoning, course black pepper, garlic powder, diced vidalia onion, and salsa.
- If cooking on high, cook for 3 hours; if cooking on low, cook for six hours.
- Once done, if there is too much liquid, carefully drain/scoop out excess.
- Serve in your desired fashion: taco salads, burritos, soft-shell/hard-shell tacos -- your choice!
Slow Cooker Taco Meat With Salsa: Tips and Tricks
- Use the leanest ground beef that you can find at the store.
- I prefer to use hot salsa, as I find that it has the most flavor; that said, use the salsa of your choice.
- For the excess liquid, I like to simply ladle it out of the crockpot -- it saves you from dirtying another dish.

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The Recipe

Slow Cooker Taco Meat With Salsa
Equipment
- Slow cooker
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. ground beef extra lean
- 2 c. salsa of choice
- 1 vidalia onion diced
- 2 packages taco seasoning
- 1 tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. course black pepper
Instructions
- Place ground beef in a slow cooker. Top with taco seasoning, course black pepper, garlic powder, diced vidalia onion, and salsa.
- If cooking on high, cook for 3 hours; if cooking on low, cook for six hours.
- Once done, if there is too much liquid, carefully drain/scoop out excess.
- Serve in your desired fashion: taco salads, burritos, soft-shell/hard-shell tacos -- your choice!
Notes
- Use the leanest ground beef that you can find at the store.
- I prefer to use hot salsa, as I find that it has the most flavor; that said, use the salsa of your choice.
- For the excess liquid, I like to simply ladle it out of the crockpot -- it saves you from dirtying another dish.
Nutrition
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
My best,
JC
Keep Up With JCP Eats
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Elizabeth
What a great idea! I'll have to try this - thanks for the recipe!
Gloria
Cooking this taco meat in the slow cooker is such a great idea. Perfect for fillings or even a pasta sauce. My family will love it.
Giangi's Kitchen
Made this for my husband as a surprise, he loved tacos, and he devoured it.
Thank you for a great recipe.
Mitch
Made this with a package of veggie ground and it turned out perfect! Thanks for the idea!
Kate
This looks so flavorful!! My family loooves tacos so I am going to try this for sure. Thanks for the idea.