Fall is the perfect time to take a normal meal and stir it up in a big pot of soup, capturing the familiar flavors in comforting, immune-boosting broth. This Steak Fajita Soup is a great twist on a familiar dish.
This is part of my Nourishing Soup Series. Check it out for more delicious soup ideas.
Steak Fajita Soup is All About Toppings!
This Steak Fajita Soup recipe is one of many where the soup is good, but the toppings make it amazing. I’m learning that serving a variety of fun toppers with a bowl of soup not only enhances the flavor of the soup but also increases the enjoyment of the eaters. It’s fun to add your own toppings; why do you think ice cream bars go over so well?
One great topping for this soup is onions. The soup itself has onions (just like fajitas) but a few more to add on top won’t hurt. In fact, onions are packed with health benefits and this soup is a great way to enjoy them.
Onions will give you the following nutritional and health benefits:
- Anti-inflammatory
- Anti-bacterial
- Prevents constipation
- Increases blood circulation
- Rich in chromium, Vitamin C
Fight these diseases and issues with onions:
- Prevents cancers
- Arthritis
- Fights infections, colds, fevers
- Asthma
- Heart health
- Osteoporosis
- May lower blood pressure and triglycerides
- Improves gastrointestinal health
The Best Onions…
Western Yellow, New York Bold, and Northern Red onions have the highest amount of healthy compounds to give you all the benefits listed above. In general, the stronger the onion, the healthier. More tears when cutting equals more protection against disease and infection. Also, the best benefits are received when onions are eaten raw. You just have to get the good information past the bad breath!
As usual with my recipes, there are a ton of variations to experiment with, enough that you can practically make the recipe into about a dozen different meals.
For example, when I ran this recipe through one last test on Monday, I had no beef in the house. Guess what? It’s a pretty doggone good chicken fajita soup too. 
Prep Time:
Yield:
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PinIngredients
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2–4 Tbs. tallow, ghee, coconut oil or other fat
- 2 medium onions, 1 diced, 1 sliced
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 red (or other color) pepper, sliced
- 1 Tbs. salt
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
- 1 Tbs. taco seasoning
- 2–3 c. cooked beef or chicken
- 15 oz. diced tomatoes with juice
- optional: 2 Tbs. tomato paste or 1 cup tomato sauce
- 2 c. cooked brown rice
- 6 c. beef or chicken stock
- Toppings to serve with:
- sour cream
- guacamole or avocado slices
- chopped red onion
- sliced sweet white onion
- shredded cheese
- fresh or pickled jalapenos
- tortilla chips
- squeeze of lime
- fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Crush your garlic and allow it to sit while you work to activate its health qualities.
- In a large pot, melt the fat over medium heat. Dice one of the onions and add it at this time. The other onion will be sliced and added into the broth, which will have more of a “boiled onion” taste and look more like fajitas because of the long slices. If that’s not your thing, you could dice half or all of the second onion and put it in the saute.
- Slice the two peppers and add them to the saute, over medium heat until limp and/or browned, depending on your preference. Add the garlic, salt, cumin, oregano, and taco seasoning and stir for a minute. Add the cooked beef and stir another minute.
- Pour in all the tomatoes and optional sauce, the rice, the remaining onion, sliced, and the broth. You can use 4 cups broth for a very thick “stoup” or up to 8 cups to stretch the soup further. Eye it up.
- Bring to a boil and it’s ready to serve.
- Choose some of the topping options for the presentation. I like to serve quesadillas to dip with this soup, and a side of homemade refried beans, salsa, guacamole, or Mexican beans and rice is a good fit for this meal. If you’re not yet making homemade whole wheat tortillas, cornbread or tortilla chips are nice sides as well.
Notes
I like to make stir fry the day before this recipe and make a double or triple batch of rice; then the soup comes together FAST. You can also leave the rice out and have it as an option to put under the soup. Your guests can choose to remain grain free that way.
Possible additions:
* chopped greens
* ½ c. pureed squash or pumpkin (I’ve done it – blends right in, just like I said in the “How to Use a Random Half Cup of Pumpkin” post)
Variations:
* Use regular oregano instead of Mexican.
* Add more peppers.
* Use raw meat – just slice in thin strips or small chunks and add in with the spices, cooking on high until browned, then add broth.
* Use uncooked rice instead, ½ cup dry, then cook 45 minutes until done.
* Add 2 cups kidney or black beans for more bulk and protein.
2 Tools for Real Food Success:
It’s never easy to keep up with real food goals! If my meal isn’t planned ahead and/or I don’t have the right food on hand, it’s SO tempting to give up and grab convenience food!
I have to almost trick myself into getting it right sometimes…like this:
Butcher Box
I love my raw milk farm, and they usually have beef for me too – but not all the cuts. And chicken is hard to come by. And pork is hit or miss.
I’m sure you’ve experienced the same sourcing frustrations!
That’s why I’m always grateful that there’s an online source of incredibly high quality meat that I can always count on. A box from Butcher Box is guaranteed to be grassfed/organic/pastured/free range = all the labels important to your family’s health!
If you live in an area (like my mom) where organic local farms are nowhere to be found or have trouble sourcing certain meats or cuts, Butcher Box has you covered.
(free shipping too!)
Real Plans
But if I forget to plan ahead, all that amazing meat just sits in the freezer! Enter Real Plans, an online meal planning software that is probably smarter than I am.
I can enter that cut of meat along with my food restrictions and find the perfect meal, then generate a shopping list, multiply it by 4 if we have company, and enter my own fav recipes too.
Real Plans takes the stress out of meal planning and puts the nourishing food BACK on your table. There’s a plan for every diet type:
Katie Kimball, CSME is a trusted educator and author of 8 real food cookbooks. She is passionate about researching natural remedies and making healthy cooking easier for busy families. She’s been featured on media outlets like ABC, NBC and First for Women magazine as well as contributing regularly on the FOX Network.
A mom of 4 kids from Michigan, she is a Certified Stress Mastery Educator and member of the American Institute of Stress.
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I’ve been roasting a chicken every week which means tons of chicken broth. Unfortunately, most of my current favorite soups use beef broth, so I’m very excited to have something new to try to use up my stock!
Sarah W says
Thumbs up! Thanks for the recipe! And thanks for including the variations. I actually threw the raw steak into the broth and cooked it by boiling. Just another option that worked for us! 🙂 (I didn’t sautee anything before starting the soup.)
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Good to know – I bet that was a fast soup, and I love the thumbs up, thank you!! 🙂 Katie
Lindsey says
I made this for dinner tonight, it was great! I made it with frozen elk steak that I thawed for an hour and then sliced thinly. It was a nice meal that didn’t require forethought (other than I had beef broth already)
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
That is so fun that you made it already, Lindsey! Fantastic! 🙂 Katie
Stephanie Lee says
I am just curious – my daughter does not eat tomato, she says it gives her stomach aches – is there a way to do this without the tomato?
Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship says
Stephanie,
Sure, skipping the tomatoes would be no problem at all. Peruse the toppings for some additional flavor, and have a cup or two of broth on hand in case it seems too thick, but I doubt it will. Enjoy! 🙂 Katie