Hereโ€™s how to make easy Instant Pot tacos with pork, chicken or beef quickly! Perfect pressure cooker dinners that are cheap and full of flavor. One uses Instant Pot carnitas for the meat. Loaded into a tortilla with slices of avocado, salsa, sour cream and lettuce is a great dinner.

instant pot tacos
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Ready for Instant Pot tacos 7 different ways for taco Tuesday??!! Youโ€™ll be covered for the whole month with all of these Instant Pot recipes for sure. Using pork, beef, fish or chicken and your favorite toppings youโ€™re in for a real treat with these. (affiliate links present)

Instant Pot Tacos Shredded Beef

We have an easy carne asada, healthy salsa chicken version, barbecue, Hawaiian, Instant Pot Birria Tacos and of course how to make saute all the meats in your pressure cooker too. Load all of them up with tons of toppings and enjoy!

There are a ton of ways to make beef so tender it can be shredded. You can use our instructions for pressure cooker shredded beef. It doesnt matter what brand of machine you have either. A Ninja Foodi works great as well, you will use the lid that isnโ€™t attached for that one.

If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with letโ€™s start with a few basic tips:

For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.

A white Instant Pot with a Star Wars theme sits on the kitchen counter, ready to tackle your favorite beef arm roast recipe. The digital display glows "On." Next to it lie a patterned cloth and some green onions, all against the backdrop of blue kitchen cabinets and a stovetop.

Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Tacos

If you are looking for a Ninja Foodi recipe you have another option at the end. You can pressure cook the meat so it becomes fork tender. Then wrap that in your corn tortillas with taco fillings of your choice, spray with olive oil and air crisp with the other lid.

OR use the lid that is attached to crisp and make another version we call air fryer tacos with this multi cooker pot! Feeds a crowd and is always a hit with a crowd for Super Bowl or on the weekend.

Below in the printable recipe card we will explain how to make our beef carnitas. Then throughout this pot I will share and explain several other ways including shredded chicken like you see here. You can use pork or beef diced to make carnitas too, really any sort of meat works but these are the two weโ€™ve tried.

Can you make Instant Pot tacos with frozen meat?

Your best bet no matter what meat you use is to first cut it up into chunks so each piece gets really nice and tender. This way it will fall apart with a fork I tell you once itโ€™s done. You could cook from frozen like our frozen chicken in Instant Pot if that is all you have though, cooked in under 20 minutes flat. Toss with sauce and youโ€™re good to go.

instant pot shredded chicken

Why we love Instant Pot Tacos

  • They are inexpensive to make
  • No taco shells are even necessary
    • many times we make them into taco bowls
  • You can add tons of toppings, or the kids can leave them plain
  • They take less than 30 minutes to make including prep time and the time it takes to reach pressure
  • For the most part Instant Pot tacos are pretty healthy!

Pressure cooker tacos offer tons of flavor since theyโ€™re cooked under high pressure. We feel the flavors are intensified because most of the time your proteins are cooked right in the sauce.

Instant Pot street Tacos

Ingredients

  1. Instant Pot โ€“ I have the one you see at the top of this post.
    • Itโ€™s plenty big to feed the 5 of us. I share here my favorite Instant Pot accessories to make all my recipes here too
  2. Beefโ€“ stew meat or I have cut up beef bottom round steak into small strips too if need be
  3. Fresh limes is all you need for liquid
  4. Cumin โ€“ I have this one
  5. Fresh cilantro
  6. Cayenne
  7. Onion
  8. Homemade tortillas are great

Toppings

  • Fresh cilantro โ€“ jarred dry cilantro 
  • Cayenne pepper โ€“ jarred dry Sriracha
  • Fresh limes โ€“ lime juice
  • Fresh minced garlic โ€“ jarred minced garlic (seriously, I almost always use jarred because Iโ€™m just lazy to chop it up & I buy bottled because I use so much of it)
  • Homemade taco seasoning for more bold flavors
  • Avocado โ€“ our favorite
  • Raw onion
  • Cheese
  • Salsa
  • This is how to air fry taco shells if you want to make your own

Substitutions

For meat ground beef is typical, sausage could be used or go unique with cow tongue tacos some nights.

I wouldnโ€™t substitute minced dried onions for fresh onions but these are decent substitutions. Just in case you have everything and realize you forgot cilantro you can have jarred cilantro on hand too. Use what you have is my philosophy.  Ready for a quick cooking time meal yโ€™all???

Letโ€™s talk about having people over and creating a bar full of all the things. If you have a bunch of people over you could use your IP and then have another low and slow pot where you make Crockpot taco meat too. You could make poultry in one and beef in the other for a choice. Extras you can add into your mix to enhance the flavor to bold.

Instant Pot Tacos 2

How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

If you prefer Instant Pot chicken tacos we have a few options for you too! Yes these will be lower in fat and with this machine you really can get the connective tissues to break down easily so it is OMG so good. The picture you see here are our 3 ingredient Instant Pot salsa chicken tacos, use chicken broth for more flavor.

Instant Pot Tacos

Pork Instant Pot tacos

You can make these Instant Pot pork tacos too! Even more options for Instant Pot recipes in the way of tacos are below the recipe card too! Most of them you just throw everything in, quick release and serve โ€™em up with lots of toppings.

  • Our favorite is to use a center cut pork loin or pork tenderloin and make this Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork. Once itโ€™s shredded in this sauce goodness then put it in small tortillas or others can put it on small slider buns. 
  • Hereโ€™s an Instant Pot pork shoulder recipe if that is the cut of meat you choose. Comes out amazingly tender in 1 hour. Makes for a terrific homemade taco inside tortillas.

If youโ€™re interested in ground beef Instant Pot tacos we have the best recipe for flavorful Instant Pot taco meat. Then make those as well with all the wonderful toppings of your choice. Add a bit of chili powder for spice or leave it mild. Top with sour cream and it will make you love tacos!!

Instant Pot Fish Tacos

If you love fish tacos use the recipe for this Instant Pot tilapia and make those too with diced tomatoes inside flour tortillas. Jump to recipe to try that one first and then go on with the other links here.

Close-up of Instant Pot tacos brimming with shredded meat, crisp lettuce, cheese, and a drizzle of hot sauce.
5 from 1 vote

Instant Pot Tacos

By The Typical Mom
Here's how to make easy Instant Pot tacos with pork, chicken or beef in no time at all! Perfect pressure cooker dinners that are cheap and full of flavor. 
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Servings:
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Equipment

  • 1 pressure cooker

Ingredients 

  • 2 lbs chuck roast, for carnitas, cut into small chunks or use stew meat
  • 5 large limes, 2 will be used when tacos are done
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 bundle cilantro, fresh, or 1/2 tbsp dry cilantro
  • 2 tsp cayenne pepper, or 1 tsp dry sriracha
  • 1 large onion, cut into large chunks or diced
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Instructions 

  • Put small pieces of beef into your Instant Pot along with your onion and squeeze 3 limes inside (make sure seeds donโ€™t go into pot).
  • Sprinkle in all of your seasonings and stir so all meat and onions are well coated.
  • Chop cilantro bundle, tops, and add into your pot. Stir.
  • Close lid and steam valve and set on high pressure for 20 minutes.
  • Do a quick release and serve inside of small corn tortillas with more raw onion and cilantro if desired, squeeze fresh lime on top of Instant Pot taco.
  • Can heat some oil on your stove and lightly fry your tortillas prior to filling them if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 3oz, Calories: 299kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 19g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 80mg, Sodium: 78mg, Potassium: 356mg, Vitamin A: 195IU, Vitamin C: 1.9mg, Calcium: 32mg, Iron: 2.8mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main Course
Cuisine: American, Mexican
Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!
Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
Instant Pot Taco Meat

About The Typical Mom

Justine is the creative mind behind The Typical Mom and The Typical Family on YouTube. She began blogging about easy recipes, budget friendly activities for kids, and fun family travel destinations in September 2012.

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5 from 1 vote

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4 Comments

  1. I donโ€™t like lime/lemon flavor on meats. Can I do without them and it still turn out ok?