Pressure cooker chicken taco bowls with fresh meat or frozen chicken in the Instant Pot are the best 15 minute dinners! One pot meal with corn, black beans, rice and tender chicken all in a bowl. Made in your Instant Pot, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi you’ll be surprised at how easy they are to make.
I’m all about easy one pot meals. That is why I love these pressure cooker chicken taco bowls! Just one of many favorite Instant Pot recipes here on The Typical Mom we offer. This one is quite healthy too! (affiliate links present)
Ninja Foodi Chicken Taco Bowls
You see my daughter works at Chipotle and we LOVE eating there. This is sort of a copycat chicken bowl they offer there. Now I can make it at home anytime I want! You can make this in your Ninja Foodi or crockpot express pot too.
The meat gets fork tender and shreds easily after almost no time at all. Time saver when you want to make a homemade meal but are tired (aren’t we all).
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowl Recipe
Of course you can make this in your Mealthy too. Now that we have the Crockpot Express and Foodi. We’re kinda’ obsessed with the latter one because we can melt an additional layer of cheese on top too!
It’s one of many Ninja Foodi chicken recipes we’ve made time and time again because it’s always a hit. Healthy and personalized once you serve it too. Tortilla chips are a must for my kiddos. But first it starts with chicken right? Breasts or thighs, you choose. A few things I love about these taco bowls are that you can customize each one.
Wondering what to cook with ground beef? Just swap that in instead and you can make this same meal with a whole different protein and flavor profile. It is easy to change it up that way.
Healthy Chicken Taco Bowl Recipe
Ok so Instant Pot tacos are fun but kinda’ a lot of work to keep them all together, the shells not to break, and we are all cooked together is just so much easier when you are busy with kids right? Here are a few questions you might have before you get started:
That’s the beauty of it all, it is up to you! Add chicken or ground beef if you like or make vegetarian tacos with just beans and rice. Cooked together all in one pot you can layer everything or mix together. Topped with cheese and sour cream, they are like deconstructed tacos with rice instead of shells.
Um, that is up to you once you load it up with lots of toppings! Scoop it into a bowl and add guacamole, sour cream, olives, all the things on top and dig in. Use chips instead of a fork some nights, that is always more fun.
Meaning everyone likes different things on their tacos right?? So while I’m loading up the avocado and sour cream, my daughter can load up on cheese and leave off everything else.
As far as the poultry goes, just ensure that they are boneless and skinless breasts or thighs, a lot less work that way. Also break them apart from one another before putting them into your pot so they cook evenly.
Ingredients
- Chicken breasts – you could use thighs if you preferred
- Canned corn drained we like
- A can of black beans drained and rinsed
- Chicken broth or stock
- Rice – uncooked white rice
- Salsa – this chunky salsa is best
- Olive oil to brown meat
- Taco seasoning – homemade recipe here
- Salt and pepper to taste. If I am using pressure cooker fried chicken leftovers there wouldn’t be any seasonings necessary.
Keep in mind that if you use frozen there will be more liquid in the pot at the end. I wouldn’t adjust timing though.
Can you use chicken thighs instead of breasts to make chicken taco bowls?
Of course, I typically choose what is on sale at the time or what is in my fridge, or freezer. I really don’t like using bone-in either way just because it is a lot more work once the meat is ready. Fishing the bones out and not missing one just isn’t worth it even though they are slightly cheaper.
How to Cook Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl in Pressure Cooker
Time needed: 12 minutes
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls
- Saute
Put olive oil in pot and turn pressure cooker to saute function. Place chicken breasts into pot and allow to cook each side for about 2 min. per side so the outsides are no longer pink.
- Deglaze
Turn pot off. Move chicken to the side and pour in a bit of your broth so you can deglaze your pot. (meaning scrape bits of stuck on chicken off the bottom of your pot)
- Add ingredients
Sprinkle taco seasoning on top of breasts. Pour chicken broth on top of that, then add salt if desired, followed by the can of corn. Spread kernels out evenly inside pot. Add drained can of beans on top of that, spread out evenly. Sprinkle in uncooked rice evenly inside pot. Pour jar of salsa on top of rice so all of it is covered.
- Cook
Close pressure cooker lid and steam valve to sealed. Set to pressure cook, high pressure, for 12 minutes. Then do a quick release.
- Shred
Remove chicken breasts and put on a bowl to shred. Then put back into your pot with other ingredients and stir.
Can you make chicken taco bowls with frozen chicken?
Yep!! Skip the sauteeing step if you’re using frozen chicken. Instead, add into pot with 1 cup broth and high pressure cook for 12 minutes with a 5 minute natural release. Shred and then continue to step 2. Remember to always deglaze your pot after cooking meat. This means you’re scraping the bits of cooked on meat off the bottom so it doesn’t show a false burn notice while it’s cooking.
It is totally up to you how you do your Instant Pot shredded chicken. You can use forks and shred right in the pot, but I feel like I can get it into smaller pieces if I take them out.
What goes into a Chipotle Bowl?
- It’s served with a choice of meat, I always choose chicken but some opt for beef
- Rice
- Beans
- Veggies – we used corn here
- Salsa
- Guacamole – I used diced avocado but it depends what I find on sale
- Sour cream
- Cheese at least 1/2 cup to top bowls before serving
- Side of tortilla chips
That is typically what I put out on the counter to make our taco / Instant Pot chicken burrito bowls at home.
What’s the difference between a burrito bowl and a taco bowl?
Not much, maybe the addition of refried beans if you wanted that. This serves the 5 of us well. If you had more people you could easily add another breast to the mix and it would be fine. I wouldn’t adjust the cooking times for that addition or if you used 2-3 small frozen chicken breasts.
- I haven’t tried this with brown rice yet but it would need more time for that as 2 cups Instant Pot white rice has a shorter cook time.
If you have pickier eaters who may not care for some of the ingredients just take out a cup of the chicken when you’re shredding it and serve it “plain” that way. My youngest used to prefer this, which is essentially just Instant Pot salsa chicken, with 1/4 cup of cheese on top.
Now that I’ve made this a few times she eats it as is with lots of toppings! Just keep serving it to them with one bite required and you might be surprised one day when they actually like it. A true pressure cooker kids recipes to boot!
Once done you can add other things on top, or add some in the pot itself if you want to add more into the mix to heat together. Other add in options for pressure cooker chicken taco bowls:
Other one Pot Chicken Recipes You’ll Love
- Diced onion I will also add into our Instant Pot orange chicken ingredients sometimes
- Bell pepper diced
- A can of chiles is nice in this or our Instant Pot crack chicken casserole, a total winner!
- Some like some diced pineapple too, fruit inside our Instant Pot Apricot chicken made it a bit sweet and simple.
With prep and cook time you too can try this easy under 30 minute dinner that is sure to please everyone in your house! Yes, even the kids. 😉
Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Bowls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken , boneless, skinless, breasts
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 c taco seasoning
- 1/2 tsp salt, optional
- 1 c chicken broth
- 1 can corn, drained
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 1 c rice, white, uncooked
- 1 jar salsa, 15.5 oz.
Instructions
- Put olive oil in pot and turn pressure cooker to saute function. Place chicken breasts into pot and allow to cook each side for about 2 min. per side so the outsides are no longer pink. Turn pot off. Move chicken to the side and pour in a bit of your broth so you can deglaze your pot. (meaning scrape bits of stuck on chicken off the bottom of your pot)
- Sprinkle taco seasoning on top of breasts. Pour chicken broth on top of that, then add salt if desired, followed by the can of corn. Spread kernels out evenly inside pot.
- Add drained can of beans on top of that, spread out evenly. Sprinkle in uncooked rice evenly inside pot.
- Pour jar of salsa on top of rice so all of it is covered.
- Close pressure cooker lid and steam valve to sealed.
- Set to pressure cook, high, for 12 minutes. Then do a quick release.
- Remove chicken breasts and put on a bowl to shred. Then put back into your pot with other ingredients and stir.
- Serve this in bowls topped with: sour cream avocado, cheese, etc!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I have made this like ten or eleven times and my family loves it! It’s a great easy night meal thanks for the recipe.
oh good!!
So glad
I make this 2-3 times a month at my house and it’s always a big hit. It’s also great for next-day leftovers. We sometimes make tostados with it and out refried beans on the base, chicken mixture next, then sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes. Delicious!
Yay glad it is a hit
If I used ground prime beef, what would change? I could use beef broth, couldn’t I? Just not sure about the cooking timing.
I don’t think anything would change really, just saute and brown at the beginning instead of chicken.
If I’m using frozen chicken does it need to PC longer than 12 min?
I made this today in the Ninja Foodi. I had 1.75 lb chicken instead of 1 lb, so I used that. I skipped the canned corn completely, and I used red beans instead of black beans. Also, I didn’t bother sauteeing the chicken before, I just put it in raw, and then went ahead with pressure cooking. I used the included taco seasoning recipe, and I doubled the amounts listed in the taco seasoning webpage, which came out to about a 1/4 cup total, and that was perfect.
It came out great, loved the flavors. I would have preferred more rice and beans, but that was my own fault for using 1.75 lb chicken instead of 1 lb. If I had used 1 lb, the ratio of rice/beans to chicken would have been perfect.
My chicken breasts were huge, and they were completely 100% cooked through after 12 mins on High. I added some Cholula hot sauce to my plate, and sour cream. So good! Thanks for this recipe. It’s already on my list of “things to make all the time”. So easy and delicious.
I’m a rookie to pressure cooking. If I wanted to double the rice and beans, what would I need to do? Just double the chicken broth? Cook longer?
Forgot to add the rating, 5+ stars!
I did a version of this. Used leftover chicken, and put it on top and coated it with the moisture (to add flavour) before closing the lid, it was great. Added mushrooms,onions, green peppers.
Great dish! Easy and delicious even substituting water for the broth! Yum, will make again!
So glad it was a hit!!