Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Bowls

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.

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).

Instant Pot Chicken Taco 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:

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. 

Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls Ingredients

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.

• Chicken breasts – you could use thighs if you preferred
• Canned corn
• A can of black beans
• Chicken broth or stock
• Rice – uncooked white rice
• Salsa – this chunky salsa is best
• Olive oil
• Taco seasoning – homemade recipe here
• Salt and pepper to taste

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.

Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl

Here are the basic steps to follow and things to remember:

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.

How to Make Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Bowls

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!

One Pot Chicken and Rice Bowl

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:

• 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. 😉

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