Pressure cooker chicken taco bowls are the best 15 minute dinners! A 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! You see my daughter works at Chipotle and we LOVE eating there. This is sort of a copycat chicken bowl they offer there, but now I can make it at home anytime I want! Just one of many favorite Instant Pot recipes here on The Typical Mom we offer. This one is quite healthy too! (affiliate links present)
- Of course you can make this in your Mealthy too. Now that we have the Ninja Foodi we’re kinda’ obsessed with that one because we can melt an additional layer of cheese on top too!
A few things I love about these taco bowls are that you can customize each one. 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.
This is what you need to make Instant Pot chicken taco bowls
- 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
Yes you can use frozen chicken in the Instant Pot but I prefer fresh. If that is all you have use them. Just ensure that they are boneless and skinless breasts. Also break them apart from one another before putting them into your pot so they cook evenly. 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.
This sort of copycat Chipotle chicken burrito bowl recipe is literally a throw it all in and walk away kind of meal.
Here are the basic steps to follow:
- Set pressure cooker to saute. Add olive oil and breasts to the bottom of the pot. You would skip this step if using frozen chicken. Lightly brown both sides so they’re no longer pink (you’re not cooking them thoroughly), then turn pot off.
- Move meat to the side and add about 1/2 cup of your broth into the pot and deglaze. 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.
- Move chicken back to middle and sprinkle on taco seasoning.
- Then pour on the rest of your broth.
- Drain your can of corn and pour that in, spreading it out evenly on top of your chicken.
- Do the same for your can of drained beans.
- Next layer is your uncooked rice as you see below.
- Then your jar of salsa gets poured on top, spread that out evenly so rice is underneath and wet.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to high pressure for 12 minutes, followed by a quick release.
- Take chicken out to shred (easier that way), then put back in and stir.
- Serve in bowls topped with ALL THE THINGS!!
It is totally up to you how you do your 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
- 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.
I just serve these pressure cooker chicken taco bowls right in the pot, with all the toppings on the side. Then everyone can make theirs just perfect for them!
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 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 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.
Other add in options for pressure cooker chicken taco bowls:
- Diced onion
- Bell pepper diced
- Can of chiles
Other chicken recipes you will love, and pressure cooker kids recipes to boot!
- Apricot chicken is sweet and simple.
- Instant Pot orange chicken
- Then you must make Instant Pot crack chicken casserole, total winner!
- We have other Ninja Foodi recipes including how to make a whole chicken here too.
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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Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Bowls
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!
John says
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?
John says
Forgot to add the rating, 5+ stars!
Lynda D says
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.
LC says
Great dish! Easy and delicious even substituting water for the broth! Yum, will make again!
The Typical Mom says
So glad it was a hit!!