Here is the recipe for my Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls. I hope you enjoy them as much as me and my family do!
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowl Recipe
- 4-5 uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1-2 packets taco seasoning (1 for mild flavor, 2 for more flavor)
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (12 oz) bag frozen corn
- 1 (15.5 oz) jar salsa
- 3 cups uncooked jasmine rice, rinsed
- 3 cups water or chicken broth
- cheddar cheese
- cilantro (optional)
- sour cream (optional)
- Place chicken breasts in bottom of pressure cooker. Sprinkle with taco seasoning. Top with beans and corn. Then, pour salsa over everything.
- Add rice, then liquid (water or broth).
- Cook on manual high pressure for 12 minutes, then use quick release to release the pressure.
- Once the pressure has been fully released, remove lid carefully.
- Shred chicken. Serve immediately. Top with cheddar cheese, cilantro, and sour cream as desired
NOTE: Readers who have used other types of rice have reported undercooked rice. If possible, stick with jasmine rice
.Also, the original recipe called for one packet of seasoning but many people indicated that they prefer it with more seasoning. I’ve added a note to the recipe to reflect that.
Also, my family is full of rice fanatics. Others have told me this makes way too much rice for their taste. If you’re looking at the recipe thinking “Really? 3 cups of rice?!” you probably fall in the too much rice camp so reduce the rice AND the liquid by one cup.
Looking for photos for each of the steps? Click here to go to the photo version of the recipe.
Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Bowl Recipe
If you don’t have an Instant Pot
- Add corn, black beans, and salsa first
- Then top with chicken and taco seasoning
- Cook the rice separately
- Cook on high 3-4 hours
More Instant Pot Recipes
If you liked this recipe, you might like my Asian version. These Thai Chicken Rice Bowls are amazing!
And my friend Ashley over at I Don’t Have Time for That! recently recreated one of her most popular recipes for the Instant Pot and it’s delicious! You have to try her Instant Pot Chicken Broccoli and Rice.
To see my other Instant Pot recipes, click on any of the images below:
Looking for more Instant Pot recipes? Check out some of these Instant Pot cookbooks.
Corinne Schmitt
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I’m new to the Instant Pot and haven’t tried your recipe. However, I prefer to use brown rice. Do you think I could cook the rice separately? And what adjustment would I have to make in the time for the chicken, etc. Thanks for any help you could give me.
Hi Rose, this is terrific with brown rice! Yes, you’ll have to cook the rice separately otherwise the chicken will be super tough or the rice underdone. Since you’ll be cooking the rice separately, you won’t need all that liquid. You will still need to include 1/2 cup water or chicken stock though in order for the Instant Pot to build pressure. Reduce the cooking time by 2 minutes.
Hi, thanks his recipe looks yummy! Can I use frozen chicken breast? If so, do I cook longer or will it just take longer to come to pressure and I keep the cooking time the same? Haven’t had my instant pot hat long so I’m still learning.
Thanks!
Hi Donna, you can make this with frozen breasts and add 2-3 minutes but your rice might come out overcooked. When I use frozen breasts, I cook the rice separately, reduce the water/broth in the recipe to 1/2 cup and leave the cook time the same.
This looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it but I do want to double check something first. Is the rice measurement in actual measuring cups or in the rice cup that came with the instant pot?
Actual measuring cup. Good idea to check first!
Okay, so this is a really great recipe. The only thing is, there is just a lot of rice. And by a lot I mean my entire family of six ate until full and I still had a huge casserole dish sized Pyrex of leftovers. I think all the rice might have diluted the seasoning and salsa as well. Next time I make this, I will use the recipe as written but only put in half the rice and broth. I think it will be perfect then! Thank you!
Hi Kyle, thanks for sharing your adaptation. Others have told me it’s a lot of rice for their taste too. I have 2 teenage boys and grew up on rice, so it’s very possible my family’s ideal rice portion isn’t right for everyone!
Same here! Did this work?
Hi, I made this yesterday and my family loved it, however…the rice came out “gummy.” I used Thai Jasmine Rice from Safeway and followed everything noted above, but the rice had all become “sticky rice.” Is that how it’s supposed to come out?
Thanks!
Hi Rick, I’m so sorry to hear this. Actually, more people have trouble with the rice sometimes coming out undercooked. If you did the quick release it should have come out okay. Because not everyone gets the same results I do with this recipe, I’ve been playing with it and having friends experiment to come up with a fool-proof method. I’m still working on it but will update the recipe as soon as I’ve figured it out!
Try washing your rice BEFORE you put it in the IP.
I used one large chicken breast, skipped the salsa, and used a can (instead of frozen) corn and a can of petite tomatoes, 3 cups of white rice and 3 1/2 cups chicken broth. 12 minutes high pressure, quick release. I topped it with salsa, cheese, sour cream, and cilantro. Fresh lime and avocado would have been nice too. It made a TON of food! It could have had more beans/corn/tomatoes to the rice ratio. My picky eater had multiple helpings (also why I kept the salsa out for topping).
I’m definitely going to try it with some fresh lime next time! We have a crazy love affair with avocados too so we usually add them to ours (I didn’t realize until your comment I didn’t mention it in the post). Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the recipe plus the helpful tips and feedback.
I would recommend adding the broth/water first. My pot got scorched because there was nothing separating the chicken from the pot.
Can I halve the amounts of everything as cooking for 2 people?
Would the cooling time be the same?
Thanks
Yes, just reduce all of the ingredients by half to make half a batch. You’ll still cook for the same amount of time, but your overall cooking time will be shorter since the pot will come to pressure faster.
Great recipe! Easy, not expensive, great results! We put a little liquid in before the chicken to try to eliminate scorching and also reduced rice/liquid by a cup. Kept cooking time the same and it all turned out great.
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback.
Wanted to let you know this worked fine for me with long grain brown rice.
I used 4 chicken breasts, 1.5 cups long grain brown rice and 3 cups of chicken stock. (I did not include the salsa, opting to add that to the bowls after cooking.) Cooked at high pressure for 13 mins, natural pressure release for 10 mins, then quick release from there. The rice was done and the chicken was not over cooked.
Good easy recipe I suspect I will use frequently. Thanks!
I served my bowls up with shredded cabbage in the bottom (the added crunch here was great!) along with avocado, olives, cheese and fresh tomatoes.
For folks using different rice and having the rice not cooked – I wonder if the problem is not the cooking time, but instead not enough liquid. I generally use a 1:2 ratio of rice to liquid when cooking and have found that seems to work well in the instant pot as well.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for sharing your tips and variation! Good note on the liquids.
My family loved this! I will definitely be making this again 💕
I’m so glad! Thanks for letting me know!
I’ve been trying to do this for 2 hours and it’s not cooking. What am I doing wrong????
Is your valve set to “sealing”? If it’s not cooking, it’s probably because it’s not coming to pressure. Make sure it’s sealed. The little silver metal tab on the top will raise as pressure builds. Has yours come up at all?
Hi can I use already cooked rotisserie chicken? If so what would the time be?
The pictures look yummy can’t wait to eat it for dinner tonight 😄
Hi Cari, if you’re going to use precooked chicken, don’t add it to the pot with the other ingredients. It will dry out and be yucky. Instead, follow the directions in the recipe minus chicken. Add the chicken after the rest is cooked. The heat from the rice and other ingredients should warm the chicken enough if it isn’t warm when you add it. I hope you like it!
This looks great! If I want to leave out the beans and salsa, do I need to change the liquid quantity or cook time? Thanks!
Leaving out the beans shouldn’t change anything, but since the salsa has some liquid in it, you might want to add an extra 1-2 Tbs of water to get the right consistency for the rice. The cook time will remain the same but total cooking time won’t take as long since the pot will be less full and thus, take less time to come to pressure.
Place chicken breasts in bottom of pressure cooker I just read a post about the top 10 mistakes new people making using the instant pot. One of them was forgetting to put the liner in before adding ingredients. Should this sentence be place chicken in the pot liner or something??
Hi Diana, it’s true that many people do forget to put their liner back in after they wash it and inadvertently add ingredients to the Instant Pot before realizing their mistake. Unfortunately, people also leave it on the stove and accidentally turn the stove on, melting the bottom of the Instant Pot. There are many ways people are “forgetful” when it comes to cooking, whether it be with an Instant Pot or not. I wish I could address each of the possible mistakes one might make, but then each of my recipe directions would be quite long!
About how many pounds of chicken did you use for this? The chicken breasts in our store seem huge so don’t want to put in way more than I need!
Hi Nichole, I usually buy a pack that weighs just under 2 pounds. It makes a ton!
Could you add peppers and onions to this or should I cook separately? Thx
Hi Julie, that sounds like a delicious variation! Yes, you should be able to add them without any trouble. I’ve used them in other IP dishes and they cook up nicely in the same time so they should come out fajita-style if you add them here. I’m definitely trying ours this way next time I make it!
Can something be substituted for the rice? I told my mom how good this was and she wanted to try it until I told her it had rice, my dad won’t eat rice.
Make it without the rice. You won’t need all the liquid. The salsa should have enough, but add 1/4 cup if you are worried about the pressure. You can serve in tortillas.
Hi! I made half of the recipe but the chicken came out over cooked and rubbery. What did I do wrong ?
My guess is the breasts were a little smaller than the ones I use, which means they would have cooked faster. You didn’t do something wrong, the recipe is probably not specific enough. Given your results, the cooking time should probably be reduced to 10 minutes to prevent overcooking (for future reference and future readers who want to adapt the recipe). Not helpful for your overcooked batch, but hoping it helps with future batches.
Hello! Looks delicious! I am going to try this soon! Would you please tell me how many servings this makes? Thank you!
HI Beth, it makes 6-8 servings depending on who you’re feeding. In my family that includes 2 teen boys, I usually have to add more to get a full 6 servings because they are bottomless pits!