Instant Pot Chicken Tacos

Instant Pot chicken taco meat is the most versatile thing you will make this week. Using a whole bone-in chicken, thawed chicken breasts, or even frozen chicken breasts right out of the freezer. For this recipe, I used a pre-cooked 5lb. whole chicken. Check out my blog post on how to cook a whole chicken in the instant pot here.

Once the chicken is fully cooked and the Instant pot has naturally released all of the pressure, remove the chicken to cool on a cutting board. When the chicken has cooled you can remove it from the bone and shred it easily with two forks. When the inner pot of the Instant Pot is cool enough to handle strain the chicken stock that is left in the pot by pouring over a metal strainer in a bowl. Be careful the chicken stock will still be very HOT at this point. Set the chicken stock aside and discard any of the bone and tidbits you strained out.

Place the shredded chicken back into the Instant Pot along with 1 ½ cups of the chicken stock. Add the minced garlic and spices and stir to combine. Lock the lid in place and using the pressure cook/manual setting set to 10 minutes and NPR for 10 minutes minimum to keep the chicken moist.

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Other cooking methods:

Thawed or frozen chicken breasts: 

Place all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot

1.5-2 lbs chicken breasts

1-15.5 oz can chicken broth

1-Tbs. minced garlic

½ cup of water

taco spices

• Thawed chicken breast pressure cook/manual high pressure. If you’re using thin chicken breasts set for 6-8 minutes and for thick breast 10-12 minutes with NPR.
• Frozen chicken breast pressure cook/manual high pressure for thin breasts (be sure to separate them)  8-10 minutes and for thick 12-15 minutes with NPR.

If you are unsure about how long to cook chicken for please refer to the Instant Pot Cooking Time Chart

Confused about how to use your Instant Pot? I want to help you.

To make your own taco seasoning combine:

1. 1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
2. 1 Tbs. Onion Powder
3. 1 Tbs. Ground Cumin
4. 1 Tbs. Chili Powder
5. 1 tsp. Sea Salt
6. 1 tsp. Black Pepper

Pre-cooking the whole chicken and shredding can be done a day or two in advance making for a quick versatile weeknight dinner. Instant Pot Chicken Taco Meat can be served on corn or flour tortillas, on top of a taco salad, served in a wrap, or even on a bed of tortilla chips for tasty chicken nachos. The possibilities are endless with Instant Pot Chicken Taco Meat.

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Yield: 6 cups

Instant Pot Chicken Taco Meat

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Additional Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Cooking chicken ahead of time makes for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Using a whole bone-in chicken, thawed chicken breasts, or even frozen chicken breasts right out of the freezer. For this recipe, I used a precooked 4lb whole chicken but chicken breast thawed or frozen can be used as well.

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Ingredients

• 4 lb whole bone-in chicken, pre-cooked and shredded. Or 3-4 chicken breast.
• 1 ½ Cups chicken stock
• 1 Tbs. Minced garlic
• 1 tsp. Sea salt
• 1 tsp. Black pepper
• 1 Tbs. Garlic powder
• 1 Tbs. Onion powder
• 1 Tbs. Cumin
• 1 Tbs. Chili powder

Instructions

1. Add cooked shredded chicken to the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Combine with chicken stock and spices and gently mix together.
2. Lock the lid in place and pressure cook for 5 minutes with a minimum of 10 minutes NPR.
3. Serve on a hard or soft taco shell, serve with rice and beans wrapped in a large tortilla for a burrito, or over fresh romaine lettuce with, tortilla strips, avocado, and tomato for taco salad.
4. If using thawed chicken breast pressure cook on high for 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken breast.
5. If using frozen chicken breast pressure cook on high for 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the chicken breast.

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• 
  Instant Pot Max Pressure Cooker 9 in 1, Best for Canning with 15PSI and Sterilizer, 6 Qt

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

4oz
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 629Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 266mgSodium: 592mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 75g

Nutrition information is an estimate.

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