Everybody needs easy recipes for busy nights! This instant pot recipe for taco chicken meat is just that! You don't even need to thaw the chicken first. Just dump everything in the instant pot, cook, shed, and serve on warm tortillas with your favorite toppings! Whether you call it Taco Tuesday or just taco night, this one is perfect for the whole family!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Perfect filling for burritos, chimichangas, tacos, or even a taco salad with all your favorite toppings!
- Leftover chicken taco meat can be frozen in a freezer bag or airtight container!
- If you're a freeze-drying fanatic like me, this simple recipe also freeze-dries well!
Ingredient Notes
- Italian Dressing - My go-to is the olive garden Italian dressing; however, you can use whatever brand you prefer.
- Smoked Paprika - Do not substitute regular paprika. You will not get the same flavor results.
- Chicken - I use either boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenderloin pieces. Whether you use fresh chicken or frozen chicken is up to you!
- Lime Juice - Use either fresh lime juice or reconstituted crystallized lime.
How to make
- Place the frozen chicken breasts in the instant pot.
- Combine and sprinkle the garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, and white pepper over the top of the chicken.
- Pour the chicken broth, Italian dressing, and lime juice over the chicken.
- Close and seal the instant pot lid.
- Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes and allow the steam to release for 15 to 20 minutes naturally.
- Carefully open the instant pot and shred the chicken with two forks OR, my favorite way...with hand beaters.
- Yup, hand beaters. If you've never shredded chicken with beaters, trust me, you will never do it any other way.
- Just attach two regular beaters to your hand mixer and "beat" the chicken right in the instant pot. The chicken will be shredded in seconds!
- Stir the shredded chicken up in the liquid in the instant pot and serve on flour tortillas, corn tortillas, hard taco shells, or just with tortilla chips!
- Store leftover chicken in an airtight container in the fridge.
FAQs and Tips
Just attach two regular beaters to your hand mixer and "beat" the chicken right in the instant pot. The chicken will be shredded in seconds!
We like sour cream, shredded cheese, tomatoes, chopped red onion, refried beans, black beans, salsa, shredded lettuce, and pico de gallo...the sky is the limit here.
You can use this meat for chimichangas, burrito bowls, chicken taco bowls, burritos, taquitos...
More Instant Pot Recipes
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Instant Pot Taco Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5-2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts This is 6-8 chicken breasts
- ¾ Cup Chicken Broth
- ½ Cup Italian Dressing I ALWAYS use the Olive Garden Brand
- 1 Tbs. Lime Juice
- 1 Tbs. Chili Powder
- 2 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon White Pepper
Instructions
- Place the chicken breasts in the instant pot.
- Combine and sprinkle the seasonings over the chicken.
- Pour the broth, Italian dressing, and lime juice in and stir everything around once or twice.
- Close and seal the instant pot lid.
- Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes and allow the steam to release for 15 to 20 minutes naturally.
- Carefully open the instant pot and shred the chicken.
- Stir the shredded chicken up in the liquid in the instant pot and serve!
- You can use this taco chicken for tacos, burritos, quesadillas, chimichangas....pretty much whatever you can think of!
KiMee Nicole Price
This was one of the best dinners!