In less than an hour you can make these Instant Pot Chicken Tacos served with your favourite toppings and warm tortillas.
Growing up my mom had a pressure cooker. She was no Julia Child and she could not cook a roast if her life depended on it. When she pressure cooked a roast it tasted like leather. It was a turn off and most likely the reason I do not love roasts and have always shied away from pressure cookers.
Since we received an Instant Pot at Christmas I have been playing with it a lot. I have no fear of pressure cookers and recall my mom making leather often. It was a bright orange/yellow pressure cooker which would now be considered vintage or a relic, even a blast from the past if it surfaced somewhere! Always amazes me how technology advances into something like the Instant Pot.
My initial plan in making chicken tacos was to use salsa. However when I pulled the salsa out of the refrigerator it had grown legs. Big white moldy ones on the surface. Gross right. I knew I wanted diced tomatoes of some sort in this dish and just so happened to have some frozen diced tomatoes available. A quick defrost and into the tacos they went. Either or will work in this dish, even canned tomatoes with green chiles.
Taco toppings are endless. For these tacos we stayed simple and used diced white onion, shredded iceberg lettuce, cilantro, jalapenos and shredded cheddar cheese. There is so much flavour in this chicken it really didn’t need any kind of salsa on top however being a salsa lover I would never judge if you added some to yours!
Four chicken breasts fed 5 people with enough for leftovers. If you like spicy use spicy salsa. Lots of options with this dish.
Pro Tips:
- Get a good sear on the chicken – it adds flavour
- Having liquid is key as you want to nestle the shredded chicken back in to it so it can soak up all those juices
- Prepare your toppings in advance to save time
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp + 1 tsp taco seasoning
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 4 chicken breasts
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ½ cup taco sauce
- ½ cup canned diced tomatoes
- Combine the taco seasoning and cumin and rub the mixture into both sides of the chicken breasts,.
- Preheat the Instant Pot by selecting saute and adjust to high heat. Add oil.
- Once the oil is ready add your chicken breasts. In our 6 Quart Instant Pot we cook two breasts at a time so two batches.
- Let cook 4-5 minutes per side or until nicely browned. Remove from pot and place on plate.
- Add 1 tsp taco seasoning to leftover oil and stir in.
- Pour in chicken stock, taco sauce and canned diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
- Add rack to Instant Pot and place chicken breasts on top of rack. Pour in any chicken juices that have accumulated on the plate.
- Lock the lid in place.
- Select Manual or Pressure Cook. Adjust the pressure to low. Set timer for 8 minutes.
- When done naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes and then quick release any remaining pressure.
- Unlock and remove lid.
- Remove chicken breasts to a clean plate. Cover with foil and give them a minute or two to cool down.
- Using to forks shred the chicken. Return to Instant Pot and mix into remaining juices.
- Keep warm while you prepare your toppings and tortillas.
- Remove from pot when ready to serve and spoon into a bowl or on a platter.
- Serve with warm tortillas and your favourite toppings.
