20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
These 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls are a delicious, healthy quick dinner or meal prep idea using mostly pantry staples – read on for a slow cooker option!
Continuing on with my Instant Pot obsession, I'm presenting you with possibly the easiest full on dinner idea: 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls!!!
If you're not necessarily looking for a quick dinner idea, these bowls are absolutely PERFECT for your weekly meal prep! They couldn't be easier: dump all the ingredients in, let it cook for 4 minutes on high pressure, and you've got lunch for the entire work week!
I know, it really sounds too good to be true. I don't know why I didn't get an Instant Pot earlier…
The bonus with these 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls is that you can literally use whatever veggies you have on hand and other than that, all you need is some pantry staples like taco seasoning (homemade or storebought), salsa (jarred or fresh), crushed tomatoes and broth.
Add in some rice, black beans and chopped up chicken from the freezer and you've got yourself a meal! Pretty much like a Mexican rice “dump and push start” meal like this Homemade Hamburger Helper!
I added in mixed coloured bell peppers because I almost always have some on hand in the fridge (I think they're the number one veggie I buy every week!) but you can also use up other veggies like spinach, sweet potato, corn, red cabbage or kale – just make sure to stir in greens and cabbage in at the end instead of cooking them along with the other ingredients so they don't get overcooked.
That really is the thing with the Instant Pot, or the slow cooker for that matter. Everything gets cooked all at the same time so while your chicken and rice will be cooked through, the veggies can get overcooked. I put the bell peppers in along with everything else all at once but if I were to do it again, I might stir in the peppers last just so they remain somewhat crisp.
But, there is something to be said for more well-cooked bell peppers – they really bring out a sweeter flavour and blend in well with the rice so it's up to you and how you like your veggies cooked. I always make sure to top these 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls with some fresh ingredients like scallions, tomatoes and cilantro to have a mixture of textures so it's up to you how you wanna do it!
These 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls really remind of the most popular recipe on my site, these Fiesta Chicken Rice Bowls, mainly because of how simple they are. You really can't go wrong with anything Mexican-inspired. You just can't.
And if you cook the rice separately, you can also make this recipe in the slow cooker! That's the great thing about most Instant Pot recipes – they can be pressure cooked but also modified to include a slow cooker option.
If you're gonna make these burrito bowls in your slow cooker, make sure you cook the rice separately as I mentioned and then dump everything else in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours and add in the rice at the end. The chicken will definitely be softer and more tender and have a bit of a pulled apart texture but it's a good option if you don't have an Instant Pot or would prefer to come home to dinner already made after work.
My roommate has an amazing way of meal prepping for the week and I have to say I'm so inspired by her way of cooking, and think more single people living on their own and cooking for themselves should probably cook this way. At the beginning of the week, she often makes a giant skillet or slow cooker recipe that feeds 4-6 people and eats it all during the work week either for lunch or dinner.
I can see this also translating to the Instant Pot. I know I could definitely eat these Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls or even this Instant Pot Zucchini Noodle Pho all through the work week, especially if that means minimal clean up and staying out of the kitchen the whole week long while still having wholesome, home cooked food.
Will you be making these 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls?
I am OBSESSED with the Instant Pot, honestly! If you're sick of waiting a million years for dinner to be ready and just wanna get your Netflix and chill on, these are the bowls to make! Meal prep/weeknight dinners made easy!
If you try any of my recipes be sure to let me know on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or in the comments – I’d love to see what you come up with!
I feel like I need to make more dump meals in the Instant Pot from here on out. It just makes cooking so easy. Would you like to see more Instant Pot recipes?!
The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60
is the version I use in this recipe.
And this is my fave taco seasoning if you don’t feel like making your own!
Stock up on jasmine rice while you’re at it.
Grab some Glass meal prep bowls for your leftovers.
And of course I get all my free-range chicken breasts from Butcher Box!
20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, diced into 1-inch cubes
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 each red, green and yellow pepper, diced
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup strained/crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup salsa (I used the fresh kind found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store as I prefer it)
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 1/4 tsp salt (optional - you can add in after if it needs it)
- Diced plum tomatoes for topping
- Chopped scallions for topping
- Sour cream for topping
Instructions
- Dump all ingredients except for plum tomatoes, scallions and sour cream in Instant Pot, making sure to add the rice last. Ensure you add rice on top of everything else or rice will burn the bottom of the pot. Set to manual and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to pre-heat and then the 4 minutes to cook. When complete, press cancel and do a quick release of the steam, waiting until the pressure gauge drops back down and the lid is safe to open.
- Remove lid, stir contents well and divide among 6 bowls. Top with plum tomatoes, scallions and sour cream (I also sometimes add cheese, lettuce, more cilantro, avocado and whatever other veggies I have on hand). Serve and enjoy!
- Update: upon further testing, the bell peppers turn out much fresher if you cook everything on high pressure, then stir the peppers in after. It depends on the texture you want!
Nutrition
This looks great! If I didn’t add the rice and beans, how long would I cook it? 10-15 minutes? Thank you 🙂
Hey Janine – unfortunately I don’t know exactly because I only tested the recipe with rice and beans, but if I had to guesstimate I would pressure cook on high for 3 minutes, leaving out the bell peppers and stirring them in after with the chicken. That should be enough to cook the chicken through 🙂
This feels like a stupid question, but I’m new to the Instant Pot (and not much of a cook overall) – is the chicken cooked before you add it? I’m excited to try this and don’t want to ruin it from the get go! Thank you!
Hey Deanna! Not silly at all 🙂 I actually forgot to upload the video for this post so you can see for yourself how to make it! You do put the chicken in raw because it gets pressure cooked, it cooks super fast especially when it is cut up into chunks. You also put the rice in uncooked. With all the liquids it gets cooked all together. Hope that helps!
What if I want to reduce the rice to half a cup?…would I also reduce the chicken broth to 1/2 vup?…how does it change the cook time or quantity of the liquidy salsa and beans?
Hey Sukaneya! I can’t recommend reducing the rice because I haven’t tested this myself – I can only vouch for the ratio of ingredients as listed. Sorry about that!
Ok…I’m just trying to reduce the carbs…thanks for the quick reply!
Ok…I’m just trying to reduce the carbs…do you think cous cous might work instead if rice?. Thanks for the quick reply!
Hey again! 🙂 I’m really sorry but I just can’t guarantee it if I haven’t tested it! I can only really tell you how this recipe will turn out if you follow it exactly as listed. I can’t properly predict how any substitution/modification will turn out. If you would like to limit the carbs, you could try leaving the rice out altogether and cutting all the liquids in half (salsa, tomato sauce, broth, etc). I would leave the peppers out and stir them in towards the end and leave them sit for 5 minutes in with the sauce and chicken though. And again, because I haven’t tested this myself I can’t guarantee how it will turn out, but based on my knowledge of cooking and how the Instant Pot works this would probably be the best bet for a lower carb dish. From there, you could prepare the couscous or rice separately and just add in as much as you would like, whether you portion it out separately or stir it in. Let me know how it turns out if you try it that way!
Thank you for asking this question because I was wondering the same as reading through the comments. I also want lower carbs
Sorry for the almost duplicate post ..i added a Q about cous cous
Made this a couple nights ago and it was so yummy! It stuck a bit to the bottom of the pot but otherwise perfect. Next time though I’m going to swap out the cup of tomatoes for two cups mild salsa instead! We garnished it wish some avocado too.
Hello … very tasty recipe and so easy! One lesson I learned (and if I reviewed your video again before making this, I would have done things differently) …. I added the uncooked rice in first then the rest of the ingredients after … I did give it a stir then popped the lid on and went! ERROR … the rice that was still on the bottom burned and the pot wouldn’t proceed. Ended up moving it to a pot on the stove with a lid and finished it off. Always the uncooked rice on the top!!! LESSON LEARNED and will make it again
Hey Tony! SO sorry for the delay, I don’t know how I missed this comment! I’m very sorry your rice burned on the bottom, thanks so much for your feedback! I’m a bit new to posting recipes with the Instant Pot – I know instinctively based on some recipe testing not to put grains like quinoa or rice on the bottom, but have clearly forgotten to articulate this to others. You’ve really taught me a lesson in terms of more clearly listing instructions step by step so that others don’t have this issue. I know everyone is still getting used to the Instant Pot and we definitely want to prevent as many errors as possible, and that’s on me to more properly communicate. I appreciate your patience and willingness to share this with me! I have modified the recipe instructions, and I’m so glad that despite the burned rice the first time, you ended up loving the recipe in the end! 🙂 Thank you again for sharing this with me and again I’m sorry for the trouble!!!
i stirred it all up, and the rice did not cook. Had to cook it again. Otherwise really tasty. would likely skip the rice all together next time. thanks for the recipe!
I have a 6 qt instant pot. Would there be enough room for me to double this recipe? (I’d like to have leftovers, and I also don’t have 1 cup cans of crushed tomatoes or chicken broth, so doubling it would mean no waste of the remaining portions of the cans.)
Hey Rebecca… I haven’t tested it and honestly I would not advise for you to double it. I have the six quart as well and it’s pretty full already. Sorry about that!
Would you change anything if you were not going to add any chicken
Looking for a vegetarian option to substitute the meat
Hi Sharn! I’m honestly not sure of the liquid to rice ratios if you were to leave the chicken out since I haven’t tested it this way myself. You could try it and see what happens – I think it would be fine to leave out the chicken!
Doesn’t rice need to be immersed in liquid in order to cook? If I add the rice at the end on top of the veggies, salsa and tomatoes, how would it cook? When I use the Instant pot as a rice cooker I always put the rice immersed in the water and it cooks perfectly. I haven’t had issues of the rice burning or sticking to the bottom.
So I tried this recipe once several weeks ago. I dumped all the ingredients in the pot as instructed, but also stirred it before sealing it and it burned. The rice didn’t cook and I had to finish it on the stove top. I talked to a few people and I was told it’s probably a result of adding the liquid at the end. Pressure cookers need a base of liquid at the bottom of the pot to cook the food properly. So today, I made it again (I admit, I didn’t read the comments before doing so). This time, I made sure to add the liquid at the bottom, followed by the rice (as I would normally do when making plain rice) and then topped it with the veggies, seasoning, salsa and crushed tomatoes. And again it got burned and I had to finish on the stove top. I just read the previous comments and notice that the burn is a result of putting the rice at the bottom. I don’t know how the rice would cook if it’s not immersed in the liquid at the bottom? Can you please tell me what I could be doing wrong?
Hi Sukaneya! I updated this recipe based on one of the comments a couple of weeks ago to more specifically instruct people to add the rice in last after all the other ingredients – I also show myself putting the rice in last in the video. The Instant Pot is not like a rice cooker – everything gets pressure cooked together so while I can’t exactly explain the science behind it, the rice does get cooked by being on top of everything else, and then you can avoid it getting burned. If you’re unsure of exactly what to do, it’s helpful to follow the recipe exactly as listed the first couple of times or so until you can get a feel for it. I do say to add the rice last in the instructions of this recipe and I’ve tried it a few times this way and it always turns out perfectly for me – sorry to hear you’ve had such trouble with this, I know the Instant Pot takes a bit of getting used to!
What adjustments would I need to make if I used brown rice?
Hi Lynn! Unfortunately I haven’t tried brown rice so I really couldn’t tell you. You could always try it yourself (I don’t envision you would need to change the liquid ratios) and see how it goes if you don’t have jasmine rice on hand!
I didn’t have all the ingredients, but I used rice, chicken, black beans, chicken stock, corn, salsa (didn’t have a full cup left), and only had half an onion left. I added corn to. It turned out great and everything cooked well at 4 min high pressure! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m SO happy to hear that Caty!!! This is definitely one of those recipes where you can make a few tweaks, as long as you have most of the ingredients! Thank you so much for sharing with me 🙂
This is a complete no from me. Followed the recipe to the letter, I ended up with uncooked rice on top of everything else , tried to make it again, ended up with burnt rice. Ended up wasting a lot of food and will not make this again
I’m sorry this didn’t turn out for you Jackie! I’m not exactly sure what could have went wrong – maybe if you used a different type of salsa that was less liquidy, or if the rice was sitting too far above the wet ingredients this could have caused it to be crispy the first time around. Even using brown or white rice instead of jasmine can affect it. Or if you are using a different-sized Instant Pot. There are definitely a lot of variables, especially with the Instant Pot.
I do not have an instapot 😭 so how would I convert this to crockpot? It looks amazing!!!
Hey Maggie! I wish I could help but honestly I’m not sure how to convert this. I’ve never cooked rice in the crockpot before. Sorry about this!
I love the sounds of this recipe and also LOVE my instant pot but is that enough time for the chicken to cook? I’m always paranoid about undercooked chicken 😬
Hey Dana! It’s definitely enough time to cook – the chicken is cut up super small and the pot takes about 10-15 minutes to preheat so the chicken gets fully cooked in that time. Hope that helps 🙂
I have a brand new 8 quart Instant Pot. Has anyone tried this with an 8 quart? I am unclear whether all 6 quart recipes work as written in an 8 quart.
It should work Katie! Just make sure you layer everything in the order it should go in as stated in the recipe – if you stir anything or spread things out instead of just layering them in you may have issues but I don’t anticipate there being an issue with the 8 quart!
Can i use the same amounts in a Duo Mini? Thanks!
I would not recommend it unfortunately! I think that there would be too much food for the mini duo 🙁
this looks awesome! I plan on meal prepping and I want to try this but instead the chicken on the side, would I still use the same measurements for the other ingredients or would you recommend that I omit some? thanks in advance
I would still use the same measurements and time for the rest of the ingredients yes! 🙂
Followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of leaving out the cilantro, and made sure to put the rice on top. I kept getting the burn message. I tried to scrape the bottom of the pot without disturbing the rice on top and added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more broth. I got the burn message again, so I scraped the bottom of the pot and put it back in for one more try. It never did come to pressure, but it had been in the pod about 50 minutes at this point, and it was hot and bubbly, so I checked if the chicken was done inside and tasted the rice, and they both seemed done. So we just ate it.
Reminds me a lot of Spanish rice with chicken and veggies in it.
I’m wondering if you were using the 8-quart Instant Pot as opposed to the 6-quart. There seems to be an issue with the newer models of Instant Pot getting the burn message. I’m sorry you had trouble!
I just made this and love the flavour! It’s going to be a new staple for take-to-work lunches. I did have one issue though — the rice was still really crunchy after the cook time. Any suggestions?
Hey Jessica – so glad you liked it! Sometimes the rice can be a bit crunchy depending on the make and model of your Instant Pot and how submerged the rice was. Sometimes you can pat down on the rice a bit without mixing it all around – you mainly want to avoid the burn message so you have to put the rice on top. Hope that helps!
So I just made this…it turned out more like a stew than anything. I used the 6 quart instapot, but I did go a little overboard on chopping up my onion and bell peppers. Wondering if it’s more the fact that my chicken breasts were pretty much double your size? I tried to reduce the liquid via saute mode, but it’s just too much.
Hey Cody – chicken actually releases a lot of water during the cooking process so I’m wondering if the larger breasts were to blame here. I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with extra liquid 🙁