These 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls are a quick dinner idea using mostly pantry staples – read on for a slow cooker option!
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Ingredients in Instant Pot Burrito Bowls
These burrito bowls couldn't be easier to make! Most ingredients are pantry staples with just a few extras – chicken and black beans makes these bowls full of protein, while the veggies add fibre. You can always stir in some cheese at the end if you desire! Here's what you need to make these bowls:
- 2 chicken breasts
- black beans
- taco seasoning
- onion
- garlic
- red, green and yellow pepper (or just one of the three)
- cilantro
- chicken broth
- crushed tomatoes
- salsa
- white rice
- plum tomatoes
- scallions
- sour cream
How to make Instant Pot Burrito Bowls
These burrito bowls are a one pot wonder! You basically just dump everything into your Instant Pot then push the pressure cook button – easy right?! Here's how you make these burrito bowls:
- Dump all ingredients in the order in which they are listed (except for toppings) in the Instant Pot.
- Set to manual and pressure cook on high for 4 minutes.
- When complete, press cancel and do a quick release of the steam.
- Remove lid, stir contents well and divide among 6 bowls.
- Top with any toppings you desire (optional), then serve and enjoy!
Ingredient substitutions and notes
There are a number of modifications that can be made to this recipe – and these burrito bowls can even be made vegetarian if you leave out the chicken and use vegetable broth! Take a look at the substitutions you can make below.
Chicken – Leave the chicken out altogether and double up on the black beans if you want to make these burrito bowls vegetarian. This way you save some prep time too!
Beans – If you don't want to use black beans, you can use 1 cup of brown or green lentils, or a can of chickpeas or kidney beans. You can also leave the legumes out altogether, but make sure to add 1 more chicken breast.
Veggies – I include green, red and yellow bell peppers in the burrito bowls – they end up cooking on high pressure with the rest of the ingredients which softens them quite a bit. If you like your peppers more tender-crisp, stir them in at the end after cooking on high pressure. You can also just leave the peppers out altogether, or stir some spinach in at the end for extra veggies.
Rice – I use white rice in this recipe – a previous version as you'll see in the video used jasmine rice. If using jasmine rice, cut the broth down to 1/2 cup. Unfortunately I'm not able to advise on any other type of rice, and you can't sub in cauliflower rice for the white rice as that will result in a soupy mess.
Salsa – I like to use a fresh salsa (find it in the produce section with the other fresh dips and hummus). If you don't want to use salsa, you can double up on the crushed tomatoes. You can also use plain jarred salsa.
Making slow cooker Burrito Bowls
You can easily make these burrito bowls in your slow cooker! Here are the instructions:
- Spray crockpot with cooking spray, then add all ingredients except for toppings in the order in which they are listed. Make sure to push rice down underneath liquid as much as possible.
- Cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 8 hours, stirring 1-2 times midway through cooking time
Burrito Bowl toppings
There are SO many toppings you can include on these burrito bowls! A good rule of thumb is to use your fave nacho toppings. Here are some ideas:
- Tomatoes
- Pico de gallo
- Cilantro
- Avocado
- Cheese
- Sour cream
- Scallions
- Red onion
- Black olives
- Jalapenos
- Corn
Storing and reheating
You can store the leftover burrito bowls in the fridge up to 5 days – make sure to store the toppings separately! To reheat, sprinkle some water overtop and microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring halfway through. This should revive your rice bowl completely so it doesn't taste leftover, then you can add fresh toppings so they're good as new!
Freezing Instant Pot Burrito Bowls
You can also freeze these burrito bowls after they have been cooked. Simply freeze in individual portions in glass bowls, then defrost in the fridge overnight before reheating or reheat from frozen by sprinkling water overtop and microwaving for 6-7 minutes, stirring halfway through.
More Instant Pot recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- The Instant Pot DUO Plus 60
is the version I use in this recipe. - Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on packing this dish up for leftovers
- This is my fave taco seasoning if you don’t feel like making your own!
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
- Or these aluminum foil containers are perfect for re-heating straight from the freezer to oven
- And of course I get all my free range chicken breasts from Butcher Box!
is the version I use in this recipe.
20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 chicken breasts diced into 1-inch cubes
- 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 each red, green and yellow pepper diced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup 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 white rice
- 1/2 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 in the order in which they are listed (except for toppings) in Instant Pot. Ensure you add rice on top of everything else and push it down so it's slightly under the liquid 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!
Video
Nutrition
Tanya says
I am making this right now and used Unico Long Grain White Rice. It was still crunch after 4 minutes (I did push it all under the liquid). I have just put it back on for another 2 mins and now I got a burn notice. I ended up dumping it all in a pot and added some water. It is currently simmering on the stovetop to soften the rice.
Taylor Stinson says
I’m sorry you had trouble Tanya. I’m wondering if the oil wasn’t covering the bottom entirely or if there was some stirring going on or a mixup in the layering process? It could be the type of rice used too as different brands vary. I’m sorry you had trouble.
Adorisa says
My family enjoyed this meal. I loved how easy it was to make, one-pot meals are my favorite!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed 🙂
Kristal Lawrence says
Help!!! I made this recipe tonight exactly as written in my rice was not cooked at all and my peppers are mush. What happened? If this happens to me in the future how can I fix it?
Taylor Stinson says
I’m sorry you had trouble Kristal – thinking maybe you didn’t push the rice down under the liquid far enough or used a different type of rice?
Erin Thomson says
I made this last week, it was really good. I have never enjoyed anything I have made in my crockpot before this. We doubled it cause I didn’t think it would he enough to feed my family. Boy was I wrong! It’s even delicious if you eat it for 3 days straight.
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed Erin! 🙂
Christy says
I made this today, after reading all of the comments about getting the burn message as I was putting everything in the pot I got nervous and decided to cook the rice separately. I didn’t account for the fact that the rice is supposed to soak up the liquid. So when I opened the pot after cooking I got a lovely soup. LOL! It’s still really good as a soup the flavors are spot on! I did switch to chicken thighs vs. breast, but other then that I used all of the ingredients listed. I will add this to my recipe rotation and I think I will just keep it as a soup for the lower carb count. Thank you!
Brittany says
Was the chicken precooked before putting it in the instant pot? I want to make this recipe tonight!
Taylor Stinson says
It’s raw chicken, not precooked 🙂
Emily Nascone says
If I want to double the recipe, how long should I cook for? New to instant pot as well!
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Emily – I wouldn’t recommend doubling this recipe as it already makes a lot and my concern is that it would go past the fill line were you to double it. It does make 6-8 servings so there will be lots of leftovers!
Alysha says
This looks great! Going to try it this week. Wondering if I need to increase the cook time if I use brown rice, and if so how much longer would you suggest? I’m new to the IP. Thank you!
Taylor Stinson says
I wish I could advise on this Alysha but I haven’t tried it myself! I do know brown rice takes a bit longer to cook but couldn’t tell you in terms of this recipe. So sorry about this 🙁
Mimi says
I used brown rice and followed directions and pressure cooked for 6 min instead of 4 came out perfect
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you enjoyed! 🙂