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This delicious shredded chicken is done in under 20 minutes. Use an Instant Pot to make incredibly tender and flavourful shredded chicken as the perfect tasty filling for your tacos. How are you feeling about taco night?
Serve with our 5 Minute Blender Salsa Fresca for a speedy midweek dinner!
My kids can never get enough of tacos. My son’s favourite meal is slow cooked pulled pork tacos. He asks for them often. So I decided to come up with a recipe, that has a similar taste but is quicker, simpler and uses leaner chicken breasts.
Just think of tender and saucy shredded chicken inside a crispy hard shell taco. Don’t forget to add some zippy tomato salsa or black bean and corn salsa and you’ve got yourself a delicious weeknight dinner. A meal that is cooked in less than 20 minutes and requires only 5 minutes of hands on time.
That’s a real winner! Don’t you think? It’s no wonder I make these Instant Pot chicken tacos once a week with no complaints from my crew.
Instant Pot Chicken
As much as I love my recipe for a whole chicken in Instant Pot, cooking skinless boneless chicken breasts is much easier and faster. It is also incredibly versatile.
Apart from boneless and skinless chicken breasts, all you need for this recipe is a seasoning mix and crushed tomatoes. Since an Instant Pot is not able to come to pressure without at least 125ml / 1/2 cup of liquid I am using tomato This is an affiliate link.passata or This is an affiliate link.crushed tomatoes to both infuse the chicken with flavour and add liquid to the pot.
The most amazing thing is this recipe only takes 8 minutes in the This is an affiliate link.Instant Pot at high pressure! What a quick meal idea! Fast enough that it’ll work as a last minute dinner option.
If you want your Instant Pot to make your whole Tex-Mex meal, try my Chicken Tortilla Soup!
How to Make It
The seasoning mix is pretty simple. I like making my own as I tend to have all spices needed for Tex Mex flavours. If you don’t have them, feel free to use your favourite taco seasoning or fajita spice mix from a supermarket.
My ingredient list is short. Cumin, oregano, chilli powder, salt and garlic are the basic ones. I also like to add a little bit of This is an affiliate link.chipotle paste to add a touch of smokiness. You can also use This is an affiliate link.smoky paprika if you don’t have chipotle paste.
The rest is simple. Just mix the spices with canned crushed tomatoes and pressure cook for 8 minutes. Then shred the chicken with two forks and mix with the sauce. Job done!
Serving suggestions
Wondering how to serve your wonderful chicken? Here are my suggestions for turning it into a Tex-Mex feast:
- Salsa. Use your favourite store bought salsa or make my 5 minute blender salsa or pico de gallo.
- Guacamole or avocados
- Grated cheese
- Sour cream or greek yogurt
- Cilantro Lime Slaw
- Soft or hard tacos or corn tortillas
- A range of vegetables like lettuce, onions, radishes or peppers
- Black beans
- A squeeze of lime juice for a citrus hit!
Storage and leftovers
Leftovers can get better with time as the flavours have more time to meld, so this is a great one to save for another day. It’ll keep in a refrigerator for 4-5 days or freezer for up to 3 months. Keep it in an This is an affiliate link.airtight container.
Although leftover chicken can be used for even more tacos, there are far more options than that. Burrito bowls, enchiladas, quesadillas or as a protein on top of salads are perfect for leftover chicken taco meat!
Another great way to eat this chicken is in a bun with some slaw as a sandwich. You can also roll it in a soft tortilla with some rice for a hearty burrito or top your nachos with it! The variations are endless!
More Favourite Tex-Mex Recipes
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Tacos
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Instant Pot
- This is an affiliate link.Garlic press
Ingredients
- 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts, large
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp This is an affiliate link.chipotle paste, or smoked paprika
- 3-4 cloves garlic, pressed
- 225ml / 1 cup This is an affiliate link.tomato passata/crushed tomatoes
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients except for the chicken breasts. Arrange the chicken breasts at the bottom of the Instant Pot, pour the sauce over and mix to coat the chicken.
- Pressure cook on Manual at high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow for natural pressure release. Take the chicken out of the pot and shred with two forks, bring back to the liquid. Initially it will look like the chicken is swimming in the sauce but give it 10-15 minutes and most of the sauce will get absorbed up by the chicken.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
