Instant Pot 20 Minute Chicken Burrito Bowls
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Comes together in less than 10 min prep! The chicken is so tender and the flavors are so good.
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This is a burrito bowl recipe I keep coming back to again and again. And this was the first Instant Pot (IP) recipe I have ever tested that converted me to the pressure cooker fan club. With one pot, tender, juicy chicken and perfectly cooked rice with the easiest clean up in the history of the world, I was completely hooked with the IP magic.
reasons to make instant pot 20 minute chicken burrito bowls
- All-in-one Instant Pot dinner. With the help of the Instant Pot, this is the best kind of dump-and-go dinner recipe. There’s minimal prep time here – no sautéing, no nothing. Throw everything right into the pressure cooker, set your time, and walk away. Dinner will be on the table in lightning fast speed, 20 minutes to be exact.
- Family-friendly. Burrito bowls are a guaranteed hit with the entire family, adding in as little or as many toppings as desired, a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy.
- Great for meal prep. This keeps for 2-3 days, ideal for making these ahead of time for meal prep and reheating as needed.
- Flexible, forgiving recipe. Most of the ingredients can easily be swapped out or omitted as needed. Don’t have black beans? Use pinto or kidney beans. Don’t have canned corn? Skip it or use frozen corn kernels. Want to use thighs over breasts? Give it a quick swap.
tips and tricks for success
- Use chicken breast or thighs. Both will work beautifully here – breast will be leaner whereas thighs will have more fat, yielding more tender chicken than the former. Not a fan of chicken? Ground beef is also a great swap!
- White rice is ideal. Long-grain white rice such as jasmine or basmati rice is best. Brown rice will take too long to cook here.
- Make it spicy. Add in 1 diced jalapeno for a kick of heat!
- Add your favorite toppings. Diced avocado, shredded Mexican blend cheese, cilantro, a squeeze of fresh lime juice, crispy tortilla strips or crushed tortilla chips when you’re in a pinch are all great options.
- Reheat with a splash of chicken stock. When reheating, add a splash of chicken broth or water.
pro tip
Do not stir in the rice.
Adding in the rice at the very end without stirring will prevent the rice to sink to the bottom of the Instant Pot (this is what signals the dreaded burn notice). Layer and sprinkle the rice on top, patting down slightly to submerge. Do not stir. This will lead to burrito-goodness-flavored tender, fluffy rice.
what to serve with chicken burrito bowls
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt Instant Pot®
Instant Pot 20 Minute Chicken Burrito Bowls: Frequently Asked Questions
Black beans, pinto beans or kidney beans are all great here.
Absolutely! To make this a dairy-free chicken burrito bowl, skip the cheese.
Yes! Skip the chicken, add an additional can of beans and use vegetable broth instead.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Instant Pot 20 Minute Chicken Burrito Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning
- 1 (15-ounce) can corn kernels, drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup salsa, homemade or store-bought
- 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- Add chicken, chicken broth and taco seasoning to a 6-qt Instant Pot® and gently toss to combine.
- Stir in corn, black beans, salsa and green chiles. Without stirring, add rice.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 10 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions. Stir in cheese until melted, about 1 minute.
- Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro, if desired.
Video
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I got the burn notice with this recipe too. So I stirred everything, including the rice, up and tried again. Still burn. I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I put it in the oven for 20 minutes (it was already quite warm from being in the instant pot) and it was sooo delicious. When I was pouring the meal into the baking dish, I saw there was burning, and it appeared to be the taco seasoning, which I had only haphazardly mixed in with the chicken broth. Next time, I’m going to try to whisk half of the seasoning mix in with the broth, and stir the rest of the seasoning throughout the entire pot (pre-rice) rather than letting it rest on the bottom and see if that helps.
My husband, who claims to not like rice, LOVED this. It was so yummy. Since we didn’t have the shredded chicken option after baking, we chopped the breasts into smaller pieces and they were super flavorful and moist.
Made this last night for myself and a friend. I was wary about the reviews showing some troubles with rice or a burn notice but I had zero issues. I made it exactly as shown and it was delicious! I plan to make again next week. Loving these recipes!
This was great! I used 1.5 cups of chicken broth based on other reviews. I also didn’t stir the rice but pushed it down into the liquid…no burn notice over here. I served mine with lime juice, additional shredded cheese, green onion, cilantro and Valentina black label hot sauce. My husband absolutely loved it and ate a ton.
As a side note, I’ve been living in our mother-in-law suite above our garage for almost 6 months because we are doing a full house remodel. There’s not real kitchen up there, so I have been cooking only with the Instant Pot and I would absolutely DIE without your excellent recipes! Once I have my stove back I’ll probably throw the Instant Pot out (I am so sick of it) but I am so grateful to your site for at least giving me some good recipes to work with so I can continue to cook for myself and my husband.
This recipe is good as a burrito but I don’t see it as an instapot recipe. It wouldn’t cook but 2 mins in the instapot without the burn notice. I tried twice and both times at the start of cooking it said but, and that was adding 1 3/4 cups of broth. I had to put it in a pot on the stove to cook.
My husband and I loved it! I mixed in the rice, out of habit, but turned out wonderful anyway!!
I made this with the insta pot 8qt duo
I used 1 and 3/4 cups chicken broth instead of 1 cup because I saw other mention a burn warning.
It is perfect. So delicious. So easy. So fast!!!
I’m obsessed.
Definitely making again
Husband and I loved this recipe. We have a 3qt Instant Pot and just divided the recipe in half. I added another 1/4 of broth and a little water. Swapped out rice for quinoa instead. Made sure to gently push the quinoa down without stirring – cooked perfect. Since we halved the recipe, but the chicken breast I had was .75 lbs (instead of .5lbs) I used all .75lbs. The chicken may have been a smidge dry but overall delicious and NO BURN NOTICE as others stated they were having problems with. I also added a few basil leaves. We definitely will be making this again!
I admit, I saw this recipe as an experiment and wasn’t really expecting it to come out. I mean how could it be *that* delicious and easy? But I stand corrected. It was delicious and easy! I like my food a bit more spicy so I added some cayenne and red chilli flakes. The only thing that didn’t turn quite right was some of the rice- I followed the direction to not stir the rice but whatever wasn’t submerged ended up a bit crunchy. I was able to mix it in and now I just get a few crunches in my bite but nothing too alarming. I wonder if It was stirred it would be more evenly cooked? Thanks for sharing! I love your posts 🙂
Made this tonight since I happened to have most of the ingredients on hand. Followed the recipe as written, only changes were taco seasoning (didn’t have any so made my own) and type of cheese. Came out perfect, so yummy! It was pretty spicy from the seasoning mix so added a dollop of sour cream along with the tortilla chips. Thanks for another great recipe.
We’ve been cooking every night in our Instant Pot for about three weeks. This is one of the best things we’ve made, and they’ve all been good. Kudos and thanks!
I made this but kept getting the burn notice. I finally had to finish it on the stove. It was really good though. I do have an 8qt insta pot so not sure if that was the problem. I didn’t stir the rice just gently push the rice down a bit into the mixture. Please let me know what I did wrong.
Made this last night, as written, and it turned out perfect. The chicken was tender and easy to cut with a fork for smaller pieces so there would be some left for all the bites in the meal. My husband asked if I could cut the chicken into smaller pieces before it cooked. I’m guessing that smaller chicken pieces would mean faster cooking and the possibility of over-cooking? I’ll be making this again, for sure. We really liked how the rice cooked with all the flavors in this meal.
Made this tonight for the first time! My family loved it! I made it exactly per the instructions except I did add 1/2 cup more broth per the other reviews. The rice was perfect!!
New staple at the household, my daughter and husband absolutely love this and it’s SO easy to make. I add half a chopped up onion, jalapeno and one bell pepper in as well + topped with avocado and some shredded cheese after (my daughter likes tomatoes and sour cream). I usually do 1.5 cups of broth only because I put a bit over the recommended amount of chicken and I use regular long-grain white rice, haven’t needed to press it down or had any moisture issues – I have left it to warm/release pressure on it’s own though so that may be why.
I have NEVER gotten a burn notice with this recipe and we’ve made it at least 5 times in the last couple months.
How long do you let it NPR? Planning on making this soon. Thanks in advance.
Made this tonight and enjoyed it a lot! Used 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, also added a dash of coriander and a squeeze of lime. As other suggested, I lightly pressed the rice down so it have a bit of moisture in it. Used Basmati rice. Sprinkled cheese on top rather than stirring in. Also sprinkled lettuce and avocado on top. Will make again!
Amazing! Loved the flavours. Like previous comments below I also used Long grain brown rice and it was just slightly underdone – I agree with pushing the rice down to absorb some of the liquid for next time.
Flavours are spot on! I added hot sauce and it was incredible 🙂
Had to adjust the cooking method as the fist two attempts to make this in my Duo Nova resulted in “Burn” messages. On the third attempt I did not add the corn/beans/chiles to the IP before cooking and everything worked out much better. As the corn/beans/chiles are edible right out of the can I simply added them immediately post pressure release with the cheese. This added a good bit of additional texture to the bowls. Hope that this helps those with the “Burn” message challenge.
This is the second time I have tried to cook this recipe, not remembering the burn issues I got the first time. Before anyone tries to tell me it’s from not washing my IP correctly, I remove the seal and wash it every single time. I have no issues with any recipes aside from this one. I got the burn notice twice, despite using close to a half cup more chicken broth. The second time, emptied the pot, washed it out completely, scrubbed all the charred rice off the bottom, that I had previously let rest on top of the mix, and returned it to try to finish the recipe. I also added an additional 1/2 cup of water. Lo and behold, burn notice 3. At this point I’ve thoroughly given up and I have just stirred it and pushed the button again. The rice is almost tender now that I’ve gone through all of these burn notices.
Had the same issues on my first two attempts. I just posted the following as my third attempt, which was a success.
Had to adjust the cooking method as the fist two attempts to make this in my Duo Nova resulted in “Burn” messages. On the third attempt I did not add the corn/beans/chiles to the IP before cooking and everything worked out much better. As the corn/beans/chiles are edible right out of the can I simply added them immediately post pressure release with the cheese. This added a good bit of additional texture to the bowls. Hope that this helps those with the “Burn” message challenge.
Are you using this recipe in a 8qt insta pot? I had the same issue as you did. Took everything out washed the pot and put everything back in and hot burn notice again. I have heard that not using the correct size pot could be the problem. Can anyone comment on this?
This was my third meal I’ve made in my instant pot, I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out just like the video.
There was just enough liquid at the bottom and when everything was stirred it was all absorbed. Was like by all who ate tonight. Thank you for this site
Few changes:
1. I used onion, not pepper
2. Used wildrice
3. Used hot sauce
Soooo tasty and easy. Used for a super fast dinner. Yum!
Outstanding! Add a little sour cream and hot sauce in the and this is as good a burrito bowl as I’ve ever had. Delicious!