Instant Pot Ground Beef Tacos
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Using frozen ground beef – no need to thaw! Cooks in just 20 min. Serve with desired toppings. So fast, so easy, so so good.
Do you ever forget to thaw your frozen ground beef and realize that dinner will be an absolute disaster?
Because this probably happens to me at least once a week. I always have some frozen ground beef to use up except I never remember to thaw it in time!
But now you don’t have to worry about any thawing at all. Nope. No thawing, no worries. You can use your ground beef and go straight from freezer to your Instant Pot.
You just need TWO 1 pound frozen bricks of ground beef here (totaling 2 pounds). I DO NOT RECOMMEND THROWING IN A 2 POUND BRICK AS ONE PIECE – it will not cook in the allotted time here.
So two frozen bricks, some seasonings and boom, you’re done. The IP will cook it absolutely perfectly with your homemade taco seasoning. And when you open up your pressure cooker, make sure you let it simmer for 5-6 minutes until it gets real saucy, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
Serve in warmed tortillas or crispy taco shells because dinner is served just like that.
Instant Pot Ground Beef Tacos
Ingredients
- ¾ cup beef broth
- 1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ small onion, diced
- 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
- 2 (1-pound) packages frozen ground beef
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For Serving
- Tortillas (flour or corn) or crispy taco shells
- Shredded lettuce
- Diced tomato
- Diced red onion
- Shredded Mexican blend cheese
Instructions
- Add beef broth to a 6-qt Instant Pot®; whisk in cornstarch.
- Stir in garlic, onion and green chiles. Gently place frozen ground beef on top; slightly overlapping.
- In a small bowl, combine chili powder, paprika, oregano, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; sprinkle over frozen ground beef.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 20 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Select high sauté setting. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 5-6minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks.
- Serve immediately in tortillas or shells with desired toppings.
Did you make this recipe?
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This sounds amazing! Do you have a stovetop or crockpot adaption, as I don’t have an instant pot?
Can you make it in a crockpot. Sounds delicious but I don’t have a instantpot
I made this tonight with 2 frozen packs of the Costco organic beef. It’s about 2.5 lbs, so I added a little extra of everything and added 4 min to the cook time. After the quick release, the beef was still slightly pink. Using the sauté function allowed the meat to fully cook. I also used my little ground beef smash tool to get the pieces as small as I could.  I added the cornstarch toward the end as some other reviewers did. This was both delicious and easy! Best ground beef taco meat I’ve had! Thanks for the great recipe!Â
Great recipe! Â Question, does the finished taco meat freeze well?
This recipe was a hit! As our stove was out of commission today we were forced to use our instant pot or eat out, so we picked our instant pot! We have only cooked with our instapot twice in the past and didn’t have any recipes to go off of. We loved this one and the taco meat was even more softer than how we’ve made it in the past on the stove top. I added a bit more water than called for but that was the only change I made. We like our taco meat a little more soupy than crumbly. It was very delicious, thank you! =)Â
This was wonderful. The big question was should this tacos, enchiladas or burritos…what a dilemma.
I never liked these kinds of tacos growing up (using the El Paso seasoning blend), but these were really good! Accompanied with freshly chopped lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and sour cream and cheese, we most happily devoured these three nights in a row.Â
I was dubious, but this is brilliant!!! Â The whole family loved it! Definitely a keeper!
Very good!  This recipe was a hit with my family. The only issue was I got the burn message. But after cleaning up and starting the meat over (luckily it was just stuck on the bottom and not actually burned) it turned out great! I did add some red Bell  pepper To increase the veggies and I made it with 4 lbs of meat (fed a crowd)- doubles everything except the chilis and will do that next time! Definitely a keeper! Read reviews saying use the trivet will do that next time too! Â
So fast and easy – excellent flavor – versatile as a filling or topping. We enjoyed this on low sodium tortilla chips topped with finely shredded Fiesta blend cheese, medium salsa and light sour cream. I added a can of undrained seasoned blackbeans to the ground beef on top of the seasoning before cooking in the IP. Came out great. The meat finished cooking as a solid chunk so I used my shredded pork meat shredders to break it up in the pot. Worked out very well. This will be among my go-to recipes. Thank you for sharing!
Amazing! Best taco meat I have ever made! Will try using leaner meat in the future to make less greasy but I can’t complain. First recipe from this site, but will look for more soon!
Love a quick and easy dinner! Â And my kids LOVE Â tacos. Can ground turkey be substituted for ground beef? Â
So easy and so delicious!!! Thanks for this one.Â
This turned out delicious. I’ve tried other spice mixes for homemade taco seasoning and nothing turned out this good. Thanks for the recipe! It will definitely make for an awesome stay at home Friday night dinner 🙂 Also- are those home made tortillas or store bought? They look really tasty.
We made it with only 1 1/2 lbs. Of meat but kept the spices as read. And sadly didn’t have any green chiles. But it was delicious definitely a keeper!!
The paprika is a great seasoning choice. I prefer homemade tacos. It looks awesome!
My beef was fresh, so I did 6 minutes on high, quick release – easy and delicious! Maybe 15-20 start to finish.
Thanks for the cook time using fresh!Â
It was good but I got a burn error. I was reading other cooking blogs for the instant pot and they said you should use at least 1 cup of liquid and put the cornstarch in after the pressure cooking cycle. Not sure if you have come across this at all.
I got the same error by following the recipe. I also agree to add the thickeners at the end while it’s on the saute part of cooking.
Very tasty and easy. Thank you. What sides do you serve with this? Â I am trying to introduce veggies into every meal.Â
Avocado is great with anything mexican!
Is there any way to use less meat? Â There are only two of us so one pound is more ideal.Â
Instructions for 1-2 lbs ground meat.
Cover bottom of pot with 1 cup cold water for a 6 quart instant pot and 1.5 cups of cold water for an 8 quart instant pot. Add in trivet and place frozen or fresh ground meat directly on trivet.
Put the lid on the Pressure Cooker and turn valve to seal.
Set to High Pressure for 20 minutes if frozen, 6 minutes if fresh.
Once finished cooking, let pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick release of any remaining pressure. Check temperature with meat thermometer–it should be 160-165 degrees. If it is not, seal again and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
Carefully remove trivet from Instant Pot. Discard cooking liquid and grease and break up ground beef using a spatula into desired size. Use as desired. Source: https://amindfullmom.com/instant-pot-ground-beef/
Thank you Cheryl. I will be making this tonight! It’s Snowmageddon here in Ottawa, Canada, so Tacos are a great option.
How much would the cook time change for fresh (not frozen) ground beef?
Can the recipe be halved to use 1 pound of ground beef instead of 2?
I halved the recipe and used a 3 quart mini Lux.  It turned out great!  I did use a trivet to place the frozen meat on and also added the corn starch and 2 tbsp of tomato sauce at the end just before using the sauté setting. Â
Is there anything better than tacos? We were planning tacos tonight for dinner, so we’ll totally have to use your recipe!
Paige