Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Filling
It’s great to have taco meat in the freezer waiting to be used for a quick lunch or easy dinner. Since I was making the filling for my Chicken Emapanadas, I decided to triple the recipe so I would have plenty to freeze.
I also wanted to use frozen chicken breasts, but I wanted to use them without having to defrost them first. I was inspired by Frieda’s From Frozen to Fabulous in 12 Minutes: BBQ Chicken. Cooking them in the pressure cooker allows you to avoid defrosting and results in moist, tender, flavorful chicken. Perfect for any recipe.
I froze the taco meat in 1/2 cup portions in quart size Freezer Ziplocs. The perfect amount for one individual serving.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you could cook the chicken in the crockpot for 8 hours, or check out my Shredded Pork Tacos post to get a method for cooking it in the oven.
Visit Pressure Cooking Today for all my pressure cooking recipes.
Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Filling
Ingredients:
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 large chicken breasts, frozen*
- 1 can (10 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel Original)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
Heat the oil in pressure cooker pot for 2 to 3 minutes. Sauté the onion until tender, approximately 10 minutes.
Add the chicken, tomatoes, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cover and lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and 12 – 15 minutes cook time (depending on how large your breasts are). When timer beeps, turn off and use a quick pressure release. *If using thawed chicken breasts reduce cook time.
Remove chicken from pressure cooker and shred. Return shredded chicken to pressure cooker pot and stir to combine with tomatoes and juice in pot.
Select Sauté and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until all liquid is absorbed/evaporated.
I have 10lbs of thawed chicken breast. How much liquid do I add and how long do I cook?
Hi Erika – I’m not sure 10 lbs of chicken will fit in a 6 quart pressure cooker. You shouldn’t fill your pressure cooker more than 2/3’s full. Thawed chicken breasts will cook in 6 minutes. The liquid in the tomatoes along with the liquid the chicken releases as it cooks should be enough liquid.
Hi Barbara,
Your carnitas recipe is the second one I tried, and the last. It’s just so good I’ve never been tempted to try another. It’s like a party on my tongue and the neighbors think I’m a goddess because of them. Although this recipe didn’t make me turn cartwheels (everyone else really liked it, making me think I’m maybe not a fan of chicken with tomatoes) I still wanted to give you a shout-out for mentioning that it is timed for large chicken breasts. I used 8-oz frozen breasts and they were perfectly cooked, neither too dry nor too wet. Just ideal, really.
These little details make all the difference in your recipes and have made me a loyal follower for over 2 years. Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for the feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to comment and for being a loyal follower 🙂
I substituted the chilli powder with JD’s Salsa in Seconds. What a great idea that was! Thank you for such an easy recipe.
Great recipe! I was mostly looking for the method for the pressure cooker, but I did everything almost as directed, I didn’t have the canned tomatoes, added bell peppers, and adjusted seasoning accordingly. It turned out great! And my wife could not believe it was done so quickly!
Thanks Abe – so glad I could help make you a hero with your wife.
Do you add water? What keeps it from burning on bottom
Hi Randall – the liquid in the tomatoes and the liquid released from the chicken is enough unless you have a stove top pressure cooker that you know requires extra liquid.
How many 1/2 c servings does the recipe make? I am trying to count calories and it helps to have number of servings.
Hi Julie – chicken breasts vary in size so much, but generally I would say you’ll get 12 1/2 cup servings from this recipe.