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Instant Pot burrito bowls are one of my favorite meal prep recipes to make, and this recipe could not be any easier! Use frozen chicken breasts, dry black beans, and uncooked rice for a budget-friendly, pressure cooked meal the whole family will enjoy.
I love a good chicken burrito bowl. Burrito bowls combine all the deliciousness of a burrito but in a convenient, customizable bowl that’s perfect for busy weeknights.
This Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowl is excellent for the nights that I forgot to thaw my chicken or soak my black beans. It’s such an easy recipe and can be customized to the whole family’s taste preference.
Where’s the recipe?
I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I receive a lot of questions about recipes.
To better serve all of my readers here at My Crazy Good Life, I’ve made a commitment to put a ton of helpful information in all of my posts.
If you’d like to skip over meal prep tips and information about freezing, swapping ingredients, and diet information like 21 Day Fix container counts, please simply scroll to the bottom of the page, where you will find this delicious and easy to print Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowl Recipe.
Ingredients for these Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Frozen Chicken Breast: Chicken breast is a versatile source of protein that works great for this recipe. I use frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts for these burrito bowls.
- Brown Rice: This recipe won’t work with other kinds of rice – it specifically works with dry brown rice.
- Black Beans: Because of their fiber content, black beans help to keep a healthy digestive tract. This recipe uses dry black beans.
- Diced Tomatoes: Be sure and grab a can of low-sodium diced tomatoes.
- Garlic, Cumin, and Onion Powder
- Chili Powder: If you’re sensitive to spice, adjust the amount you add.
- Chicken Broth: I love using homemade chicken broth. If using store bought chicken broth, be sure and get the low sodium chicken broth kind. You can always add salt after cooking is complete, if needed.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
Step 1: Place frozen chicken breasts (not stacked), uncooked rice, dry black beans, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, onion powder, chili powder, and chicken broth into the Instant Pot.
Close and lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing. Select Pressure Cook and set the cooking time for 25 minutes.
Step 2: When the cooking time is complete, quick release the pressure and remove the lid. For softer beans, let the pressure release naturally.
Remove the chicken from the pot and shred. You can use two forks to shred it by hand, or you can shred using a hand mixer or stand mixer.
Step 3: Add the shredded chicken back to the Instant Pot and stir well to mix evenly.
Step 4: Serve your finished burrito bowls warm and top with your favorite burrito additions such as: lettuce, sharp cheddar cheese, avocado, sour cream, fresh cilantro, or salsa.
Recipe Tips
- This recipe uses frozen chicken, dry brown rice, and dry black beans since they all have similar cooking times. It just doesn’t cook the same in the Instant Pot when you change the ingredients.
- For softer beans, naturally release the pressure when the cooking time is done on the Instant Pot.
- A stand mixer works great for perfectly shredded chicken. Just move your chicken to the mixing bowl, and use your mixer on medium for about 30 seconds.
- If you see a burn notice on your Instant Pot, release the pressure, add more chicken broth, and make sure to separate your chicken breasts.
Alternate Flavor Profile:
- For a different taste to this recipe, use the seasonings from this Cilantro Lime Drumstick recipe:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tsp crushed red peppers
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- juice from one lime
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Healthy Eating Plans
- Weight Watchers: See this post.
- These burrito bowls fit perfectly within Portion Fix rules. Counts for the entire recipe, minus toppings: 6 Red Containers, 6 Yellow Containers, and 2 Green Containers. I give you these counts so you can easily recalculate the containers if you change anything.
- Per serving: 1 Red Container, 1 Yellow Container, and 1/3 Green Container. Make sure to count any additional toppings you add.
- 2B Mindset: This is a great lunch when you add 50% vegetables to your plate. This could be in the form of toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, or steamed vegetables.
Instant Pot Burrito Bowl
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6 qt
- Sealing Rings
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs chicken breast frozen
- ½ cups brown rice uncooked
- ½ cups black beans dry (not soaked)
- 15 oz diced tomatoes low sodium and no sugar added
- 2 tbsp garlic minced
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1½ cups chicken broth low sodium
Optional toppings for Burrito Bowls: Romaine lettuce, Cheddar cheese and Avocado, Salsa or pico de gallo.
Instructions
- Place frozen chicken, dry brown rice, dry black beans, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, onion powder, chili powder, and chicken stock into the Instant Pot. 1½ lbs chicken breast, ½ cups brown rice, ½ cups black beans, 15 oz diced tomatoes, 2 tbsp garlic, 2 tbsp ground cumin, 1 tbsp onion powder, 2 tbsp chili powder, 1½ cups chicken broth
- Close and lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing. Select Pressure Cook and set the cook time for 25 minutes.
- When the cook time is complete, quick release the pressure and remove the lid.
- Remove your chicken from the pot and shred. You can use two forks to shred it by hand, or use a hand or stand mixer.
- Add the shredded chicken back to the pot and stir well to evenly mix. Serve warm, with your favorite burrito toppings such as: lettuce, cheddar cheese, avocado, or salsa. For meal prep, place in individual serving containers and refrigerate or freeze until ready to eat.
Notes
- This recipe uses frozen chicken, dry brown rice, and dry black beans since they all have similar cooking times. It just doesn’t cook the same in the Instant Pot when you change the ingredients.
- For softer beans, naturally release the pressure when the cooking time is done on the Instant Pot.
- A stand mixer works great for perfectly shredded chicken. Just move your chicken to the mixing bowl, and use your mixer on medium for about 30 seconds.
- If you see a burn notice on your Instant Pot, release the pressure, add more chicken broth, and make sure to separate your chicken breasts.
- Weight Watchers Blue Plan Points: See this post for the Weight Watchers version.
- 21 Day Fix: (entire recipe) 6 Red Containers, 6 Yellow Containers, and 2 Green Containers. (per serving, which is about 2/3 cups): 1 Red Container, 1 Yellow Container, and 1/3 Green Container.
- 2B Mindset: This is a perfect lunch when you add 50% vegetables on your plate.
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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Could I maybe leave out the rice? I like quinoa better that’s all but I cook that separately that’s why I’d rather leave the rice out.
Leaving the rice out of this recipe doesn’t work well–I’ve tried. This recipe is spot on when you use the three main ingredients. Once you take one of them out, it doesn’t work well. The rice and beans soak up the liquid from the frozen chicken. I’ve tried to make it without the rice AND once without the beans and I don’t recommend it.
I know that you used 2 chicken breasts. What would that be equivalent in pounds?
I made this recipe, I think that I used too much chicken, but the recipe was delicious. I would like to make it again but with the right amount of chicken.
Thank you!
I used two pieces of chicken, maybe a pound? You can see it in the video if you’re more of a visual person :)
Hi, I’m new to the Instant Pot. Just ordered and waiting to receive it. Saw this recipe on QVC she didn’t give measurements but added a lot of stock. She also called it by several different names during the demos while selling the pot. I saw on your site the stock listed as 4 cups but when I I asked it to print the amount changed to 1.5 cups Please clarify. I don’t want to mess this up and it’s the first re pie I want to try. By the way, your photos are beautiful and the recipes I browsed sound great. Thanks
Hey Trish! Thanks for visiting–I’d assume she used a different recipe, unless she called out my site by name? I use 1.5C stock. The frozen chicken makes plenty of liquid as it thaws, so that is perfect for this recipe :)
Followed the directions to a T but after 25 minutes the chicken was still raw
Hey Casey, this has happened before when people have added the chicken stacked one on top of the other–any chance that happened?
Hi,
This looks so good! Would the cooking time change if I made it without the chicken?
Thanks!
Melanie
Yes, as would the liquid–I don’t know what the times would be though, as I haven’t made it this way yet. This recipe works perfectly as is, it seems that breaking it apart doesn’t work well.
Hi there! This might be a silly question but is it only 1/2 cup of rice? Or 1 to 2 cups? Just want to make sure I’m reading it corrects since cup is plural :) Thank you!!
Lauren
Hi there! Yes, one half cup of rice :)
Can I make this with unfrozen chicken? Do I adjust the cooking time? Thanks.
Hi Liz, The unfrozen chicken would change the recipe because of the dry rice and dry beans–they wouldn’t all cook at the same time.
Can you substitute quoina for the brown rice?
Hi there!
You can not, since the cook times are so different. I recommend leaving out the rice and allowing it all to naturally release and then adding in the quinoa after (already cooked).
Made this the other night – it was really good! I took a chance and used old beans (maybe 2-3 years old, so not super old) and everything came out perfectly. I let it naturally release about 15 minutes just to be sure everything was done and it was. Can’t believe it – dried beans and brown rice in such a short period of time! We put it in tortillas with cheese, avocado, sour cream, and salsa and it was great. I wasn’t sure whether or not to drain the diced tomatoes, so I didn’t and it was fine. Like another comment, I was concerned about all the liquid when it was done, but the chicken, once shredded (which I just did in the pot with two forks) soaked most of it up. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Are you supposed to drain the tomatoes?
Nope!
I can’t find my comment to reply to your reply : ) but no, I hadn’t tried this recipe before. My six year old said, “This is good!” which is always nice to hear!
I also didn’t bother rinsing the rice first (mainly because I forgot). The rice was cooked perfectly though.