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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.
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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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I’m new to my IP, can I cut this recipe in half and if so does that change any cooking times?
I haven’t tested this recipe cut in half, but if you did I’d use the same cook time :)
My instant pot is out of order.. can we make it on stove top pressure cooker ??
Hi there, I have not tried this with a stove top pressure cooker, so I’m not sure if the cooking time/liquid ratio would be the same. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
I made this for the first time time tonight. I made a few minor changes:
– Substituted half the cumin with coriander (they complement each other so well)
– Substituted half the chile powder with a spicier chipotle chile powder
– Substituted the canned tomatoes with a can of tomatoes with green chile (Rotel)
– Added ½ tsp sea salt
The flavor and heat level was great, and the chicken and rice were well cooked, but the beans were very “al dente”. I live at 4,200 ft elevation, so I added 20% time to the recipe, for a total of 30 minutes. I allowed for a natural pressure release which added another 20 minutes to the cooking time. I can’t imagine the substitutions I made would have any ill effect on the recipe. Any ideas?
I’ve noticed that beans are a variable when they’re old (either in your pantry or when sitting on the shelf for too long). That could be the reason. I’d test the beans for your preferences, then close the lid and let them sit longer if you’d like :)
This is so delicious! My husband and I used it for our meal prep lunches and what a treat! I looked forward to lunch everyday. For some extra protein I mixed greek yogurt with salsa and used that as the dressing. Yum! Thanks for another great recipe Becca!!
I bought an instapot last week and this is the first recipe I’ve tried. My wife and I thought it was great. I used the natural venting and the beans turned out fine. It will probably replace the slow cooker method we have used in the past Thanks for the recipe and the clear directions! (I am reposting to rate it five stars)
Yay!! SO glad to hear that you love these, it’s one of our favorites (especially for meal prep!). And thanks a million for the 5 star rating–it means the world to bloggers when you rate our recipes :)
I just made this and my chicken turned purple on the outside! The rice is very dark as well. It looks a lot different than your photos. I’m wondering if it was the beans that caused that. Just want to make sure it’s okay to eat!
Yes, it’s the beans!!
I’ll tell you what, I was quite skeptical about tossing in frozen chicken for only 25 minutes. But I went for it, and the chicken turned out so tender I could barely get it out of the instantpot! What a delicious meal. I think next time I will skip the garlic and onion as it made it a little too salty. (I didn’t have garlic cloves so I used garlic powder, that’s probably why). But otherwise, it’s so tasty and filling, and it took such a short amount of time.
Whooo!! I’m so glad you liked it :)
Hello, I’ve made this twice now and both times it came out tasty but both times the beans are too hard. The 2nd time I even extended the cooking time to 35 mins and still hard. Not sure what I’m doing wrong.
Are you in a high elevation? And what kind of beans are you using? If they’re black beans, are they fresh? The frozen chicken, dry black beans and dry brown rice cook perfectly together–if one of those is not right the recipe won’t work as well. Happy to help you troubleshoot this!
i followed this recipe to the T in Dillon, Colorado (elev 9,000 ft.) and the beans were much too hard.
Did you change the cook time at all based on your elevation?
Regarding the minced garlic, do you use dried or fresh? Made this over the weekend using dried and it turned out great but am wondering if fresh would make it even better.
Always fresh! I’ll say garlic powder if I use dry. Man, I love garlic :)
I finally got around to making this. I LOVE that it was so easy, and that I didn’t have to think about thawing out the chicken first plus it used healthier brown rice & dried black beans. My son wasn’t crazy about the can of diced tomatoes…. so have anybody tried it without that, and maybe added more chicken stock inside. Also has anybody tried doubling the recipe as I was hoping for leftovers. Thanks. I’m curious to see what other great recipes you have that use frozen chicken.
Hi Sue! I’m so glad everyone liked this! You can definitely blend those tomatoes up or skip them–just replace with some extra liquid ;)