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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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This looks great! I know you said to follow the directions to a T, but I’m wondering if adding some sliced bell peppers would mess the recipe up very much?
I don’t think it would mess anything up, but they’ll be soggy :)
My beans must be too old. Came out hard. Chicken thighs next time- Breast was dry. Added corn- I like it sweet. :)
I should’ve watched the video before making this. The chicken was so tender, it fell apart, so I mixed everything together. I thought I had done something wrong b/c it looked soupy (the rice wasn’t fluffy & dry as I had expected.). The beans came out pretty good, firm not mushy. It needed salt! I’m wondering if I can increase the rice to make it less soupy or decrease the liquid. The next time I make it, I might add a can of green chilies.
Definitely add salt if you’d like–I don’t salt my recipes often so that everyone who makes it can salt their own. Did you use white rice, by chance?
I figured out when went wrong! I did use brown rice, but I didn’t know I had to adjust the recipe for high altitude. I made it again and let it cook for 15% longer and it was perfect.
Yay! There is a section at the beginning of my meal prep book about high altitude cooking. It can impact all recipes in different ways–it’s a little crazy!
Hi Becca! This recipe looks great, I’m looking forward to making it! I’m assuming I set the pressure cook on “hi”?
Yes, hi!
Can I make this with pinto beans? My family is not crazy about black beans.
I haven’t made it with pinto beans but I’d definitely try it! Just know that if the beans aren’t cooked through, you can put the top on and add some more time :)
Can you do this without rice, I have done this recipe and it is great, but would like it without rice? Would I decrease broth and if so how much?
Thank you
Hi JoAnn!
I’ve tried this without the rice and the cook time isn’t the same. I can’t tell you what it is, except that it’ll be a little longer :) You’ll still need more liquid than the standard cup because of the beans. I’m sorry I’m not more help with this.
This sounds so good and easy! I have a Mini Instant Pot, do you know how I should adjust this recipe for it?
Hi there! This post might be helpful in determining your adjustments :)
https://mycrazygoodlife.com/instant-pot-cooking-differences/
I unfortunately don’t like beans! Would this recipe work if I left them out?
Hi Lauren, this recipe doesn’t cook quite as well without the beans–the water ratio will be a bit off :)
Tried making this tonight and kept getting the burn notifications … added more liquid each time but still a burn notice… don’t know what I did wrong . It smelled so good, I was sad! after the 4th burn notice we went out for dinner.
Hmmm, was the liquid super low when you opened the pot? I’ve never had the burn warning for this recipe before. Did you change the recipe at all?
No I didnt and ended up using the whole carton of chicken broth and just couldn’t get it to not stop giving me the notice. When I cleaned the pot the rice was stuck to the bottom even though I used olive oil to stop from sticking. Hmm
Hi Brianne, I’m so sorry this happened. I wonder if the seal wasn’t seated properly or depending on the age of it, if it went bad. This has happened to me before where the pot tries to come to pressure but steam leaks out and doesn’t allow that to happen, and the liquid ends up all evaporating? Sometimes I pull the lid off and wiggle the seal.
Help I planned on making this today but my chicken is already thawed? Any tips
Hey Kim! This recipe won’t work with thawed chicken because you need time for he dry rice and dry beans to cook. Thawed chicken won’t allow enough time for that :)