Make your Taco Tuesdays even more easy and delicious with this Instant Pot Taco Meat. Ground beef, onions and zesty spices combine perfectly in your pressure cooker to create this family favorite! And, the best part is that you can even use frozen ground beef!
Why You Will Love Instant Pot Taco Meat
- EASY –
Need a quick and easy Taco Tuesday this week? We’ve all been there when you need to just have a “dump and go” dinner that will basically cook itself! Or, maybe you forgot to thaw out your frozen ground beef? What now? This Instant Pot Taco Meat Recipe will be your new best friend!
What Is an Instant Pot?
An Instant Pot is a small electrical appliance that uses super-heated, high pressure air to cook your food. They are portable, easy to store, easy to set up and easy to use. You can make anything in them from Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake and Fried Rice to Pulled Pork and even Yogurt!
Instant Pot Taco Meat
For step-by-step instructions, check out the printable recipe card below. But here is what you’ll need to get started.
- WATER – Water is a very important ingredient when using a pressure cooker.
- GROUND BEEF – Lighten up the dish by using ground turkey or ground chicken.
- YELLOW ONION – We like using yellow onion for it’s sweeter, milder flavor. But you can use red onion if you’d like.
- SEASONINGS – Garlic, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, cumin powder, salt and pepper, cornstarch.
Why Use A Pressure Cooker?
So, why do we make Instant Pot Taco Meat instead of just using a regular skillet. Yes, using a pressure cooker does make your food taste better. It traps all of the high pressure air inside during the cooking process. Very little moisture or flavor escapes, resulting in a richer, more flavorful taste. Also, you can get the same results (or even better!) that you would get in a slow cooker but in much less time! So, no need to thinks hours or days ahead to get that super moist, tender meat you crave from your crock pot.
Additionally, you can cook frozen meat in an Instant Pot without the need to thaw. This is the ULTIMATE shortcut!
This recipe also calls for sauteing your meat in the Instant Pot. This is something we do often with a lot of our recipes that enables to make all sorts of different types of meat in different ways. So, yep, if a recipe calls for you to brown your meat at some point, you can still make it in an Instant Pot.
Instant Pot Taco Meat Recipe Ideas
We usually use our meat for tacos. But there are so many other uses! Some ideas would be:
- WRAP THEM IN TORTILLAS FOR BURRITOS
- PUT IT OVER LETTUCE, ADD SOME VEGETABLES AND CHEESE FOR A TACO SALAD!
- PUT THEM OVER EGGS FOR A TEX-MEX BREAKFAST
- NACHOS
- PUT THEM OVER POTATOES
- SERVE THEM WITH RICE
Notes, Tips and FAQs
- HOW TO COOK FROZEN MEAT IN INSTANT POT – If cooking frozen meat, you’ll want it to at least be as flat as possible so that it cooks evenly.
- MY MEAT IS UNDERCOOKED! WHAT NOW – Once the pressure cooking is complete, the meat still be a bit uncooked. That is TOTALLY fine, you’ll cook it the rest of the way when you saute it.
- ADD TOMATOES – Add diced tomatoes at the end of the saute process for some extra flavor and color. We love to use ROTEL tomatoes with green chilies in them!
- DO YOU HAVE TO USE GROUND BEEF FOR TACOS? – No! Lighten up this dish by substituting the ground beef for ground turkey or ground chicken.
- CAN YOU USE STORE BOUGHT TACO SEASONING? – Yep. Make this recipe even easier by using a store bought taco seasonings instead of our homemade taco seasoning.
- NATURAL RELEASE – Make sure you are doing a quick release of the pressure and not natural release.
- TACO TOPPING IDEAS – Top with sour cream, salsa, chilis, jalapenos, green onions, black beans, scallions, fresh lime, bell peppers, fresh cilantro or any other toppings that sound good!
I hope this Instant Pot Taco Meat Recipe makes your Taco Tuesdays (or Wednesdays!) even easier and tasty. Let me know what you think in the comments!
LOOKING FOR MORE MEXICAN INSPIRED RECIPES? CHECK OUT:
Instant Pot Taco Meat
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 small yellow onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Add water into inner pot of the Instant Pot, followed by the ground beef.
- Set Instant Pot to manual high pressure, for 10 minutes.
- Once the time is up, do a quick pressure release.
- Remove the lid and set Instant Pot to its saute function.
- Add onion, garlic, garlic powder, cayenne and cumin. Stir all ingredients together.
- Add cornstarch and incorporate into meat mixture. Allow to simmer for 5-6 minutes.
- Serve in taco shells with your favorite taco toppings. Enjoy!
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
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