This Instant Pot taco meat is so flavorful! I love cooking taco meat in my Instant Pot because I can make a big batch and feed my family throughout the week. I enjoy making and eating traditional tacos but when it comes to leftovers I try to be creative by using the meat in breakfast tacos with eggs or potatoes, on top of salads, or in a “burrito” bowl with rice and fun taco toppings.
This is the most flavorful taco meat that you’ll ever meet! It’s delicious served with tortillas (like my paleo naan), over salad or on top of nachos. I love this recipe so much that I’ve made it twice in the past couple weeks and have been happily enjoying leftovers.
Whenever I make taco meat, I like to freeze a portion of it for a lazy cooking day. It makes for awesome leftovers. This recipe is delicious as is – but if you want to stretch the meat out to serve more people or to last you a little longer, you can add some chopped potatoes to it. I’ve done this – and it’s fantastic.
I love making taco meat in my Instant Pot because it’s my favorite kitchen gadget ever. It cooks everything super fast and I really feel like it intensifies the flavors of the seasonings that I use.
One thing you have to keep in mind when making this recipe is that meat can sometimes release quite a bit of liquid. That’s why I don’t add any additional water to the Instant Pot before making this taco meat. Even without adding liquid, I have to boil off a good amount of water that the meat naturally releases. Once I remove the lid from the pot, I press the “saute” button and leave the pot alone until most the water boils off.
Then, I top the meat with lots of cilantro and use it in all different sorts of ways.
Instant Pot Taco Meat
- Yield: 2 pounds meat
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 4 tablespoons oil
- 2 red onions, diced
- 3 green bell peppers, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon cayenne
- ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
- Cilantro, garnish
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot except for the ground beef.
- Press the “sauté” button and stir-fry for 5-6 minutes.
- Then add the ground beef to the pot and cook until mostly brown.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
- Once the meat is done, allow the pressure to release naturally (or you can quick release).
- Open the lid, and if the meat released any liquid then press the sauté button to boil it off. This may take 10 minutes, depending on how much liquid the meat released.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve.
Notes
I do not add any additional water to the Instant Pot prior to cooking because meat naturally releases water. You can add water if you’d like, but you’ll need to boil it off at the end by pressing the saute button once it’s done cooking.
Looking for more Instant Pot Recipes? Try these:
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
Instant Pot Carne Guisada
Instant Pot Saag
Instant Pot Habanero Chili
Instant Pot Dal Makhani
Goat Curry in a Hurry
Instant Pot Texas Beef Chili
Instant Pot Ground Lamb Curry
Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Could you follow the same directions with ground chicken or turkey? Or would you adjust time?
Mina, you can use ground chicken/turkey instead of beef. I’d keep the same cooking time (to help the flavors come flavors together). The meat will likely cook in less time though so it’s up to you!
Trying this tonight!!!!! And saving some of you other instant pot recipes to try!
Awesome!! Let me know how it turns out for you! 🙂
Would this work with frozen ground beef?
Yes, it’ll just take a little longer for the meat to thaw/brown on saute mode.
How would I adjust the cooking time if halving the recipe?
I didn’t and it came out just fine. 🙂
★★★★★
Setting it for 30 minutes in the pressure cooker doesn’t make the meat turn into mush since it was already mostly cooked before that? I’m just wondering how the texture will be since ground meat cooks fast already.
Hi Liz, nope it doesn’t turn to mush (hopefully you can see the pictures on my blog post). You can cook it for less time since as you said, it is already cooked. I just say 30 minutes because I believe the time allows the flavors to really come together.
Would you put the potatoes uncooked in with the recipe, or cook them separately and add later?
Thank you!
If you add potatoes, I suggest cooking them separately then adding them in (otherwise they’ll get too soft)
Actually, you can also add them in step 6!
I’m following the Fast Metabolism Diet and can’t use oil during certain phases. Is there a way to do this recipe without the oil?
OMG this is wonderful!! My husband and I had it for Mexican xmas this year, in burritos & taquitos. And then … the leftovers spiced up our favourite Hamburger Soup. Wow! Keep up the good work.
Happy to hear that 🙂 And hamburger soup sounds amazing!
I’m using my instant pot for the first time with this recipe! When you say “make sure the steam valve is closed” do you mean “sealed” setting?
Awesome, I can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you! And yes, I mean the “sealed” setting 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! The meat has a complex flavor that reminds me of one of my favorite restaurants. I’ll crispy make a double batch next time to have extras for the freezer.
★★★★★
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked the recipe – thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I make my own taco meat all the time but never thought to use my Instant Pot…what a revelation! I used ground chicken and halved the recipe; I added about half a cup of tomato sauce, a teaspoon each of coconut sugar and apple cider vinegar before switching into bean/chili mode (the recipe I’ve used for a decade includes these ingredients and I find it makes a huge difference to add a splash of acid and and a dash of sweetener to taco meat). Loved the spice combination and the great flavor that developed by cooking this under pressure!
Awesome! I’ll have to try that some time 🙂
Just made this and it’s fantastic! My bf said it’s so good he could rub it all over his body! Ha ha! He’s hard to please! Can’t wait to try your other recipes. Delish!
Haha that’s awesome! I’m so glad you both liked it 🙂
If I wanted to double this recipe and make it in my 8 quart Instant Pot, how long do you think I should cook it for? This sounds really great! Thank you!
Hi Beth, you can keep the time the same – the Instant Pot will just take longer to reach pressure before it begins the countdown due to the extra meat inside. Hope that helps! Let me know what you think of it!
Is the manual setting meant to be on Low or High?
high 🙂
I’ve made this twice now, and it’s so incredible. I absolutely love the spice combo in the meat. My six year old and husband are also addicted. Very easy and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe, this will be in my rotation from here on out!
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks so much for letting me know how much you and your family like the recipe 🙂
I am confused. Your instructions say manual for 30 minutes but a comment in the comment thread states Bean/Chili mode?
Hi Lisa, you can use either button – as long as you cook at high pressure for 30 minutes 🙂 I’m in the process of changing my directions as some of the newer models have different time settings.
I just made this to use for meal prep bowls for the week, and it is fabulous! I kind of questioned cooking under pressure for 30 minutes, then having to simmer it to reduce the liquid when I read the recipe. Seemed like an awful lot of work/time for just some taco meat I could do faster on the stove. I decided to try it out anyways bc I love the recipes on this site, and I love tacos.
Wow! I’m so so glad I did. A lot of the cooking time doesn’t require being in the kitchen, so I didn’t feel like it took that long. The end results was totally worth it. This meat is flavorful, tender, and tastes like it’s restaurant quality. It’s not mushy as some commenters wondered, and the seasoning is great! The only comment I’d make – make sure to use leaner ground beef. The way the steps are written, if you had to drain it, you’d end up losing some of the seasoning. I used 90/10 and it was perfect 🙂
Thank you for providing such a delicious, clean recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Beth! That’s so great to hear! I’ve actually reduced the cook time to 10 minutes after hearing feedback from my readers and it’s just as good! Thank you for the helpful comment – it will definitely help other readers!
Thank you. My family’s favorite taco meat recipe so far. I’ve tried several!
★★★★★
Cynthia, that’s so great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how much you and your family like it!