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It’s great to have taco meat in the freezer waiting to be used for a quick lunch or easy dinner. Since I was making the filling for my Chicken Emapanadas, I decided to triple the recipe so I would have plenty to freeze.
I also wanted to use frozen chicken breasts, but I wanted to use them without having to defrost them first. I was inspired by Frieda’s From Frozen to Fabulous in 12 Minutes: BBQ Chicken. Cooking them in the pressure cooker allows you to avoid defrosting and results in moist, tender, flavorful chicken. Perfect for any recipe.
I froze the taco meat in ½ cup portions in quart size Freezer Ziplocs. The perfect amount for one individual serving.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you could cook the chicken in the crockpot for 8 hours, or check out my Shredded Pork Tacos post to get a method for cooking it in the oven.
Visit Pressure Cooking Today for all my pressure cooking recipes.
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Pressure Cooker Chicken Taco Filling
Ingredients
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 large chicken breasts frozen*
- 1 can 10 oz. diced tomatoes with green chilies (Rotel Original)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oil in pressure cooker pot for 2 to 3 minutes. Sauté the onion until tender, approximately 10 minutes.
- Add the chicken, tomatoes, chili powder, salt and pepper.
- Cover and lock lid in place. Select High Pressure and 12 - 15 minutes cook time (depending on how large your breasts are). When timer beeps, turn off and use a quick pressure release. *If using thawed chicken breasts reduce cook time.
- Remove chicken from pressure cooker and shred. Return shredded chicken to pressure cooker pot and stir to combine with tomatoes and juice in pot.
- Select Sauté and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until all liquid is absorbed/evaporated.
Erika
I have 10lbs of thawed chicken breast. How much liquid do I add and how long do I cook?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Erika – I’m not sure 10 lbs of chicken will fit in a 6 quart pressure cooker. You shouldn’t fill your pressure cooker more than 2/3’s full. Thawed chicken breasts will cook in 6 minutes. The liquid in the tomatoes along with the liquid the chicken releases as it cooks should be enough liquid.
SandyToes
Hi Barbara,
Your carnitas recipe is the second one I tried, and the last. It’s just so good I’ve never been tempted to try another. It’s like a party on my tongue and the neighbors think I’m a goddess because of them. Although this recipe didn’t make me turn cartwheels (everyone else really liked it, making me think I’m maybe not a fan of chicken with tomatoes) I still wanted to give you a shout-out for mentioning that it is timed for large chicken breasts. I used 8-oz frozen breasts and they were perfectly cooked, neither too dry nor too wet. Just ideal, really.
These little details make all the difference in your recipes and have made me a loyal follower for over 2 years. Thanks so much!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks so much for the feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to comment and for being a loyal follower 🙂
James
I substituted the chilli powder with JD’s Salsa in Seconds. What a great idea that was! Thank you for such an easy recipe.
Abe Rodriguez
Great recipe! I was mostly looking for the method for the pressure cooker, but I did everything almost as directed, I didn’t have the canned tomatoes, added bell peppers, and adjusted seasoning accordingly. It turned out great! And my wife could not believe it was done so quickly!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Abe – so glad I could help make you a hero with your wife.
Randall
Do you add water? What keeps it from burning on bottom
Barbara Schieving
Hi Randall – the liquid in the tomatoes and the liquid released from the chicken is enough unless you have a stove top pressure cooker that you know requires extra liquid.
Julie
How many 1/2 c servings does the recipe make? I am trying to count calories and it helps to have number of servings.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Julie – chicken breasts vary in size so much, but generally I would say you’ll get 12 1/2 cup servings from this recipe.