This Instant Pot chicken taco soup is so fast and easy to make and everyone loves it! It’s one of our favourite meals – just throw everything in the Instant Pot, hit start, and dinner is ready in half an hour!
I’ve been making this chicken taco soup for years now, but in the past it’s always been slow cooker chicken taco soup.
And while we love that version, after getting an Instant Pot, I clearly needed to adapt the recipe for the pressure cooker as well.
It’s our absolute favourite soup (which is saying something because I make soup all the time and love them all!), so I make it quite often, and sometimes you just want chicken taco soup without any planning ahead.
I’m not great at menu planning, or even remembering to take meat out for dinner before 4pm, so the Instant Pot is a lifesaver for me.
I’d still like to get better at actually planning things, so I’m working on that, but for those days where it’s 4:30pm and I still don’t know what I’m making for dinner – Instant Pot chicken taco soup to the rescue.
This soup can be made with fresh or frozen chicken (so you really don’t have to plan ahead at all!), I nearly always have all the ingredients to make it, and everyone loves it. We all fight over who gets to take the leftovers for lunch the next day.
I also just really love recipes like this that can be made in several different ways.
Being able to toss everything in the slow cooker if I need supper ready when we walk in the door at dinnertime is great, but it’s nice to still be able to have our favourite soup when I am thinking about dinner for the first time in the late afternoon, and we need to be eating within the hour.
The perfect meal – super easy to make, and everyone loves it!
Tips for perfect Instant Pot Chicken Taco Soup:
- I have an 8 quart Duo Instant Pot, and can fit a double recipe of this soup in it but it’s quite full – if you have a smaller one you will probably only be able to make a single recipe, or maybe one and a half times if you want a bit more. The extra soup freezes very well.
- Everything cooks together in this recipe, simply shred the chicken with two forks once it’s finished cooking – it will shred very easily.
- The adults here love the jalapeno pepper in the soup – my kids will eat it, but I do need to remove the seeds and membrane for them to still eat the soup, and they prefer it without the jalapeno at all. It really doesn’t add any heat if you remove the seeds, just flavour, but you can leave it out if you like.
- Here are a few more great soup recipes for you: Chicken Pot Pie Soup, Carrot Soup, and Philly Cheesesteak Soup.
Planning a dinner party and need some inspiration?
How about looking for a new slow cooker dinner idea?
We’ve got you covered in our ever-growing Facebook group! If you’re not a member yet, why not?!
We’re chatting cooking techniques, dessert ideas, and everything in between. If you’re already a member, invite your friends to join us too!
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast fresh or frozen (450g)
- 1 Red Pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 small Onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 cups Corn (I used frozen)
- 1 pepper Jalapeño seeded and chopped fine (optional)
- 5 cups Chicken Stock
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 Lime juiced
- Fresh Cilantro torn
- Sour Cream
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Tortilla Chips crumbled
Instructions
- Place all the soup ingredients in the Instant Pot. Secure the lid and make sure the valve is in the sealing position. Cook on high pressure, 18 minutes for frozen chicken, 15 minutes for fresh chicken. Let the Instant Pot naturally release for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
- Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot and shred it with 2 forks (or you can do this right in the Instant Pot if you like). It should shred very easily. Return it to the Instant Pot and stir the soup to combine everything.
- Serve immediately with cilantro, sour cream, cheddar cheese and taco chips for garnishes.
- Soup can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, or can be frozen for 2-3 months.
Notes
- You can use fresh or frozen chicken in this recipe, it just changes the cook time by a few minutes. I also have instructions for making this chicken taco soup in a slow cooker instead – you can find that recipe cited as the source.