Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Orzo–an easy one pot meal that has a lot of Mexican flare. Orzo pasta is cooked quickly in your pressure cooker along with ground beef, taco sauce and black beans. Fresh ingredients like diced tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and shredded cheddar are stirred in later to create a family friendly and flavorful meal.
Get the SLOW COOKER version of the recipe here
Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Orzo
I’m on a quest to find and make the best one pot meals. I love the idea of having your whole meal–protein, carbohydrate and vegetables all in one pot. This one is a keeper! Kids and adults will love this orzo with all the flavors of tacos.
Some recipe notes:
Beef–I used ground beef but you could totally use ground turkey or ground chicken too.
Orzo–Sometimes I buy it in a box with the other pastas but this time I bought it in the bulk section at Winco for a dollar a pound. I have yet to find whole wheat orzo on the shelf. I wish!
Black beans–feel free to use whatever kind of beans you want. I like black beans for this recipe but kidney beans or pinto beans would work well also. Or if you are beans adverse then leave them out all together.
Cheddar–I used cheddar but you can also use a mexican blend of cheese.
Taco Sauce–find this with the other Mexican foods at your grocery store. I like the mild green sauce but if you want a little heat you can use the red medium sauce.
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What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Orzo I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Orzo
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 minute plus 5-10 minute NPR
- Total Time: 8 minute
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
Description
An easy one pot meal that has a lot of Mexican flare. Orzo pasta is cooked quickly in your pressure cooker along with ground beef, taco sauce and black beans. Fresh ingredients like diced tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and shredded cheddar are stirred in later to create a family friendly and flavorful meal.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
- 2 1/3 cup uncooked orzo
- 1/2 cup green taco sauce (or you can use green enchilada sauce)
- 1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained (optional)
- 3 Tbsp taco seasoning
- 3 roma tomatoes, diced
- 5 green onions, diced
- 1 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 (2.25 oz) can sliced olives, drained (optional)
- 2 cups grated sharp cheddar
- Diced or sliced avocado, for serving
- Sour cream, for serving
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the beef. Break it up with a wooden spoon and brown it. Add in the onions and saute for 3 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Drain off excess grease, if there is any.
- Deglaze the pot with the chicken broth/water. Sprinkle in the orzo, green taco sauce, black beans and taco seasoning. Don’t stir.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 1 minute. When the time is up let the pot sit there for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, olives and cheddar. Season with additional taco seasoning and salt and pepper, if needed.
- Scoop into bowls and top with diced avocado and a dollop of sour cream.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
Recipe adapted from Jo Cooks.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe
- Calories: 372
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 697 mg
- Fat: 16 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Protein: 25 g
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Good recipe! Next time I will decrease the pasta and increase the meat a bit. We served it with Catalina Dressing, Corn Chips, side of red onion, feta and more cheddar, etc. The next day, we ate it cold and my daughter added sunflower seeds for more crunch. Very good cold, as well.
★★★★
I like all those ideas!
Do I leave the ground beef in the entire time or does it need to be removed before deglazing or adding other ingredients? Sorry, noob here.
No problem! You can just leave it in there and scrape the bottom of the pot.
Made this tonight for supper. Had to leave the cilantro out for hubby (he’s one that the cilantro tastes like soap) but added it to my bowl along with sour cream and diced avocado. Also had some bite size tortilla chips so ate some by spoon, some by dipping the chips in it. It’s a keeper for us.
Yum sounds great!
Could you use red taco sauce instead of green?
yes you can!
My family loves this recipe. I want to double the recipe as I have the 8 quart. Would I double the broth/water as well? and what about the cook time? Would that change?
★★★★
Hi Leanne, read this: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/how-to-double-instant-pot-recipes/
How would I do this if I wanted to use shredded (not ground) chicken instead of ground beef?
Is the chicken cooked already?
I just made this. It’s great! My hubs loved it!
But since I have an Instant Pot Duo Mini. It’s only a 3 qt. So, I had to make it in two batches. Being that it it’s just my hubs and I, we have quite a bit left over.
My question is… Can I freeze some of it??
You could try. I’m not sure how well frozen pasta does. I know lasagna freezes fine but I’m not sure about orzo.
Can in use ground chicken instead of beef?
yes of course! i’m sure that would be really tasty. I really love ground chicken. THe problem for me is that I can never find it that easy at the store.
I want to make this soon so I can also have it for week day lunches at work. It sounds delish. However, 2 1/3c of orzo seems like so much pasta! Can I use less? If I do will it be too soupy and therefore need to decrease the broth?
You could halve all the ingredients and make a half batch. That’s what I would do if I were you!
I did make this and decreased the pasta to 1c and the water to a little over 2c and it turned out great without changing or halving any of the other ingredients. It made enough for my Sunday dinner and 4 weekday lunches. It has such a great flavor and it’s going to taste even better on those cold winter days. I’m going to reduce the pasta even more next time to 1/2c and I think it’ll be just fine.
I happen to have access to Wegman’s so I buy their whole wheat orzo all the time but DeLallo has a great whole wheat line of pastas that are just as good! Here’s a link – https://www.delallo.com/shop/delallo-organic-whole-wheat-orzo-pasta. You can also buy it on Amazon here – https://tinyurl.com/y7bblkdo. (I’m not an Amazon affiliate.)
Anyway, I’m loving your recipes and I’ve subscribed. Can’t wait to try more!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!! I will definitely check for those whole wheat orzos. That would be a game changer.
thanks, whole wheat pasta is zero points on the ww purple plan, will have to get some 😋
How long do u set time for white rice?
rice would be 1.5 cups water to each 1 cup of rice. 8 minutes for short grain and 3 minutes for long grain.
Would that be 8 minutes pressure time with the 5-10 minutes of natural release?
yep!
What about using rice instead of orzo?
what kind of rice? just white rice?
Is like to make this with strips of steak. I’m wondering if I can sauté them inside the instant pot leave at the bottom and cover with the rest of the ingredients?
Yes, I believe that would work well.
Could this be made ahead and served as a cold salad?
Sure I don’t see why not!
Thank you for your quick response. This was one of the first recipes I made with my new Instant Pot and it was amazing. In fact, every one of your recipes I have tried since getting the pot (mid May), has been a winner. Thank you!
YES!!!
Wegmans has whole wheat orzo. It is their own brand.
Hi Sherry, thanks for the suggestion! I don’t have a Wegmans by me. BOO!!!
Do you think you could substitute Risoto for the Orzo?
Do you mean arborio rice?
I would like to use Arborio. Ratios please
It’s a 2:1 ratio of water to rice and high pressure for 5 minutes with a quick release (move valve back and forth to prevent foaming)