Cheesy, meaty and hearty this Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Rice has lots of flavor from corn, picante sauce, tomatoes, beef, brown rice and cheese. This recipe will quickly become a weeknight favorite.
Get the SLOW COOKER Cheesy Taco Rice recipe here
Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Rice
What an easy recipe! And it tastes so good. My whole family loved this recipe and the only words said were, “is there more?” I’ll definitely be making this again soon. We even got to use fresh garden tomatoes which are my favorite thing in the whole world.
Rice–I used brown rice because that’s how we roll in the Petersen household. You can use long grain white rice if you prefer. If you want white rice then use 1 cup of rice and 1 ½ cups broth. Pressure cook for 4 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
Beef--I used a very lean ground beef that didn’t have any grease on it after I browned it. If your beef has more fat you’ll probably need to drain a bit of the grease off before adding in the broth and rice.
Picante sauce–I buy the big jug of Pace’s picante sauce at Costco and we use it for cooking and eating with tortilla chips, quesadillas etc. I like the mild version since I’m not a big fan of spice.
Taco seasoning–sometimes I buy the big jar of McCormick’s taco seasoning from Costco. It seems less potent than my homemade version or even the taco seasoning in the bulk section at Winco. 2 tablespoons of the more potent taco seasoning was plenty for this recipe.
More Instant Pot Beef Recipes You’ll Love…
Instant Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff
Instant Pot Madras Lentils with Ground Beef
Instant Pot Creamy Beef and Penne
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Rice 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 Rice
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 servings 1x
Description
Cheesy, meaty and hearty this Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Rice has lots of flavor from corn, picante sauce, tomatoes, beef, brown rice and cheese. This recipe will quickly become a weeknight favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 Tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 1/4 cups chicken or beef broth
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
- 1 cup picante sauce (I used mild)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the ground beef. Break up* the ground beef. Add in 1 Tbsp of the taco seasoning. Brown the ground beef for 5 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Turn off the saute setting.
- Pour the broth on top of the beef. Sprinkle the rice evenly over the ground beef and broth. Don’t stir. Sprinkle the remaining 1 Tbsp of taco seasoning on top of the rice. Layer the picante sauce and frozen corn on top.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 22 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Sprinkle in the cheese, tomato and cilantro. Stir.
- Serve with a dollop of sour cream and enjoy.
Notes
You can also make this with long grain white rice. Use 1 cup of rice and 1 ½ cups broth. Pressure cook for 4 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
To make gluten free: make sure your broth and taco seasoning are gluten free.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I am going to make this but am also interested in the cornbread in the photo, did you make that as well and if so could we have that recipie as well please?
I always use this recipe for cornbread…it is the best: https://www.melskitchencafe.com/the-cornbread-and-fluffy-honey-butter/
It was so good. I used ground turkey with beef broth. Held back some of the cheese to sprinkle on each bowl. Will try adding beans next time.
★★★★★
Beans are a wonderful idea!
Do you think this would freeze & reheat well?
yes I think it would be a good candidate for that!
First time making it. so cross our fingers. What I do not understand, you said 22 minutes on manual pressure cook.. I assume it is the high setting, and 4 minutes for long grain white rice. Does that mean i have to cook the rice separately? or am I adding extra four minutes to the cooking time. Thanks
★★★★★
If you use brown rice the pressure cooking time is 22 minutes.
If you use white rice the pressure cooking time is 4 minutes.
Both use raw rice.
This is one of our favorite go-to. I decided to change it up tonight though and used ½ lb of cut up bacon and a couple handfuls of diced onions. Absolutely loved it! Don’t know if I will be able to get my family to eat it the other way ever again!
★★★★★
Bacon is always better!
Surprisingly delicious for it’s simplicity! My husband and I loved it and have added it to our rotation.
★★★★★
So glad you both enjoyed it!
Added kidney beans. Family enjoyed.
★★★★★
Glad you all liked it Kip!
Another home run with my family – easy, quick and deeeeelicious!!!
I made it as is *except* added a can of rinsed and drained black beans (after the picante sauce and before the corn)…and served with tortilla chips for scooping and crunch – yummm!!!
★★★★★
Yum that sounds really tasty Donna!!
Delicious!
★★★★★
So happy you think so Tracie!
What if you were using white minute rice, how long would you set a pressure cooker to and then release time? And would you change the amount of broth using one cup of minute rice?
I have never use minute white rice in the Instant Pot and am not sure how it would turn out. My guess is that it wouldn’t be great.
This sounds amazing. Wondering if chicken breast would be good instead of the ground beef. Thank you for the suggestion of the vegan meat substitute in the above response. I am trying to transition to a more plant based diet.
Chicken would get overdone because the rice is cooking for 22 minutes. If you use white rice for this recipe then chicken cut up into bite size pieces would be okay. It would cook at the same rate as the rice.
I know this will take out the flavor but could I do this without the Picante and tomato? I’m allergic to tomatoes 😭.
Sad day! yes you could take it out and yes it will take out the flavor.
This looks so yummy! Can I use can corn instead of frozen?
Sure that would work fine.
Karen, I made this for dinner tonight. It was so easy and it tastes delicious, but the rice didn’t get cooked! I’ve never had that happen in the IP before. Any guests why this happened? I’ll want to make this again and often, but I really don’t much like crunchy rice!
★★★★★
Wow that is really weird! Next time try adding a little more broth. I would add in 1 1/2 cups.
This looks like a good recipe to try was wondering if you know the serving size (1 cup etc) so I can calculate how much I’m eating. Trying to keep track of my fat content in my daily living so it would be very helpful and appreciated
Thanks
★★★★★
I am not sure how much one cup would be. The serving size above is just 1/5 of the recipe. So you could eyeball it. I’m sorry I’m not more help.
Could this be made as a side dish without the ground beef? If so, what changes would need to be made?
You can use morningstar vegan been crumbles, or other vegan meat substitutes. Just had spaghetti sauce with it and it tasted fantastic!
Sure it could. Just add broth into pot. Add in the rice. Then just 1 Tbsp of taco seasoning. then the rest of the ingredients as mentioned above in the same order. Same cooking time.