Instant Pot Frito Pie Chili—all the flavors from frito pie except in the form of stew. This delicious chili is made really fast and all in one pot using your Instant Pot. You might want to double this recipe and have it for lunch all week!
Related: SLOW COOKER Frito Pie Chili recipe here
Instant Pot Frito Pie Chili
This recipe was a happy accident! I was trying to make a more solidified Frito pie rice dish but ended up with a chili/stew consistency. It was a perfect end to a cold winter day. And the toppings of diced green onions, fritos, sour cream and tomatoes on top made it all the better. My family scraped the pot clean as I stood back watching and wishing that I had doubled the recipe for leftovers.
I always loved those “walking tacos” as a kid. Do you know what I’m talking about? You take a mini bag of Frito corn chips and then put taco toppings into the bag. So a scoop of taco meat, some cheese, beans, lettuce, sour cream and tomatoes. Then you eating your “taco” straight out of the chip bag. This Instant Pot Frito Pie Chili brought me back to my childhood. Same flavors only served out of a bowl with a spoon. Not quite as fun, but even more tasty.
For this recipe I used chili beans. Chili beans are found next to the regular canned beans at the grocery store. Some common brands that sell chili beans are Bush’s and S&W. Chili beans are pinto beans that are canned in tomato sauce and have seasonings added. I found that the use of these beans gave the chili an extra boost of flavor.
If you like this Instant Pot Frito Pie Chili I think you’ll also love my Instant Pot Crack Chicken Chili. It is super addicting, as the name implies. And if you’re in the mood for just a basic downhome chili I think you’ll like my Instant Pot basic chili a lot!
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Frito Pie Chili 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.
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
The 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking website has 3-4 new Instant Pot recipes a week! If you sign up for my emails (fill out the form below) you’ll receive an email each time something new is on the site. You can also join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group which is run by my husband Greg and myself. If you’re a visual learner consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
Instant Pot Frito Pie Chili
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
Description
All the flavors from frito pie except in the form of stew. This delicious chili is made really fast and all in one pot using your Instant Pot. You might want to double this recipe and have it for lunch all week!
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef or turkey
- 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup long grain white rice or jasmine rice
- 1 (10 oz) can mild enchilada sauce
- 1 (15 oz) can chili beans (pinto beans in tomatoes and seasoning, also called ranch style beans)
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 ¼ cups Fritos chips
- 5 Tbsp diced green onions
- 5 Tbsp sour cream
- 5 Tbsp diced tomatoes
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the ground beef/turkey and break it up. Sprinkle in the taco seasoning. Add in the diced onion. Brown the meat for about 4-5 minutes. If there is excess grease, drain it off. Turn off the Instant Pot.
- Stir in the water and scrape the bottom of the pot to make sure nothing is sticking. Sprinkle in the rice. Pour the enchilada sauce over the rice, then dump the beans on top. Don’t stir.
- Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes. When the time is up move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the cheddar cheese. Ladle into 5 bowls and top each bowl with ¼ cup Fritos, 1 Tbsp green onions, 1 Tbsp sour cream and 1 Tbsp diced tomatoes. Enjoy!
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Tex Mex
*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.
This was amazing! Made it twice this weekend – once as part of a university “care” package for my son and once for home. Made my own beans (a mix of navy beans and red kidney beans) as I have never seen canned “chili beans” here in Canada. The first time I included the cheese as mentioned in the instructions, but the second time I left it out of the chili, but some sprinkled on top for serving. In addition to the suggested serving toppings, I added avocado and hot sauce. This recipe will go into the regular rotation! YUM!
★★★★★
Nice! You are a nice mom. I sure hope your son appreciated it!
Do you have to add rice? Not a fan.
You can leave it out. It will be runny. You can reduce liquid to help with that.
Can you use the jasmine rice in the bag that you cook in microwave? I always have that on hand
Thx
I’m unfamiliar with that. Is it partially cooked, like a minute rice? If so you’d want to decrease cooking time on this recipe to maybe 2-3 minutes.
It was very good snd I did 4 min. I think I would do with pasta instead of rice next time
★★★★
How much would the recipe change without rice?
Less water??? Less time???
You could just leave the water the same and it would be more soup-like or you could reduce the water to 1/2 cup. Hopefully that’ll be enough to bring the pot to pressure 🙂 I’d do the same amount of time.
Where do you get 10 oz cans of enchilada sauce? I can only find regular and giant sized cans! And, do you mean green or red enchilada sauce?
Hi Ashley, I just found it at my grocery store. You could definitely add more it wouldn’t hurt. I used red sauce but it was mild.
I just loved it, I’m not only going to give it 5 stars. But, I’m going to share it with all my website’s followers on the social media. Thank you for giving me something useful to share it today!
★★★★★
I made this last night. I didn’t realize I was out of taco seasoning, so that got left out. It was delicious. I doubled the recipe, because the store was out the smaller can of enchilada sauce. It worked well, as there was only enough left for me to have lunch today.
The only thing we would change (other than remembering taco seasoning next time) is to use medium enchilada sauce, as the mild was a little too mild for our family. This is a great dish, and my husband and son have requested it go into our rotation of regulars. Thank you!!
★★★★★
Keri, good thoughts! We have a kid that doesn’t like spice so that’s why I used mild!
Should I adjust the amount of liquid if I don’t have the rice?
I know that you have to have one cup liquid in the pot for the IP if you actually pressure cook it, but since hamburger is already cooked and you are not using rice, I don’t know if you really have to pressure cook…if it I did it without rice, I would just add everything and warm through after the hamburger is cooked.
I hope that helps.
Happy Holidays!
Yes Debbie is right. You really don’t need it to come to pressure. You could just to really marry the flavors but it’s not necessary. Thanks for your tip Debbie!
Would you add time for using brown rice? I’m assuming uncooked?
You need 22 minutes for brown rice plus a 10 minute NPR.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I’m having a ball trying out your great ideas in my Instant Pot
every week. Thanks too for including nutritional information with each recipe. Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays to you Nancy! I’m glad you’re here.