Instant Pot Sour Cream Chili Bake–seasoned ground beef with kidney beans, rice, sour cream and Fritos. An easy weeknight dinner that comes together quickly with the help of your pressure cooker.

Instant Pot Sour Cream Chili Bake
This is my Instant Pot take on a vintage recipe that was clipped from a Meadow Gold Sour Cream container. It may not be the prettiest looking but it sure does taste good! My kids and Greg loved this dinner and it was eaten topped with lots of Fritos.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef–you can also use ground turkey
- 1 cup diced onion–try diced frozen onions if you hate chopping onions!
- 1 envelope taco seasoning mix–I buy the big container of McCormick’s Taco Seasoning from Costco and I used 3 tablespoons
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth–you can also use 1 ½ cups of water and 1 ½ tsp of Better than Bouillon Beef Base
- 3/4 cup long grain white rice–you can also use jasmine or basmati rice (see recipe tips for how to use brown rice)
- 1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained–you can switch this up with pinto beans, black beans or chili beans
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce–you can also substitute this with an enchilada sauce of your choice
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup sour cream–you can substitute this with plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese–try another type of cheese if you’d like (pepper jack, colby, monterey jack, mexican blend, etc.)
- 3 cups Fritos corn chips–try the chili cheese Fritos for a fun twist!
How to make chili bake in the Instant Pot:
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When displays says HOT add in the beef and break it up*. Add in the onions. Cook ground beef, about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in the taco seasoning and coat the meat with it.
- Pour in broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Sprinkle in the rice. Dump in the beans, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Don’t stir (this will help prevent the burn message).
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir the sour cream into the mixture. Sprinkle the cheese on top and let it melt (if you have an air fryer lid you can use it here). Sprinkle the Fritos on top and serve.

Recipe tips:
- Grease draining tip: Tilt the Instant Pot to one side while holding the ground meat against the other side with a wooden spoon. This should make most of the grease pool on the tilted side. Lower the Instant Pot down, the meat should stay to its side and the grease on the other. Place a couple paper towels into the grease and use the spoon to sop up the grease. Discard the paper towels.
- Brown rice: You can make this recipe with brown rice if you’d like. Pressure cook for 22 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- Don’t stir: By layering the ingredients instead of stirring them all together you will help prevent the burn error message.
- Sour cream: If you’d rather have more of a layered casserole you can spread the sour cream on top of the rice/meat instead of stirring it all together. Then sprinkle the cheese over the top of the sour cream and finally top with Fritos. This is how the original recipe was written. This will taste especially good if you can “bake” it for a few minutes (4-5) with the air fryer lid.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot. You can also make this in your 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
- Serve with: Try serving with avocado slices on the side and a green salad.
More Instant Pot Ground Beef and Rice Recipes…
Instant Pot Cherokee Casserole
Instant Pot Cattle Drive Casserole
Instant Pot Shipwreck Casserole

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Instant Pot Sour Cream Chili Bake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Seasoned ground beef with kidney beans, rice, sour cream and Fritos. An easy weeknight dinner that comes together quickly with the help of your pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 envelope taco seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 3/4 cup long grain white rice
- 1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
- 3 cups Fritos corn chips
- Green onions, optional
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When displays says HOT add in the beef and break it up*. Add in the onions. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Drain off excess grease. Stir in the taco seasoning and coat the meat with it.
- Pour in broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Sprinkle in the rice. Dump in the beans, tomato sauce and tomato paste. Don’t stir.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the sour cream. Sprinkle the cheese on top and let it melt (if you have an air fryer lid you can use it here). Sprinkle the Fritos on top and diced green onions on top. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
See notes in blog post for more tips and tricks.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot

*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 just made this for dinner and everyone loved it. My husband put his on a tortilla.
★★★★★
mmmm, sounds like a good plan to me!
Hi Karen. Can this recipe be made in a slow cooker or baked in oven..don’t have a instant pot. If so what are the instructions thanks
First let me say this is super yummy!! I did though, have a heck of a time with the burn notice kicking on and ended up having to cook it not under pressure. I followed the recipe exactly, the proper layering, etc, but for some reason, I couldn’t get it to stop triggering the burn notice – I even added more water (2 different times even) and it popped up again. I have no idea what went wrong.
So, I finished cooking it without the lid, and I’m glad I did because it was super tasty! And I just gotta say your site is my go-to for great IP recipes, thank you for all your time and efforts!
★★★★★
Same here! So frustrated – it comes to pressure and then the burn message dings. I’m just going to bake it at this point!
That’s exactly what happened to me!! Glad it wasn’t just me too, lol. 😉
I’m glad it worked out in the end. I am wondering if perhaps next time you just brown the ground beef and onions. Then pour on the broth and scrape. Then add the beans. Then sprinkle in the rice and sprinkle in the taco seasoning. I think the rice and taco seasoning is what is causing the burn signal so if you layer the beans underneath it might work better.
Thank you Karen for the suggestion – I will for sure try that next time! There definitely will be a next time too! Thanks again! 😀
I hope it works for you. Come back and let me know.
Would the IP sour cream chili bake be ok without the kidney beans? My husband doesn’t like beans in most recipes.
Oh darn! Yes it will be okay without.