Made with Instant Pot chicken, corn tortillas, and fresh ingredients, shredded chicken tacos are an easy homemade dinner recipe the whole family will love!
Shredded chicken tacos, as well as fish tacos and beef tacos, have been a favorite meal around our house for quite some time. I think it's both the ease of making them with our favorite taco chicken recipe and our love for delicious Tex-Mex food.
As mentioned, they really are easy to make, especially if you've already cooked the chicken. All that's left is prepping a few fresh ingredients to go on your tacos.
As long as you have lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream, you're in business. Extras you may want to add include avocado, green onions, black olives, queso, salsa… The sky's the limit when it comes to easy chicken tacos.
You can use regular taco shells you buy in the store; we love these… Or you can make your own, using corn tortillas and frying them up in a bit of bacon grease or oil.
If you love Tex Mex, you'll love these beef taco stuffed peppers. And if it's less mess, less stress you're after, try our taco in a bag recipe!
How to make taco shells for easy chicken tacos:
To make your own crispy taco shells (they remind me of a Taco Bell Chalupa shell)…
- Heat about a tablespoon of bacon grease in a skillet; let it melt and heat up.
- Add a corn tortilla to the skillet, letting it cook on one side.
- Use tongs to turn the tortilla and let the other side cook.
- Finally, remove the tortilla from the skillet and let drain on a paper towel or paper bag for maybe 30 seconds or so.
- Fold into a taco shape and place in either a taco holder or the bottom side of a muffin pan.
And that's it, you've made your own taco shells. They're so good!
Tips for how to make shredded chicken tacos:
You'll need to gather your ingredients, including already cooked taco chicken, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, green onions, corn tortillas, and sour cream. You may also want extra ingredients like avocado, black olives, queso, mango peach salsa and basil salsa.
While the chicken is cooking in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker, you can take time to wash and chop your lettuce, tomatoes, and green onions. Also, shred the cheese.
Fry up a batch of corn tortillas to form taco shells. You can use bacon grease or oil.
Once your chicken is fully cooked and shredded, taco shells are done, and fresh ingredients are prepped, you're ready to start the process of layering. You can layer ingredients in any order you want, but I prefer to add the chicken into the taco shell first, then the cheese (it gets all melty on the warm chicken), and go from there.
Add a layer of lettuce, a layer of tomatoes, green onions, and whatever else your heart desires. Don't forget a dollop of sour cream (though I love adding a good layer of sour cream before I even add the chicken; that way I have sour cream in every single bite).
And that's it. I love the ease of making pressure cooker chicken tacos for dinner!
More Tex-Mex recipes with chicken:
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Chicken and Hummus Loaded Nachos in a Sheet Pan
- Easy Chicken Fajitas
- Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
- Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas
- Slow Cooker Enchilada Casserole
Kitchen tools you may need to make pressure cooker chicken tacos:
Instant Pot – We use our Instant Pot almost every day. It really does make the most delicious taco chicken for easy chicken tacos.
Iron Skillet – We're also avid users of cast iron cookware. We even take our favorite iron skillet camping with us.
Tongs – They'll be needed for slipping the corn tortillas in the skillet.
Taco Holder – Ok, so you don't technically NEED this, but it sure does come in handy. I just use the bottom side of my muffin pan.
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 cups Instant Pot taco chicken
- 16 corn tortillas
- 3 to 4 tablespoons bacon grease or oil of choice
- 1/2 head iceberg lettuce
- 6 Roma tomatoes
- 6 green onions
- 4 ounces cheddar cheese
- 4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
Corn Tortilla Taco Shells:
- Heat about a tablespoon of bacon grease in a skillet; let it melt and heat up.
- Add a corn tortilla to the skillet, letting it cook on one side.
- Use tongs to turn the tortilla and let the other side cook.
- Finally, remove the tortilla from the skillet and let it drain on a paper towel or paper bag for maybe 30 seconds or so.
- Fold into a taco shape and place in either a taco holder or the bottom side of a muffin pan.
- Continue cooking tortillas until you have the desired number of taco shells.
Shredded Chicken Tacos:
- Cook a batch of taco chicken in your Instant Pot.
- Prep and cook taco shells, per the steps above.
- Wash and chop the lettuce, tomatoes, and green onions.
- Shred or grate both cheeses.
- Layer ingredients in any order you want, but I prefer to add the chicken into the taco shell first, then the cheese (it gets all melty on the warm chicken), and go from there.
- Add a layer of lettuce, a layer of tomatoes, green onions, and whatever else your heart desires.
- Don't forget a dollop of sour cream (though I love adding a good layer of sour cream before I even add the chicken; that way I have sour cream in every single bite).
These sound delicious! I don’t have an Instant Pot (it’s on my wishlist!), but I printed the recipe and plan to try it in the slow cooker.
Hi Cherryl, thank you so much! The only thing I might change with the slow cooker is you may not need to add the water (or at least as much water). I hope you enjoy!