This warm, comforting, chicken taco soup recipe is made easy with an electric pressure cooker (i.e. Instant Pot).
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Comfort foods like soups are so delicious in the winter time. And oh boy, I can’t wait to share this one with you.
This winter has been so mild where we live. The sun is shining bright and beautiful today for example, but you won’t hear this girl complaining. I grew up in Northern California and my California-girl-heart still wants to wear flip flops and bask in the golden sunshine that is shining through my front living room windows.
And apparently the lack of snow hasn’t affected my need to make and eat soup at least a couple times a week.
Nothing beats a good soup. Especially in the winter. And this recipe is one of my favorites.
This chicken taco soup comes together quickly and tastes amazing with the help of the electric pressure cooker (the more familiar term for you might be Instant Pot which is a brand of electric pressure cooker).
I love Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes
I talked a bit about electric pressure cookers in this delicious white chicken chili post.
Remember it?
If not, you really need to go check that recipe out too. It’s amazingly delicious as well.
Anyway, in the post I told you about my favorite function – the “keep warm” function. And I decided that I need an equivalent function for me on cold, dreary days where there is no sun shining through my windows. Do ya know what I mean?
But seriously, that function on electric pressure cookers was created for busy moms. I love it so much.
Mix it together. Push a button. Walk away and let it cook and keep warm for you. Then eat it hours later where it still tastes amazing (or maybe even better because all the flavors have really developed). It’s a miracle. Seriously. I love it.
And I love my electric pressure cooker. And I use it ALL the time. It’s by far one of my favorite kitchen appliances.
A few things I love about this soup
First of all, this recipe uses dry beans and frozen chicken breasts. I’m giving you the recipe that way because that’s what I use. In my lazy girl life I don’t like to have to remember to buy cans of beans or unthaw my chicken breasts. I love having stored dry beans on hand in pantry. They’re more compact, cheaper, and store almost forever. And I almost always buy fresh chicken breasts in a large package when they go on sale and then freeze them in individual bags for later.
But…if you do things differently than me, you are welcome to make this recipe with cans of beans and thawed chicken breasts (you over-achiever you) and I’ve included a few tips to adapt the recipe to make it that way in the notes section (hint: it’s actually less cooking time and faster that way –hurray!).
Second I love to use beans of different colors in this recipes. I think it makes it prettier, not to mention tastier. If you use cans of beans you can use ANY kinds of beans your little heart desires, but if you are using dry beans you do need to use beans that are relatively the same size (about a black bean size) otherwise they will not cook evenly.
Well that’s all I can think of as a heads up. If you have any questions about the recipe, don’t hesitate to ask away. And now I’ll leave you to it because the sun coming through my windows is calling me to come bask. Ta ta for now!
Chicken Taco Soup {Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe}
This warm, comforting, chicken taco soup recipe is made easy with an electric pressure cooker (i.e. Instant Pot).
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry beans rinsed and sorted, see note
- 6 cups water divided
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ pounds frozen chicken breasts see note
- 3 tablespoons taco seasoning see note
- 1 4-ounce can green chilies
- 1 32-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 cups frozen corn cooked and drained
- salt & pepper to taste
- grated cheese
- sliced avocado, sour cream, tortilla chips, for serving if desired
Instructions
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Combine dry beans and 6 cups of water in an electric pressure cooker (i.e. Instant Pot), lock lid in place, and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. When time is up, do a quick release of the pressure. Then use a strainer to drain the water from the beans.
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In the now empty pressure cooker pot add olive oil and heat on sauté setting until hot and bubbly. Sauté the onions and garlic in the oil for a couple of minutes until soft and flavorful. Then add the whole chicken breasts, the drained beans, the taco seasoning, the green chilies, the crushed tomatoes, and 1 Cup of chicken broth. Stir until combined. Then lock lid in place and cook on high pressure for 21 minutes.
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When time is up, let the pressure release naturally. Then carefully open the pressure cooker, remove the chicken breasts, chop and return to pot. Then add the drained corn. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Serve immediately or let keep on warm until ready to serve (see note).
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Serve in bowls with your choice of grated cheese, sliced avocado, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips on top. This soup is also delicious made a day ahead of time or eaten as leftovers.
Recipe Notes
1. I love the colors and flavors that come from using a variety of dried beans in this recipe. I use a combination of dried black beans, navy beans, pinto beans and adzuki beans (usually ½ cup of each), but you can use whatever kind of beans you would like. Make sure your beans are all relatively the same size (don’t use great big beans or too small of beans or they will either be over or under cooked).
2. If you want to make this recipe even faster and easier you can use canned beans instead of dry. Use 4 15-ounce cans of beans of any variety (rinsed and drained) in place of the dry beans and water. That will save 30+ minutes and the need to precook the dry beans. You also don’t need to worry about the different sizes of beans in this case because they are precooked. If you are using canned beans, simply skip the first recipe direction and follow the rest of the recipe accordingly.
3. I usually buy fresh chicken breasts when they are on sale and freeze them in individual bags to use in recipes like this. If you want to use fresh chicken breasts you can experiment with cutting down the cooking time by about half.
4. For the taco seasoning, I use either a homemade spice mix or I also love the taco seasoning from Penzy’s spices that I order online. If you are trying to make this recipe gluten free just be sure the spices you use are gluten free.
5. I love making this soup ahead of time! The “keep warm” function allows you to cook it ahead and have it ready in the electric pressure cooker all day.
Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat
All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat
Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.
