This recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas is the best way to make this Mexican classic fast without sacrificing flavor. Use fajita chicken for soups, burrito bowls or in tortillas. Forgot to thaw your chicken? Instructions are included for frozen chicken. Keto and Whole30.
Your instant pot is not just for soups and stews. It can make a variety of different foods including your favorite weeknight dinners or Mexican takeout. These instant pot chicken fajitas are a great way to create a healthy meal that will bring the family together.
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🤔 Why Cook Chicken Fajitas In The Instant Pot?
- It’s made with simple ingredients you can control unlike at a restaurant.
- Pressure cooked chicken turns out tender and flavorful without any time spent marinating.
- You can add all the ingredients into the pot, set it and walk away so you don’t have to babysit the skillet giving you more time.
- Everything cooks all in one pot which helps minimize clean up.
- Cooks in under 20 minutes from start to finish.
🥘 What You’ll Need To Make Instant Pot Fajitas:
- Chicken Breast: This will be cut into even sized strips about ½ inch wide. See notes about using frozen chicken. You could also use chicken thighs if you prefer it.
- Sliced Bell Peppers: Use any color you like. I enjoy using red and yellow bell peppers because they add a great sweetness to the dish.
- Sliced Onion: A classic fajita vegetable.
- Fresh Lime Juice: Nothing says fajitas like fresh lime. This gets tossed into the chicken and onion mix to pressure cook in the flavor.
- Homemade Fajita Seasoning: See below for my homemade fajita seasoning mix. Alternatively, you could also use a packet of fajita mix or a taco seasoning in a pinch.
- Chicken Stock Or Water: This helps the pressure cooker make sure there is enough liquid to cook the fajitas and not get the burn notice.
- Recommended Equipment - Pressure Cooker: I love using my Ninja Foodi to make fajitas as it is a pressure cooker and air fryer all in one. Check out my Ninja Foodi Review.
Homemade Fajita Seasoning
This is my recipe for homemade fajita seasoning from scratch. If you’d rather use a seasoning packet, you could do that too! Just make sure you also add the fresh lime juice.
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Cumin
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
📖 How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas
1️⃣ Prepare Your Ingredients: Slice up your chicken breast into half inch strips trying to make them all the same size so they cook evenly. Slice your bell peppers and onion into half inch strips as well.
2️⃣ Add To Instant Pot: Add the sliced chicken, peppers and onions to your instant pot. Then add in your fajita seasoning and fresh lime juice.
3️⃣ Toss Everything Together: Using tongs, fully coat the chicken, peppers and onions with the seasoning and lime juice until it’s fully combined. Then add chicken stock or water to the bottom of the pot.
4️⃣ Pressure Cook: Set your pressure cooker for 5 minutes on manual high pressure.
5️⃣ Quick Release: Once your fajitas are done cooking, do a quick release then turn off the heat to ensure that the peppers do not get overcooked.
6️⃣ Serve: Serve hot with tortillas or over a bowl of rice or riced cauliflower.
♨️ Pressure Cooking Frozen Chicken For Fajitas
One tip to save time is to directly cook your chicken from frozen.
- Frozen Chicken Strips: Add to the bottom of the pot, season and add stock. Add peppers and onions on top and increase the cooking time by 2 minutes. Because it’s frozen, the instant pot will adjust and take longer to come to pressure.
- Full Frozen Chicken Breasts: You can cook these before hand using this Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Method. Add in the seasoning with the chicken, shred it once it’s cooked and add in the raw peppers and onions afterward letting the heat of the chicken gently cook the vegetables.
🧑🍳 Recipe Tips
Try to cut up the chicken and peppers so they are the same size. This will ensure that everything cooks evenly.
If you are worried about your peppers becoming mushy, add the chicken FIRST, toss in the seasonings and then add your peppers and onions on top. This will essentially steam them making them a bit more crisp than if they were mixed in completely.
Adding the chicken stock or water is important because it allows the water to create steam pressure. Only ¼ cup is needed as the chicken and veggies will naturally release water.
A quick release is important on this dish as if it stays in longer, the peppers and onions have potential to become mushy.
👉 Crockpot Chicken Fajitas
It’s easy to turn this recipe into one you can use in your slow cooker. Simply add all of the ingredients to a lightly greased crockpot and cook:
- LOW: 4-6 Hours
- HIGH: 2-3 Hours
🔁 Variations
Chicken Fajita Freezer Meal: To turn this dinner into a freezer meal, simply add all the ingredients RAW in a large freezer safe Ziploc bag on a flat surface. Remove the night before and let thaw in the fridge. Add to the instant pot and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
Instant Pot Beef Fajitas: Want to use beef instead? Use the same recipe but swap your chicken for your favorite cut of beef including, flank steak, skirt steak or rump cut. You can also make this recipe with copycat chipotle Sofritas.
Keto & Whole30 Instant Pot Fajitas: This recipe stays compliant with Whole30 resets and keto diets. To turn it into a fajita bowl, serve over a bed of Mexican cauliflower Rice and pair with guacamole or pico de gallo. This recipe is only 5 net carbs for a serving of the chicken, peppers and onions.
❓FAQ
Sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole or diced jalapenos.
Refried beans, rice, brown rice, green salad, cauliflower rice.
There are small differences between the two. Fajita seasoning is a bit more heavy on the onion and garlic flavor.
More Easy Instant Pot Dinners
Instant Pot Pasta With Meat Sauce
Fajita Veggies
Instant Pot Homemade Hamburger Helper
Instant Pot Short Ribs
Instant Pot Beef and Sweet Potato Chili
Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients
- 2 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast about 2 large
- 3 Bell Peppers
- 1 large White Onion
- 1 Lime juiced
For Homemade Fajita Seasoning
- 2 tsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- ½ tsp Cumin
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Prepare Your Ingredients: Slice up your chicken breast into half inch strips trying to make them all the same size so they cook evenly. Slice your bell peppers and onion into half inch strips as well.
- Add To Instant Pot: Add the sliced chicken, peppers and onions to your instant pot. Then add in your fajita seasoning and fresh lime juice.
- Toss Everything Together: Using tongs, fully coat the chicken, peppers and onions with the seasoning and lime juice until it’s fully combined. Then add chicken stock or water to the bottom of the pot.
- Pressure Cook: Set your pressure cooker for 5 minutes on manual high pressure.
- Quick Release: Once your fajitas are done cooking, do a quick release then turn off the heat to ensure that the peppers do not get overcooked.
- Serve: Serve hot with tortillas or over a bowl of rice or riced cauliflower.
Video
Notes
Pressure Cooking Frozen Chicken For Fajitas
One tip to save time is to directly cook your chicken from frozen.- Frozen Chicken Strips: Add to the bottom of the pot, season and add stock. Add peppers and onions on top and increase the cooking time by 2 minutes. Because it’s frozen, the instant pot will adjust and take longer to come to pressure.
- Full Frozen Chicken Breasts: You can cook these before hand using this Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Method. Add in the seasoning with the chicken, shred it once it’s cooked and add in the raw peppers and onions afterward letting the heat of the chicken gently cook the vegetables.
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