This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Star Market. All opinions are 100% mine.
Did you know you can make fajita rice burrito bowls all in one Instant pot? This one pot meal utilizes all of the best features of your Instant Pot, plus a rotisserie chicken, and results in a hearty, delicious, and family-friendly dinner with tex mex flavors. This dinner is also an easy meal prep kind of recipe making this a perfect weeknight meal!
I am a fajita lover, through and through. If fajitas are on the menu at a Mexican or Tex Mex restaurant, you better believe I’m ordering them. And then of course, without fail, my girls are suddenly snacking on my tortillas, the toppings, the rice and veggies, and so on.
I’ve been looking to find a way to translate fajitas into a simplified and affordable family meal. I’m all about recipe “hacks” to elevate easy meals at home and help stretch our budget.
Fajita bowls are a fun variation on traditional fajitas!
I looked everywhere for a fajita rice bowl recipe that did it all in an Instant Pot. We already have and love a super simple salsa chicken recipe that we make regularly in our slow cooker and use for weeknight tacos or fajitas (plus roasted peppers and onions). We also love using that salsa chicken to make taco bowls, but this time around, I was looking for something that included rice and all of the vegetables in one pot to make easy fajita bowls without having to use extra pots and pans.
First things first, to make our Instant Pot Loaded Chicken Fajita Bowls, I used our local Star Market here in Boston to stock up on all of the dinner essentials. Star Market offers Grocery Delivery and Pick Up for convenient ways to shop, and it makes my life so much easier to not have to do the shopping. Star Market carries some of our most-loved brands; O Organics®, Open Nature®, and Signature Family of Brands have a wide range of products perfect for easy meals at home. For this meal, I picked up things like a bag of Signature Farms® Sweet Mini Peppers, Signature Farms® Grape Tomatoes, O Organics® Olive Oil, Signature Kitchens® Fajita Seasoning, a can of O Organics® Diced Tomatoes with Organic Green Chiles, an Open Nature® Whole Roasted Rotisserie chicken (we use this for so many easy weeknight dinner recipes!), and O Organics® Shredded Mexican Style Blend Cheese. Shop these affordable high-quality products at your nearest Star Market.
Of course I shopped at Star Market in my local area, but you can also find O Organics® products exclusively at the Albertsons Companies family of stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Randalls, Shaw’s Supermarket, Star Market, and Tom Thumb.
When it came to this chicken fajita bowl recipe, my goal was to make weeknight dinner simpler, as always. The trouble was, all of the one-pot fajita and rice bowls I was finding online used instant rice. I’ve never loved instant rice and I also didn’t really want to have to make a separate pot of rice for this dinner. I’m all about easy one-pot meals, so I was determined to create these Instant pot fajita bowls, all in the same pot.
One of my favorite things about this one-pot meal is how kid-friendly this simple-to-make dinner is! The Instant Pot fajita rice bowls are chock full of chicken, vegetables, and beans, plus, they practically beg for all of the fun traditional taco and fajita toppings. My girls are all about the topping bar. Any time I put out little bowls of toppings they go crazy for it; which probably explains why taco night is a favorite around here.
Meal prep Ahead of Time
If you’re a fan of meal prep, this recipe will be perfect for you. I like to shred up the rotisserie chicken and chop up the sweet peppers and onions when I have a free window of time throughout the day. Typically I like to meal prep during nap time and for this, I just shred and chop, throw everything into bags and into the refrigerator, and pull everything out when I need it come dinnertime.
A Note on the Rice:
I’m obsessed with making rice in the Instant Pot. It’s foolproof – especially when using white rice, sushi rice, or brown rice – and the rice comes out perfectly every time.
A word of advice: when using the Instant Pot or a pressure cooker to cook rice, I always err on the side of more liquid. So typically, the ratio of rice to liquid (either water or broth/stock) is one-to-one. For this recipe, I used 3 1/2 cups chicken broth just to be safe. It makes the rice more moist and maybe a little more soft, but we all love it that way!
Don’t forget to put out your family’s favorite traditional taco and fajita toppings to make fajita bowl night extra fun for the whole family!
FAJITA BOWL TOPPINGS
- Diced Tomatoes
- Diced or Sliced Avocado
- Pico de Gallo
- Guacamole
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
- Shredded cheese
- Jalapeños
- Cilantro
- Lime
Instant Pot Loaded Chicken Fajita Bowls
These delicious loaded chicken fajita bowls are made all in one instant pot, taste delicious, and are a crowd-pleasing family favorite. Be sure to set out all of the yummy fajita toppings so that everyone can customize their bowls. (The full printable recipe is below!)
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
sweet or yellow onion, sliced
sweet peppers, cleaned and sliced (I used a 1/2 bag of Signature Farms Sweet Mini Peppers)
olive oil (I used Organics Olive Oil)
rice, uncooked (white rice or brown rice)
chicken stock or broth
Signature Kitchens Fajita seasoning
salt to taste
black beans
frozen or canned corn
diced tomatoes (Organics Diced Tomatoes with Organic Green Chiles is great for this!)
cubed or shredded chicken (I used an Open Nature Whole Roasted Rotisserie chicken)
shredded Mexican Blend cheese or cheddar cheese (I used Organics Shredded Mexican Style Blend Cheese)
Optional Toppings: sour cream, chopped cilantro, chopped scallions, diced tomato, diced avocado, pico de gallo, lime juice, shredded cheddar
To make these chicken fajita bowls in the Instant Pot, you’ll start by cutting your onion and sweet peppers into strips. Be sure to clean out all of the stems and seeds from the peppers. Once all of your veggies are cut, toss them into the bowl of your instant pot and add about a tablespoon of olive oil.
Set your Instant Pot to the Sauté setting and stir the onions and peppers every few minutes for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions and peppers are cooked through and have that yummy light brown caramel-y glaze along the edges of the veggies. Turn off your Instant pot and remove your sautéed vegetables to a bowl or plate and set aside.
Pour 3 cups of chicken stock or chicken broth into the bowl of your Instant Pot. Don’t worry about the remaining oil from your cooked veggies – that will just add flavor to your rice. (The pot will sizzle when you first pour your chicken broth, but will quickly cool.) Add 1 1/2 cups of dried rice in and 1 package of Fajita Seasoning and a pinch of salt.
Close the lid, turn Venting Knob to the Sealing Position. Set your instant pot to the Rice setting and let your rice cook through. The Instant Pot will let out steam using the Natural Release as it releases pressure (that means it’s working!) The whole process typically takes the Instant Pot about 15 minutes or so. Once the rice is cooked, turn off the Instant Pot.
Drain the black beans and diced tomatoes (and corn if using canned). Add the beans, diced tomatoes, and corn to the cooked rice. Stir. Set the Instant Pot to Slow Cook on the lowest setting for about 10 minutes.
While the remaining ingredients are warming up in the Instant Pot with the rice, shred your rotisserie chicken.
Once everything is cooked through, stir in the shredded chicken, the previously sautéed peppers and onions, and the shredded cheese.
Season with salt to desired preference.
Serve in bowls and set out toppings so that everyone can top their bowls with their favorites!
Instant Pot Loaded Chicken Fajita Bowls
These delicious loaded chicken fajita bowls are made in one Instant Pot, they’re packed with flavor, and the whole family will love them!
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet or yellow onion, sliced
- 8 oz of sweet peppers, cleaned and sliced (I used a 1/2 bag of Signature Farms Sweet Mini Peppers)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups dried rice, uncooked (white rice or brown rice)
- 3 to 3 1/2 cups chicken stock or broth
- 1 package of Signature Kitchens Fajita seasoning
- salt to taste
- 16 oz can of black beans
- 1 cup of frozen or canned corn
- 1 can of diced tomatoes (O Organics Diced Tomatoes with Organic Green Chiles is great for this!)
- 3 cups cubed or shredded chicken (I used an Open Nature Whole Roasted Rotisserie chicken)
- 1 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese or cheddar cheese (I used O Organics Shredded Mexican Style Blend Cheese)
- Optional toppings: sour cream, chopped cilantro, chopped scallions, diced tomato, diced avocado, pico de gallo, lime juice, shredded cheddar
Instructions
- Start by cutting your onion and sweet peppers into strips. Be sure to clean out all of the stems and seeds from the peppers. Once all of your veggies are cut, toss them into the bowl of your instant pot and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Set your Instant Pot to the Sauté setting and stir the onions and peppers every few minutes for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions and peppers are cooked through and have that yummy light brown caramel-y glaze along the edges of the veggies. Turn off your Instant pot and remove your sautéed vegetables to a bowl or plate and set aside.
- Pour 3 cups of chicken stock or chicken broth into the bowl of your Instant Pot. Don’t worry about the remaining oil from your cooked veggies - that will just add flavor to your rice. (The pot will sizzle when you first pour your chicken broth, but will quickly cool.) Add 1 1/2 cups of dried rice in and 1 package of Fajita Seasoning and a pinch of salt.
- Close the lid, turn Venting Knob to the Sealing Position. Set your instant pot to the Rice setting and let your rice cook through. The Instant Pot will let out steam using the Natural Release as it releases pressure (that means it’s working!) The whole process typically takes the Instant Pot about 15 minutes or so. Once the rice is cooked, turn off the Instant Pot.
- Drain the black beans and diced tomatoes (and corn if using canned). Add the beans, diced tomatoes, and corn to the cooked rice. Stir. Set the Instant Pot to Slow Cook on the lowest setting for about 15 minutes. While the remaining ingredients are warming up in the Instant Pot with the rice, shred your rotisserie chicken. Once everything is cooked through, stir in the shredded chicken, the previously sautéed peppers and onions, and the shredded cheese. Season with salt to desired preference.
- Serve in bowls and set out toppings so that everyone can top their bowls with their favorites!
So there your have it: our newfound favorite instant pot loaded chicken fajita rice bowls! Happy eating!
What are your favorite easy dinner recipes that the whole family loves? I’m always looking for new meal ideas!
Love these Instant Pot chicken fajita bowls? Head to our recipe page to check out what else we’re dreaming up in the kitchen!
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