Instant Pot Fiesta Chicken is an easy one-pot dinner made with tender chicken, rice, black beans, corn, peppers, and tomatoes. Taco and ranch seasonings add plenty of flavor, while melted Colby Jack cheese makes every bite creamy and delicious.
This is a great recipe for busy evenings when you want a filling meal without spending hours in the kitchen. Everything cooks together in the Instant Pot, making cleanup easy, too.
Why I Love Fiesta Chicken
- One-Pot Dinner: Chicken, rice, and vegetables cook together.
- Packed With Flavor: Taco and ranch seasonings make a delicious combination.
- Cheesy Goodness: Melted Colby Jack adds a creamy finish.
- Great for Leftovers: Reheats well for another easy meal.
About the Ingredients ⭐
- Chicken Breast: 1 pound, cut into 1-inch pieces for even cooking.
- Black Beans: One 16-ounce can, drained.
- Bell Pepper: Adds color and a little crunch.
- Corn: One 16-ounce can, drained, for a touch of sweetness.
- Rotel Tomatoes: Two cans of tomatoes with green chilies add flavor and a little heat.
- Jalapeños: One 4-ounce can, optional for extra spice.
- Taco Seasoning: One packet adds classic taco flavor.
- Ranch Seasoning: One packet gives the dish a savory ranch flavor.
- Rice: 2 cups uncooked rice to make this a filling one-pot meal.
- Water: 2½ cups to help cook the rice.
- Colby Jack Cheese: 16 ounces for a cheesy, creamy finish.
Be sure to check out the full recipe and ingredient list below
How to Make Instant Pot Fiesta Chicken
Add the Rice: Place the uncooked rice and 2½ cups of water in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
Add the Seasonings: Sprinkle the taco seasoning and ranch seasoning evenly over the rice.
Layer the Ingredients: Add the chicken, corn, Rotel tomatoes, black beans, jalapeños (if using), and bell peppers on top of the rice. Do not stir!
Pressure Cook: Secure the lid and set the Instant Pot to Manual LOW PRESSURE for 12 minutes.
Release the Pressure: When the cooking time is complete, carefully perform a quick pressure release.
Add the Cheese: Open the lid once the pressure has fully released. Stir in the Colby Jack cheese until melted and combined.
Serve: Spoon into bowls and add your favorite toppings.
Tips I Found Helpful 💙
- Use LOW Pressure: Cook on LOW PRESSURE for 12 minutes, not high pressure.
- Do Not Stir: Keep the rice and water on the bottom and layer the remaining ingredients on top to help prevent the burn warning.
- Drain the Beans and Corn: Remove the extra liquid before adding them.
- Add Cheese Last: Stir in the Colby Jack after pressure cooking so it melts into the hot rice.
- Check the Chicken: Make sure the chicken reaches 165°F before serving.
Questions Readers Ask Most
Instant Pot Recipes I Love
Instant Pot Fiesta Chicken
Instant Pot Fiesta Chicken combines tender chicken, rice, beans, corn, and melted cheese in one easy, flavorful dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 (16-ounce) can black beans, drained
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 (16-ounce) can corn, drained
- 2 cans Rotel tomatoes with green chilies
- 1 (4-ounce) can jalapeños, optional
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 1 packet ranch seasoning
- 2 cups uncooked white rice
- 2½ cups water
- 16 ounces Colby Jack cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Add the uncooked rice and water to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Sprinkle the taco seasoning and ranch seasoning evenly over the rice.
- Layer the chicken, corn, Rotel tomatoes, black beans, jalapeños (if using), and bell pepper over the rice. DO NOT STIR.
- Secure the lid and set the Instant Pot to Manual LOW PRESSURE for 12 minutes.
- When cooking is complete, carefully perform a quick pressure release.
- Once the pressure has fully released, open the lid. Check that the chicken has reached 165°F and the rice is tender.
- Stir in the shredded Colby Jack cheese until melted and combined.
- Serve hot with your favorite toppings.
Notes
:Cook on LOW PRESSURE, not high pressure. Do not stir the ingredients before cooking. Keep the rice and water on the bottom and layer everything else on top. Stir only after pressure cooking is complete. Use thawed chicken cut into 1-inch pieces.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 454Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 101mgSodium: 921mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 4gSugar: 2gProtein: 37g
Enjoy using your recipes. My question is: If cooking from frozen AND adding uncooked rice, don’t you need to add another cup of water?
@Gladys L Banta,
Good question. Did you figure this out
You
This recipe sounds really good but the Sodium is very high. I am on a low sodium eating program due to chronic kidney disease so is there something else I can do to lower the sodium ?
@Myrna Vick, I try to do lower sodium. For this recipe I would get no-salt-added Ro-tel (a favorite of ours!) and no-salt-added black beans. Lower sodium taco seasoning . . . I think McCormick has one with 30% less sodium. I haven’t noticed lower sodium ranch packets. For that I’d either use half the ranch seasoning, or make my own.
Don’t know if this would lower the sodium enough for your diet, but it’d be an improvement!
Is the time the same for brown rice? Usually brown rice takes longer to cook. Also, did you drain the corn and Rotel?
What king of pepper does this use? Green Bell??
Quick question about this recipe (IP fiesta chicken) when you say pepper, do you mean bell pepper? Also do I drain the corn, beans, and Rotel?
You can use any peppers I used a red and yellow yes drain the corn no on rotel
For the fiesta chicken (under 30 days of freezer meals) When you take out of the freezer it said 12 high, but says add 2 cups rice then low 12. So is it high, natural release, then add the rice and do an additional 12 but on low?
Yes rice is always on low pressure
So you do both high pressure for 12 min and natural release. And THEN add rice and do 12 min on low pressure with quick release?
@Mandie, Was this ever answered?
I’m new to making freezer meals. I feel like this is a dumb question, do I put the chicken in the freezer bag raw? Thanks for the info.
It’s not a dumb question yes you can put it in raw
Can I use brown rice in this? If so, do I have to adjust the cooking time?
Our IP doesn’t have options for our Manuel button. What other options are there?
Normaly pressure cook bottom is manual
The recipe says 2 cups of water but the from frozen directions only says 1. Do I put another cup of water in with the rice? Thank you!
For the rice, what kind do you use?
Do you cut the chicken before cooking?
Hi,
Tried the recipe and we loved it but it’s a lot of food! If I halve the recipe, is it still the same cook time?
Is there something I can sub in for the Rotel my sil hates tomatoes. Broth? Maybe tomato sauce or tomaro soup
Normaly pressure cook botton is manual
Hello what is low pressure? I dont think I have this setting…i have the LUX 8qt
LUX models only have high pressure. You cannot change between low and high.
Can you use brown rice for this recipe or does it need to be white?
Hi there.
Looking forward to trying this recipe, but first what type of rice are you using?
Thank you for this great post!
Yes don’t drain the tomatoes and don’t stir I will do a video for this
I had this issue too and I did not stir it. Is it better to put the rice after the water or water over the rice? I’m new to pressure cooking so I wasn’t sure
@Allie Serban,
Don’t put the rice on the bottom like the recipe says. I usually put chicken – corn, beans, then put rice in middle. It will burn with the rice put in the like the recipe says
What are your serving sizes on your meals
I just got an Instant Pot and this was my first meal ever in it. AMAZING!!!!! Everyone loved it!
I will work on a video this week for it thanks
Is there a video yet? I just got the same error. I followed the recipe exactly. Help!
If I want to cook the rice separately do I put any broth in the pot before hand?
This was a wonderful recipe. How would it work if I halved the rice? Would I still halve the water?
Yes it will
If we add the rice, and it’s uncooked, do we not need to add more water? I’m talking about when you do it from frozen. I would think we’d need more water if we’re adding uncooked rice.
Any chance you could update your directions to account for the comments below? I missed the answer about draining the corn and I dumped the whole thing in there.
Recipes look delish. Can’t wait to make them.
This recipe is delicious and always a hit, but can you tell me how to prevent getting the “burn food” notice? I can never just let it cook for the required time. What do you recommend? Thanks!
So good! I topped mine with salsa, avocado, and sour cream. I saw many had an issue with the burn warning that’s because the rice should be added last and then pushed down so that the liquid covers it. I do this with all my recipes that include rice. I added a little extra water to make sure it would be ok. Worked like a charm!
I tried this tonight. I thought it was really good. I might try to add more chicken next time. Also, you will need to add time if it is frozen. At 20 minutes, it was still raw. I decided to use saute to boil it for a few minutes to finish cooking the chicken. I shredded the chicken when it was cooked.
@Kristal, me too. So frustrating.
@Kristal, mine did the same and I followed the directions !! My sealing ring is correct so the rice must have burned. I added liquid and tried again bit it was already too late it seems…
ugh so sorry I will be remaking this recipe to see what happened thanks
@Kristal, i wish i knew. My rice (the bottom layer) burnt to a crisp and super-glued itself to my IP.
I want to make this. But I see many people have asked whether, when making from frozen, do you need to add more water before cooking the rice. I do not see a response. Please advise if more water should be added between cooking the chicken with accoutrements and cooking the rice. Thank you.
On two different occasions my daughter and I made this recipe. Both times we had trouble the Insta Pot working correctly – two different Insta Pots. Using low pressure seemed to be the issue. She felt the content was too much .. Any suggestions?
maybe it was too much I will test this recipe again thanks!
This is such a great idea. I have plans to do this for my elderly family. I have one question. If I were to be dropping all these recipes in crockpot instead, would you make any adjustments?
@Elena, I also got that add water signal and I followed all directions etc. I tried to add water but it was too late. It was ruined. Any suggestions
I was excited to make this, but as soon as I turned the instant pot on it hadn’t even built pressure yet and it shows food burned and the rice is fully stuck to the bottom. What a waste.
Amazing flavor! Bummer the rice didn’t cook all the way. I think maybe if you did high pressure for 3 minutes then a NP release for 10 it might have absorbed and cooked.
I made exactly from the directions however my instant pot started alerting me that food was burn and it did. The rice didn’t get cooked all the way as my rice cooker would . What could you suggest? I was thinking maybe putting in the rice last instead first in your direction? It had a great though.
Have you come up with a solution for the burn notice? I really want to try this again as it smelled so good the first time
Use one cup of rice instead of 2
I will redo this recipe this week
@Adventures of a Nurse, We had the same “burn” issue – we thought about trying to finish it in the oven because we don’t want to waste the ingredients.
You are saying we should only use 1 cup of rice, correct? we’ll try it again – it smelled delicious.
Thank you!
I made the following modifications to fit my family’s dietary needs and it worked well. 1) Halved the rice and used brown rice; used 1 cup of brown rice with 1.5 cups of water, and cooked for 15 minutes. 2) To avoid the peppers being totally disintegrated, I added a bag of frozen peppers right before the cheese and sauteed for 2-3 minutes. 3) Used low sodium taco and ranch seasoning mixes.