Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas

This quick, easy, and healthy recipe for instant pot chicken fajitas is perfect for a fast supper any night of the week. It’s great for leftovers and meal prepping too, and it’s dairy free and gluten free. Try fajita tacos with this delicious recipe too!

 

Chicken Fajitas Made Fast in the Instant Pot

If you don’t own an Instant Pot yet (*affiliate link), I highly recommend getting your hands on one. This small kitchen appliance puts a whole new meaning on “fast food” (that has nothing to do with a drive-thru!). This simple recipe for instant pot chicken fajitas shows how easy it is to use the instant pot and how incredibly quickly you can get a wonderful, healthy dinner on the table. 

 Fajitas (pronounced fa-hee-tas) are traditionally a tex-mix dish of grilled meat served with veggies and flour or corn tortillas (or taco shells for fajita tacos). For this chicken fajitas recipe you skip the grilling and put everything – chicken breast, veggies, and sauce – in the instant pot for a delicious combination that is ready in a flash. 

Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas Ingredients

For my recipe I kept it really simple. The ingredients are common, healthy, and most of them you likely already have in your fridge and pantry. All you need to make this tasty dish is:

• Chicken breast (boneless, skinless)
• Red bell pepper
• Green bell pepper
• White onion
• Homemade fajita sauce (or if you are really short on time, a store-bought fajita seasoning mix)

Make Fajita Tacos with Optional Garnishes:

• Salsa (homemade salsa is my fave!)
• Avocado
• Lime
• Cilantro
• Corn (or flour) fajita or taco shells

Easy Homemade Chicken Fajita Sauce

The homemade sauce for this recipe is super simple, incredibly flavourful and brings in the liquid needed to cook the chicken and veggies in the instant pot without them burning. Cooking in the instant pot requires steam so there is always a need for water or liquid in certain amounts for proper cooking. 

Here’s what you’ll need to make the sauce: 

• Water
• Lime juice
• Gluten free soy sauce (or tamari sauce)
• Balsamic vinegar
• Coconut palm sugar (or honey)
• Garlic
• Cumin, ground
• Coriander, ground
• Chipotle powder
• Chili powder
• Thyme, dried
• Salt 

Common Instant Pot Questions Answered

 

How do you keep chicken from drying out in the instant pot?

To avoid ending up with dry chicken in the instant pot you want to make sure you use enough liquid that creates the necessary steam inside the instant pot. For this recipe I used a quantity of about 1/3 cup of sauce. Often 1/4 cup of water is sufficient. 

You also want to make sure you don’t cook the chicken for too long, especially if you are on the pressure cook setting. For sliced chicken breast like in this recipe, 5 minutes is often enough cooking time, and for full breasts, 10 minutes is sufficient. 

This simple and delicious is great for supper, lunch leftovers, and meal prepping! Be sure to pin the photo below the recipe to save this one for later. Have you tried instant pot chicken fajitas or fajita tacos? Tell me about it in the comments!

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Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas

Yield: Serves 2-3

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Steam Release Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

These delicious and easy instant pot chicken fajitas are gluten free, dairy free, and have a wonderful homemade fajita sauce.

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Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, boneless skinless, sliced into strips
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 1 small onion, sliced

Fajita Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce (gluten free if needed)
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar or honey
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt

Serve with:

• corn, or flour tortillas, or rice
• salsa
• sliced avocado or guacamole
• lime wedges

Instructions

1. Slice the chicken and the vegetables and add to the bottom of the instant pot.
2. In a bowl combine all of the sauce ingredients and whisk.
3. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables and stir to coat everything with the sauce.
4. Place the lid on the Instant Pot, and make sure the top valve is rotated to 'sealing'.
5. Select "pressure cook" and toggle to "high" pressure then incease time to 5 minutes.
6. The instant pot will start automatically after a few seconds.
7. Allow the fajitas to cook and when the timer is done, carefully use a knife or stir spoon to rotate the top valve to release. Steam will come out and wait until all the steam has released, about 5 minutes.
8. Open the lid and serve the fajita chicken and veggies in corn or flour tortilla wraps (or on a bed of rice) with fresh salsa, sliced avocado, and lime wedges (or any other accompaniments of your choice).

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