This Instant Pot Ground Beef Taco Meat is so easy to make and starts with frozen ground beef. Extra lean ground beef, low sodium beef broth and a homemade taco seasoning blend make a delicious taco meat that’s perfect for busy weeknights.
Instant Pot Ground Beef from Frozen
One of the most common questions people ask about my Instant Pot recipes is how to adapt them for frozen meat. So when I spotted a few recipes for Instant Pot Taco Meat starting with frozen, I knew I had to give it a try.
I started with my favorite homemade taco seasoning.
I then added a completely frozen pound of extra lean ground beef to the Instant Pot. I used 96/4 ground beef for this recipe.
I also use a low-sodium beef broth to keep the meat moist. Cook ground beef from frozen on high pressure for 20 minutes.
When it’s done, I use a ground beef chopper to break up the meat.
Instant Pot Ground Beef
Honestly, I was extremely skeptical of this method. I don’t generally cook any meat from frozen, but I was really interested in testing out this technique. Initially, when the meat was still very hot I found the texture to be a little tough, but as the meat rested and cooled down a bit it was perfect! I cooked a batch of taco meat in a skillet at the same time to compare, and my husband and I both agreed that we couldn’t find a difference in the texture or flavor.
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2/3 cup low sodium beef broth
- 1 pound frozen extra lean ground beef
In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and cornstarch.
Add frozen ground beef to Instant Pot, add beef broth and sprinkle seasoning mixture over meat. Set Instant Pot to High Pressure for 20 minutes, then use Quick Pressure Release. Set Instant Pot to Saute to help thicken and break up cooked ground beef as it simmers. Serve warm.
You may also like:
Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowl
Instant Pot Chicken Enchiladas
5 Easy Dinner Ideas for Busy Weeknights
My five FAVORITE recipes for busy families!
- Quick to make
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- Easy to clean-up
- and...most important...absolutely DELICIOUS
This is a great idea, but aren’t you supposed to cook with at least 1 cup of liquid in a pressure cooker?
Great Recipe and it’s very nice of you to elaborate that it does not affect the taste whether its frozen or fresh meat. Was looking for an answer for quite long. Thumbs Up.
Thank you for the E-Book. Never thought about using the immersion blender for breaking up hamburger thank you for that .
Is it really only 2/3 of a cup of broth, even in the IP? I’m anxious to try this, but felt like maybe it needed more liquid than that.
Thank you!
Do you add all the seasoning ingredients to the pot before cooking the ground beef? I was wondering whether it might be better to add the cornstarch after the the meat is cooked.
Another question: Do you use a quick release of pressure when the 20 minutes of cooking ends?
Yum! I used a store-bought packet of taco seasoning (we’re cleaning out the pantry). The beef was still quite bloody at twenty minutes, but another four minutes took care of that. Thanks for sharing!