Instant Pot copycat Taco Bell ground beef makes flavorful ground beef in no time! This easy Taco Bell-style recipe lets you make dinner in about 30 minutes.
It’s great to know how to make versions of your favorite restaurant dishes at home! Copycat recipes can save time, save money, and let you control the ingredients to make healthier homemade versions.
This recipe is a copycat Taco Bell ground beef recipe. The ground beef is thick and flavorful, and it makes a tasty filling for hard or soft shell tacos!
What you’ll need to make copycat Taco Bell ground beef in the Instant Pot
- Ground beef: You’ll want to use beef that’s about 88% lean. It has enough fat that it doesn’t dry out but not so much that it makes greasy taco meat.
- Water
- Beef bouillon cubes: Feel free to substitute beef broth in place of the water and bouillon cubes.
- Dried minced onion
- Chili powder: Feel free to add more chili powder if you’d like.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder: The cocoa powder gives the meat color and adds a bit of earthy flavor.
- Garlic powder: Be sure to use garlic powder not garlic salt.
- Smoked paprika: Regular paprika will also work.
- Granulated sugar: Many taco seasoning packets have sugar to balance out the flavors. You can omit the sugar if you’d like.
- Onion powder: Be sure to use onion powder not onion salt.
- Old-fashioned oats: Old-fashioned oats are also known as rolled oats.
How to make Taco Bell style ground beef in the Instant Pot
Step 1: Press sauté.
Step 2: When the pot is hot, add the ground beef, and cook, breaking up, until browned, about 3-4 minutes.
Step 3: Press cancel.
Step 4: Add the water, and stir to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Step 5: Layer the beef bouillon, onion, chili powder, cocoa powder, garlic powder, paprika, sugar, onion powder, and oats. Don’t stir.
Step 6: Close and lock the lid. Make sure that the pressure release valve is set to sealing.
Press manual high pressure and adjust the time to 6 minutes.
Step 7: Once the cooking time has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then turn the pressure release valve to venting to release any remaining pressure.
Step 8: Remove the lid and give everything a good stir. Let it sit for 3-4 minutes to absorb more of the sauce before serving.
Tips
- Draining the beef: If you use beef that’s about 88% lean, you won’t need to drain the grease. If you use beef with more fat, you may need to drain some of the grease off. If you use leaner ground beef, it may dry out.
- Oats: If you’d like the oats to be less noticeable, place them in a blender or food processor and pulse until ground.
- Seasoning: Feel free to adjust the seasonings to taste. If you’d like hotter taco meat, you can add cayenne pepper along with the chili powder.
Serving suggestions
The ground beef mixture can be used to make hard shell tacos, soft shell tacos, nachos, burritos, or tostadas.
Serve the tacos with toppings like shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes or pico de gallo, and guacamole.
Storage
Store any leftover ground beef in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The taco meat will keep for up to 4 days when properly stored in the fridge.
Instant Pot Copycat Taco Bell Ground Beef
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds 88% lean ground beef
- ¾ cup water
- 2 beef bouillon cubes crumbled
- 2 tablespoons dried minced onion
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ cup old-fashioned oats
Instructions
- Press sauté.
- When the pot is hot, add the ground beef, and cook, breaking up, until browned, about 3-4 minutes.
- Press cancel.
- Add the water, and stir to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Layer the beef bouillon, onion, chili powder, cocoa powder, garlic powder, paprika, sugar, onion powder, and oats. Don’t stir.
- Close and lock the lid. Make sure that the pressure release valve is set to sealing.
- Press manual high pressure and adjust the time to 6 minutes.
- Once the cooking time has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then turn the pressure release valve to venting to release any remaining pressure.
- Remove the lid and give everything a good stir.
- Let it sit for 3-4 minutes to absorb more of the sauce before serving.
Notes
- Ground beef: You’ll want to use beef that’s about 88% lean. It has enough fat that it doesn’t dry out but not so much that it makes greasy taco meat.
- Beef bouillon cubes: Feel free to substitute beef broth in place of the water and bouillon cubes.
- Old-fashioned oats: If you’d like the oats to blend in more, pulse them in a blender or food processor before using.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
Disclaimer: Nutritional values were calculated using a third-party tool and are provided as an estimation only.
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