Name: Instant Pot Taco Meat from Frozen Ground Beef
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups water; 2-1 pound blocks of frozen ground beef; 1/2 cup water; 2-1 ounce packages taco seasoning

Instant Pot taco meat from frozen ground beef is the perfect recipe if you forgot to thaw your ground beef! This Instant Pot taco meat recipe cooks frozen ground beef to tender, flavorful taco filling in about 40 minutes with just three simple ingredients.

Cooked ground beef taco filling in an Instant Pot inner pot.

We’ve all been there—standing in front of the freezer at 5 p.m. wondering what to make with that rock-solid pound of ground beef. This Instant Pot taco meat recipe is here to save the day!

With just three ingredients (one of which is water!), you can go from frozen meat to flavorful taco filling in about 40 minutes. It’s a quick and easy way to get dinner on the table without a lot of effort or planning, and it makes a great filling for tacos, nachos, burritos, and more.

Ingredient notes and substitutions

Ground beef: I like to use either 85% or 88% beef in this recipe. If you use extra lean ground beef, it may dry out.
Taco seasoning: Feel free to use homemade taco seasoning or store bought taco seasoning. Also, the taco seasoning will add the flavor for the ground beef, so choose the type that you like.

How to make Instant Pot taco meat from frozen ground beef

Here you’ll find instructions and step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe. The full recipe, including ingredients, is given below.

Water in an instant pot next to a trivet in water in an instant pot.

Step 1: Pour the 1 ½ cups water into the Instant Pot inner pot.

Step 2: Place a trivet into the inner pot.

Two blocks of frozen ground beef in an instant pot next to two cooked blocks of ground beef.

Step 3: Add the two blocks of ground beef side-by-side on the trivet. Be sure to place them next to each other and not to stack them. It’s ok if they overlap a little, but if they’re stacked, they won’t cook through as well.

Step 4: Close and lock the lid. Press manual high pressure and adjust the cooking time to 20 minutes. If you’ve pressed your blocks of ground beef so that they’re thinner, use 18 minutes for the cooking time. Be sure that the pressure release valve is set to venting.

Step 5: Once the cooking time has finished, carefully turn the pressure release valve to venting.

Step 6: Carefully remove the trivet and ground beef. Discard the water in the inner pot.

Crumbled ground beef with taco seasoning next to cooked taco ground beef.

Step 7: Return the ground beef to the inner pot, and break apart to crumble.

Step 8: Add the remining 1/2 cup water and taco seasoning.Press sauté. Cook, stirring regularly, until the ground beef is cooked through.

A meat masher in an Instant Pot full of cooked taco meat from frozen.

Tips

Trivet: It’s important to use a trivet. Otherwise, the ground beef will boil in the water.
Water: You may find that you need to add a bit more water to the ground beef as your sautéing it, and that’s ok.
Saucy ground beef: I like to add about 1/2 cup of salsa in with the taco seasoning for saucier ground beef.

Serving suggestions

The taco meat is very versatile! It can be used to make hard or soft shell tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, or taco salad.

Storage

Store any leftover taco meat in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to 4 days when properly stored in the fridge.

More Instant Pot ground beef recipes!

Instant Pot Taco Soup

Instant Pot Beef and Shells

Instant Pot Wendy’s Chili Copycat Recipe

Instant Pot Taco Pasta

If you’ve tried this easy Instant Pot taco meat from frozen ground beef recipe, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!

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