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The Best Instant Pot Enchilada Casserole

This easy Instant Pot enchilada casserole is perfectly layered and feeds a family. Use shredded chicken or beef. This is one of those recipes that everyone will ask for again and again!

instant pot enchilada

I can’t take all of the credit for this Instant Pot enchilada casserole recipe . . . actually I can’t take any of the credit.

These delicious Instant Pot enchiladas were a labor of love crafted by my mother and aunt for a quick family dinner as I watched in the kitchen.

They were determined to find the perfect Instant Pot chicken enchiladas that could feed a large group of people AND was appropriately layered like an enchilada casserole you’d make in the oven. And they did it!

To back up a little bit, chicken enchiladas are my favorite dish of all time.

When we were young, we’d get to choose the meal that we wanted our mom to make for our birthday dinner – and I would always pick enchilada casserole.

Chicken enchilada casserole, to be exact. It really never varied. And my mom always obliged because enchiladas were one of those recipes that fed our whole family (7 people!) without complaint. Everyone liked them.

Tips for Making Chicken Enchiladas in the Instant Pot

With our acquisition of Instant Pot, we’ve been converting all of our favorite recipes so that they can be cooked in this amazing machine.

Instant Pot enchilada casserole was the first order of business, given that it’s a favorite of mine – and who doesn’t love enchilada casserole?

It’s still that one dish that everyone in our family loves. The night we made this casserole, it fed six people with a few of them going back for seconds – and there were leftovers still.

The secret to this recipe is making sure there is enough liquid at the bottom of your pressure cooker so you don’t get that fateful error message. That liquid is also the reason this recipe is just so dang good!

instant pot chicken enchiladas

Can I Use Chicken or Beef?

You can use either chicken or beef for this recipe.

If you use beef, you’ll want to get a chuck roast. Any size will do; you’ll use about 1.25 lb of the meat and you can just save the leftovers. You’ll press “Sauté” and then brown the meat on both sides for about 3 – 4 minutes.

Drain any oil and place the meat back into your pressure cooker. Add 1 cup of water and press “Pressure Cook.” Leave for about 35 minutes for a 1.25 lb piece.

If the chuck roast is larger, you may go up in time. Two lb takes about 45 minutes to cook and 3 lb, 60 minutes.

Whether you use chicken or beef, remember that you’ll want to save the liquid that comes off of the meat for the recipe. Don’t toss it.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 lb chicken breasts or chuck roast, shredded
  • Reserve liquid from shredding your meat
  • 5 medium size corn tortillas, cut in half
  • 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese mixture
  • 1 10 oz can Ro*Tel diced tomatoes and green chiles
  • 1 yellow onion thinly sliced
  • 2 10 oz cans red enchilada sauce
  • 2 4 oz cans diced green chiles
  • 1 large can sliced black olives (optional; delete if you don’t like olives)
  • Toppings as desired: sour cream, thinly sliced red radish, chopped cilantro, chopped green onion
instant pot enchilada

If you’re ready to try this easy dinner, get the printable recipe card below!

instant pot chicken enchiladas

Instant Pot Enchilada Casserole

These Instant Pot chicken enchiladas perfectly layered and feeds a family. Use shredded chicken or beef. This is one of those casserole recipes that everyone will ask for again and again!
4.60 from 40 votes
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 lb chicken breasts or chuck roast shredded
  • Reserve liquid from shredding your meat
  • 5 medium size corn tortillas cut in half
  • 2 cups shredded Mexican Style cheese
  • 1 10 oz can RoTel diced tomatoes and green chiles
  • 1 yellow onion thinly sliced
  • 2 10 oz cans red enchilada sauce
  • 2 4 oz cans diced green chiles
  • 1 can sliced black olives optional
  • Toppings of your choice

Instructions

  • Pour the can of Rotel into your pressure cooker. Add the saved reserve liquid (if needed) to cover the bottom of the pot to a depth of approximately 1/2”.
  • Add 1/4 of the shredded meat, spreading across the bottom of the Instant Pot.
  • Cover the meat with 1/3 of the sliced onion.
  • Pour 1/2 of one can of red enchilada sauce on top of the onions and meat.
  • Spread one can of the diced chiles and half of the sliced black olives on top (if desired).
  • Place three halves of tortillas on top to cover everything.
  • Repeat layering as above, ending with tortillas.
  • Create one more layer with the last third of the meat, onion, enchilada sauce and 1 cup of shredded cheese.
    Cheese, onion, and enchilada sauce layered in the instant pot
  • Cover with remaining tortilla halves. Pour remaining enchilada sauce on top followed by the remainder of the shredded cheese.
  • Close the lid and set to Rice (Auto) for 25 minutes.
  • Release the pressure (either quick or natural) and remove the lid. Let cool before serving.
    chicken enchiladas instant pot

Video

Notes

Note: Nutrition facts calculated using chicken breast, which is what I used. If you use beef, you'll need to recalculate your nutrition facts.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 478kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 1241mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 11g

Have you ever tried Instant Pot chicken enchiladas? If you try these, I’d love to know in the comments! If you’re looking for additional family dinners they’ll love, try these other recipes:

4.60 from 40 votes (26 ratings without comment)
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Chris

Sunday 24th of March 2024

So I really liked this but it was really soupy and was scorched on the bottom. I used low pressure for 25 min. What did I do wrong?

Chris

Friday 22nd of March 2024

I just tried this for the first time. I made it with green sauce, love the flavor but very stupid? And idea why?

Novel

Sunday 5th of September 2021

If you live at high altitude, this is more of a slow cooker recipe than an Instant Pot one. Even adding extra liquid to the bottom and then again mid-cook when the scorch warning went off to try and rescue it, it scorched to the bottom. I transferred it to my slow cooker to finish. It's delicious though!

Karen Howells

Sunday 2nd of June 2019

Such an easy one pot meal! I also tried it substituting refried beans for the tortillas, and then I heated the tortillas in the microwave and let guests put the mixture in the instant pot into the warm tortilla, like making a taco. Some of my guests liked putting the cooked mixture without the tortillas into a bowl and ate it with tortilla chips. It is super versatile for sure!

Jan

Sunday 2nd of June 2019

OMGosh Amy, this is fabulous! Enchiladas are my absolute favorite too & better yet in the instant pot. GREAT job converting & will probably not make 'traditional' much any more, what with all the frying & rolling. This one's going to my favorites, yay! So easy! I halved the recipe for my 3 qt & the amount was perfect. I used ground meat because that's all I had, but can't wait to try with chuck. For the extra liquid, I just mixed in some taco seasoning so it wouldn't be just water. Thanks soooo much for sharing this recipe!