This Cafe Rio Chicken (Instant Pot or Crock Pot) is one of the most requested meals at my house lately, and I could not be happier about it! It seems like there is always at least one day (or more) every week that my dinner plans fall through. I forget to take things out of the freezer to defrost or some errands take too long and I find myself with a house full of hungry boys and very little time for dinner. It is nights like this that the Instant Pot pressure cooker can really come in handy! I had a day like that a couple of weeks ago…we had just got home from soccer practice and had an event to go to in about an hour at our church. I remembered this yummy recipe for Instant Pot Cafe Rio Chicken and knew it would be the perfect quick dinner (and people do say Taco Tuesday, after all!)! I was able to throw frozen chicken breasts into my Instant Pot with a few ingredients and by the time I had the table set and the taco fixings out, the meat was ready! My whole family LOVED these Cafe Rio Chicken Tacos. The chicken is bursting with flavor and fall apart tender. You can also use the crock pot for this recipe…but you have to plan ahead (I struggle with that part sometimes)
Are you a Cafe Rio fan? For those of you who don’t know…it is a place similar to Chipotle (but better in my opinion). I am actually headed to Utah this week for BYU Women’s Conference and I am excited to eat at a Cafe Rio (once or twice)! There is nothing like it in Chattanooga and I miss it! Everything on their menu is bursting with flavor and delicious. I am not sure if this is the way they make their chicken, but it reminds me of the Cafe Rio chicken. The Italian dressing gives it a nice punch of flavor. I am sure you could make your own but I like to keep a bottle or two of Italian dressing on hand for this recipe and as a quick marinade during grill season. Also, I always make extra chicken so I can freeze some for later. As you know, I like to cook once and eat twice! That saves me so much time! If you don’t want extras, you can cut the recipe in half.
This time we used the chicken to make Street Tacos. I heated some flour and corn tortillas on my griddle with some grated cheese until they were hot and melted, then we topped them with the chicken, lettuce, a squeeze of lime and some Chipotle Creme (made from this Smokey Chipotle Sandwich Spread--I just thinned it with a little water and drizzled it on top). Seriously SO yum! We all loved it! You could also use this in a Burrito Bowl, enchiladas, quesidillas, or salad.
Other Cafe Rio Recipes:
Shredded Sweet Pork Salad, Cilantro Lime Rice, Tomatillo Ranch Dressing
Cafe Rio Chicken Tacos (Instant Pot or Crock Pot)
Ingredients
- 4 lbs chicken breasts
- 2/3 cup Italian dressing (Kraft Zesty Italian is great for this recipe)
- ½ tablespooon minced garlic
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 pkg. ranch dressing mix (3 Tbsp)
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions:
- Place frozen or fresh chicken breasts in the bottom of your Instant Pot.
- In a small bowl combine Italian dressing, minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, ranch dressing mix and water and pour over chicken breasts.
- Lock your lid in place and make sure the vent is set to the SEAL position.
- Turn the Instant Pot to the MANUAL setting for 12 minutes if your chicken is frozen, or 8 minutes if it is fresh.
- When the timer goes off allow the pressure to naturally release for about 15 minutes before removing lid.
- Remove chicken from the pot, shred.
- Use for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, nachos, salads, etc.
Crock Pot Directions:
- Place frozen or fresh chicken breasts in your crockpot.
- In a small bowl combine Italian dressing, minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, ranch dressing mix and water and pour over chicken breasts.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4 hours.
Recipe Source: Adapted from my friend Jodi of 5 Boys Baker
I made this tonight and it was a hit! It took longer to come to pressure than I had planned so we were late to scouts, but that was because the boys we had over kept coming back for more! We didn’t use the sauce because they just took the chicken as I shredded it on a separate plate. I had some when I came home between drop-off and pick-up and oh man! So good! That chipotle sauce is really good. I used just two peppers and had to add more sour cream to it because apparently, I’m a wimp! I ended up straining the peppers out and it was still too spicy for some of the boys. Ha ha! The chicken was really good and I’m excited for the leftovers. I really liked the added chipotle sauce and lime too. Thanks for getting back to me and thanks for the great recipe(s)! 🙂
Hi Kimberly,
Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate you!! I will look into that email option for my blog. In the meantime, I do that too–but on my computer there is an option in the top right corner of the screen that is like a box with an arrow pointing up–if I click on that it will bring up a box that will give me the option to email or add the page to my reading list (or bookmark it). I hope this helps! Also–the original recipe has 2 pounds of chicken but there is A LOT of sauce–so I add close to double that amount of chicken so I can freeze it for dinners later. To be honest I don’t weigh them–but 2-3 breasts are about 2 pounds. I usually put in 4-6 depending on the size of them. Hope that helps!
I’m so excited to try this! Wednesday nights are crazy (for lots of us, I know!) and this will be perfect. Just want to double check that it’s 4 pounds of chicken? Also, unrelated, but I wondered if there’s a way to add an email button to your recipes or posts. Not a big deal, but I often scan through recipes during the week and email myself ones I’d like to try out the next week so I don’t have to remember which blog and post. I know, I know, I could be better at writing them down somewhere, but anyway, if it isn’t troublesome, that’s a feature I would use often! 🙂 If it is a problem, well, I check your blog often and use lots of recipes here, so not a huge deal. Your blog is beautiful and your recipes are outstanding! Thank you for coming back. 🙂