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Wow! This was absolutely delicious!! One of my new favorites. The chicken was so tender and a great combo with the slaw.
Kehley
Can we just establish that my idea of a good dinner is one that starts with INSTANT POT and ends with juicy pineapple and spiced chicken crisped under the broiler, tucked into tortillas, and rolled up with creamy jalapeño ranch slaw?
These tacos are springy, delicious, and just plain happy. Er, maybe it’s me that’s happy? And probably because throwing some pantry ingredients together, pressing start on the Instant Pot, taking my crew for a walk, and coming home to dinner almost done is almost the same as winning a million dollars. Almost.
Instant Pot lovers, where you at?
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken! Let’s Do This.
Okay, here’s everything nice and pretty in the IP.
And here’s the less-pretty situation after cooking.
And here’s the pretty-again end result after popping the whole thing under the broiler for a bit (borrowing that one from these crockpot carnitas).
Don’t Forget About The Sauce!
Jalapeño Ranch? Won’t take you two seconds.
Everything goes in the food processor or blender till it’s smooth.
Toss that creamy goodness with cabbage, stuff it all into tortillas (these are La Tortilla Factory corn and flour blend tortillas – my not authentic but totally delicious favorites), drizzle with a little more sauce because SAUCE, and live your best spring life.
Juicy, sweet, and just a little bit spicy… that would be a yes, yes, and yes.
These Hawaiian chicken tacos would go great with some pitcher-style margaritas, plus a lil bowl of this 2 minute avocado dip (like guac but not guac) as an appetizer while you wait for those tacos to finish.
Chips and dip, drinks, and super fresh springy tacos… my favorite signs of warmer days ahead. 😍
Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken Tacos: FAQs
Absolutely!
Sure! The cook time should be the same.
Full fat Greek yogurt works well!
Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken Tacos with Jalapeño Ranch Slaw
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
These Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken Tacos are out of this WORLD. Juicy pineapple and spiced chicken crisped under the broiler, tucked into tortillas, and rolled up with creamy jalapeño ranch slaw.
Ingredients
Instant Pot Hawaiian Chicken
- 1.25 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cups fresh pineapple, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeño, minced (remove ribs and seeds for less heat)
- half of a red onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1/4 cup water
Jalapeño Ranch
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 jalapeño (remove ribs and seeds for less heat)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried dill (or about 1/4 cup fresh)
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup fresh chives (or sub 1/2 teaspoon onion powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
Extras:
- Cabbage for the slaw
- Tortillas
- Any extra toppings you like
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 475 degrees (broil setting).
- Instant Pot: Place all chicken ingredients in the Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes (20 if frozen). Release the pressure and shred chicken directly in pot.
- Broil: Transfer shredded chicken to a baking sheet lined with foil. Broil for 10-15 minutes until browned.
- Sauce: Pulse jalapeño ranch ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Toss some of the dressing with finely shredded cabbage to make a slaw.
- Done: Serve chicken in warm tortillas with slaw and an extra drizzle of jalapeño ranch, slices of avocado, extra pineapple, cilantro, red onion, etc.
Equipment
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → Notes
Making this in the slow cooker: Since chicken cooks quickly, set this to high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours. Then shred and brown.
Making this on a stovetop: Sauté the vegetables and spices, add the chicken, add a little more liquid (maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup), and let it simmer down. Then shred and brown.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Hawaiian-Inspired
Keywords: instant pot tacos, hawaiian chicken tacos, jalapeno ranch
Make It A Freezer Meal!
Freeze Together:
- 1.25 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cups fresh pineapple, finely chopped
- 1 jalapeño, minced (remove ribs and seeds for less heat)
- half of a red onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Blend For Jalapeño Ranch (Make Day-Of):
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup each olive oil and water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 jalapeño
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/4 cup each fresh parsley and fresh chives
To Cook:
INSTANT POT: Add 1/4 cup of water before cooking. From frozen, 20 minutes on high pressure + quick release.
SLOW COOKER: Add 1/4 cup of water before cooking. From thawed, 3-4 hours on high.
FINAL STEP: Shred chicken and serve with Jalapeño Ranch Slaw in tortillas. Blend up the Jalapeño Ranch ingredients and toss with shredded cabbage to make a slaw.
View more healthy freezer meals here!
More Delicious Taco Recipes
- Crunchwrap Supreme
- Best Easy Fish Tacos
- The Best Chicken Tinga Tacos
- Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Tacos
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy gluten-free recipes. Check it out!
I must say, this Jalapeño Ranch Dressing is my absolute fave! I’m from Texas and have always tried to make a clean, healthy ranch that rivals some of the stuff you can get in TX, but it’s proven pretty hard—if not impossible—to do. BUT I will say this ranch is pretty darn close!
I do sub cilantro for the parsley (just a personal preference). Anyhoo, I absolutely love this dressing with the tacos above, but it’s also amazing on any salad I throw together. So good! ❤️
100/10. No notes. So so delicious and easy!!
Looks so good – I would like to make this for dinner tonight! Just one question…Are you just supposed to broil the chicken only, or include all the juices and pineapple, etc.?
chicken, juices, and pineapple!
Excellent, fresh flavors! Skipped the jalepeno as I was feeding my toddlers and didn’t want to be too spicy. The cabbage slaw added a great crunch. Will definitely make again.
My family loves this recipe! The slaw has become our go-to slaw for lots of other recipes. I love that I can freeze and easily reheat any leftover chicken. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
There you go again, another winner winner chicken dinner. I doubled it and I’m glad I did or we might not have had leftovers to speak of. High fives from the fam. I think I might go a little less dill next time, as that was a more dominant flavor than I intended, but it didn’t slow anyone down. I made the avocado dip too and used it on the taco. 11/10 recommend the whole deal. Thanks much
Delicious! Instant pot makes it even easier and quicker to prepare.
If I want to double this recipe, would I double all the ingredients?
Yes!
Did you sauté the chicken in the instant pot first? My pot isn’t that brown when the timer is up.
Delicious! I will definitely make again!
I just realized how many times I’ve made these tacos and never left a review, and that’s completely unfair so here we go. My family loves this recipe. It’s so easy and makes a good, filling meal. It’s easy to scale for feeding a crowd, and accommodates a range of dietary restrictions. I’ve also prepped it ahead of time and frozen the raw ingredients for times when I know I’m not going to have a lot of time/energy to cook (bringing both my babies home from the hospital). Just thaw before pressure cooking. This is one of the most versatile recipes in my arsenal.
This is AMAZING! I made it as written and it is absolute perfection.
This was delicious with chicken thighs as well. The sauce was especially tasty and we used the leftovers on another dish to finish it up.
I made in crockpot by doubling all ingredients except garlic and onion. I used only 3 cloves and 3 shallots vs red onion. I used more like 3 lb chicken (half thighs half breasts) and cooked on high in the crockpot for about 4.5 hours. Removed to shred and broil. So good! Real crowd pleaser. I would not add the water when making the ranch. Mine was really watery. I would only add for the consistency you want. It had excellent flavor though.
5⭐’s!!! I love this recipe and I’ve made it several times.
I didn’t have any fresh parsley or chives, so I had to eye-ball some dried herbs as a sub. It turned out great, but a little thin. To make it thicker, I blended 1/2 an avocado. DELICIOUS!!!
Hey!
I’m looking for recipes that I can cook and THEN freeze so they’re ready when I need them for lunch (solo)
Do you think this recipe, made immediately, and then frozen afterward, would reheat well? Are there parts of this that you’d omit for freezing and reheating?
Thanks!!!
If I wanted to make this a freezer meal (thanks for the instructions!!), could I still use canned pineapple?
Yes, that works!
This was really tasty, but maybe a little on the sweet side for us. Also, we did the instant pot from frozen version and two of the pieces of chicken were still raw when i was shredding them. I wasn’t sure how long to put it back in the instant pot for, but took a guess at 5 more min and it came out cooked then. Would make again but with a couple of small tweaks, thank you for the recipe!
Has anyone used canned pineapple? I don’t often have ripe fresh pineapple 🍍
Has anyone used canned pineapple? I don’t often have ripe fresh pineapple 🍍
These tacos are great! We make them when we have guests and everyone wants the recipe. We like a little spicy so I tend to leave ribs and seeds in half of the jalapeños. I tend to prefer them in hard shells but regardless of your shell choice they are delicious!
My dinner plans fell apart tonight and I needed something I could whip up quick and I thought of this (I had freezer meal prepped it before but never made it fresh) I went digging for the chicken I thought I had in the freezer and came up with a bag for frozen uncooked shrimp but no chicken so I modified the recipe. Sautéed the red onion with jalapeños garlic and added ginger cause I had it handy. Threw in the spice mixture, deglazed the pan with a splash of water and a splash a pineapple juice (I was using canned) along with the pineapple, sriracha and mustard. Then added the shrimp. Once they were cooked a still had a decent amount of liquid so I added a small corn starch slurry to thicken it up and dinner was done. It made delicious shrimp pineapple tacos and marks the first time my toddler has liked shrimp. Thanks for the inspo, wouldn’t have thought this up without you getting me started.
Thank you for listing Potassium AND Phosphorus nutritional values. I have kidney disease and both are things I have to watch in my diet. I think with some tweaks I’ll be able to use this recipe!
My entire family devoured this! A big hit. Thank you!
Omg so good. I made the freezer version (baby meal prep) and did the instant pot cooking method. My husband said it was restaurant quality. You MUST use the fresh pineapple. I forgot to add water and it was fine in the instant pot. I will be making again soon!