I’m making Thursday Night Tacos a thing, with these Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos.

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Watch the How to Video Here:

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos from Half Baked Harvest on Vimeo.

On Tuesday I shared my favorite Tamale Chili, which I plan to serve up this New Year’s Eve, but it would not be a Mexican New Year’s Eve feast without some tacos. Enter these sweet and spicy pineapple chicken tacos.

Oh my gosh, they’re my favorite.

With pomegranate pineapple salsa…of course. Because I am obsessed with all the in season winter fruits (as you will soon find out in all the upcoming healthy January recipes).

Oh these tacos, they are easy, healthy, and delicious. Throw everything in the crockpot, go out and do something fun, and come home to dinner!

YES. PLEASE.

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

I know I’ve said this over and over, but we always do a ton of Mexican over the holidays. Knowing that I would be in need of some super easy and quick dinners while all my family is in town, I turned to slow cooker and instant pot recipes.

Tacos are probably one of the most loved foods among the crew, so again, Mexican was also an obvious choice. These are kind of a knock off of an al paster style taco. I swapped the pork for chicken, and cooked everything in the instant pot (also have made in the slow cooker) and added a pomegranate pineapple salsa, which, if I’m being completely honest, is my favorite part of the whole meal. All I really need are tortillas and salsa and I’m good.

I love using chicken in place of pork because it’s a little leaner and my family usually prefers it over pork. I also incorporated some poblano peppers for a little smoky flavor and extra vegetables.

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

I haven’t shared these tacos with the family yet, but I’m hoping to make them for New Year’s Eve on Sunday. Feeling pretty confident they’re going to love them, seeing as they contain all of their favorites.

Speaking of the family, I feel like I need to catch you guys up on our family Christmas. Winter finally arrived, just in time for Christmas, and we spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day outside playing in the backyard. Well, let me rephrase that, all of the boys spent most of Christmas outside, while the girls and I cooked and made more cocktails than I could ever count. Christmas Eve was actually pretty mellow as we headed to a friend’s house for a party that night. I was still in the kitchen all day, but just ended up making a giant pot of my brother’s favorite gumbo, beer bread from the cookbook, this blue cheese appetizer, these brie rolls, and a GIANT batch of chex mix.

Christmas morning we woke up to a very white Christmas with about three feet or so of snow. It was pretty much what you see in the movies, and it was perfect. We spent the morning opening gifts, unpacking our stockings, and eating monkey bread. Even though most of us kids are all grown adults, my mom continues to make Christmas the BEST every single year. Giving her a HUGE shout out for not only making all seven of her kids Christmas amazing, but also my three cousins who spend Christmas with us every single year. She also shopped for four girlfriends and one boyfriend, making her grand total of people to gift for at fifteen. And that does not include my dad, because he’s literally the Grinch and hates Christmas…wish I was joking, but it’s the honest truth, at least he goes along with it though.

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

Once gifts had been opened most everyone made their way outside and then eventually back to my house for a lunch of grilled cheese, leftover gumbo, leftover tamale chili, and um yes, more cocktails. For dinner, I unexpectedly found out (at like 5 o’Clock) that I’d be cooking for not only my family, but also my brother’s girlfriend’s family, and my brother’s friend’s family, making a grand total of twenty-seven people. The more the merrier, right? Yup, my mom has ingrained this into me.

I ended up making the simplest dinner of beef tenderloin, cheesy potatoes, pasta dish from the cookbook, a giant lasagna, and a giant salad. And then, I made my brother Red homemade sushi, because one, he’s been requesting it for over a month, and two, this was the only day I actually had time to make sushi. It’s turned out OK, but my sushi skills could definitely use some sharpening.

SIDE NOTE: I made the sushi before I knew about all the extra people coming for dinner, so Red’s lucky it actually happened.

And that’s our Gerard family Christmas! The family has been spending these days after Christmas, and leading up to New Years, playing outside. They’ve been hiking, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and just playing in the backyard. I’ve been mixing in work with a little chill family time too, so it’s been nice. Still cooking a ton, but what’s new there?

And now that I’ve written a story book about our family Christmas, I think we should all head to the kitchen and start cooking dinner, because Taco Thursday is sounding pretty delicious right about now.

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest
Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest
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4.18 from 218 votes

Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.

The Recipe

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos

By halfbakedharvest

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Mexican
Keyword: chicken and pineapple, easy recipe, instant pot recipe

These are kind of a knock off of an al paster style taco. I just swapped the pork for chicken, and added a delicious pomegranate pineapple salsa.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 servings
Calories 285 kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/2 sweet onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1-2 chipotle chile peppers in adobo, chopped
  • 1/2 cup pineapple juice
  • 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
  • 1 poblano pepper, sliced
  • corn or flour tortillas, queso fresco, and sliced avocado, for serving

Pineapple-Pomegranate salsa

  • 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
  • arils from 1 pomegranate
  • 1 jalapeño, seeded, if desired, and chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • juice from 1 lime

Instructions

  1. 1. In the bowl of your instant pot, combine the chicken, onion, garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, salt, chipotle chile peppers, pineapple juice, pineapple, and poblano pepper. Cover and cook on high pressure/manual for 15 minutes. Once done cooking, use the natural or quick release function and release the steam. Shred the chicken using two forks. 

    2. To make the salsa, in a bowl, combine the pineapple, pomegranate arils, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, and a pinch of salt.

    3. Stuff the chicken into the warmed taco shells and top with pineapple salsa, cheese, and avocado. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Directions

  1. 1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine the chicken, onion, garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, salt, chipotle chile peppers, pineapple juice, pineapple, and poblano pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 4-6 hours. Once the chicken is done cooking, shred with two forks. Finish as directed above.

Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Chicken Tacos | halfbakedharvest.com @hbharvest

PS. don’t forget a side of guacamole, chips, and margaritas. DUH.