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You really wont miss the meat in these flavorful, filling, and healthy Instant Pot Lentil Tacos! Ready in 20 minutes, and easily adaptable to use ingredients and toppings you already have, this vegetarian instant pot recipe is a WINNER.
I'm a big fan of mixing up our dinners with some meatless meals. I'm not a vegetarian (far from it 🙂 ) but I also don't like my family eating heavy servings of meat every single night.
One of my favorite vegetarian meals is black bean burgers — so dang easy and TASTY! I love that I usually always have what I need to make them.
I feel like Mexican flavored dishes are even easier to make meatless because of all of the delicious flavor and spices you can add to the dish. These sweet potato and black bean enchiladas, and these black bean and corn quesadillas, for example, always leave us feeling satisfied.
What I really love about these Mexican inspired lentil tacos are how hearty the mixture is–you wont even miss the meat! They are soo flavorful, and delicious, and one of my absolute favorite vegetarian instant pot recipes.
The Instant Pot makes this meal even more genius. Throw everything in the pot, and give it a stir. That's it! Cook it for 15 minutes on high pressure, and you're ready to eat. No babysitting the lentils, no stirring the pot. You don't even need to let the pressure naturally release!
This Instant pot lentil tacos recipe is also really easily adaptable to what you have on hand.
Substitution Ideas:
Chopped onion for onion powder.
Use the saute function on the instant pot to saute 1 cup chopped onion in a little bit of oil, before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Water for chicken broth.
You can use water if you don’t have chicken broth. I just like the extra boost of flavor that the chicken broth adds. Or you could add 4 teaspoons/4 chicken bullion cubes to the water.
Tomato sauce instead of salsa.
Additional veggies:
Try adding corn, diced green chilies (if you like it spicy), or another chopped vegetable, like zucchini.
More great Instant Pot Dinner recipes:
Instant Pot Chicken Taco Bowls
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Instant Pot Lentil Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry lentils, , green or brown
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, (or vegetable broth)
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
Topping ideas:
- corn or flour tortillas, , for serving
- shredded cheese
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- avocado, , chopped (or guacamole)
- fresh cilantro
- green onion, , chopped
- olives
- sour cream, (or plain Greek yogurt)
- salsa, , or hot sauce
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to instant pot and stir to combine.
- Close the lid and move valve to sealing position.
- Cook on manual (high pressure) for 15 minutes.
- Once the timer beeps, cover the valve with a towel and switch it to quick release to release all of the pressure.
- Open lid and gently stir.
- Allow to cool while you prepare toppings.
- Serve warm, inside corn or flour tortillas, with desired toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipe adapted from My Plant Based Family.
Nutritional label is based off a ¼ cup servings (to fill 1 taco). Does not include toppings.
Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
These were great! A bit too wet but that could have been the salsa that I used. The taste is fantastic. Thank you so much.
Hello! Would this freeze well? Also, if I were to cut the recipe in half would there need to be any adjustments other than halving the ingredients?
Thank you!
Yes, I think it would freeze great. No other changes to half the recipe. Cooking time will stay the same.
Just made this for my picky family and everyone loved it! My four year old has been raving about the “best tacos ever” since his first bite. I used our own taco seasoning and added salt because my broth was salt-free, but this was a great recipe to start with, thanks!
Really enjoyed this recipe overall! With all the toppings it tasted delicious and the texture of the lentils was wonderful. The only comment I have is I felt like the lentils could have used a bit more flavor. I will try some things on my own but if anyone has any recommendations of what to add for a little bit more flavor I would love to hear! Thank you so much for the recipe!
I love this recipe! It is so quick and easy, and the lentils come out perfect. I used veg broth instead of chicken and also threw in a finely chopped jalapeno pepper. I decided to stir in a little corn at the end too. Oh, and try a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime once it is done…really brings out the flavours.
This will definitely be added to my weekly rotation. Such a versatile recipe! Thank you!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
I loved this recipe! Easy, delicious, plant based! I halfed the recipe and it came out wonderfully. Could easily feed four with half the recipe. My partner and I ate half and still have lots for leftovers! This is a keeper recipe. Will share and make again. Thank you!
Great recipe, but I cook it in my IP Mini for 4 minutes. Any more and it turns into mush. Somehow all recipes tend to cook much faster in my IP than in any recipes, so just wanted to add this here for any other mini users.
Thanks for sharing your tips for cooking in the IP mini!
I used half a can of diced tomatoes instead of salsa. They turned out awesome, AND mild enough even the pickiest little dragon liked them. Thank you!!
So glad to hear, thanks for sharing!
Can I use red lentils? That is all I have on hand. Thank you.
Hi Katie,
I haven’t tried it with red lentil- I think it should work given that there cook times are very similar. I’d love to hear how it goes!
This was a big hit! I love how easy dry legumes are in the instant pot! Next time I’ll add just a but more spice as we like it a little spicier but it was really good. This left the lentils done and soft but still with a bit of chew. If you wanted a creamier lentil filling, you could add more liquid and cook a bit longer. But we loved how it turned out. Now I want to okay with it and see what veggies I can add in, like shredded carrots and so on!
I just made this and it turned into slop! I’m not sure where I went wrong. The taste was delicious but the texture way off!
2 things that maybe happened?
a) I used red lentils as that’s all the store had
b) I let it slow release the pressure as I was busy running around so it sat on keep warm for 20 min naturally releasing pressure.
Any ideas? I want to make it again
Red lentils do not hold up to pressure cooking like green or brown lentils do
Seconded! Though, red lentils make an awesome protein boost to tomato sauce for pasta because they end up so creamy instead of maintaining shape