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Instant Pot Korean Bulgogi BBQ Tacos. Shredded chicken in a sweet and spicy Korean inspired Bulgogi BBQ sauce. All made in the instant pot (along with slow cooker or stove-top variations). And topped with a quick roasted tomatillo sesame salsa, lettuce, and cheese. It’s a fusion of Mexican and Korean flavors. These are some of the best tacos to really switch up your weekly taco night. Bonus, these tacos can be made and ready in less than 25 minutes. Making them the perfect dinner for any night of the week!
This post is sponsored by ButcherBox.
I’m often asked if I ever have trouble sourcing certain foods because of the remote area where I live in Colorado. The answer? Yes! Sometimes I can get lucky and find amazing produce, meat, and other items. But more often than not, I look to source the more specialty items, like edible flowers and high quality meat, via online retailers that deliver. For the longest time I had the hardest time with meat. I am very picky about the meat I cook and serve to my family and friends. If I’m going to cook meat of any kind, I like to know where it’s coming from, and that it’s of the highest quality.
Thankfully, I found ButcherBox. ButcherBox delivers 100% grass-fed beef, free range organic chicken, and heritage breed pork…directly to your door (with free delivery). The meat comes vacuum sealed and frozen. All I have to do is unpack it and throw it into my freezer.
I can’t tell you what a game changer ButcherBox has been for me. They offer such a cost efficient way to buy meat. Not only do they save me the time of trying to pick out good cuts of meat at the grocery store, but by buying in bulk on a monthly basis, I’m actually saving money. Above all, the taste of their meat is far superior to anything I’ve found. Their tag line says, “think of us as the neighborhood butcher for modern America”, and for me that’s 100% true.
I also love that they raise all of their animals humanely and free of antibiotics. And because they have access to the whole animal, they introduce you to cuts that you would never find at your local grocery store, but will end up loving! There are so many different options to make your monthly box just right for you.
For our first recipe together I decided on Korean inspired tacos. Thanks in large part to my love for Korean food. Oddly these tacos were inspired more by the tacos that you might find on the streets of LA, versus the streets of South Korea. They’re southern California Mexican meets Korean fusion, so flavorful and so delicious.
If you were to find a similar taco in LA, it most likely would be grilled. But I wanted to keep things as easy as possible. So I decided to let my instant pot do all of the work for us. Don’t worry, for those of you who don’t own an instant pot I’ve included grilling and stove-top directions as well.
Simply toss in your ButcherBox chicken thighs or breasts (use what you love most), add the ingredients for the sauce, and cook 10 minutes. Then simply shred the meat. That’s pretty much it for the chicken.
While the chicken is cooking, make the salsa. This is a spicy roasted tomatillo sesame salsa. It’s so different from anything you’ve probably ever had before. It’s just delicious. The perfect sauce to spoon over the sweet, tangy, and spicy Korean BBQ shredded chicken.
Lastly, finish each taco off with a little cheese, fresh mango, and cucumbers. Done.
Simple, but also so flavorful and different. Excited to make these for Cinco de Mayo this Sunday! These are the perfect tacos to switch things up…just add a margarita and your Mexican fusion meal is complete!
Lastly, I’m excited to be working with ButcherBox this year. To kick off our partnership they are offering $10 off, plus 3 pounds of chicken breasts and bacon to those who sign up through my link. Such a good deal, I honestly highly recommend them! And if for any reason you don’t feel the same as I do, you can always cancel at any time. You can sign up here.
If you make these instant pot Korean BBQ tacos, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Instant Pot Korean Bulgogi Tacos.
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 975 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs
- 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons Gochujang (Korean chile paste)
- 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 8-10 corn or flour tortillas warmed
- 1 small mango, diced
- kimchi, shredded lettuce, sliced cucumbers, crumbled feta, or queso, for serving
TOMATILLO Sesame Salsa
- 6 tomatillos, skins removed (see notes, for creamy sauce)
- 6 green onions
- 2 tablespoons Gochujang (Korean chile paste)
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- juice of 2 limes
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Instant Pot
- 1. In the bowl of your instant pot, combine the chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, Gochujang, ginger, and garlic. Cover and cook on high pressure/manual for 8 minutes. Once done cooking, use the natural or quick release function and release the steam. Shred with two forks and stir in the cilantro. 2. Meanwhile, make the salsa. Preheat the oven to broil. Line a baking sheet with parchment.3. On the prepared baking sheet, arrange the tomatillos and green onions. Transfer to the oven and broil 3-5 minutes, until the tomatillos are lightly charred.4. To a blender, add the roasted tomatillos, green onions, Gochujang, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, and cilantro. Pulse until smooth. Stir in the sesame seeds.5. Stuff the kimchi, lettuce, and chicken into the warmed tortillas, and top with the salsa, mango, cucumbers, and cheese. Enjoy!
Slow Cooker
- 1. In the bowl of your slow cooker, combine the chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, Gochujang, ginger, and garlic. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Once the chicken is done cooking, shred with two forks and stir in the cilantro.2. Follow the directions as directed above for steps 2-5.
Stove-Top
- 1. In a medium size pot, combine the chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, Gochujang, ginger, and garlic. Set over medium heat, partially cover and cook 20-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. If the sauce is thickening too quickly, add 1/3 cup water. Once the chicken is done cooking, shred with two forks and stir in the cilantro.2. Follow the directions as directed above for steps 2-5.
Notes
To Make a Creamy Sauce: Replace the tomatillos with 1/2 a cup plain Greek yogurt, sour cream, or mayo.
Hello,
Can I make this a freezer meal then put in instant pot?
Freeze: chicken, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, fresh ginger, grated, garlic
Thoughts?
Thanks Jeanne
Hi Jeanne,
This sounds like a great idea! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
This was amazing! So creative too. I didn’t have Korean chilli paste but I used bulgogi Korean bbq sauce instead.
Love it! I am really glad this turned out so well for you Misty! xTieghan
This sounds PERFECT. I’m curious about using other types of meat with this dish (pork/beef- these are my husbands favorite). Do you have any suggestions on cuts to use for pork or beef? Would cooking time be the same? Thank you!
Hi Lizz,
You could totally use pork or beef for this recipe! I would keep everything the same. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Thank you
i will give to my friends your recipes.
So i will make tacos.
Aw thank you so much! I hope your friends love it as much as you! xTieghan
So so delicious. This has become my husband’s favorite dish and I even used it in a friendly cook-off against my brother in law. So much flavor, so delicious!
Love to hear that! I am so glad you all loved this Lacy! Thank you! xTieghan
Such a tasty recipe. My husband loved it. My picky 1 year old did not (not a surprise). Second time I made this instead tacos I served over rice noodles added some fresh raw veggies (thin sliced peppers and carrots) and it was amazing.
That is so great to hear! Thank you so much Nicole! xTieghan
Hi! Just about to make this but we dont have tomatillos in England! do you have any suggestions as a substitution?
Thanks
Zoe
Hey Zoe! I recommend using an equal amount of tomatoes! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
I made these for a big family dinner and while I’m sometimes skeptical of fusion recipes, these turned out great! I doubled the recipe so I could have leftovers, which my parents even asked to take home (unusual – they must have really liked it!). I made a few tweaks: sauteed half an onion sliced thin in some oil with the garlic and ginger before adding the rest of the chicken ingredients, then added a few tablespoons of lime juice, sriracha, and a slurry of cornstarch/water at the end to give it more zing and stickiness. I have neither crockpot nor instantpot so it needed to cook on low with the lid on for about 45 minutes before the chicken was shredded, then another 45 minutes after shredding to tenderize and absorb the sauce. The skins weren’t easily coming off of the tomatillos so I just threw them in whole, which worked just fine. We ate it with tortillas, mango, crumbled aged queso, and some chopped avocado, with rice and beans on the side. Really good the night of and the next day for lunch as well.
So glad you loved this recipe Holly! And had leftovers for lunch. YES! Thank you! xTieghan
Made this last night and my husband and I loved it! We didn’t find that we needed any toppings besides some crumbled queso fresco and the salsa. Very flavorful. I’m going to use my leftover salsa for mexican salads next week, as I find the batch I made to be almost a quart! Will definitely make this again.
Thank you so much Charlotte! So glad you both loved it! xTieghan
Made this recipe in my IP and it came out amazing. I subbed pork on the bone for chicken and it didn’t shred the way I wanted so i cut it up and put it back in and it still came out amazing. I’d love to try this again with a meat this will shred but over all this was incredible and everyone loved it. I love that this cooked up in less than 20 minutes. I don’t mind recipes that take more time or all the time but sometimes you need a recipe that can cook up quick and I’m glad this recipe is in my arsenal now. Muchas!
So glad you loved this recipe Sharona! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Ahh!!! This recipe is outrageously amazing!! I had some friends over for dinner tonight and was nervous about what to make because one of them is on a diet (eye roll)… but this was insanely easy and CRAZY DELICIOUS!!! I honestly cannot wait to have more people over to impress them with this one. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you Rosemary!! xTieghan
Just bought myself an InstantPot and this was the first meal I made in it!
Yum! I was skeptical about the salsa — but, made it as written! SO delicious!
My chicken was very juicy. I was wondering if the natural release played
A factor in that? I think next time after I take the chicken out to shred —
I will set the IP to sauté and reduce the sauce and/or add a cornstarch
slurry. But we LOVED this recipe! Thank you! Next… Butter Chicken!
Mary
Hey Mary! The IP just locks in so much moisture that chicken always comes out super juicy! It’s so great, right?!? I am so glad you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Do you think I could do a 2lb pork shoulder in place of the chicken??
Hey Bee! I am sure that will be so great! I would cut the pork into 4 pieces for even cooking. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
So excited to make these today! Would love your thoughts on substituting flank steak for the chicken? Thank you! We love ALL your recipes!
Hey Lizzy! Flank steak will be so good! I would add it whole to the instant pot, then shred the steak once done cooking. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Can I use a crockpot? If so, how do I adjust the recipes?
Hi Amanda, the crockpot directions are listed directly below the instant pot instructions. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan