I know you’ve heard of jackfruit, but have you tried it yet? This recipe for Instant Pot Orange Lime Chile Jackfruit is easy, full of flavor, and perfect for Taco Tuesday!
Plant Based Carnitas in Your Instant Pot
I even have a whole post about Instant Pot Jackfruit Recipes with tons of information on the miracle fruit if you want to learn more.
Make a Quick and Easy Dinner in Your Electric Pressure Cooker
My Instant Pot Orange Lime Chili Jackfruit makes a meaty taco filling or bowl topping that’s bursting with orange and lime flavors and uses a few different chili pepper powders.
It’s like veganized carnitas that just happen to be oil-free. Lime chile jackfruit tacos are a great way to introduce your family to this miracle food.
Serve this with some Plant Based Instant Pot White Beans with Tomatillos or Instant Pot Mexican Quinoa with Black Beans.
What Is Jackfruit?
Jackfruit is a giant fruit that’s native in India and can be grown in a tropic or subtropic climate. It doesn’t have a strong flavor, so it’s great in a bbq sauce, curry, or even a Mexican spiced dish.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to buy and break down a 15 to 50 pound fruit to make jackfruit recipes. You can buy it canned or a smaller piece of the fresh fruit.
Why Use Jackfruit?
With so many allergies it’s always nice to have a filling main that’s soy and gluten-free. It’s a great meat replacement and once cooked and shredded it mimics shredded chicken or pork.
It’s a super easy way to veganize some of your old favorite recipes. I’ve used it in a Tom Yum soup, in Pad Thai, BBQ, and show no signs that I’m stopping any time soon.
Where Can I Buy Canned Jackfruit?
Jackfruit is really taking off and you might find some in a regular grocery in the ethnic section. You will always find the cans in your local Asian market and I actually found some in my local grocery on sale for 50 cents a can! Generally, you will pay between 2 to 3 dollars a can, so I stocked up when I saw the sale.
You can always get fresh or canned jackfruit at your local Asian market. Be sure to read the note below and buy jackfruit in water or brine, not in syrup for savory recipes.
Buy Canned Jackfruit in Brine NOT in a Syrup!
This recipe uses canned and be sure to read the label carefully because you want the jackfruit in brine and not the one in a sweetened syrup. We’re using an unripe jackfruit and it’s not sweet at all.
How Can I make Cooked Jackfruit More Chewy?
This is great inside tacos, burritos, and as the main part of a dinner bowl. Make it chewier by baking or sautéing after you cook it in your Instant Pot.
To bake, spread on a parchment lined baking pan on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, stir, and cook 5 to 10 minutes more. You could also saute in a nonstick pan over medium heat until the jackfruit begins to be more chewy.
More Recipes to Try
- Vegan Instant Pot Steamed Vegetable Dumplings
- Instant Pot Quick Pickled Beets
- Instant Pot Vegan Tortilla Soup with Jackfruit
Instant Pot Orange Lime Chile Jackfruit
Equipment
Ingredients
FOR THE INSTANT POT
- 1 tablespoon water to make oil free
- 1/2 small onion thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon ground guajillo chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground California or New Mexico chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 20 oz. can jackfruit, shredded
- 1/3 cup water or broth
- 1/4 cup cup orange juice about 1 small orange or a couple of mandarins
- juice of 1/2 a small lime
BEFORE SERVING
- salt to taste
- extra lime juice to taste
Instructions
- Heat the water in your IP on saute. Once hot add the onion and saute until translucent. Then add the chili powders and smoked paprika and saute until they become more fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Press cancel to turn off the saute. Add the jackfruit, water, orange juice and lime juice. Put the lid on and cook on manual/pressure cook for 10 minutes. Carefully release the pressure manually.
- Before serving adjust salt and lime juice to taste.
Sam says
Hello, we can’t get jackfruit here, either fresh or canned. Based on the flavour profile of the dish and the texture of jackfruit , is there something you can recommend to replace it with? Many thanks. Just started to look around your site. Really impressed with the few recipes I have looked at so far. Thank you.
Kathy Hester says
You could shred a king mushroom, or even use shredded sweet potato.
Sam says
Thank you for your help. I will try the sweet potato, as I have never seen a king mushroom for sale here, and if available, I can only imagine how large a second mortgage I would have to take out in order to afford a whole dish’s worth of specialty mushrooms!!! Good luck with the website!
Rebecca G says
This is really good!! I will be making again. I\’m so glad I doubled it. 1 can of jackfruit just isn\’t enough for my boys. They eat a ton! Everyone enjoyed them.
Penelope says
I’m late to the game but wanted to add my opinion.
DELISH!!!
The first time I made it, I went with my general disposition to really lay on the spices and therefore added heaping (more like super heaping) teaspoons of spice. This threw off the juice to spice ratio. It was okay, pretty good, but I could tell I had messed it up.
I made it again keeping to the actual measurements and brother was it good. I’m making it again today but doubling b/c its really that good.
Def recommend!
Jane says
Ok, I didn’t have the right Chil powder, so I used my Indian chili powder that I always used. As I knew it would be stronger, I used 1 teaspoon less.
I doubled up the recipe as there are only glowing comments. It was pretty bad. It tastes like jackfruit with an excess of chili powder. It is the worse jackfruit recipe I have made. Idk
Kathy Hester says
The guajillo and New Mexican chili powder called for is what brings the flavor to this dish. It’s very different from Indian chili powder as it has more depth of flavors and they are not spicy at all. So if you leave them out it will not taste right at all.
I’m sorry you didn’t like it – but the only substitution I would recommend for either of the chilies called for would be ancho chili powder. Mexican chilies are used to create a multi-layered depth of flavor.