Indian · Dinner

Instant Pot Butter Chicken

Chicken thighs pressure-cooked in a spiced tomato sauce, then finished with butter and cream for a rich, mild curry.

40 min total Serves 4 servings Easy
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Instant Pot Butter Chicken

Photograph credit: Delicious Butter Chicken Curry with Cream by Mohammad Fahim · Pexels License · Pexels

Instant Pot Butter Chicken: Step by Step

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  1. Set the pot to sauté. Melt the first 2 tbsp butter and cook the onion for 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic paste and spices and cook for 1 minute.

  2. Add the tomatoes, scraping the base to loosen any bits. Add the chicken and salt and do not stir.

  3. Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 8 minutes. Release the pressure naturally for 5 minutes, then manually.

  4. Set to sauté on low. Stir in the remaining butter and the cream and simmer for 3 minutes.

  5. Crush the fenugreek leaves over the top and scatter with the coriander.

What Can Go Wrong

  1. Deglaze fully to avoid the burn warning.
  2. Blend the sauce with a stick blender for a smoother texture.
  3. Add the cream at the end; pressure can split it.

Ingredient Swaps

  • In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.
  • If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
  • An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

About This Recipe

It looks like the slow version and tastes almost the same, but the pressure cooker does in 8 minutes what a pan does in 40. The sauce is built in the pot: onion, ginger and garlic softened on the sauté setting, spices bloomed in the fat, then tomatoes and chicken.

The main danger in a pressure cooker is the burn warning, which comes from a dry base. Deglaze well after sautéing: pour in the tomatoes and scrape the base until nothing sticks. Do not stir once the lid is on. Thick sauce settles at the bottom and triggers the warning.

Chicken thighs are best. They stay tender under pressure, whereas breast meat turns dry. Cut them into 4 cm pieces so they cook in 8 minutes at high pressure.

Release the pressure naturally for 5 minutes, then manually. Stir in the butter and cream with the sauté setting back on low, and simmer for 3 minutes to thicken. Finish with kasuri methi crushed between the palms.

To Go With It

Basmati rice · Garlic naan · Cucumber raita · Pickled onions

Keeping Instant Pot Butter Chicken

Keeps in the fridge for 3 days and freezes for up to 3 months.

Instant Pot Butter Chicken Nutrition

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

444Calories
37gProtein
11gCarbs
28gFat
3gFibre
5gSugar
770mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.

First published ; last changed .