I love this instant pot butter chicken, it’s quick easy and so delicious! I never go timid when it comes to spices in my Indian food recipes, However, it’s balanced and they all work in harmony so your taste buds are going to sing! This instant pot butter chicken is full flavor and tastes like it came from an Indian restaurant but it only takes about 30 minutes to make prep to finish, thanks to the instant pot!
A secret to good Indian cooking is toasting the spices before they get added to the dish, this amplifies the flavors and makes them taste better in the dish. With this instant pot version you still do this so we can get the best flavors from our spices. You will turn the instant pot on sauté before you add your liquids and all of your ingredients, instructions for how to do that are on the recipe below.
This recipe can also use fully frozen chicken breast, so no thawing is necessary, huge time saver and something I love about instant pot cooking. You can also use thawed or fresh chicken if that is what you have on hand, I will add the notes on cook times for frozen chicken and fresh. I love the convenience of frozen chicken and always have a bag or two in my freezer for quick dinners. I also love my quick and easy no yeast and no rise time naan bread that I can whip up while my instant pot is doing it’s thing. That RECIPE IS HERE.
What you need to make this Instant Pot Butter Chicken:
Serves 6
- 1 small yellow or white onion – diced
- 2 cloves garlic – minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- Dash of chili powder – more or less for desired heat
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 14 ounce chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt – more to taste
- 2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup cream
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 chicken breast – fresh or frozen
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons cream or milk
Instructions
- In the instant pot or an electric pressure cooker, add onion, garlic and olive oil and cook on sauté until onion starts to soften.
- Add curry powder, garam masala, ginger and desired amount of chili powder then stir into onions so the spices get a little toast on them.
- Add tomato sauce and chicken stock, salt, sugar, cream and butter and whole chicken breasts.
- Place lid on instant pot, lock into place and cook for 12 minutes if using frozen chicken and 10 minutes if using thawed.
- Do a quick pressure release.
- Stir together cornstarch and cream and whisk into the still hot mixture. It will thicken slightly, enough to coat your rice and not fall completely through it. If you’re mixture has cooled too much before adding the cornstarch mixture and it doesn’t thicken at all then turn instant pot onto sauté and cook for 2 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.
- Remove chicken and shred with a fork or slice into chunks then return to the sauce.
- Taste and adjust salt to preference.
- Serve over basmati rice or rice of choice and enjoy!
Here are a few other recipes you may love:
- Chicken Tikka Masala RECIPE HERE
- Crockpot Indian Chicken Curry RECIPE HERE
- Butternut Indian Curry Soup RECIPE HERE
- Curry Shrimp RECIPE HERE
Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 small yellow or white onion – diced
- 2 cloves garlic – minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon curry powder
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- Dash of chili powder – more or less for desired heat
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 14 ounce chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt – more to taste
- 2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup cream
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 chicken breast – fresh or frozen
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons cream or milk
Instructions
- In the instant pot or an electric pressure cooker, add onion, garlic and olive oil and cook on sauté until onion starts to soften.
- Add curry powder, garam masala, ginger and desired amount of chili powder then stir into onions so the spices get a little toast on them.
- Add tomato sauce and chicken stock, salt, sugar, cream and butter and whole chicken breasts.
- Place lid on instant pot, lock into place and cook for 12 minutes if using frozen chicken and 10 minutes if using thawed.
- Do a quick pressure release.
- Stir together cornstarch and cream and whisk into the still hot mixture. It will thicken slightly, enough to coat your rice and not fall completely through it. If you’re mixture has cooled too much before adding the cornstarch mixture and it doesn’t thicken at all then turn instant pot onto sauté and cook for 2 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.
- Remove chicken and shred with a fork or slice into chunks then return to the sauce.
- Taste and adjust salt to preference.
- Serve over basmati rice or rice of choice and enjoy!