It’s Instant Pot Thursday! And this week’s Recipe of the Week is an amazing Instant Pot Butter Chicken! The Loon and I have been a huge fan of this dish for years. It is just so satisfying and truly warms you to the core. And so easy in the Instant Pot!
Back when Wesley and I lived in New York City, there was an Indian restaurant that served the most amazing butter chicken dish called Chicken Mahkani. We always said on our next visit (which was usually at least once a month), we would try something else on the menu. But, alas, I don’t think we ever did. We just loved this Butter Chicken dish so much, we never tried anything else!
The ingredients come together to make one of the most satisfying dishes we’ve ever experienced. If you can’t find garam masala at your local market, you can easily order it by clicking here.
The beauty of this dish is that it is steeped in flavor, but not overly spicy at all. I know many folks are concerned that Indian cuisine is super spicy, and sometimes it can be. But this dish has just a nice warmth to it. Serve it with basmati rice and some traditional Indian bread called Naan, and you will be so very happy! Oh, and the other beauty of this recipe, thanks to Instant Pot, it’s on the table in about 30 minutes!
Now, go ahead and make this incredible Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe!
Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tsp fresh parsley chopped, for garnish
- 3 cups cooked basmati rice instructions below
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to Saute.
- Add the butter and cook until melted and starting to foam.
- Add the garlic and ginger and saute for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir to mix.
- Add the garam masala, paprika, coriander, turmeric, cumin, and salt. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken thighs and stock and stir to coat the chicken.
- Close the lid and turn the valve on top to Sealing.
- Hit Cancel and then select Poultry or Meat/Stew. Set the timer for 5 minutes on High Pressure.
- Once cooking is complete, let naturally release for 10 minutes, then move to Quick Release.
- Remove the lid (once the Release is complete) and hit Cancel and then select Saute.
- Add the coconut milk and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce thickens a little.
- Serve with basmati rice and garnish with chopped parsley.
- Perfect Basmati Rice:
- Add 2 cups basmati rice to a large bowl and cover with water.
- Swirl the water around the rice for about a minute.
- Carefully pour off the water into the sink, holding the rice back with your hand.
- Repeat this process two more times.
- Cover the rice with water and let sit for 15 minutes.
- Drain the rice.
- Put 3 cups water into medium-sized pan and add the rice.
- Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to low, cover tightly and cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.
Nutrition
Do you think this would work with frozen chicken breasts and increasing the time to 18 minutes or so?
Hi Eric, we’ve not tried that with this particular recipe, but we have we others. I believe 18 to 20 minutes should be sufficient time. Let us know if you make it and how it turns out. This is one of our favorite IP dishes to make! Keep us posted! Best, Kris & Wesley
Good stuff! Made this this evening and it was a hit! The aroma was fantastic while cooking. So quick to make in the Instant Pot. Everyone loved the flavor-want it added to the dinner rotation. My daughter’s only critique was that she wanted it hotter (spice wise). Rice was perfect-as advertised. Thanks for another awesome meal guys.
Hi Laura! Yay!! So sorry for the delayed response! We’ve been caught in the Texas arctic blast situation, but back at it now! We are so thrilled you loved the IP butter chicken…we love that dish so much! And we LOVE that your daughter likes it even spicier! That’s our kinda girl!! LOL! Thanks as always for letting us know and for the wonderful review. That really does mean so much to us! All the best, Kris & Wesley
Guys
There’s something wrong while reading the recipe there are seriously some problems with the coding because there are parts of the recipe that’s breaks up into symbols or computer code. I have tried it on both my iPad and cell phone.
Thanks
Rickie Lee
Hi Ricki! Thanks so much and so sorry about that. We are in the process of transferring recipes to a new recipes card, and sometimes coding gets messed up. We’ve fixed the issues with this recipe. Hope you make this, it’s really good and one of our favorites. Best, Kris & Wesley
This dish is also made with cream. Have you tried the recipe with cream?
Can chicken breast be substituted for thighs? It looks amazing I can’t wait to try. I bought an Instant Pot and would like this to be the first thing I cook in it. Thanks for the great stories and incredible recipes!
Hi Denise!! Thank you so much for reaching out to us. You can absolutely go with chicken breasts. I just find they can dry out just a tad. But, if you cut them into large chunks and reduce the cook time 4 minutes, you should still get extremely tender, delicious chicken. Let us know how it turns out, and please stay in touch!!