Butter Chicken, or Murgh Makhani, is one of the most beloved Indian curries worldwide, and for good reason! Tender chicken pieces simmered in a rich, creamy tomato-based sauce with the perfect balance of spices… It’s comfort food at its finest. Making it in the Instant Pot not only saves time but also locks in all those incredible flavors, all in a simple one-pot method.
I have shared my one-pot Paneer Butter Masala recipe before, which is the exact same sauce made with onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, and lots of aromatic spices. I just replaced the paneer and added chicken while cooking the sauce.
Many recipes for butter chicken skip onions. However, I find that to be too tangy for my taste. Give this a try, and I am sure you will love this butter chicken. My daughter is a very picky eater but loves this sauce with chicken or paneer, so I can attest that it is kid-friendly.
This recipe has been tested numerous times to achieve the perfect balance of creamy, buttery goodness, while remaining easy enough for weeknight cooking. Follow along and you’ll have restaurant-quality Butter Chicken ready in under 30 minutes!
There is another popular Indian Chicken Curry – Chicken Tikka Masala. The difference is that for tikka masala, you marinate the chicken and grill the marinated chicken (called chicken tikka) before adding it to the gravy. Here is my Salmon Tikka Masala recipe for the Instant Pot.
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Before You Start
Butter Chicken is simple, but a few minor details make all the difference. Keep these tips in mind before you begin to ensure success every single time:
- Use chicken thighs: Boneless, skinless chicken thighs stay tender and juicy, even under pressure. Chicken breast works too, but thighs give better texture.
- Make the Sauce Thicker: You can add some cashews, about 12-15, along with the other ingredients, before pressure cooking. Once blended, they will make a thicker gravy for the final dish.
- Blend the sauce: After pressure cooking, blending the tomato-onion mixture makes the sauce silky smooth.
- Add cream at the end: Don’t add cream while pressure cooking. Stir it in at the very end for the perfect rich, velvety finish.
- Don’t skimp on butter: It’s called Butter Chicken for a reason! A little butter and honey at the end balances the acidity of tomatoes beautifully.
- Spice balance: Kashmiri red chili powder gives a gorgeous color without overwhelming heat. Adjust the amount of red chili powder to your spice preference. You can use paprika if you don’t have Kashmiri red chili powder.
- Make it Dairy-free: Use coconut milk or cashew cream instead of heavy cream. Replace butter with vegan butter or neutral oil.
- Vegetarian variations with this gravy: You can make paneer butter masala, butter tofu, matar paneer, or add roasted cauliflower to this sauce.
- Meal prep: If you like to meal prep, make a big batch of this sauce and freeze it for later.
A different preparation
The preparation for this Butter Chicken is very different than the usual onion-tomato gravy. Usually, to make gravy, we first sauté onions and then sauté tomatoes. However, this one is done in a completely different way.
Add all the ingredients, except cream, honey, garam masala, and kasuri methi to the Instant Pot. Place the chicken on top of the ingredients and pressure cook for 8 minutes. You don’t need to finely chop the onions and tomatoes as we are going to blend them later.
This is also the reason I suggest adding whole spices in a pouch made from thin cheesecloth or a spice bag. This helps to get the flavor, but you can also remove it before blending.
Once the pressure cooking is done, remove the cooked chicken and cut it into pieces. Blend the sauce using an immersion blender or a regular blender. I used my immersion blender, which I could use directly in the pot.
If using a regular blender, you will need to pour the contents into the blender and may need to let them cool before blending. Then pour them back into the Instant Pot after blending. The sauce is now ready. Stir in the cream, honey, garam masala, kasuri methi, and chicken pieces. Garnish with fresh cilantro, and enjoy it!
Serving Suggestions
Isn’t it a lovely color? And the easiest dish to prepare? This is my go-to dish when I have not done much preparation…and oh, perfect to serve if you have guests coming over. Here you can find 20 easy sides to serve with butter chicken.
Serve this butter chicken with roti or naan; perfect for scooping up the creamy sauce. My family enjoys it with jeera rice and a side of Indian onion salad.
Love this gravy? Serve it as a dip with naan and enjoy as an appetizer. This used to be a complimentary appetizer served at an Indian restaurant I frequently visited in Chicago.
If you have leftovers, this butter chicken will stay good in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
Fun Fact: I originally published this recipe in 2018. See the original picture below.
Instant Pot Aloo Gobi (Potato Cauliflower Stir Fry)
Mom’s Chicken Curry – Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot Coconut Chicken Curry
Instant Pot Saag Paneer
Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Video
Ingredients
- 1.5 pound Chicken, thighs
- 2 tablespoon Butter, (replace with oil for dairy-free)
- 1 cup Onion, sliced
- 1 tablespoon Ginger, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon Garlic, finely diced
- 1 can Diced Tomato, or 4 tomatoes cut in large pieces (14oz can)
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 teaspoon Honey, add more to taste
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1/4 cup Cream, heavy whipping or coconut cream
- 2 tablespoon Dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasoori Methi)
- Cilantro, to garnish
Spices
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Whole Spices (optional)
- 2″ inch Cinnamon (Dalchini), stick
- 5 Green Cardamom (Elaichi)
- 2 Black Cardamom (Moti Elaichi)
- 1/2 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
- 12 Cloves (Laung)
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
Instructions
- (optional) Make a spice pouch by adding the whole spices to a cheesecloth. Tie it such that the spices cannot come out of it.
- Except for chicken, cream, honey, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves, and cilantro, add all ingredients and spice pouch to the Instant Pot, including the spices.
- Place chicken thighs on top of the ingredients. Close the lid with the vent in the sealing position.
- Set the Instant Pot to manual or pressure cook mode for 8 minutes. After the Instant Pot beeps, do a 10-minute natural pressure release. This means let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then manually release the pressure.
- If using, remove the spice pouch and discard it. Carefully transfer the chicken to a plate using tongs. Blend the contents in the instant pot with an immersion blender or regular blender to a smooth paste. If using a regular blender, you may need to cool the ingredients before blending. Get the contents back into the Instant Pot.
- Add the honey, garam masala, and cream. Crush the dried fenugreek leaves between your palms and then add them in. Stir into the sauce.
- Cut the chicken into smaller pieces using two forks.
- Add the chicken pieces back to the sauce and stir them in.
- Garnish with cilantro. Butter Chicken is ready to be served.
I want to try this recipient, but I am confused. perhaps it’s a typo, but when do you cook the chicken? it says to keep it out of the pot when you make the sauce, and then strain it out of the sauce before blending.
nevermind, I misread the second part of that step. chicken goes on top of the sauce ingredients, in the pot.
Hope you enjoyed the butter chicken!
Tried this recipe with my son today, it was so easy to make. He said it came out very good, I will try the recipe with paneer as I’m vegetarian
Hi Nirmala – Happy to hear your son enjoyed the butter chicken. Here is the butter paneer recipe – https://pipingpotcurry.com/paneer-butter-masala-instant-pot/
Loved it, Smooth,velvety sauce with subtle flavours and sweet notes.My 1st ever meal cooked in my brand new Instant Pot.Whole family loved it including little Gracie, our 2 year old grand daughter, she said it was ” much yummy yummy!”
Hi Terry – So happy to hear you all enjoyed the butter chicken!
I love your recipes! I wanted to try your suggestion of adding tomato paste and reducing the number of tomatoes, what is your suggestion to the amount of paste and number of tomatoes to reduce?
Thank you
Hi Priya – Thank you! One tablespoon of tomato paste is about 1 medium tomato, so you can reduce the amount accordingly.
I made the recipe last night, and it was delicious. But I had the same problem that I had with the Chettinad Chicken recipe: even though I intentionally used more water than the recipe called for, and even though I used an entire 14-1/2-oz. can of crushed tomatoes to get plenty of liquid in the pot (more than the equivalent of the 4 tomatoes cut in large pieces that the recipe called for), still I got the “food burn” warning, and the pot never pressurized. As the instruction manual calls for in that case, I opened the pot and deglazed as much as I could; but again I ultimately got the “burn” warning and again the pot didn’t pressurize. So ultimately I just cooked the recipe longer, and it turned out fine. Afterwards I checked that the plastic ring in the pot was properly installed, and not cracked; I did the initial water test to be sure, and the pot pressurized just fine. So it seems that when there are a lot of ground spices, and lots of other solid materials, I have a hard time getting the pot to pressurize. (I did use a spice bag for the solid spices, BTW, as the recipe called for.)
Another thing I wondered about: the dish wasn’t “mildly spiced” as the recipe stated; it was actually quite spicy. I almost wondered whether that really is a butter chicken recipe. It seemed more like a fairly intense curry. But it was delicious all the same!
Hi Donald – We discussed over email, but adding my response here as it might be helpful to other readers. It is possible the tomatoes could be the reason for the burn in this case. If using canned tomatoes, I would suggest to add them at the top of other ingredients and not stir before pressure cooking.
I have added a note to the recipe too. You can reduce the red chili powder or use the mildly spiced Kashmiri red chili powder. That would give a great color to the curry, but not make it as spicy.
Glad that you enjoyed the curry!
I love butter chicken! My late husband showed me how to make it. It was the first meal he ever cooked for me. We usually had it with jasmine rice, the wonderful nutty flavor of the jasmine rice blends perfectly with the sauce. That being said…recently my dr mentioned that I needed to cut some starch from my diet. I found it to be just as fabulous if you serve it over riced cauliflower. Its just the right consistency and a ton less starch and calories.
Hi – So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience. You have some wonderful memories to cherish with butter chicken 🙂
SIMPLE!!! I’m veg and I make this for my family regularly – it’s amazing and I know it’s going to be delicious every time, even though I can’t taste it! SO SIMPLE, looks so professional, smells yummy; it’s a crowd pleaser!
Hi – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
Hi,
I dont have a pressure cooker, should I just cook all the ingredients minus the chicken, cream, honey and cilantro, in a pot for about 20 mins to get the flavour and then add the chicken to cook and then add the rest when chicken cooked?
It sounds delicious so I’d love to make it. Thanks so much, Ruth.
Hi Ruth – To make this on stovetop, I would recommend to saute the onions, ginger and garlic until the onions are golden. Then add the tomatoes, spices and saute for 2-3 minutes. Then you can blend this sauce, and add the chicken to cook along with the blended sauce in a large pan. Then once the chicken is cooked, add the other ingredients as in the recipe. Hope you enjoy the curry!
would there be any advantage to pressure cooking for a more extended period of time?
Hi Lucas – I would not pressure cook for longer, as that can overcook the chicken and dry it out. Hope you enjoy the curry!
Hey- I made this last night and it was wonderful! Thank you for this recipe and the all the others on your site! And I just need to add that I love all the “extra” info you add about the regions where some foods are from and the personal stories about what you loved growing up and the cultural background you include. It’s a nice little mini education for me that I really appreciate.
Just a question though- in this recipe it calls for 2″ sticks of cinnamon. Can you clarify that for me? Is that two 1 inch sticks of cinnamon? Or is it two 2 inch sticks of cinnamon? Does it not really matter?
Hi Mel – I can see the reason for confusion. I updated the recipe to mention 2″ inch Cinnamon stick. I hope that clarifies. Just one 2 inch stick would work well. I am so glad that the cultural details about the recipe are interesting to you. Hope you enjoy the butter chicken.