Mom's authentic Chicken Curry recipe made in Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker. This chicken curry instant pot recipe is made in a simple onion-tomato gravy with the aroma of whole spices. This is the best Chicken Curry you will ever have!
I wanted to recreate my mom's chicken curry in the instant pot and tried it multiple times. But I was not getting the exact favor that comes when she cooks the curry....something was missing! But guess what, mom is visiting and shared her secret tips for the chicken curry.
Mom's Chicken Curry Tips
- Sauté the onions for longer, about 4 mins until the oil starts separating .
- Add the tomatoes and sauté the onion-tomato mixture for longer, again about 4 mins until the oil separates.
- Add the chicken and cook it on sauté for 2-3 mins, before you pressure cook.
You get the idea, basically sauté the ingredients perfectly, to get the perfect chicken curry. Another great thing about this curry is, there is no marination required. So no pre-prep for this recipe.
Step-by-step Chicken Curry Instant Pot Instructions
Start with getting the main ingredients ready.
- The whole spices in one bowl. If you want to make this recipe simpler, you can skip the whole spices. What you lose with that is the aroma, but trust me, it will still be as flavorful.
- The ground spices in one bowl.
- Chicken cut into pieces. I used boneless chicken breasts in this recipe, but mom says bone-in chicken tastes even better. This is next to try, but I do like the convenience of boneless chicken.
Now we are ready to start cooking! Start the instant pot in Sauté mode, and heat ghee or oil in it. I prefer ghee to get the richer taste, especially homemade ghee in the instant pot. Add the whole spices and sauté for 30 seconds to get the aroma. Add the green chili, onions, ginger and garlic to the pot. Sauté for about 4 minutes until the onions turn brown and the oil separates. Now add the tomatoes and ground spices. Sauté for another 4 minutes until oil separates. Remember mom's tips, this sautéing of onions and tomatoes is what gives a great taste to the chicken curry. Keep stirring at about 1-2 minute interval, so the onions and tomato don't get stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Let's add the chicken pieces to the pot. Stir it well, so the chicken is coated with the onion-tomato masala. Sauté the chicken for a couple of minutes. Now add water to the pot and deglaze well. The trick is to add less water, as the chicken also releases water.
Change the instant pot setting to pressure cook mode and cook for 5 minutes on high pressure. Quick release the pressure, as we don't want to overcook the chicken. Stir in the lemon juice and garnish with cilantro.
Look at the end result, doesn't it look appetizing? I had this chicken curry for three meals at a stretch, first with roti (Indian flatbread), then with rice and finally with naan.
Don't have an instant pot or pressure cooker, use the same steps to cook chicken curry in a pan. After adding chicken to the pan, cover pan with a lid and cook for about 15 minutes. Stir every 3-4 minutes, so the chicken does not stick to the pan. You would need to double the amount of water (1 cup) when cooking in a pan.
Try this Chicken Curry instant pot recipe and let me know how you like it.
- Recipe posted 3 months ago: Bell Pepper and Potato Stir Fry
- Recipe posted 6 months ago: Vegan Spinach Tofu Curry
- Recipe posted 9 months later: Potato Curry in Tomato Gravy
Want to find other easy Instant Pot Indian Recipes? Here are 23 Best Instant Pot Indian Recipes for you to try!
Mom's Chicken Curry - Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chicken boneless, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
- 3 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 Green Chili Pepper small, chopped (optional)
- 1 inch Ginger finely chopped
- 5 cloves Garlic finely chopped
- 1 Onion medium sized, finely chopped
- 2 Tomato medium sized, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 1/4 cup Cilantro to garnish
Whole Spices
Spices
- 2 tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala
- 1/4 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Cut the boneless chicken into small pieces, about 1-2 inch in size.
- Heat the instant pot in Sauté mode and add oil to it. Add the whole spices and sauté for 30 seconds to get the aroma.
- Add the chopped green chili, onions, ginger and garlic to the pot and sauté for 4 minutes until they turn golden brown. Keep stirring at regular intervals.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and spices. Sauté for another 4 minutes, while stirring at regular intervals.
- Add the chicken and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Do not skip this step, as it adds lots of flavor to the curry.
- Then add the water and stir it with the chicken. Deglaze and scrape off anything stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Change the instant pot setting to manual/pressure cook mode on high for 5 minutes.
- When the instant pot beeps, quick release the pressure manually. Stir in the lemon juice.
- Garnish with cilantro and chicken curry is ready to serve.
Video
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
If you are looking for more chicken recipes, check out Chicken Korma, Keema Matar, Chicken Chettinad, Saag Chicken and the famous Butter Chicken. Like goat meat, check out our Mutton Curry recipe.
Just made it. Added more garam masala as my taste is little towards the spicy side and coconut milk to thicken it up . Was yumm, and we finished in one go. Made on a normal pressure cooker on the gas stove.
I've made this curry several times and will again tomorrow. I love it and always feel that I have eaten something light and healthy. Delicious. Thanks Meeta and your Mum.
Hi Christine - So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it! 🙂
Hi 3-4 min of sauté enough to release oil ? Generally all the cookery show say few min but actually it take long time to get the oil on sides. Please guide I’m planing to make tomo
Hi Vani - I typically just sauté for 3-4 minutes until the chicken outer layer all turns white. Give it a try. If you prefer to saute for longer, feel free to do that. Hope you enjoy it!
You dont have a step of when you add the powdered spices? and how long u fry then? Please edit and repost with this step in the recipe. I would like to make this.
Hi Sangeeta - The spices are added along with the step of adding tomatoes. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
It's in step 4.
Made this with chicken for my husband - he loved it. I dont eat chicken - could I do exactly the same with fish - i use frozen cod
Hi Tina - So glad you husband enjoyed this curry. You can use the same gravy for fish, however I would recommend to use the pot-in-pot method here for fish - https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-salmon-tikka-masala/
The recipe was so easy to make. This was my first time making a chicken curry in the Instant Pot. Delicious!
My only comment is that the chicken turned out a little chewy (overcooked). Would reducing the pressure cook time, help next time?
Hi! After I sauté the tomato/ onion masala with spices can I grind then pressure cook the liquid masala with chicken pieces? Shouldn’t get stuck to bottom of instant pot ?
Hi Luna - Yes, you can grind the masala to a paste. I don't think it will get stuck as chicken releases a lot of liquid when cooked. I hope you enjoy the chicken curry.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe!! We really enjoyed this delicious curry 🙂
Hi, Can u let me know how many whistles (if I am making in manual cooker)?
Hi Ak - I would just do 1 whistle on a stovetop pressure cooker and then let the pressure release naturally. If needed, after that sauté for a few minutes. Hope you enjoy the curry!
Amazing recipe! I cannot thank you enough. I am an absolutely terrible cook. I can bake but cooking has always been my Mt. Everest. My husband (the chef in the house) is in radioactive iodine therapy quarantine so it was up to me to feed him. I tried this recipe and he loved it! So much so, in fact, he asked me to make it again 2 days later. From someone that once asked me “is this dinner or punishment?”, this is definitely the best compliment ever! My mom even phoned me to say it was delicious (even she once said “please don’t cook and if you do try again, don’t tell anyone I taught you”. 🙂
Hi Faye - So glad that the recipes have been helpful. I truly believe that everyone has a chef inside us, we just need to let it shine, even though it means following recipes initially 🙂