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 tablespoon 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
- ⅓ cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- ¼ cup Cilantro to garnish
Whole Spices
Spices
- 2 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 teaspoon 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.
Arthur says
Made this tonight, so easy and so tasty. I’d happily give this 5 stars in a restaurant. So pleased to have found this recipe and finally able to cook a decent curry at home that tastes just like Aunty used to make. Looking forward to cooking this for friends and family. Thanks for the great recipe!
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi Arthur - So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
Mark O says
This is saved in my recipes. Absolutely fab. My wife loves a pathia but it's a pain to make as so many ingredients. This is just as tasty but half a day quicker to make.
I used half a large but very hot green chilli and "very hot" paprika which my mum grew(she doesn't eat chilli)
I'll be checking out your other recipes.
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi Mark - That makes me happy. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
Deborah Conn says
Should I remove the whole spices after sautéing? Thanks!
Sara says
I made this for my Bengali husband and his brother last night- they were shocked how it tasted like the curries their mom would throw together for dinner. This is going into regular rotation for us 🙂
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi Sara - That's wonderful to hear.
Steve says
I’d like to make extra and freeze for easy future meals. Will this thaw and reheat well?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Steve - Yes, this curry will work well for freezing and using for later.
Tara says
Can I use drumsticks? What should be cooking time?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Tara - Sure, you can use chicken drumsticks. Cook for 6 minutes on high pressure. Hope you enjoy the curry!
Arvind Singh says
Excellent! Delicious my 6 year old loved it as well!
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi Arvind - So happy to hear that 🙂
Radhika says
Can I add potatoes and carrots? And if I made this in a stovetop pressure cooker, how many whistles will I need?
Thank you for a great recipe!!
Meeta Arora says
Hi Radhika - Sure, here is my chicken potato curry recipe - https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-chicken-potato-curry/
You can pressure cook in a stovetop cooker for just 1 whistles. Then let the pressure release naturally.
Aditi Baliyan says
Tried this in my mini instant pot and it turned out delicious! Only thing I did different was marinated the chicken for few hours before cooking.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Aditi - Happy to hear you enjoyed the curry! Thanks for sharing back.
Matthew Ellis says
I have made this 6 times now and it's an amazing curry. I've made it in the 1x quantity and also the 3x. My tips would be not to add any extra liquid at all for the 3x amount, the 1kg+ of chicken produces more than enough liquid for the pressure cook. For the 1x I add homemade chicken stock instead of the water. I use a ninja foodi and the cooking times work perfectly well, don't increase the pressure time for 3x. I add coconut milk towards the end as indicated in the notes below the recipe, then simmer it down on saute mode which gives a bit of a thicker sauce. I've also added chopped spinach and kasoori methi a few times and it's a good addition if you like those ingredients, I add those after the pressure cook whilst simmering down. I have used green cardamom in place of the black ones, the flavour is still amazing, but the black ones give a nicer flavour if you can get them. This is a fantastic curry, I'll be making this for the rest of my life.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Matthew - So happy to hear you have been enjoying the chicken curry. That you for sharing the tips to increase the quantity.