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.
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Mom’s 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
Video
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
- 1/3 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 1/4 cup Cilantro, to garnish
Whole Spices
Spices
- 2 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Garam masala
- 1/4 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.
Notes
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.
My sister (who is very picky and has super high standards) said it was hands down the best thing I’ve ever made. It was excellent!
Hi- So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it 🙂
Hi Meeta, made this recipe and came out yum again😊
Used onion masala and was even quicker, had some boiled new potatoes and added those too, my mum used to add them sometime!
Thanks x
Hi – So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
great recipe! turned out well 🙂
Hi – So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
The curry came out really good. I used chicken thighs and added some extra chicken masala powder I had at home before pressure cooking it. I have a 8qt IP and the chicken was ready in 4mins! I’m definitely making this one again. Thanks for sharing your mom’s recipe 🙂
Hello – That makes me really happy. Thanks for sharing back 🙂
Taking time to write a recipe review is a first for me! (I’m either very lazy, or just really busy!) But this dish deserves it. Just as another commenter said, this is a solid dish, just follow the recipe and absolutely voila! We served it on a bed of cauliflower rice and licked our plates :). So glad I found your recipe…
Hi- So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
Huge crowd pleaser – the whole family loves this chicken dish. Thanks for making it so simple that even I (a vegetarian) could make this without a problem! No need to taste to adjust spices or salt…just a 100% easy and solid dish!
Hi VG – So happy to hear you all enjoyed the chicken curry. Thank you for sharing back!
Hi,
First time u tried your recipe. It was delicious. My chicken curry has never turned out this nice and the best part – it doesn’t need marination. Will definitely be coming back to your page for more recipe 🙂
Hi – So glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
What would be the recommended pressure cook time for drumsticks?
Hi Kevin – For drumsticks, cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Hope you enjoy the curry!
I love this recipe, I made two batches in 2 separate instant pots because I’m scared to ruin it by doubling it. What adjustments should I make to the spices if I double it. If any?
My husband said this the best chicken I’ve ever made. I’ve been cooking for my family for 30 years so it was an incredible compliment. It made me and my belly very happy. Son liked it too. Thanks for this simple yet delicious recipe.
Hi Radhika – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 😊
I’m brand new to my instant pot but was really excited to find your recipes. This was the first thing I’ve ever made in it and it tasted great and was so easy to follow! I added a few chunks of potato and used bone-in chicken. I fried the potato (and salted) and kept it aside first, then followed the recipe as stated, but after cooking the bone-in chicken for 5 minutes, added back the potatoes and pressure cooked for another 3 to let everything finish. I also added double the water because I like very thin-style chicken curry, oh and lots more green chili for me. Excited to try your paneer recipe next! Thank you!
Hi Rohini – So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 😊
I rarely eat meat as my daily food is plant food. Do you have any recipes for that? Also, I can’ t eat a lot of spicy food. Am I out of luck here?
Hi Blanche – Not at all 😊. You can find 100+ vegan recipes here – https://pipingpotcurry.com/category/diet/vegan/. To reduce the spice level, you can skip green chili and red chili powder/cayenne in any of the recipes. Hope you enjoy the recipes!
I like the idea of this recipe, I just wandering what’s the reason for cooking it in a pressure cooker if the cooking time is exactly the same? Pressure cooker needs about 10 minutes to come up to the pressure plus 5 minutes cooking time. Your recipe says 15 minutes in a pan on a stove.
Hi Jerry – Great question. You can definitely make this on the stovetop too. The main advantage of pressure cooking here is not having to monitor the curry while it is cooking. On a stovetop, you have to watch and stir it frequently. As a busy mom, this is a big plus to me 😊. So feel free to cook it the way you prefer. I hope you enjoy the curry!
Love it!
Thank you! 🙂
Is it still 5 minutes if you use bone in chicken. Also, can you double recipe?
Thank you
Hi Michelle – Yes, you can double the recipe. It would be okay to keep the water quantity the same. For bone-in chicken, I would add 2 minutes to the cook time. Hope you enjoy the curry!
So easy and SO incredibly delicious!!! I love that it’s dairy free. The flavors are so awesome. I can’t wait to make it again.
Hi – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it 🙂
I love this, how do I make it spicier
Hi Sasha – Thank you. You can add extra green chili peppers or more red chili powder to make the curry spicier.
Great recipe! Turned our lovely, can I add baby potatoes?
Hi Chad – Sure, I think baby potatoes will work well in this recipe. Make sure they are not too large, else cut them in half so they cook well in 5 minutes of pressure cooking along with the chicken,
I used to live in Silicon Valley and was spoiled by amazing home style chicken curry. Ever since moving to Orange County, I have not found anything decent. Thank you for sharing this easy and delicious recipe.
Hi Bobby – So glad to hear that. 🙂
Thanks for saying just throw it all in comment totally helped me out
Hi D – Glad the comment helped. Hope you enjoyed the curry!
How do we use the prepared Bhuna massala for the chicken curry the recipe is saying use tomatoes etc so can you advise..tks
Hi Gillian – You can use 1/2 cup of Bhuna Masala in this recipe. Skip the onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic in the recipe. Hope you enjoy the chicken curry!
I have made this recipe a couple of times and it’s delish!!!! If you are running short on time, I have thrown everything together and set cook for 12 minutes. Thanks for the recipe!