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 family love this curry! Made with bone in and it is so spicy and fresh straight from the instant pot, less spicy but just as tasty the next day. We had some last night that had been in the freezer for a good few months, I thought it might have lost some of it’s flavour but the flavour was even more intense than when fresh made. My compliments to your Mom, I would highly recommend this recipe!!
Hi Jilly – So glad to hear you all enjoyed this chicken curry. Thank you!
I followed the recipe exactly but it was just okay. Like not bad at all but not that great either. Felt like it was missing something in flavor but I can’t tell what.
This was really good. It is my style of cooking. I made double the recipe and I must admit I didn’t see the lemon juice in the ingredients and I didn’t put it in. I don’t think it needs it. I cut down by a teaspoon the coriander powder – when you double the recipe it is 4 tsp – but I stirred in a teaspoon of my own freshly made garam masala at the end of cooking. I really like this recipe and your instructions . I have just got an instant pot and you make things really clear like the measurements which include metric. Also, hints like cooking time if the chicken is off or on the bone. It may seem simple, but for a novice instant pot user very helpful. So thank you!!!!
Hi Ani – I am glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for your kind words. It’s my goal to make instant pot cooking easier for all my readers.
Just eaten this great curry and must say it’s one I’ll be cooking again and again.
Not a winner!!! Why is there lemon juice in this recipe? That’s all you can taste -sour- and everything else is bland. I managed to salvage it with a few additional ingredients.
Sorry to hear you did not enjoy the curry. Feel free to skip the lemon juice next time.
Holy moly this was delicious and has a bit of kick to depending on how much chilli you add. Wow!! I love it. Thank you
oh man, this recipe is SO good. im just learning how to make Indian food at home because i love it so much, and im definitely going to save this recipe snd make it many more times!
Hi Steven – That’s fantastic to hear! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe and plan to keep it in your rotation. 🙂
Really delicious recipe! I used some canned diced tomatoes to find something equivalent to two tomatoes.
Hi Is there a way to thicken the sauce ?
Hi Paulomi – Put the curry on saute for 3-4 minutes to thicken the sauce. You can also add some cream, cashew paste or coconut milk to make the sauce thicker.
How much coconut milk should you use to thicken the curry?
Hi Alison – I would suggest to use about 1/3 cup of coconut milk. But more works too based on your taste preference.
Hi! I was wondering if I were to book it in an Indian pressure cooker after how many whistles do I turn it off
Hi Sowmya – I would suggest 2 whistles in the stovetop pressure cooker.
I just got a multi cooker and wanted to try a curry in it and stumbled across this recipe! The ingredients led me to believe it could be good and indeed it was, especially for a quick, easy Tuesday night dinner. I might try putting in some grated potato in next time, hopefully it will cook enough to breakup and thicken the gravy.
Hi Chris – Happy to hear you enjoyed the chicken curry. Grated potato or diced potato will easily cook in the same pressure cooking time.
Loved it!
This recipe has become a ritual with my friend and I. It always turns out amazing!! When making 2x or 3x the quantity of the original recipe, you can’t follow the cook times written, but the description of what the food should look like at each step really helps because then you can figure out the timing yourself. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Delicious!! I used 5 green chilies to make it spicier.
Hi Jessica – So good to hear that. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Excellent recipe. I’ve made it a few times by now and tweaked the recipe each time a bit to see how it’d turn out. Time after time it was a success. I personally prefer to thicken the curry towards the end, because the base recipe resulted in quite a watery curry.
I do have a question about quick releasing the pressure. I always thought that protein dishes should never be quick released since that dries out the meat due to sudden increases in temperature in the IP. Why do you still recommend this approach for a chicken dish? Am curious to find out.
Hi Najib – I am glad you have been enjoying the chicken curry. I feel that the chicken will get overcooked if left for natural release. And I am assuming that you did not feel the chicken was dry with this recipe 🙂
I made it tonight. The only change was I added in cubed sweet potatoes. On the side I served buckwheat. My 22 month old grandson, my adult daughter, and I all loved it and came back for seconds.
Hi – So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
We have made this recipe twice, and have loved it! It’s delicious, easy to make, and always makes us excited for the next few meals that we’ll be enjoying it! We’ve enjoyed pairing it with basmati rice, which has helped it to also go further.
Hi Tiffany – So happy to hear that. 🙂
Delicious recipe that was quick and easy to make. However, it does not serve four adults. Would recommend doubling it if you’re cooking for four.
Hi Lobi – Glad you found it quick and easy! Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
finish off with a bit of kasoori methi.
perfect
I have made this 4 times and my family absolutely loved it. This time around I have a whole chicken (3 lbs) which I will chop up into bit sized pieces with bones attached but without skin. How should l adjust the spices and cooking time?
I am a vegetarian and am planning to cook this recipe for some friends. Everything I’ve tried on your site has been delicious, and I know this will be as well!
At their suggestion, I’m planning to get boneless chicken thighs. Would I need to change the cooking time for boneless thigh meat?
Hi Ami – Thank you! I am so glad that you trust my recipes. This recipe will work as is for boneless chicken thighs. Just cut them into pieces 1-2 inch pieces.
Thank you. Though I didn’t try since I am a vegetarian, our friends really liked it! (I’m sorry I put the comment in the wrong place.)