• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Piping Pot Curry

Daily Delights with Easy and Healthy Meals

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Instant Pot
    • Air Fryer
    • Indian
    • Cooking 101
  • Instant Pot
    • Instant Pot 101
    • Instant Pot Recipes
    • Meal Plan
  • Resources
    • Amazon Store
    • Indian Spices
    • Favorite Kitchen Appliances
    • Instant Pot
    • Instant Pot Accessories
    • Holiday Gift Guide
  • About
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Home » Recipes » Chicken, Lamb & Seafood » Chicken Vindaloo – Authentic Pressure Cooker Recipe

Chicken Vindaloo - Authentic Pressure Cooker Recipe

Published March 7, 2019 Updated September 16, 2019 By Meeta Arora 59 Comments | This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

10.4Kshares
Jump to Recipe Jump to Video
Authentic Chicken Vindaloo served in a bowl along with naan bread

Authentic Goan Chicken Vindaloo made in the Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot. Vindaloo is a traditional Goan curry which is made with meat cooked in onions, ginger, garlic, along with lots of aromatic whole spices and the tanginess of vinegar. Enjoy this dairy-free and gluten-free Chicken Vindaloo with rice or naan for a satisfying dinner!

Chicken Vindaloo served in a bowl along with naan bread.

Vindaloo is a popular curry to order at restaurants, similar to Chicken Korma or Chicken Tikka Masala. The most common version of this curry is made with pork, however we will change it up and make Chicken Vindaloo.

Authentic vindaloo curry gets all of this flavor from chicken marinated in the freshly ground whole spices. So don't skip that step when making this delicious curry!

We loved this Chicken Vindaloo. My daughter who is super fussy and does not typically like much spice in her food, devoured this chicken. She just cut it into pieces and enjoyed with a fork. So I am sure you will love this Chicken Vindaloo. Enjoy it with this delicious Mango Lassi.

What is Vindaloo?

Vindaloo (pronounced vin-duh-loo) is an Indian curry dish from the region of Goa. This spicy and tangy curry was introduced to the region by Portuguese sailors.

Vindaloo comes from carne de vinha d'alhos, which literally means "meat in garlic wine marinade". This was "Indianized" by the local Goan cooks with the substitution of vinegar for the red wine, and the addition of dried red chili peppers with additional spices.

Vindaloo has become synonymous with ‘super hot and spicy curry’. However in reality this curry is not the most spicy. Yes, we add lots of spices, however it does not have the heat as some other curries.

Traditionally, Vindaloo is eaten with pao (similar to dinner rolls), however now people around the world enjoy it with naan, rice or any Indian flatbread.

Some Misconceptions about Vindaloo Curry

  1. Vindaloo is a very spicy curry - Vindaloo curry gets a lot of this flavor from the whole spices that are blended to make a vindaloo sauce. With these whole spices, dry red chilies are added. However these chilies do not make the curry very hot.
    • I like to add dry Kashmiri red chili's when making Vindaloo sauce. These chilies give a wonderful red color to the curry, but are mild. You can definitely add more or another variety of red chilies to make the curry spicier.
  2. Vindaloo has the word "aloo" in it. "Aloo" means potato in Hindi. You will find that many restaurants add potatoes to vindaloo curry. However the traditional recipe for vindaloo does not have any potatoes in it.

How to make Chicken Vindaloo in Pressure Cooker?

Now let's see how to make this delicious vindaloo curry. If you are new to the instant pot (pressure cooker), check out this Instant Pot Quick Setup Guide to get you started.

The main steps are

  1. Making the vindaloo curry paste
  2. Marinating the chicken
  3. Making the curry

Making the Vindaloo Curry Paste

  1. Start with adding the dry whole spices to the pressure cooker - dry red kashmiri chilies, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cumin and mustard seeds.
  2. Turn on the pressure cooker on sauté mode and give the spices a stir.
  3. Sauté for about a minute until they are fragrant and slightly browned. Make sure they do not burn.
  4. Transfer the whole spices to a grinder.
  5. Add ginger, garlic, tamarind paste and vinegar. Vinegar adds a wonderful tangy taste to the curry. I used rice vinegar in this recipe.
  6. Grind to make a smooth paste. I added about 3/4 cup water when grinding.
Roasting whole spices in the instant pot to make chicken vindaloo
Roasted Whole spices added to a blender along with ginger, garlic and tamarind to make vindaloo curry paste

Marinating the Chicken with Vindaloo Paste

  1. Cube chicken thighs to about 2 inch in size.
  2. Add the ground curry paste to the chicken.
  3. Mix well and refrigerate for 15 minutes to overnight.
Vindaloo Curry Sauce added to cubed chicken thighs
Cubed Chicken thighs coated with vindaloo curry sauce to make chicken vindaloo

Making the Pressure Cooker Vindaloo curry

  1. Start the pressure cooker in sauté mode and heat oil in it.
  2. Add onions and saute for about 4 minutes until they turn golden brown.
  3. Then add turmeric and salt.
  4. Add the marinated chicken and saute for 3 minutes, while stirring frequently.
  5. Mix in any remaining vindaloo paste from the marinade in 1/4 cup water, and add to the pressure cooker.
  6. Deglaze the pot. Make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom.
  7. Pressure cook for 5 minutes, then do a 5 minutes NPR. This means after the pressure cooker beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then do a quick release manually.
  8. Add brown sugar and stir in the curry.
Saute onions in instant pot to make chicken vindaloo curry
Chicken marinated in vindaloo sauce added to instant pot

Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

Chicken Vindaloo in the instant pot ready to be served

Look at that color! Doesn't it look gorgeous?

Chicken Vindaloo shown in a ladle over the instant pot ready to be served

My daughter who is super picky, devoured this chicken. She did not even bother to dip the naan in it, she ate the chicken with a fork.

You will love this Vindaloo Chicken Curry as: 

√ It is full of flavor 

√ It is so easy to make in the instant pot

√ Dairy Free & Gluten Free

√ Perfect to enjoy even on weeknights!

Give this Chicken Vindaloo a try and do share how it turns out!

Tried this recipe?Give a rating by clicking the ★ below
Chicken Vindaloo served in a bowl along with naan bread.

Chicken Vindaloo - Authentic Pressure Cooker Recipe

Meeta Arora
Authentic Goan Chicken Vindaloo made in the Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot. Enjoy this dairy-free and gluten-free Chicken Vindaloo with rice or naan for a satisfying dinner!
4.8 from 30 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings: 4
Calories: 351
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Diet: Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Nut-free
Method: Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 35 mins

Ingredients
 
 

For Vindaloo Paste

  • 5 Whole Dried Kashmiri Red Chili Pepper
  • 2 tbsp Coriander Seeds
  • 5 Cloves (Laung)
  • 1 inch Cinnamon (Dalchini)
  • 3 Green Cardamom (Elaichi)
  • 1/4 tsp Black Peppercorns
  • 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
  • 1 tsp Mustard Seeds (Rai)
  • 8 cloves Garlic
  • 1 inch Ginger
  • 2 tbsp Vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Tamarind paste
  • 3/4 cup Water

For the curry

  • 4 tbsp Oil
  • 2 cups Onions diced
  • 1 lb Chicken thighs, cut into 2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
  • 1 tsp Salt to taste
  • 1 tsp Brown Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Water
  • Cilantro to garnish

Instructions
 

Making the vindaloo curry paste

  • Start with adding the dry whole spices to the pressure cooker – dry red kashmiri chilies, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cumin and mustard seeds.
  • Turn on the pressure cooker on sauté mode and give the spices a stir. Sauté for about a minute until they are fragrant and slightly browned. Make sure the spices do not burn.
  • Transfer the whole spices to a grinder. Add ginger, garlic, tamarind paste and vinegar. 
  • Add 3/4 cup water and grind to a smooth paste. 

Marinating the chicken with Vindaloo Paste

  • Add chicken pieces to a bowl. Add the curry paste to the chicken. Mix well and refrigerate for 15 minutes to overnight.

Making the vindaloo curry

  • Start the pressure cooker in sauté mode and heat oil in it.
  • Add onions and saute for about 4 minutes until they turn golden brown.
  • Add turmeric and salt.Add the marinated chicken and saute for 3 minutes, while stirring frequently.
  • Mix in any remaining vindaloo paste from the marinade in 1/4 cup water, and add to the instant pot. Deglaze the pot and make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom.
  • Pressure cook for 5 minutes, then do a 5 minutes NPR. This means after the pressure cooker beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then do a quick release manually.
  • Add brown sugar and stir in the curry.
  • Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice, naan or roti.

Video

Notes

Pot-in-pot rice: You can make pot-in-pot white basmati rice along with chicken vindaloo in the instant pot. 
Created: This recipe was created in a 6qt Instant Pot DUO60 Multi-use Pressure Cooker.

Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

Nutrition

Calories: 351kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 27gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 730mgPotassium: 824mgFiber: 4gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 570IUVitamin C: 90.8mgCalcium: 74mgIron: 2.5mg
Keyword authentic, easy, instant pot, pressure cooker
Tried this recipe?Share your photo and tag @PipingPotCurry or #pipingpotcurry

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Paul says

    November 11, 2020 at 5:06 am

    Amazing recipe - I always look for recipes that start with the spices you toast/grind yourself as deliver so much more flavour.

    Only thing I found useful was to use my pressure cookers sauce reduction mode at the end to thicken the sauce a little as it was a little wet to my liking, the flavours though were spectacular.

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      November 13, 2020 at 9:04 am

      I totally agree. Starting with fresh spices definitely elevates the flavor. Thanks for sharing back your feedback!

      Reply
  2. puja says

    November 04, 2020 at 10:55 am

    hi Meeta,
    tried your vindaloo recipe for the first time and in the instant pot.. it turns out perfect and delicious.. better than the most restaurant. thank you for posting these amazing recipe.. will make it again for sure..

    Reply
    • Piping Pot Curry says

      November 05, 2020 at 6:47 am

      Hi Puja - Yay So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing back 🙂

      Reply
  3. Anamit says

    October 03, 2020 at 4:48 am

    I don't have an Instant Pot..I do, however, have the old traditional whistling type of pressure cooker...Any ideas on how to make it in that?🤔

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      October 19, 2020 at 2:57 am

      Hi Anamit - You can follow the same recipe, but pressure cook for 1-2 whistles. Keep medium-high heat for sautéing and while pressure cooking. Let the pressure release naturally. Hope you enjoy the vindaloo!

      Reply
  4. Leslie Smith says

    September 28, 2020 at 9:27 am

    You didn't get back to me in time so I winged it and used brown coriander and I watched and rewatched the video and I believe the mustard seeds were brown. The flavors were there and it was really good. I did a double batch and I feel like I should have not done that. I was confused because the paste was more watery I am not sure what I did wrong on that. I also googled how to make tamarind paste out of concentrate and it was a 2 to 1 ratio. I tablespoon of concentrate and 2 tablespoons of water. I ended up doing a cornstarch slurry after everything was cooked to thicken it up, I am sure I did something wrong not sure what. Maybe because I did the double batch I couldn't brown the chicken at all because there was too much sauce?? I ended up cooking it in the sauce a little and then trying to bring to pressure and it took to long and wouldn't come to pressure so I added time and it didn't do anything bad at all cooked just fine. I just knew this was going to be delicious so I wanted extra, next time I will do a single batch. I didn't have the wet grinder or a vitamix, so I roasted the spices and put them in my spice grinder then added everything to my food processor and that seemed to work well. I wasn't sure at which point to add the Kashmiri chili powder as my Indian market only had ground. I added it at the end, when I was putting everything into my spice grinder it was still cooking I think because there was a little bit of smoke which stressed me out because I thought I was going to ruin it. In the end even with my mistakes it was really really good. I ended up adding a little more salt but again could have been because I did the double batch. I am sharing this recipie with my friends and am moving on to make a bunch of your others, especially since I now have all the spices needed practically. Thank you for sharing your recipes I am very excited to try most of them.

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      September 29, 2020 at 9:24 am

      Hi Leslie - So sorry that I was not able to get back to you in time. I am so glad you still tried my recipe and are eager to try other recipes. I really appreciate that a lot. I used brown mustard seeds and brown coriander seeds in the recipe. The initial sautéing of chicken helps to extract some of the chicken liquids. With double quantity, just sauté for a bit longer. Also, with chicken curry recipes, you can increase the water 1.5x in place of 2x as chicken releases a lot of liquid. You added the red chili powder at the right time. You can also add it to the curry while sautéing the chicken. Thanks again for being so kind and sharing about the blog with your friends ❤️

      Reply
  5. Leslie Smith says

    September 26, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    I went to the Indian supermarket to get all my spices for this recipe. I have a few questions and I hope you answer before I make tomorrow. There were two different colors of mustard seed and coriander. There were brown and yellow mustard seeds and brown and green coriander. Which color of each item do I use? In addition to that I found tamarind concentrate not paste, how much of the concentrate do I use to equal the paste? I know it's not going to be the same amount because on the package they make it pretty clear that the amounts won't be the same but they don't tell you what the amount would be.

    Reply
  6. Leslie Smith says

    September 25, 2020 at 7:40 am

    You don't mention for saute whether it is low/med/high and also for bringing to pressure low/med/high ? I can't wait to make this, I will be adding potatoes and doubling this because this looks pretty darn legit, we are picky when it comes to Vindaloo.

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      September 29, 2020 at 9:25 am

      Hi Leslie - I use the default setting for both - sauté is on Normal and Pressure Cook on high. Glad you enjoyed the recipe (from your other comments).

      Reply
  7. Barbara Stewart says

    September 18, 2020 at 6:24 am

    Will this turn out well if made with paneer, chickpeas, or both? I am a vegetarian but this looks delicious. Also, will it freeze well?

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      September 29, 2020 at 7:27 am

      Hi Barbara - The sauce of this recipe is really good and would go with any veggies or chickpeas. You can skip marination, and pressure cook for the time needed for the veggie you use. eg if using sweet potatoes chunks, just pressure cook for 2-3 minutes. If using canned chickpeas, then pressure cook for 5 minutes. I need to work on a vegetarian version for my husband too, who does not eat meat :-). I do think this recipe will freeze well.

      Reply
  8. Dayne Slay says

    August 19, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    Can I buy the spices already grinder instead?

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      August 19, 2020 at 10:50 pm

      Hi Dayne - You could use ground spices if you don't have whole. However I do recommend whole spices as freshly ground spice paste does give a much better flavor to this curry. Hope you enjoy the vindaloo.

      Reply
  9. Mor Noble says

    July 26, 2020 at 9:21 am

    Suggestions for cooking time if I doubled the recipe?

    Reply
    • Meeta Arora says

      August 03, 2020 at 8:10 am

      The cooking time will remain the same even if you double the recipe. The instant pot will just take longer to come to pressure.

      Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Hello! Welcome to my blog

Hi..I’m Meeta. I strongly believe that each one of us has a chef inside us, we just need to explore the ingredients and create great food. Here you will find easy & delicious recipes using Instant Pot & Air Fryer. Read More…

AS FEATURED ON

Sign up for email updates

Get a free cookbook with 15 best curry recipes!

Featured Recipes

Steamed Carrots in Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

Amazing Steamed Carrots - Instant Pot

Sushi Rice in a bowl ready to be served with vinegar on the side

Instant Pot Sushi Rice

Air fryer cooking time chart

Air Fryer Cooking Time Chart

Ven Pongal in a bowl garnished with cashews and curry leaves

Instant Pot Ven Pongal

Sweet Pongal garnished with cashews and raisins served in bowls

Instant Pot Sweet Pongal (Sakkarai Pongal)

Roasted broccoli topped with lemon and parmesan

Air Fryer Broccoli

Footer

AS FEATURED ON
Featured on website logos
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Piping Pot Curry

Piping Pot Curry is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program · Disclosure