Enjoy this dairy-free and gluten-free Chicken Vindaloo with rice or naan for a satisfying dinner!
Vindaloo is a popular curry to order at restaurants, similar to Chicken Korma, Kadai Chicken, and 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 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 it with a fork. So I am sure you will love this Chicken Vindaloo. Enjoy it with this delicious Mango Lassi.
If you are looking for a vegetarian version of this curry, check out my paneer vindaloo recipe.
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Chicken Vindaloo
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, but it does not have the heat as other curries.
Traditionally, Vindaloo is eaten with pav (similar to dinner rolls). Now, people around the world enjoy it with naan, rice, or any Indian flatbread.
Some Misconceptions about Vindaloo Curry
- 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 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.
- 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.
Perfect to enjoy even on weeknights!
Give this Chicken Vindaloo a try, and do share how it turns out!
How to make Chicken Vindaloo in the 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
- Making the vindaloo curry paste
- Marinating the chicken
- Making the curry
Making the Vindaloo Paste
- Turn on the pressure cooker on sauté mode and add the dry whole spices to the pressure cooker – dry red Kashmiri chilies, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cumin and mustard seeds.
- Sauté for about a minute until they are fragrant and slightly browned. Make sure they do not burn. Turn off sauté mode.
- Transfer the whole spices to a grinder.
- Add ginger, garlic, tamarind paste, and vinegar. Vinegar adds a wonderful tangy taste to the curry. I used rice vinegar in this recipe.
- Grind to make a smooth paste. I added about 3/4 cup of water when grinding.
Marinating the Chicken with Vindaloo Paste
- Cube chicken thighs to about 2 inches in size.
- Add the ground curry paste to the chicken.
- Mix well and refrigerate for 15 minutes to overnight.
Making the Pressure Cooker Vindaloo Curry
- Start the pressure cooker in sauté mode and heat the oil in it.
- Add onions and saute for about 4 minutes until they turn golden brown.
- Then 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 pressure cooker.
- Deglaze the pot. Make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom.
- Pressure cook for 5 minutes, then do a 5-minute 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 enjoy!
Look at that color! Doesn’t it look gorgeous?
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.
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Chicken Vindaloo – Authentic Pressure Cooker Recipe
Ingredients
For Vindaloo Paste
- 5 Whole Dried Kashmiri Red Chili Pepper
- 2 tablespoon Coriander Seeds
- 5 Cloves (Laung)
- 1 inch Cinnamon (Dalchini)
- 3 Green Cardamom (Elaichi)
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 teaspoon Black Mustard Seeds (Rai)
- 8 cloves Garlic
- 1 inch Ginger
- 2 tablespoon Vinegar, I used rice vinegar. White vinegar will work too.
- 1 tablespoon Tamarind paste
- 3/4 cup Water
For the curry
- 1 lb Chicken, thighs, boneless and skinless, cut into 2 inch pieces
- 4 tablespoon Oil
- 2 cups Onions, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 teaspoon Salt , to taste
- 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup Water
- Cilantro, to garnish
Instructions
Making the vindaloo paste
- Start the instant pot on saute mode and add the dry whole spices – dry red kashmiri chilies, coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cumin and mustard seeds.
- Sauté for about a minute until they are fragrant and slightly browned. Make sure the spices do not burn. Turn off the instant pot.
- 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
- In a large bowl, add the chicken pieces. Add the vindaloo paste to the chicken. Mix well and refrigerate for 15 minutes to overnight.
Making the 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.
Amazing! I come from an Indian family but my grandmother only ever taught me fairly bland (and vegetarian) recipes, so I’ve been searching for authentic Indian recipes like this one. My dad took a bite of this and involuntarily went “WOW!”. It was really excellent, and I’ve never made vindaloo before. Definitely needs someone to have a fully stocked cabinet of Indian spices. I wish I’d used a better spice grinder; all we had on hand was a food processor, and we were chewing on coriander seeds all night! Definitely still worth it, though. After finishing the pressure cooking and releasing the pressure, I turned the Instant Pot back into Saute mode and let it bubble away for about 5 minutes to reduce some of the sauce because it was still fairly broth.
Hi Alex – So glad to hear you all enjoyed the vindaloo. I agree that you do need a variety of spices to make this curry and a good spice grinder. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Delicious! I have a well stocked pantry with Indian spices, but I didn’t have the type of dried pepper you called for. I do have a package of what are called Indian peppers which are dark red and about 2 to 3 inches long so I used those. It all came together in a hot, sort of flowery flavor (tamarind paste?), I made my basmati rice in the Instant Pot with the chicken. The only way to go, and no dirty rice pot. Husband and I devoured it. Yum! We now live in a place where there are few Indian restaurants, as compared to Washington DC, where we lived for years. So it really does have to come out of my kitchen. Thank you!
Hi Alene – So glad to hear you enjoyed the vindaloo curry. Tamarind does add such a wonderful flavor to this recipe. The dry red peppers of a different variety work too. You just want to reduce the quantity as they might be much more hot compared to Kashmiri Chili peppers.
What can I use in place of the Kashmiri whole chili’s? I have been looking but cannot find whole chili’s. Please help!
Hi Bryce – I would suggest to replace with ground Kashmiri Chili powder if you can find that. About 1.5 teaspoons would work well. If you are unable to find Kashmiri Chili powder, you can use paprika in this recipe too. Adjust the quantity to taste. Hope you enjoy the chicken vindaloo!
Another gorgeous dish for me to make. How do you do the pot in pot please. Thank you
Hi Joanne – Here is a recipe where I do pot-in-pot rice with chicken – https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-chicken-tikka-masala/. The same method to add rice will work in this recipe.
Meeta, your recipes are always amazing! I consider myself a good home cook and cook a lot with or without recipes. Any recipe can be hit or miss…except for yours. They always work out great! I am not Indian, but love Indian foods and have amassed a pretty good stash of spices. I rarely have to purchase special ingredients because you call for things within the “normal” range of what a proficient home cook uses. I love being able to cook authentic Indian food that is healthy, fresh, and delicious.
I made the vindaloo tonight (marinated the chicken overnight) and even with a few substitutions, it came out great. I only had Chinese dried whole chilis, so I used three of those. I did not have tamarind paste on hand, so used extra apple cider vinegar and lime juice. So good, and can’t wait to try again with tamarind.
Thanks!
Emily
Hi Emily – I am so glad to hear you are enjoying the recipes. Thank you for sharing back your experience and the substitutions you made in this recipe.
Hello Meeta,
Thanks for all the wonderful recipes, I’m a beginner cook and have been loving all your instant pot recipes. For this Vindaloo recipe, if I wanted to add potatoes to my curry how would that change the recipe and the time? and what stage do I have to add the potatoes in the curry? And how do you make tamarind paste?
And also, if I wanted to use lamb instead of chicken in this vindaloo, how would that change the process and the cooking time?
Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you/more instant pot recipes on your blog! <3
Hello Deepika – Here is a tamarind paste recipe from my friend Neena – https://www.paintthekitchenred.com/how-to-make-tamarind-paste-instant-pot/. To add potatoes, cut them in large pieces about 2 inch, and add just before putting the pot to pressure cook. The same cooking time will work.
If using lamb, I would suggest to pressure cook for 15 minutes. In that case, I would not suggest to add potatoes as they will overcook in the cooking time.
Hope you enjoy this and more recipes
Hi! 🙂 The recipe looks really nice, but unfortunately I don’t have a pressure cooker. How would you adapt this to work for stovetop (or slow cooker)? Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Anneloss – You can surely make this vindaloo on the stovetop. Follow the same steps and in place of pressure cooking, cover the pan and cook on medium-low flame for 10-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Hope you enjoy it!
Is there a good substitute for tamarind paste? Cant find that at any stores near me.
Hi Gillian – You can use lime juice in the recipe in place of tamarind. However the taste will not be exactly the same. It will still be very good 🙂
What kinda of grinder/blender are you using for the whole spices? The flavor was great, but my grinder just didn’t cut it and my paste wasn’t that nice red color.
Hi Rebecca – I use a vitamix for all my blending, grinding needs. Spice grinder or coffee grinders work well too for spices. The red color is mainly with the kashmiri red chili’s, you can find these on Amazon or at a local Indian grocery store. Glad you enjoyed the flavor of the vindaloo.
Do the dry spices cook in ghee or oil before blending or just dry in the instant pot?
Hi Kim – No oil needed for cooking the dry spices. Just dry roast them in the pot. I have also included a video for the recipe just about the recipe card, which might be helpful 🙂