Easy & healthy Coconut Chicken Curry made in an Instant Pot in just 30 minutes! This is simple Indian chicken curry recipe is made with ginger, garlic, onions alongside flavorful spices, and finished with creamy coconut milk. Pair this dairy-free & gluten-free curry with fragrant basmati rice.
This is the best coconut and chicken curry that you’ll ever make. Personally, I love curries because they are quick, full of flavor and tastes just as good the following days. This curry is also incredible because it uses basic ingredients,similar to my mom’s chicken curry and chicken curry with potatoes, that you most likely have in your kitchen right now.
It’s so healthy because it’s made from scratch and also very quick to make (thanks to the instant pot), you have control over the ingredients in this curry and the most important part is that this curry is mild, therefore perfect for kids (even picky eaters). Your family will love this recipe!
How to make Coconut Chicken Curry?
Before you start making this coconut chicken curry make sure you have all the ingredients prepped and on hand. Dice your onions and cut your chicken thighs into pieces. Keep the spices ready. Now let’s start making this delicious curry.
- Set the Instant Pot on sauté mode and let it heat.
- Add ghee or oil along with the cumin seeds. Saute for 30 seconds until they release their aroma. Cumin seeds are optional but do add a wonderful flavor to the curry. If you have ghee, I highly recommend to use it, as it adds so much more flavor to this curry.
- Now add the diced onions, garlic, ginger, and sauté them for a few minutes.
- When the onions turn golden brown, add the tomato puree along with the spices and saute for an additional 2-3 minutes. I used canned tomato puree, you can also use fresh tomato puree in this recipe. Blend 2 tomatoes to make a puree.
- Add the chicken pieces to the pot. Stir and sauté for 3-4 more minutes. Do not skip this step, as it adds lots of flavor to the curry.
- Then add the water and mix well. Deglaze well and make sure nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Switch the Instant Pot to manual or pressure cook on high pressure for 4 minutes with the vent in sealing position.
- As soon as the Instant Pot beeps, quick release the pressure manually and open the lid.
- Now stir in the coconut milk, garam masala and let it simmer on sauté mode for 4-5 minutes until the sauce is thickened to your preference. Use full-fat canned unsweetened coconut milk.
- You are almost ready! Stir in the lime juice and garnish with cilantro.
- The coconut chicken curry is ready to be served with flavorful rice or Indian flatbreads. Enjoy!
How to serve this Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk?
You can whip up some basmati rice or cumin rice to soak up all that saucy goodness. This curry goes also very well with Indian flatbreads like roti, naan or paratha with a side of yogurt.
Leftovers and Reheating Tips
Seal any leftover curry in an airtight container, it should last up to 3 days in the refrigerator. But if you’d like to make more for the week or month ahead, I suggest you freeze it. Make sure it’s fully cooled down before sealing. Once the curry is frozen it will keep well for 3-4 months.
You can reheat the curry in the microwave or on the stovetop while stirring well.
Tips & Variations for making the best coconut chicken curry
- You can use skinless chicken breast or chicken thighs to make this curry.
- Add all the veggies! You can add roasted cauliflower, broccoli florets, green peas and even baby spinach at the end! If you want to add potatoes or sweet potatoes, cut them in large pieces and add them just before pressure cooking.
- You don’t want chicken? No problem! You can still make a delicious curry using shrimps like in this Coconut Shrimp Curry.
- For a plant-based version of curry, try this Vegetable Korma with coconut milk which is also made in an instant pot.
Looking for more quick & delicious instant pot recipes? I’ve got you covered!
- Chickpea Curry with Spinach (Chana Saag) – A healthy vegan and gluten-free curry with chickpeas and spinach.
- Creamy Mushroom Pasta – Spaghetti tossed in a creamy cheese sauce loaded with mushrooms.
- Vegetable Biryani – Fragrant basmati rice cooked with lots of vegetables, and aromatic whole spices and herbs.
- Madras Lentils – Restaurant-style Dal Makhani made in the pressure cooker, it’s rich, creamy, and flavorful.
Instant Pot Coconut Chicken Curry
Equipment
Video
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera), optional
- 1 cup Onions, yellow diced
- 1/2 tablespoon Ginger, paste or grated
- 1/2 tablespoon Garlic, paste or minced
- 1 cup Tomato puree, canned or blend 2 tomatoes to make a puree *
- 1 pound Chicken thighs, skinless and boneless, cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces.
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 cup Coconut Milk, canned, full-fat, unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 tablespoon Lime juice
- Cilantro , to garnish
Spices
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin (Jeera powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder, or paprika, adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in Sauté mode and let it heat. Add ghee (or oil), and then add cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for 30 seconds.
- Add onions, ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for about 3 minutes until the onions turn golden brown.
- Add tomato puree and spices. Mix and let it sauté for 2-3 minutes. (If your instant pot is prone to burn, then skip this step and add the tomato puree after sautéing the chicken and adding water. Do not stir.)
- Add chicken pieces to the pot. Stir and saute the chicken for about 3-4 minutes. Do not skip this step, as it adds lots of flavor to the curry.
- Add the water and stir. Press cancel and close lid with the vent in sealing position.
- Start the instant pot in Manual or Pressure cook mode on high pressure for 4 minutes.
- When the instant pot beeps, quick release the pressure manually and open the lid.
- Stir in the coconut milk, garam masala and let it simmer on sauté mode for 4-5 minutes or until the sauce is thickened (see notes to thicken sauce).
- Stir in the lime juice and garnish with cilantro. Coconut Chicken Curry is ready to be served. Enjoy over basmati rice or with naan.
I hate recipes that aren’t “Walmart” viable. Please never make recipes again.
Delicious! Love the touch of lime juice. I added frozen peas and bell peppers when I added the coconut milk and it turned out really nice.
Hi Sami – That sounds like a delicious twist!
This curry is absolutely delicious! I have saved the recipe and will make this again and again for the rest of my life.
Hi – That’s so wonderful to hear! ❤️
So delicious! It tastes exactly like my favorite tikka masala recipe, but it takes much less time and effort. I love how tender and flavorful the chicken is, even without marinating. If you use Thai kitchen organic coconut milk (the organic one specifically), you’ll never need to thicken the sauce. I always add steamed cauliflower to it at the end!
Hi Eileen – That sounds amazing! So glad you found it just as flavorful with less effort—that’s always a win!
Made this in the stovetop tonight and it was delicious!!! All of my kids loved it as well. I sauteed the onion, garlic and ginger, added the chicken, browned it, added the tomato sauce and spices, sautéed for a few minutes. Added the coconut milk and garam masala and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
Hi – That sounds absolutely delicious! 😍
For 12 servings (3 pounds of chicken)
is 3 teaspoon Garam Masala too much for this recipe? How much should I use?
Hi Nabeel – You can reduce to 2 teaspoons and taste the curry. If you feel the need for more, add it after the curry is cooked.
Simply delicious! I made it with 6oz of tomato paste diluted in 3/4 cups of water. It worked perfectly! Thanks for sharing.
Hi Helen – So glad to hear that worked well 🙂
What can I use as an alternate to coconut milk? We love your recipes but allergic to the milk.
Hi Michael – Can you use heavy cream? That works well as a substitute for coconut milk. You can also use cashew paste (grind 12-14 cashews with 1/4 cup of water).
I’ve been using piping pot curry recipes since 2020. I absolutely love and trust that these dishes will turn out great. I made the coconut ckn curry tonight and it was SO GOOD. I’m already excited about having the leftovers. I’ll definitely be making this one again and again.
Hi Bim – So happy that you have been enjoying the recipes on the blog for a long time. Thank you for sharing your review of this curry!
The chicken tasted great but there was so much liquid it was more like a soup.
Why put the pressure cooker mode on for only 4 minutes? There’s barely any pressure in just 4 minutes, and my instant pot didn’t beep. I can’t see how just 4 minutes would have any effect, please educate me.
I want this recipe to work because I could tell the flavor was spot on!
Hi Graham, the 4 minutes is the pressure cooking time, which you would set on the Instant Pot. It will beep when that time is up. The Instant Pot takes additional time to come to pressure and release pressure. If you found the curry was too thin, you can add a little less coconut milk next time. You can also put it on sauté mode for longer so that the coconut milk thickens.
I live in a place where not all of the spices are available. I have to use curry powder. What spices do I leave out if using curry powder and how much do I use?
Hi Pam – You can use 2-3 teaspoons of the curry powder and leave out all the spices. Add the Kashmiri red chili powder to taste, as sometimes curry powder already has cayenne included.