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
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.
This looks good. Can I use bone in chicken thighs and legs? How would it effect the cooking time? Thank you.
Hi Leslie – If you are using small pieces, then it would be fine with the same cooking time. However for larger bone-in pieces or legs, increase the cooking time to 6 minutes. Hope you enjoy the curry!
I just made this recipe tonight. So easy and so good!! Of course I didn’t read the directions thoroughly so I put things in the instant pot out of order and it was still delicious! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Hi Ellen – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 😊
For the full fat coconut milk from a can, do we use just the liquid? Just the cream? Shake it up and use a blend of the two? Thanks!
Hi Sarah – I shake it up and use the blend. If you like a thicker sauce, you can use just the cream too. Hope you enjoy the curry!
I really enjoyed this recipe! The first time making it I did exactly what was called for and it was delicious! I made it again tonight and made some changes. I added chickpeas, doubled the amount of chili powder, used more garlic and ginger (didn’t use the paste) and used coconut cream instead of coconut milk (only because that’s what I had in my cupboard)
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
Hi – So glad to hear that. Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
Absolutely LOVED this recipe! My husband and I can’t stop talking about it. One question: Do you recommend doubling or tripling the recipe? If so, what would be the time difference for cooking? I wanted leftovers, but everyone loved it so much that there weren’t any. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!
Hi Teisha – So glad to hear you all enjoyed the curry. You can double/triple with the same cooking time. Don’t double the quantity of water.
I did really like this recipe, although I feel it could have been spicier or more flavorful, given the spices used. One big question I had the whole time is why is there no actual “curry” spice used in the recipe, since it’s called Chicken Coconut Curry? Also, I didn’t trust only using 1/4 cup of liquid in pressure cooker, so I used approx 3/4 cup of chicken broth (instead of water) and it turned out great.
Hi Julie – Glad you liked the recipe. In India, typically we don’t use a curry powder blend, but we use the basic spices. So that is what I have used in this curry. The reason for the less liquid is that chicken releases a lot of liquid when cooked. But as the increased amount worked well, that is great too! Thank you for sharing your experience 🙂
What are the basic spices?
Hi Matt – The ones that are in the spices section such as turmeric, cumin, coriander, red chili powder.
It was excellent but could have been a little spicier.
Hi Bonnie – Glad you enjoyed the curry. Thanks for sharing your feedback. For next time, you can increase the red chili powder to get a spicier curry.
How long should I cook it for in the IP if I used chicken drumsticks pls?
Hi Rae – Add 2 minutes to the pressure cooking time for drumsticks. Hope you enjoy the curry!
This recipe may be easy to make assuming everyone has an Instant Pot. I’ll have to try to tweak the recipe for either stovetop or slow cooker. I don’t mind waiting. I can make this in the morning and it will be ready by evening. I, for one, do not have ‘instant pot’ but love Indian cuisine. I’m certain most in India do not have this pressure cooker either. But I’m intrigued by the recipe, I’ll make it work 🙂
Hello – It is totally fine if you dont have a pressure cooker. You can cook this on the stovetop in a pan. In place of pressure cooking, simmer the chicken for about 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked well. Stir in between. Interestingly, most homes in India use pressure cookers. We mostly used stovetop cookers, the electric pressure cookers are new and not so common there yet.
This is the first dish that I cooked in the Instant Pot, and it was amazing! The chicken came out so tender and flavorful, and my whole family enjoyed it. Can’t wait to try more recipes!
Hi Lakshmi – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing back 🙂