Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Perfect Instant Pot Butter Chicken Curry – A vibrant and tantalizing butter chicken curry recipe that is made in just minutes using your pressure cooker! This flavorful classic Indian butter chicken recipe is sure to be a hit, featuring succulent pieces of tender chicken in a creamy tomato based sauce!
Why We Love This Butter Chicken Recipe
Butter. Chicken. Were there ever two words more perfect together?
Although I can think of a lot of names to better describe this classic Indian favorite, Perfect Butter Chicken Curry is definitely the most tantalizing title.
We love making Indian curries at home. The bold spices and vibrant colors are such a great way to liven up a mundane midweek meal.
However, many traditional curries can take hours to make at home. The layers of ingredients must be meticulously added at different times to create the depth of flavor we associate with Indian cuisine.
So to get a butter chicken curry that is full of flavor with super tender chicken in no time, you can use the instant pot! This instant pot butter chicken recipe will result in a bold and comforting meal that you can make any time of the week!
This Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe is a delicious exception to the rule.
Making Butter Chicken Using the Instant Pot
This instant pot recipe uses the “Pressure Cook” setting on the Instant Pot which allows you to pack in hours of slow-cooked flavor in minutes!
You get all the complexity of restaurant-made Butter Chicken, in a speedy recipe you can make in a pinch. You’ve got to love that.
Butter lovers unite! Our Instant Pot Butter Chicken Curry is going to rock your dinner table tonight.
Instant Pot Butter Chicken Ingredients
This creamy, slightly smoky and sweet butter chicken curry requires only a few ingredients, with each component adding an essential layer of flavor.
Here are the ingredients:
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs or chicken breast – cut up into bite-sized pieces
- Butter – or ghee
- Onion – peeled and chopped
- Garlic cloves – minced
- Fresh ginger – grated
- Curry powder – a popular westernized Indian spice blend that usually includes turmeric, coriander, cumin, chili peppers, fenugreek leaves, and sometimes curry leaves
- Garam Masala – this common authentic Indian spice blend usually includes coriander, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and peppercorns
- Salt
- Smoked paprika – to add a little smoky intrigue
- Tomato sauce – canned
- Heavy cream
- Cilantro for garnish – chopped
In traditional Butter Chicken Curry recipes, you usually find a long long list of Indian spices. However, all of these spices are found in most curry powder and Garam Masala spice blends.
How To Make Chicken Curry (In The Instant Pot)
Place the butter, onions, garlic, ginger, and all the spices in the Instant Pot. Set on the SAUTÉ function for 5 minutes. Stir to make sure that the ingredients don’t burn. Once the onions are soft, turn off.
Pour 1 cup of water into the pot. Then use a wooden spoon to scrub the debris off the bottom of the pot. This ensures that the burn notice will not go off on the instant pot!
Add in the chopped chicken thighs and canned tomato puree. Lock the lid into place and turn the instant Pot on Pressure Cook for 7 minutes. Once finished, turn the Instant Pot off, then perform a quick release to release the steam pressure. Once the valve button drops, unlock the lid and remove.
Stir in the heavy cream. Set the Instant Pot on Sauté again and simmer 2-5 minutes to thicken the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve your rich and silky butter chicken sauce over basmati rice and enjoy!
Get The Full (Printable) Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe Below. Enjoy!
Butter Chicken Curry Recipe Variations
Dairy-Free Butter Chicken
People ask me all the time if this Perfect Instant Pot Butter Chicken Curry can be made dairy free.
You can make this exact Indian butter chicken recipe by substituting coconut oil or non-dairy butter spread for the butter/ghee, and thick canned coconut milk (or coconut cream) for the heavy cream.
It will still taste delicious and will convert this recipe to not only a gluten-free meal, but a dairy-free and gluten free meal. However, it’s technically no longer “butter chicken”.
Vegetarian Butter Curry
To make a vegetarian butter curry, simply replace the chicken in this recipe with chickpeas. You can also make a vegan butter curry by using the dairy-free instructions above and using chickpeas!
If you love Indian-inspired dishes and you are vegetarian, be sure to try our paneer tikka masala!
Tips & Tricks
- For super tender butter chicken, I recommend using boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Since it has a higher fat content, it won’t dry out as quickly as chicken breast will, resulting in juicier chicken pieces.
- To make this meal a little healthier, serve with brown rice, cauliflower rice or quinoa!
- Don’t skip the butter! After all, this is butter chicken. It may seem like a large amount of butter, but all that butter is important for the smooth, creamy texture and flavor!
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend eating this easy Instant Pot Butter Chicken Curry with a simple basmati rice or roasted cauliflower rice to soak up all of that beautiful, zesty sauce. And you can’t serve a classic Indian dish like this without fresh naan bread!
Store any leftover butter chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months!
Butter chicken, also known as murgh makhani, literally means chicken with butter. So butter chicken is made in a sauce that uses a larger amount of butter for a silky, rich sauce. Chicken tikka masala is similar since it is a tomato-based sauce with lots of bold Indian spices, but it uses less butter and is usually a bit spicier than butter chicken!
No instant pot? No problem! You can easily make this butter chicken in the slow cooker! Follow step 1 on the stovetop, then transfer the onions and spices to the crockpot of your slow cooker. Add the tomato sauce and chopped chicken, and stir. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Then, stir in the heavy cream and serve warm!
Looking for More Indian-Inspired Recipes?
- Malabar Chicken Recipe
- Green Mango Chaat Recipe
- Creamy Saag Paneer Recipe
- Yakhni Pulao Recipe
- Aromatic Indian Rice Recipe
- Roasted Indian Fish and Creamy Curried Cauliflower Recipe
- Indian Chicken Pakora and Green Chutney and Raita Recipe
- Indian Grilled Chicken Recipe
- Best Simple Roti Recipe (Chapati)
- How to Cook Basmati Rice Recipe
- Irresistible Mung Daal Recipe
- Easy Madras Chicken Curry Recipe
- Vegetable Pakora with Kale Recipe
Check the printable recipe card below for the prep time, cook time, total time, and nutrition information. Make sure to share this recipe on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts cut into bite-size pieces
- 4 tablespoons butter, or ghee
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 8-10 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 2 teaspoons Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream
- chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Place the butter, chopped onions, garlic, ginger, and all spices in the Instant Pot. Set on Sauté for 5 minutes. Stir to make sure the ingredients don't burn. Once the onions are soft, turn off.
- Pour 1/2 cup water into the pot. Then use a wooden spoon to scrub the debris off the bottom of the pot. (This ensures the burn notice will not go off!)
- Add the chopped chicken thighs and canned tomato sauce. Lock the lid into place and turn the Instant Pot on Pressure Cook High for 7 minutes. Once finished, turn the Instant Pot Off, then perform a Quick Release to release the steam pressure. Once the valve button drops, unlock the lid and remove.
- Stir in the heavy cream. Set the Instant Pot on Sauté again and simmer for 2-5 minutes to thicken the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve with basmati rice.
We tried the butter chicken tonight in our new InstantPot but it seemed like it was missing something. Turmeric possibly and/or Cayenne Pepper?
Any thoughts?
My entire life I’ve always been disappointed with curry recipes because they never end up tasting like the real deal that you get at an Indian restaurant… until now. This is an amazing recipe. My boyfriend was so impressed… I upped the recipe by half and still it was gone in less than 24 hours between just the two of us.
A few notes – so I used about 3 lbs of chicken and upped the spices, onions, garlic, ginger x 1/2. I used 16 oz. of canned tomatoes. I also suggest adding extra salt. As the instant pot was heating up I did get the burn notice as so many others have gotten. This happened twice… the first time I opened the lid and gave everything a good stir, scraping up the bottom of the pan and added a little bit of chicken stock. A few minutes later I got another burn notice… this time I opened the lid and added about a tablespoon of butter making sure to rub it around the bottom of the pan as it’s melting. Voila. No more burn notice.
When I first opened the pot after it was all done pressure cooking I felt a bit disappointed, but the magic happened when I stirred in the heavy cream. Wow… just like that it became heavenly. I’ll be making this again, and soon…. as in tomorrow night. hahaha. Thank you for the recipe!
Re: the burned pot issue. The reason is because there is not enough liquid in this recipe. The “Butter Chicken Lady” recipe for this is the most famous version, explains in a video the main reasons for Instant Pots burning food. #1 reason is lack of liquid. In her recipe, she uses a 15-ounce can of *diced” tomatoes and she adds the tomatoes *undrained* so there is quite a bit of water added to the pot, which provides the necessary steam to cook the food and prevents burning. The recipe on this site uses tomato sauce, which is so thick it could lead to burning. Try it with diced tomatoes instead. Also, heavy cream is *not” essential here. I always use coconut milk or coconut cream. You could also use Greek yogurt.
Thanks for the coconut tip! I came to the comments to see specifically if I could swap the cream for coconut milk.
I also got the burn, but it was cooked “enough” at that point that I just kept following the recipe. I didn’t have enough tomato paste, so I used tomato sauce. It was fine. Also, no heavy cream. I used Greek yogurt and sour cream. Very, very tasty recipe.
This was my very first instant pot recipe, and the most delicious curry I have ever made. Had to use coconut milk because had no cream, but seriously amazing! Thank you
I’ve actually made this 4 or 5 times now since we like it so much. The only trick I’ve found to keep from getting the burn notice is to NOT stir everything together when you add the chicken and tomato sauce. Just leave it layered and lock the lid. It is a little strange because I think this is the minimum amount of liquid you can get by with, but I’ve never had a problem doing it this way. Also make sure none of the onions burned onto the bottom when sautéing. Thanks for the recipe!
Really yummy! I did have some issues with this not coming to pressure and burning the bottom of my pot twice. I had to open the lid, stir, and add water. I would suggest adding water or broth to anyone trying this, as I think tomato sauce is a little too thick. Either way, the flavor was great and I’d make it again! As others suggested, I added a chopped pepper (serrano) for spice. So yummy!!
Made this in the instant pot with non-dairy butter spread and coconut milk. Served on cilantro rice. Tastes fantastic! Will definitely be making again.
We LOVED this! Was hoping it would taste like our favorite Indian food, chicken tikka masala, and it was all that and better! We like spicy so after reading reviews I added some ground cayenne pepper (3/4 t.) and 1/2 a chopped jalapeno with seeds. Can’t. Stop. Eating. This. Deliciousness. I served it with rice, should have made more rice! This will become my go-to dish for company. Fast and easy. Made more ‘attractive’ by the cilantro. ;-)
This was very good. But I would like it a bit more spicy. Any suggestions on how to do that
Hi Christopher,
You can definitely add some cayenne pepper or small chiles to this curry. If you try it, let me know how it turns out. :)
First time making Butter Chicken – ever! Turned out great! My daughters only comment is she’d like it hotter. More ginger? Or add in some pepper flakes?
Hi Stacey,
So glad you enjoyed it! You can definitely add some cayenne pepper if you like. :)
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Hello! I’m making this this week as my first recipe in my instant pot. Quick question though. I have the the “Duo Mini”…do you know if i should only make half the recipe? Or change anything else? Thanks so much!
~Reeve
Hi Reeve,
Sorry, I haven’t tried making it in that pot, so I can’t really say. Have you had to half recipes for it in the past?
I made the recipe without halving in the duo mini. Just delicious! I used a whole 15 oz can of diced tomatoes plus half a can of tomato sauce plus a little extra water. I didnt have smoked paprika so i used chipotle pepper flakes.
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Great dish thanks for sharing!
I really like this recipe but every time I’ve made it, I get the “burn” error and have to scrape the bottom of the pot partway through and restart it. Would love some advice or tricks to prevent this. Otherwise, it is delicious and a family favorite!
I experienced this as well, in addition to a couple of other recipes. Here’s a helpful link: https://www.paintthekitchenred.com/instant-pot-burn-message/
Made this delicious recipe tonight for dinner. It was a hit. I can’t use heavy cream so I upped the sauce. Thanks for a great recipe & I can’t wait to try your others!
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Super delicious!! I added a tad more salt. Served with basmati cooked with cumin