Instant Pot Chicken Curry

Name: Instant Pot Chicken Curry
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 3 tbsp butter or ghee; 1 large bay leaf; 2 inch piece of cinnamon stick; 1/2 tsp cumin seeds; 2 cups onions (chopped fine); 1 Tbsp minced garlic; 1 Tbsp minced ginger; 2 Tbsp tomato paste; 1 1/2 Tbsp coriander powder; 3/4 tsp turmeric powder; 3/4 tsp ground black pepper; 3/4 tsp Kashmiri chili powder (or cayenne (or to taste)); 1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste); 3 lbs chicken thighs or drumsticks (bone-in); 2 cups potato (cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes); 1/2 cup water or chicken broth; 1 1/2 tsp garam masala; 2 Tbsp cashew paste **; 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

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January 4, 2017148 Comments

This authentic Indian Instant Pot chicken curry is a delicious family recipe. Made with bone-in chicken, the Instant Pot cooks up tender chicken with lots of flavor. Now you can skip takeout and make this easy chicken curry recipe at home, from scratch in no time.

[August 2018 Update: After receiving comments and suggestions from readers, I’ve recently tweaked this Instant Pot Indian Chicken Curry recipe. The pressure cooking time for chicken before adding potatoes has been reduced from 15 minutes to 9 minutes. This is assuming you’re cooking the dish as written, with potatoes added to the chicken and pressure cooked an additional 6 minutes. The recipe has been tested with the changes!]

If I had to pick my favorite Instant Pot Indian recipe, this is it! For those of you who’ve been following my blog, you might remember my mom’s Indian chicken curry (stovetop) recipe.

As much as I love that recipe, I also love the Instant Pot version of Indian chicken curry and so does everyone I share it with – it’s comfort food; just add some rice or naan and that’s a meal right there.

One of the first dishes I wanted to try out when I first got my Instant Pot was my mom’s Indian chicken curry. If you’re looking for a delicious Instant Pot Indian recipe that’s sure to please, you’ve found it!

Many people who’ve only had Indian food in a restaurant may be surprised to see Indian chicken curry with potatoes. But potatoes are a common addition to chicken curry recipes made in Indian kitchens. Give it a try!

Adapting family favorite recipes to the Instant Pot is easy enough if you can figure out the amount of water and the time to cook.

Sometimes I get it on the first try and sometimes I have to tweak it a bit. My ever-patient family sometimes has to eat the same thing a few days in a row! But you’re lucky, because we’re doing the research and you get to try out the tested recipe.

Anyone who loves Indian curry recipes is going to love this Instant Pot Indian chicken curry recipe. My favorite way to eat this Indian chicken curry is with rice and papadum (thin crisp wafers). I like to crumble the papadum into the rice and curry!

Tips

– One of the changes I made for the Instant Pot version is to use bone-in chicken. I feel that bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks cook so well and quickly in the Instant Pot, and are so flavorful.

If you’d like to use whole boneless chicken, you can reduce the chicken cooking time to 10 minutes total. If you want to cut up the chicken, you can cook the potatoes and chicken together for 5 minutes.

– The other change I made was that I added a thickener at the end, because the curry was not thick enough for my taste. The Instant Pot allows dishes to cook with hardly any water loss, so the end result is not as thick as when cooked on the stove.

You might like it just fine, so feel free to omit this step. You can thicken the Instant Pot chicken curry in one of two ways: either by cooking down the liquid in saute mode at the end, or by adding a thickener.

I chose to add ground up cashew nuts, which I do with the stove-top version also. This is a trick my mom taught me. You can add coconut milk, coconut cream, heavy cream or purchased cashew butter, if you prefer.

– Before beginning pressure cooking, make sure you deglaze the inner pot so there’s nothing stuck to the bottom or you can have trouble with the Instant Pot pressurizing.

– If possible, use a homemade garam masala, preferably ground fresh. If you don’t have your own garam masala, here’s a quick recipe:

1 1/2 tsp whole cloves (1 tsp powdered)
2 inch piece of cinnamon stick (1 tsp powdered)
30 cardamom pods (1 tsp powdered)
1/4 nutmeg (1/2 tsp powdered)
1 tsp fennel seeds (1 tsp powdered)
2 pieces star anise (1 tsp powdered)

Grind in a coffee grinder or mix powders together and store in a cool dry place. The aroma is heavenly!!

If you enjoy Indian food, you can try my other Instant Pot Indian recipes like Instant Pot Indian Beef Curry and Instant Pot Aloo Gobi | Indian Cauliflower with Potatoes.

If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide or the Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make Instant Pot Indian Chicken Curry.

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