Instant Pot Butter Chicken
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Yes, you can EASILY make restaurant-quality butter chicken right in your pressure cooker! The flavors are amazing and the chicken is perfectly melt-in-your-mouth tender! Serve with rice and naan for the best home-cooked meal ever.
It’s been so good to be home.
With endless cuddles with Butters. And his hot, rancid fish breath right in front of my face.
It’s been absolutely great. That and having this butter chicken in bed.
The best part about it though?
The Instant Pot, of course!
The chicken comes out perfectly every single time, with all the flavors melding just right.
No, wait. I lied.
The best part is all the toasted naan that you get to dip in the leftover sauce.
Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ sweet onion, diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook rice according to package instructions; set aside.
- Set a 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Add butter, onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger, garam masala, turmeric, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper, if using, until fragrant, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken stock and chicken.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 10 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- In a small bowl, whisk together heavy cream and flour; set aside.
- Select high sauté setting. Stir in heavy cream mixture and cook, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cilantro; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately with rice.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
Would you happen to know if I need to adjust this for the 3-quart IP?
Hi Paula! When using a 3qt or “mini” Instant Pot, the general rule of thumb is to divide the recipe in half with the same cook time. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Wow! I never leave reviews on recipes… but wow! I absolutely LOVED this recipe!! The only thing I changed was that I used coconut flour instead of reg flour. So delicious! Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m sure the coconut flour was a great substitution in this one! Thanks for sharing, Caroline!
Awesome and simple. Add a squirt of sriracha if you want a little more spice to it. Enjoyed by all. Thank you.
Just finished making this, and it smells sooooo good! I used chicken thighs instead of breasts, but I cut them a little too small and they’ve practically disintegrated into the sauce! LOL They’re super tender, though! I’m going to try this again and add some cauliflower. It doesn’t have the rich butter chicken taste like real butter chicken, but it’s very good! I will be sure to make this again!
Thanks for sharing, Seanna!
I have an 8 quart pot – how do I adjust the recipe?
When using an 8qt Instant Pot, the timing should stay relatively the same. It would just take a little longer for it to come to pressure. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Made this tonight for my husband and son and they loved it even my son who does not like Indian food. I used boneless chicken thighs, added 1T sugar, fresh tomatoes in place of can and 3/4 C cream. Added salt and pepper at the end. It was still a little liquidity so added 2t cornstarch and simmered a few more minutes. It was wonderful and perfect heat. Will make again.
Thank you, Tammy!
really good. followed the recipe exactly and the only thing i would change is the basmati rice. certainly nothing wrong with it, but kinda pricey, and we didn’t notice a big difference between it and ordinary long grain rice.
slowly working my way through every recipe on this site. so far, no duds!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
WOOOOO!! We loved this! First meal I made in my new instapot and it was a big success. Will definitely be making this again and trying more of Chungah’s recipes! So delish!! Next time I might add more of the spices since we are spice freaks.
Great!
Simply delicious!!!
Loved it! Super easy to make. I had no diced tomatoes so I used extra tomato sauce. And instead of cream, I used coconut milk (cream). Yummy and satisfying!
This was quite good. My instant pot was a Christmas gift, so I’m still learning to cook with it. One thing I have learned is that that plain chicken, when pressure cooked, doesn’t have as much flavor as when I saute it with spices on the stove before using it in a recipe. So this time I cut up the chicken a day before and sprinkled it with garam masala, garlic powder, salt and pepper and dried onion bits and let it sit overnight. I only used the 1/4 tsp of cayenne, not hot, next time I’ll add a bit more. I will most definitely make this again!
I am new to instant pot and pressure cooking. This was first recipe and was delicious. Questions: do you think it will freeze well? If not any suggestions for cooking time if I reduced ingredients by half. We are an older couple with empty nest.
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Yummmm, another flawless recipe. Thanks Chungah!
Can use boneless chicken thighs?
Yes! 🙂
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Can this be made in a 3 quart instant pot or should I halve the recipe?
When using a 3qt or “mini” Instant Pot, the general rule of thumb is to divide the recipe in half with the same cook time. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I made this recipe today and it was so flavourful and yummy. My entire family (including my picky 7-year old) loved it.
Hi Chungah! We make this recipe at least once a month! We love it! This was the first Indian dish we tried to make and will definitely branch out to try more.
We were wondering could you add canned chickpeas to this recipe or would the pressure cooking just turn them to mush?
Thanks for the great recipes, keep up the great work!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I added a can of drained an rinsed chick peas and they were delicious!
So good! Thank you!
O M G! Wow! This was definitely Damn Delicious! If I weren’t stuffed, I’d still be eating it lol. Thanks for a fantastic recipe!! A keeper for sure 😉
Hi! I have a 3 quart Mini – Duo Instant Pot. How will this affect this recipe? Do I just halve the ingredients? Or will the cooking time / temperature also be adjusted? Thank you!
When using a 3qt or “mini” Instant Pot, the general rule of thumb is to divide the recipe in half with the same cook time. But as always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.