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?
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Can’t wait to try this tonight! I only have ground ginger unfortunately, what would the substitution quantity be for ground instead of fresh?
The ratio for dry to fresh herbs is typically 1:3. Hope that helps, Elisa!
Which Instant Pot do you have/use ? They have a bunch of to choose from.
I use the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt.
I love your recipes. Just got an instant pot and trying those out now too. With this recipe, I seem to have quite a bit of sauce… the sauce is a good consistency, but there is a lot of it in proportion to the meat. Thinking next time I will add more chicken, and maybe a cut up Asian sweet potato!
Sounds amazing!
Excellent recipe! The flavors blend so well and the chicken is moist and incredibly tender. My family loves this and I will definitely make it on a regular basis.
We love it!
Can’t wait to try this! If I halve the recipe (just making enough for 2) would I keep the instant pot cook times the same?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I recently purchased the instant pot and have been looking at your recipes to get me started off. WOW! My husband and I went crazy for this recipe. Incredibly delicious and such a depth of flavor. This recipe single handedly has helped with my confidence cooking with the instant pop. Thank you!
That is so great to hear! We love that you enjoyed it so much! Be sure to try out our other IP recipes!
https://damndelicious.net/category/instant-pot/
Made this, sauce fabulous, meat dry and hard…what did I do wrong? I followed the timings exactly…
How much chicken did you use? Did you use 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks, as directed in the recipe? If less chicken was used, there’s a possibility the chicken may have been overcooked.
Just made this tonight and it came out great! When I tasted it at the very end (minus the cilantro), I felt like it was missing something. I decided to add a few globs of plain (homemade) yogurt which really brought it to the next level. We all loved the dish, but as it cooled down we also felt that it needed some sort of sweetness added to it. Might try some sugar or brown sugar next time. Needless to say, were still licking our plates and going back for seconds 🙂
Thanks!
That’s so great! Thank you for sharing with us.
Hi! I made this dish last night and the smells were amazing, chicken was tender, but the sauce had zero flavor! I triple checked that I used the correct ingredients/amounts, too. Has anyone else had this problem with the instapot? It was my first time using it. Thanks!
Made this for dinner last night and it was great! My husband & I really enjoyed it & there is definitely enough for a few lunches. I made a few substitutions- I only used 3 tbsps butter and instead of heavy cream I mixed some light sour cream with milk and then added the flour. Thanks for the great recipe!
That’s great!
This was my first recipe the Instant Pot and I followed it to the letter. It was great!! My husband said it’s his new favorite. The chicken was tender and the spice mix had just the right amount of heat by adding the 1/4 tsp. cayenne. Thank you!
Happy to hear you liked it!
Hi! Can this be made in a slow cooker too?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
This looks amazing! I’m definitely making it tonight! Thank you!
Made this last night and it was delicious. I added a little extra cayenne pepper and garman marsala but other than that followed the recipe. Definitely a keeper!
Great additions!
Can you comment on these spices with children? Would you halve the spices or leave out cayenne, is garam masala hot?
I love indian, but every time I go to an Indian restaurant, we ask if it’s hot, and then my three children start to scream and drink water like they are dying ages 3-9. How would you make the recipe not spicy or strong for kids but still good ?
Hi Christina! Personally, I don’t think this recipe is very spicy but I also don’t have any children as taste-testers. As always, please use your best judgment. 🙂
Why am I no longer able to save my recipes on this website?
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “saving”?
Did this with roasterised chicken. So one pot on stove. 15 minutes. Quick good easy the rice took longer.yum
Great way to make this work for you! Thanks for sharing!
I found this recipe (unfortunately) lacking. The chicken breast came out with that “pressure cooker” taste: fork tender but dry and tasteless. The sauce also felt as if it was missing something. It was slightly watery; I compensated with additional flour and cream but still wasn’t impressed. Having reviewed InstantPot cooking times by those that have performed empirical tests, cooking for 2 minutes and then doing a natural or quick-natural release might have yielded better chicken.
Greg, I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the dozens of comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. However, I understand that we all have different taste preferences, and I really appreciate your honest feedback.
No need to be sorry. My partner has high standards. Not everything makes the cut!
Oh yum! I can always be in the mood for Indian food and I love making my favorites at home. Stunning photos too!
Delicious! A hit with everyone including a 2 year old and 4 year old who are picky eaters! Cooked the rice in chicken stock and added a splash of lime juice, the lime really brings out the flavours. 1.5 -2 cups of rice would be more suitable for family of 4.
Thank you, Sandra!