I’m so in love with my brand new Instant Pot. You can’t believe how quickly everything cooks up and the taste is just incredible. PLUS, I only have one pot to clean. Amazing. As I try to convert my normal recipes for this awesome new gadget, it was a no brainer to start with my husband’s favorite. So tonight I made a batch of Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala. It was a huge hit!
Here’s the thing about Indian food – the ingredients list is going to look super long, but it’s mostly just spices. This whole meal, start-to-finish took me about 30 minutes, and most of that was just sitting around with a glass of wine, letting the Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala cook itself. My kind of dinner.
Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala Ingredients
1/4 tsp of black pepper
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of coriander
1 tsp of cumin
2 tsp of paprika
2 tsp of garam masala
Juice of one lemon
2-3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 tbl minced garlic
1/2 inch piece of ginger, minced
Medium white onion, chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock, divided
Small can of tomato sauce (8oz)
1/2 cup coconut cream (or sub half & half, heavy cream, or plain yogurt)
1 tbl oil or ghee (I prefer Avocado oil, but anything with a high smoking point will do)
2-3 tbl of chopped cilantro
Optional – If you like your Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala REALLY spicy, add in 1-2 chopped green chilis.
Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala Directions
- Turn Instant Pot to Saute. Drizzle in 1 tablespoon of oil, and when hot, add the chopped onions. Cook for 3-4 min until onion is transparent.
- Add in the minced ginger and garlic and stir together 2-3 min until fragrant and browned.
- Pour in 1/4 of chicken stock and juice of 1 lemon to deglaze the pan and using a wooden spoon, scrape up any browned bits.
- Add all the yummy spices….mmmmm
- Cook until it’s a thick paste.
- Add chicken, remaining chicken stock, and tomato sauce. Stir to combine and cancel the Saute feature.
- Turn your Instant Pot to “Chicken” mode and make sure your pressure release valve is sealed. Set timer to 20 minutes.
- Enjoy a glass of wine while your dinner cooks itself. Totally optional, but, why not?
- Once cooking cycle is complete, I “quick release” the steam. (Mainly because I’m impatient. Who has time to wait for natural release?!)
- If you’re adding in the green chili peppers, open lid and stir in now.
- Gently stir in coconut cream. Top with chopped cilantro and serve with cauliflower-rice (if you’re keeping it paleo/low carb) or with Basmati rice and naan.
This is great served over riced cauliflower!
I love love love my Instant Pot. Slow cookers often turn meat to mush, and ovens often dry out meat and take for-ev-er. Traditional pressure cookers are scary and intimidating. That’s why I’m so happy I found the Instant Pot. Seriously, best decision ever. I know you want one for yourself….
Here’s the handy picture link:
Wow that looks really good 🙂
You’re right slow cookers turn everything into mush and I’m afraid of pressure cookers…this pot sounds amazing, thanks for sharing!
This has my mouth watering!!!
Also, LOVE that you have a link for the Instapot. That makes it so much easier!
What a beautiful bowl you served this in! I’m trying to teach myself to use my pressure cooker more- thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
Thank you! I received it as a gift from my mother – I think she picked it up in India
SHUT IT DOWN! I have everything I need to make this and I’ve been craving Indian and it’s dairy free! Pinning this baby!
YAY! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
I love indian food. I would love to try the recipe but with fish!
let me know how it turns out! The fish will cook SUPER fast!
This looks absolutely delicious. Thank you for the recipe, I may save this for the winter months!
Finally a good looking celiac friendly version. I’ll check this thing out, tough I have no idea where to get one in Hungary 😀 Anyways I’m sure some alternative will pop by, hope I can make it as tasty as you make it sound ^^
My daughters favorite food is Indian so she loves it when I make it for dinner. Can’t wait to make this one for her!
Today is my husband’s birthday. I want to give him a surprise candlelight dinner. as chicken tikka masala is his favorite dish so I want to cook instant pot chicken tikka masala. I never cook it before so I was looking for its recipe. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
So happy to hear this! Happy birthday to your husband…hope he loves it!