Instant Pot Healthy Butter Chicken Curry - a quick and easy recipe! (2024)

Add More Flavor

This recipe tastes great the day you cook it, but it tastes so much better the next day. I find this to be the case with Indian curries, in general. So if you can make it ahead of time, I highly recommend it!

Ghee

Ghee adds lovely flavor to this recipe and that’s why I love using it. I don’t generallybuy ghee, but prefer to make my own with thisInstant Pot Ghee. You can substitute butter or even vegetable oil.

Onions

There are Instant Pot Indian recipes out there that don’t require you to saute onions to a golden brown. As a matter of fact, some recipe authors say it doesn’t matter if you just saute the onions till translucent, which takes much less time. I’ve tried that and the results are fine but sauteing them till they’re a nice brown color (without burning!) gives Indian recipes unparalleled flavor. Just saying!

I feel it’s worth the extra time. When you’re sauteing in the Instant Pot on Medium heat, it’s possible your onions can brown too quickly. What I do is deglaze with a tiny bit of broth every so often. This incorporates the caramelization into the onion mixture without burning the onions. Sometimes I saute a larger batch of onions ahead of time, refrigerate them on the weekend and then use them as needed when I’m making a recipe during the week.

Green Chili Peppers

I find that jalapeno spiciness can be hit or miss. I’ll get one that’s super spicy and the next one can be mild. With serrano green chili peppers, I’ve found the spiciness level to be more consistent. If you don’t like a lot of spice, just add ¼ of a chili.

Fenugreek

Fenugreekis an herb that’s commonly used in Indian cooking. In Hindi, it’s referred to as methi or kasuri methi. Methi leaves and seeds are common in Indian cooking. Fenugreek’s flavor has been described as a cross between celery and maple.

I like to usedried fenugreek leavesbecause of their shelf life and they’re easily available at Indian grocery stores or on amazon. I highly recommend fenugreek but if you can’t find it, omit it.

Honey

I like the addition ofhoneyto balance out the tanginess of the tomatoes. Honey is optional, and you can also substitute it with brown sugar or white sugar.

Yogurt

Yogurt is another common ingredient in Indian cooking. I prefer to use whole milk yogurt rather than low fat. When you open the lid after the curry is finished pressure cooking, you may see that the yogurt appears to have curdled. I find that once the curry has been stirred and it rests for a bit, it looks just fine.

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauceis a canned tomato concentrate similar to tomato puree with minimal spices, used to make tomato-based sauces like pasta sauce. In the UK, for example, it’s called tomato passata.

Tomato sauce can be stirred in with the remaining ingredients and many Instant Pots will seal just fine. However, some Instant Pots are more prone to the BURN error. So I play it safe when I give you instructions and tell you not to stir the tomato sauce in. You’ll PROBABLY be okay stirring it in, but I can’t guarantee it.

I like this Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe to have a bold tomato flavor. If you’d like to tone down the tomato flavor, you might consider using ¾ cup of tomato sauce.

• 2 tablespoon ghee
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 cardamom pods
• 5 ground cloves
• 2 cups onion chopped
• 2 tablespoon ginger minced
• 2 tablespoon garlic minced
• 1 serrano or jalapeno pepper (optional), slit lengthwise
• 2 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt or to taste!
• 2 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (dried methi)
• 2 teaspoon honey
• 1 ½ lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (⅔ kg) cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
• ¾ cup low sodium chicken broth
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 1 cup tomato sauce *
• 2 tablespoon cashew butter
• 1 Tbsp gram flour or chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro

• Select Saute and allow the Instant Pot to heat up. Once the inner pot has heated up, add ghee.

• Once the ghee has melted, add cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves and stir until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

• Stir in onion, ginger, garlic, green chilis and saute the onion mixture until onions are rich golden brown. This may take 10 to 15 minutes. Be patient and don't let the onions burn. **

• Press Cancel. The spices will cook in the residual heat.

• Stir in coriander, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, salt, fenugreek and honey. Deglaze with a small amount of broth if you find that the spices are burning.

• Stir the spices with the onion mixture for about 30 seconds.

• Stir in the chicken and broth. Scrape the bottom of the inner pot to make sure there are not brown bits stuck to the bottom.

• Add yogurt and stir till combined.

• Add tomato sauce on top but DON’T stir. This prevents sealing issues and the burn message

• Close the lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes.

• Allow the pressure to release naturally (NPR). This usually takes 15 minutes. Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot. *** [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]

• Select Saute mode and stir in the cashew butter, gram flour, and garam masala.

• Heat through until thickened, stirring frequently, about 1 or 2 minutes.

• Press Cancel and stir in chopped cilantro.

• Serve with toasted naan or basmati rice.

• Prep time does not include steps that are already accounted for in the ingredient list, e.g. cut up chicken, chopped onion, etc.
• * American tomato sauce (called tomato passata in the UK), not tomato ketchup. Use ¾ cup if you prefer to have a less bold tomato flavor. The flavors do mellow if you wait a day.
• ** If the onion starts to stick to the bottom or burn, add a tablespoon of broth to deglaze and continue sauteing. Do this as often as needed until the onions are cooked properly.
• *** If you’re short on time, it’s perfectly okay to do a 10 or 15-minute natural release i.e. wait for 10 or 15 minutes and release pressure.
• See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips. You don’t want to miss any!