Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala (Pressure Cooker)
DESCRIPTION
INGREDIENTS
For marinating the chicken:
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts about 2, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup plain 2% fat greek yogurt 7 ounces
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
For the sauce:
- 15 ounces canned tomato sauce or puree
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 4 teaspoons garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream added last
For serving:
- basmati rice
- naan
- freshly chopped cilantro
INSTRUCTIONS
- Marinating the chicken: Combine all marinade ingredients (minus the chicken) in a bowl and mix well. Add chicken chunks and coat with the marinade. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Pressure cooker saute mode: Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for medium heat. When it has reached temperature, add chicken chunks (along with any marinade sticking to them) to the pressure cooker. Saute until the chicken is cooked on all sides, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the saute mode.
- Pressure cooker high pressure mode: Add all of the sauce ingredients except the cream to the pressure cooker, over the chicken, and stir. Secure and seal the lid. Select the manual mode to cook for 10 minutes at high pressure. Use the quick steam release handle to release pressure.
- Pressure cooker saute mode: Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for low heat. When it has reached temperature, add cream to the pot, stirring with the other ingredients. Simmer until the sauce is thickened to your liking, a few minutes.
- Serving: Serve with basmati rice or naan. Garnish with cilantro.
NUTRITION
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 460 | |
| Total Fat 27g | 41% |
| Saturated Fat 17g | 85% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 171mg | 57% |
| Sodium 970mg | 40% |
| Potassium 320mg | 9% |
| Total Carb 19g | 6% |
| Dietary Fiber 6.5g | 26% |
| Sugars 6g | |
| Protein 32g |
Chicken tikka masala is one of my favorite dishes of all time, and one of the most popular Indian dishes ordered at American restaurants. It goes great with basmati rice to help soak up all of the delicious sauce, or with some slabs of naan bread on the side. I enjoy this dish frequently in various forms, whether it be in a restaurant or just at home with a microwaveable frozen version (the one at Trader Joe’s is quite good!). I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that there have been times where I ate chicken tikka masala more than once in a single day. It’s just one of those dishes that ticks off all of the boxes for me: (1) warm and comforting, (2) thick and saucy, (3) tons of spices and flavor, and (4) tender bites of chicken.
I developed my one-pan stovetop chicken tikka masala recipe about half a year ago — it’s a made-from-scratch chicken tikka masala that’s surprisingly easy and tastes just as good as the restaurant version. Since then, I’ve been asked to adapt the recipe to make an Instant Pot version. Via pressure cooking, it only takes 10 minutes to cook the sauce, which is about half as long as the stovetop method. I’ve also made some minor adjustments such as tweaking the spice mix and using less heavy cream. All in all, this Instant Pot chicken tikka masala tastes just as amazing as the stovetop version, so you can pick whichever cooking method you prefer.
Recently, I added a slow cooker chicken tikka masala for those of you with crockpots and other slow cookers.
If you’ve ever made my stovetop chicken tikka masala, you’ll know that it comes with a generous amount of sauce. This Instant Pot version is the same. You won’t ever find me skimping on tikka masala sauce, otherwise, what’s the point of basmati rice and naan if there isn’t extra sauce to soak up? The flavors here are top notch — even the typically wary-of-Indian-food Mr. Savory Tooth loves it — and there’s also a wonderful hint of lemon flavor as an added bonus.
For a low carb and keto friendly version, simply make the recipe as follows and substitute white rice with riced cauliflower or low carb naan.
What types of veggies would you add to this? (red pepper? Yellow Pepper? White or red onion?) and when would you add?
Love this recipe! Making it for the second time right now. Doubling the recipe since it went so quick last time.
🙂
Hi Heather! I suggest adding an onion; I usually opt for a yellow onion and a smaller-sized one so that the dish isn’t overwhelmingly onion-y. For preparation, I would finely chop the onion and add it at the same time as the sauce ingredients, just prior to pressure cooking. If you’d prefer, you can saute the onions first with a bit of oil, but I don’t think it would make a noticeable difference.
Onions will release liquid as they cook, increasing the overall wateriness of your final sauce. After pressure cooking, you may need to use the saute mode for a longer period of time until the sauce reaches your desired thickness.
Hope that’s helpful!
Can this be done dairy free? What’s a good substitute for the yogurt and heavy cream?
Check your supermarket for dairy-free options for yogurt — there are a lot of brands making coconut based or almond milk based yogurts. Even better if you can find one that is plain, unsweetened, with a very thick texture like Greek yogurt. As for heavy cream, I would substitute with canned coconut cream or canned full-fat coconut milk.
This was so good! I heavily recommend this recipe for first-time users; I often mess up recipes but this was quite easy.
I added chickpeas during step 4, just before adding the heavy cream and simmering. I served with rice and naan bread.
Not bad. Probably a little too much garam masala in there since the cinnamon flavor was a bit overpowering compared to what I’m used to. The sauce was definitely runny and did not thicken up at all at the end, even after over 5 minutes of simmering, but that was easy enough..just serve in a bowl. I added a few tablespoons of butter at the end based on reading some of the other comments. Overall I do feel like the dish is missing something. Onions perhaps? I will keep searching for my perfect tikka masala at home. My chicken did not come out dry or problematic at all like others commented. I used tenderloins (exactly 1lb) and pretty much dumped in all of the marinade.
My first time using a pressure cooker and this was delicious and easy. Thank you.
I haven’t made homemade chicken tikka masala in years and we just got a new instant pot so I figured I’d give this a try! It was personally my first time using the instant pot so I was a little intimidated but the recipe and instructions are very straightforward making it really easy to make. However, I burned the some of the chicken and the marinade that got stuck to the bottom of the pot. I may be dense here- but should I have used a cooking spray or oil before putting the chicken in the pot? It wasn’t in the instructions so I didn’t, but I really don’t want this to happen again! Luckily the sauce had a couple of minutes to pressure cook before the burn message came on so I think I salvaged it by quick releasing and then simmering and adding the cream. It’s a little smokier than I think is intended but at least I didn’t have to throw it all away! Also, my husband and roommate will love this because of the extra kick from the cayenne but I’m not as fond of spicy food so I would omit it next time. Otherwise DELICIOUS!
Thank you for your feedback, Kaitlyn! You aren’t being dense — there isn’t supposed to be any oil that you need to add beforehand. I’ll make a note to update this recipe with more clear instructions. Glad you were able to salvage it!
We also had this problem. We had to pull it out of the instapot and cook on the stove. Should we have added water or something?
Is the bottom of your pot deglazed? Before pressure cooking, I would make sure that the bottom of the pot doesn’t have any browned bits stuck to it, which may lead to burn errors during pressure cooking. You can deglaze by using a stiff wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits (adding a bit of water may help loosen them as well). Please let me know if you try this again and deglazing helps solve your issue.
We. Love this recipe! I usually double the amount of chicken for my family. We are having a friend over that is vegetarian. I’ve seen a lot of Tikka recipes with checkpeas. Do you think I’d need to change anything to substitute the chicken for chickpeas? Thanks!
I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe! I haven’t tried using chickpeas before, but an older comment from a reader named Kirsten said that she added chickpeas and it worked out well. I don’t think she made any other changes. Besides chickpeas, you can also try cauliflower or extra firm tofu. The main thing to watch out for is any differences in cooking time. Hope that helps!
I added a pinch of ghost pepper flakes for extra kick. It worked. The recipe turned out great.
So, if this is the ONLY dish I make with my instapot, I will have considered it a great investment. I love this dish so much. I have left out the lemon juice before by accident and it was still fine. HOWEVER…has anyone tried to double it in the instapot? I am having a bunch of people over Friday and would like to serve it, but I am still not familiar with the pressure cooker. Would you straight double it or just add more chicken? Thoughts?
You should be able to double this by using 2x ingredients and keeping the pressure cooking time the same.
Our favorite meal, we make it once a week.
The chicken breasts were dry. I don’t see the point of attempting to saute chicken that has marinated (in my case, 24 hours) in Greek yogurt; it doesn’t really sear with the yogurt on it. I ended up sauteing it for 5 minutes (per the recipe), IP for 10, and the meat was dry. Next time I’ll skip the sauteing and use thighs instead. Tasty sauce.
This recipe looks easy and yummy. I want to make this tonight or tomorrow but only have about 1/4 cup Greek yogurt. Can I use sour cream or something else in place of the 3/4 cup yogurt? Or is that going to make a huge difference? Thanks!
Thank you for this recipe! I love indian food. Made exactly as described except couldn’t find 2% Greek yogurt so used whole. It came out a little sour so I am planning to cut back the lemon next time. I will also be adding more cayenne for personal taste as I like things spicy. I did have a problem getting the sauce thicker at the end, sauted for about an hour and just didnt notice any thickening but still tasted great and I love all the sauce this recipe makes for eating with rice and naan! I did feel it had a touch of something missing and I like the suggestion of adding a little butter to try and give it that more creamy fullness taste from my favorite indian restaurant. Will definitely use this as the core structure when I make this many more times and just tweak it for personal taste. Thank you!
Can I freeze this after I make it?
I haven’t tried freezing this, but I think it will turn out okay despite the dairy content.
I freeze this often. I use coconut milk instead of the heavy cream so I am not sure if that would make a difference. It freezes and re-heats great. This is one of our favorite recipes.
We meal prep this and freeze with rice in individual meals, no problems from us! 🙂
It’s a great recipe but would love a keto/low carb version like the two sleeves women did but yours is better.
Is there a crock pot cooking option?
Yes! Check out the slow cooker version: https://www.savorytooth.com/slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala/
Hi, for some reason both times that i made this, i feel that the flavor is a bit too sour. Im thinking maybe 1 tbs of lemon juice in the initial marinade might be too much? Have you had others mention this?
I don’t think I have gotten any other feedback regarding a sour taste. I find that a bit of acidity balances the other flavors in this dish, but if it’s too sour for you, you can omit it without affecting other aspects of the dish. Hope you give it another try!
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. It is perfect as is. I make it often and share the recipe with friends. Thank you so much for this recipe!
How would one add peas, onions, peppers to this dish in the instant pot? Thx!
I would add them after pressure cooking, around the same time as the cream.
I felt it was missing just a little something. I added 1 tsp of sugar and perfect.
What do you think about coconut milk in place of the cream?
That would be a delicious substitution — I definitely recommend. Also great for anyone who can’t handle dairy.
How much coconut milk for this recipe?
I would use the same amount as heavy whipping cream. It should be a direct substitution.
Would you recommend coconut milk or coconut cream?
Either one should work. Coconut milk is more easily found in U.S. supermarkets, but coconut cream would yield a thicker sauce.
Oh my gosh. I’m in love, this was fantastic! I don’t even have words. Like another commenter, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs & the results were perfect. Thank you so much!!
This was DELICIOUS! I marinated for 24 hrs in the fridge, and did the noted pressure cooker time, after simmered for several hours. Having it reheated the next day was even better. I also added chicken thighs for additional flavor.
This recipe is so delicious! We make it almost weekly in our house, but almost every time the instant pot stalls because it “burns”. We’ve taken to clearing out the chicken after sauté mode and cleaning the inner pot, but even that doesn’t always work. Anyone have trouble with burning who can save us the time of triple cleaning the inner pot? Any tips or tricks?
Hey Ashley, there are other comments further down in this thread that discuss burn errors and I’ve added my thoughts there. Take a look at them and see if any are helpful. I believe this happens with some newer Instant Pots, but I’ve tested with different ones and have been unable to replicate the issue.
Hi Julia may i know if this can be cooked in a regular pot i just dont have a pressure cooker. Thanks
Yes, it can. Here’s my stovetop version: https://www.savorytooth.com/best-chicken-tikka-masala/
After sautéing, scrape the bottom of the bowl and stir in the sauce ingredients. Usually sautéing the chicken causes the chicken to stick. Also, try spraying the bottom of the pan first with cooking spray, but I definitely recommend scraping the bottom after the sauté mode.
I’m new to the IP world. I have a bigger family, so I will double (or maybe even triple) this recipe. In step 3, when I “select manual mode to cook for 10 mins at high pressure,” should I increase this time if I’ve doubled or tripled the recipe?
Hi Anne, keep the pressure cooking time (10 minutes) the same, even though you’re doubling or tripling the ingredients.
Absolutely delicious. Made as written. Garnished with limes, cilantro and grilled naan brushed with olive oil. Thank you so much for the recipe!
This recipe is delicious!! I mean I was surprised that it turned out so good. Thank you so much for sharing this. If anyone wants to try, I highly recommend this recipe.
This recipe is awesome. Who knew Indian food could be so easy to make and yet taste so good ? I love to eat this using my homemade yogurt and homemade naan.
Hi! You probably won’t see this in time, but I’ll try asking anyway… when you add the chicken to the IP do you add ALL the marinade with it or just the chicken (with marinade ON it)?
Just the chicken with the marinade on it. It shouldn’t make a huge difference either way.
Absolutely delicious! I’m a big fan of cooking Indian recipes and this one is a true keeper!
This was amazing! Everyone in my family loved it, my 16 year old got up in the middle of the night to eat more.
Hello we love this recipe at my house but I never can get it to thicken up :/
Try boiling it for a longer period of time until it’s noticeably thicker, stirring frequently.
I absolutely love this recipe- so much that it’s not enough! Do you have any tips for doubling the recipe in the instant pot?
Hi Blair! You should be able to double the ingredients, keeping the pressure cooking time the same.
This recipe is SO GOOD. I make it all the time, I love it. I’d like to make it for some family who is visiting soon, but one of them is a vegetarian. Would you know if I need to adjust anything substantially if I subbed the chicken for paneer or tofu?
Take a look at this recipe (https://www.savorytooth.com/cauliflower-curry/) which is a vegetarian version made with cauliflower.
I am so thrilled with this recipe! Recently moved from a large city to a small town of less than 2,000. While I love the country, I desperately miss the ethnic foods! This recipe is better than the carryout I used to order. Planning to make in batches and freezing for my mom nights! Thank you for sharing! You made my day!
This was the sh**! And very easy to make! I did chicken thighs, no yogurt, and used unsweetened coconut milk mixed with a little tapioca flour for thickening, and added a bit more sea salt at the end. Definitely will make again! And perhaps add onion and green peppers.
I tried another IP recipe for tikka massala and constantly got the “burn” error. I was reading that tomato-based recipes in an instant pot tend to do that. Do you ever have issues with this recipe and dealing with the “burn” error?
Some readers have an issue with burn errors. I’ve tried to investigate the problem by testing on different IP models, but I’ve never been able to replicate the burn error. I think some newer models have higher sensitivities. To reduce your chance of getting a burn error, I would make sure that the pot is scraped clean before pressure cooking (i.e., use a stiff wooden utensil to loosen any browned bits on the bottom of the pot).
So good !!!
This was SO GOOD!!! It was so good that as soon as I finished eating it, I had to tell everyone else I know with an instant pot to make it! Seriously so easy and so tasty!
This recipe was delicious so much so I made it 2 nights in a row, spice heat was just right for me, Marinated the chicken in a vaccum pac bag for around 2 hours and used smoked paprika.
Do you think I would be able to sub coconut yogurt for Greek yogurt and coconut milk for cream to make this Kosher?
Many readers have subbed coconut milk for cream and liked the results. I’m not sure about the coconut yogurt though — I’m hoping other readers can chime in on this.
Seems like a simple enough recipe. Perfect for breaking in my Instant Pot! Thanks, Julia!
Can you marinate overnight?
Yes, that should be fine.
This was very good. I substituted a can of full fat, unsweetened coconut milk for the heavy cream and added it up front. It thickened up quite a bit, but maybe not as much as it was supposed to (I’ve never had or made this dish before, so I can’t judge). I think next time I’ll add a diced jalepeno pepper and sauteed onions. I was unable to find brown basmati rice, so I served it with couscous. This is only the second recipe I’ve made with my new Instant Pot, and it was a success! Thanks!
Do you add the rest of the marinade to the pot after you brown the chicken or just discard it?
I discarded the rest but I actually used the marinade to marinate 2 lbs of chicken and doubled the rest of the recipe. There wasn’t much yogurt waste when I did this. I could see where a cup would be too much for one pound of chicken!!
Doubling the rest allows you to use the large can of tomato sauce and a full pint of cream so nothing is sitting around waiting for you to cook again. (The large sauce is 29 ounces instead of 30, but it was fine).
This looks delicious and the recipe seems very easy to follow. We just purchased our Instant Pot and I’m so intimidated I haven’t even unboxed it yet! Did you cook the rice in the Instant Pot as well?
I typically cook the rice (or cauliflower rice for a low carb option) separately.
Made this recipe and turned out excellent! Perfect sauce to chicken ratio and definitely flavorful!
If I wanted to sweeten the sauce up a bit with coconut milk, would I add it before pressure cooking or with the cream at the end?
I would add it at the end. I recommend substituting part of the heavy cream with coconut milk, as opposed to just adding coconut milk. Otherwise you might end up with too much sauce.
Makes sense. Thanks!!!
My family and friends love this dish! The recipe is super easy and fast. Thank you!
I have chicken thighs. Will it taste just as good with those?