Get your Indian fix by making one of my most popular recipes, chicken tikka masala, now adapted for the Instant Pot pressure cooker.
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.
Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala (Pressure Cooker)
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Serving: Serve with basmati rice or naan. Garnish with cilantro.
Nutrition Notes
This recipe yields 12.5 g net carbs per serving. Nutrition information does not include rice or naan.
| 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 |
Hi I was just wondering if you could also cook your rice in with the chicken to make it truly a one pot meal?
Yes, I would use a pot-in-pod method. You would add another “pot” into the Instant Pot to cook your rice to keep it separate from the chicken and sauce. I haven’t tested this before so I can’t provide any more specifics, but that’s the basic gist of it!
My boyfriend loves Indian food and he has said at least 10 times while eating this that it’s so good. (He just said it again… I’m dying…). Thank you for making me look good. 🤣🙌🏻👏🏻
Hahaha you’re welcome! Now you just gotta make it more often 🙂
I love chicken tikka masala, but I am really sensitive to spice (what some consider “mild” is often still too spicy for me). When I order it from a restaurant, I request for it to be not spicy. Is it possible to remove the spice without losing the flavor? Would leaving out the Cayenne be enough or should I reduce the garam masala also? Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Hi Candice! I think it’s fine to remove the cayenne entirely. Since you’re sensitive to spices, I would cut down on the black pepper in the marinade by using only 1/4 teaspoon. For the garam masala, use only 1 teaspoon in the marinade and only 2 teaspoons in the sauce. That’s what I would start with 🙂 The color and resulting taste will be affected by the decrease in spices, but hopefully it will still be pretty good. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Love this recipe! Even my two small children gobble it up. I’m planning to make it for 8 people in a few days. Any tips for doubling the recipe?
To double the recipe, just double the ingredients but keep the pressure cooking time the same. Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope everyone enjoys it 🙂
Hey! This recipe looks so good I’m making it as we speak. I just got a burn message on the first round of pressure cooking so i released pressure and added about half a cup of water and stirred it in. Hopefully i wont get the error again. This smells so yummy so i really want to enjoy it! I’m using a 6qt instant pot ultra so if you get a burn message try adding some more liquid. You can always reduce it when you do the cream at the end. *crosses fingers* so far so good!
Some readers have been getting the burn message. I believe some newer Instant Pot models are over-sensitive and throwing a burn error for thicker sauces even when there is no actual burning. So far I haven’t been able to recreate the same error in my Instant Pot. Adding a small amount of water, like stirring in 1/4 cup of water to the sauce before pressurizing, should help with that.
The BURN message is annoying and is commonly caused from the fonds, the black bits that you scrape from the bottom of the pot during the deglazing process and after the sauté process. Just be sure that you get all of the fonds from the bottom and incorporate them into the sauce. I hope this helps.
That’s very helpful, thank you Marv!
I made this last night and the family loved the taste. My husband said it was a once a weeker! It did feel like there was way too much sauce compared to the amount of chicken, so next time I will try to reduce the cream and tomato sauce by half and see what happens. It also seemed like a lot of garam masala, so I will reduce this (we are a spice-loving family, FYI).
Thanks for your feedback, Rebecca! If you reduce the cream and tomato sauce, note that the decrease in liquid may make it more difficult for your pot to pressurize. If that’s the case, you can add some water to aid in pressurizing, and then boiling off that extra water afterwards.
OMGOSH! I made this exactly as directed in my Instant Pot …it was fabulous! I’m already quite partial to Tikka Masala and yes, I too could eat this more than once a day. 5 stars overall for flavor and simplicity with The Instant Pot! Thank goodness for leftovers!!!
Thanks for your feedback, Robin! So glad to hear you loved it and found it easy to make. 🙂
I saw someone mentioned onion…. I don’t see that in the recipe. I love onion and don’t want to miss out!
I love onions too! I actually don’t use onions in this recipe, but it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to add 🙂
Oh my goodness!! I made this tonight and I can’t believe how easy AND so delicious!!! This will be added to the dishes we love to eat!! Thank you for making me look like an amazing cook!😊
Making this tomorrow! I was thinking about sautéing onion and garlic before sautéing the chicken to add more flavor. Would that be okay? I also wanted to double the amount of chicken. Should I double the tomato sauce and spices as well?
Hi Yuri! Sauteing onion and garlic sounds great. If you double the chicken, you should also double all other ingredients if you want to maintain the same ratio of chicken and sauce. If you don’t think you’ll need that extra sauce, then you can only double the chicken.
Tried this today and it turned out great. I followed the directions to the ‘T’ but the lemon juice was overpowering. I ended up adding a bit more cream, and a tablespoon of sugar to offset it. Will definitely try again, but perhas 1/2 the amount of lemon juice.