
Instant Pot Butter Chicken made in a pressure cooker yields tender pieces of chicken breast, loaded with authentic Indian spices. If you’ve never had butter chicken before, this is a great recipe to try. Make restaurant quality butter chicken at home in 30 minutes.
Yield: 8 servings
Instant Pot Butter Chicken

Instant Pot Butter Chicken made in a pressure cooker yields tender pieces of chicken breast, loaded with authentic Indian spices. If you’ve never had butter chicken before, this is a great recipe to try. Make restaurant quality butter chicken at home in 30 minutes.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 22 minutes
Additional Time 5 minutes
Total Time 37 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups onion (diced)
- 4 tbsp butter
- 2 pounds chicken thighs (skinless, cut into bite-size pieces)
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 15 oz tomato sauce (no added sugar)
- 2 tbsp red curry paste
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp Garam masala
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute and add butter, onion and garlic. Saute for approximately 5 minutes until the onions are tender. Press Off to cancel the saute.
- Add the chicken, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red curry paste, garam masala, ground ginger, salt and smoked paprika to the Instant Pot.
- Lock the lid in place and turn the pressure valve to seal it. Set to High Pressure for 7 minutes. When the timer goes off do a natural release for 5 minutes and then turn the valve on top to Venting to let the remaining steam out of the pressure cooker.
- Remove the lid and using a slotted spoon remove the chicken from the sauce and set aside. Add the heavy cream to the pot and using an immersion blender puree the sauce until smooth.
- Set the Instant Pot to Saute and stir the sauce while simmering for 7-10 minutes, or until it thickens. Turn Off saute. Add the chicken back to the sauce, stir together and serve with your favorite side dishes.
- Sometimes bits of chicken (if you browned it first) or garlic, can stick to the bottom of the part, causing a burn notice.
- Deglazing is crucial in a lot of Instant Pot recipes. If you are getting the burn notice try deglazing the pan before continuing on to the pressure cooker portion. You can use 1/4 cup of water or chicken broth.
Notes
Get your spices out and have some fun making delicious Instant Pot Butter Chicken that is rich and flavorful and not difficult. Chunks of chicken with a creamy Indian sauce, super easy to make in your Instant Pot.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8 servingsServing Size:
1 servingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 394Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 146mgSodium: 761mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 20g