Instant Pot Butter Chicken
This Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe is an easy to make pressure cooker meal that’s packed full of amazing flavors and aromas.
I love takeout nights in our house. Sometimes though, the costs add up and we just need to eat a little more at home. In order to keep ourselves from feeling like we are missing out on something fun, I took the chance to make some of my favorite restaurant takeout foods at home.
This Instant Pot Butter Chicken was first up on my list to make, and let me tell you I was blown away by how creamy and flavorful it turned out. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be!
Frequently Asked Questions About
What is Butter Chicken?
This Butter chicken dish is a traditional Punjabi dish that originated in India. Butter chicken is made of tender chicken cooked in a spiced tomato and cream sauce. When making a traditional butter chicken recipe it takes quite a long time to actually cook the meal.
With using the pressure cooker, you can cut some of that cooking time down and still turn out with a flavorful and tender dish in half the time.
How do I store My Instant Pot Butter Chicken?
You can store butter chicken in the fridge for up to five days, that’s IF you have any leftovers or if you’re meal planning. Remember when storing any type of leftovers in your fridge to keep them tightly covered and sealed.
You can also store butter chicken in the freezer for up to 3 months. When freezing the best way to store is to use a freezer safe container or freezer bag. You want to protect your leftovers from freezer burn by choosing the correct containers for the job.
Can I use Frozen Chicken or Chicken breasts instead of Thigh Meat?
Absolutely, you can use frozen diced or whole chicken! If you are using frozen chicken you will need to adjust your cooking time and add at least 4 minutes to your pressure cooking time so that your chicken will be completely done all the way through.
I used chicken thighs in this recipe because they tend to be more tender and bring a deeper level of flavor for your dish. You can however use chicken breasts if you would like. You don’t need to adjust your cooking time unless your chicken breasts are frozen.
Even using chicken breasts, your butter chicken will still out flavorful and juicy and will blow your taste buds away. Be sure to dice your chicken breast just like you dice your chicken thighs for this recipe.
Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe
- 16 ounces tomato sauce (or diced tomatoes. see recipe notes)
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp sugar
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 lb diced chicken thigh meat
- 2/3 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
How To Make
1. Add the tomato sauce, minced garlic, curry powder, Garam Masala, paprika, onion powder, sugar and salt to the Instant Pot and mix together.
2. Add in the diced chicken thighs and butter on top.
3. Cover your Instant Pot, seal, select pressure cook / manual setting, high pressure and set the timer for 6 minutes.
4. When done, press cancel and let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes then quick pressure release the rest of the pressure.
5. Set the Instant Pot to the Sauté mode, and mix in the heavy cream. Allow to simmer till the butter sauce thickens to your taste.
6. Press the cancel button to switch off the heat and serve over your jasmine rice or riced cauliflower.
A few Cooking Tips for your Instant Pot Butter Chicken Recipe
Not Tomato sauce? No Problem! If you don’t have tomato sauce, that’s fine! You can replace it with a can of diced tomatoes. Once your Instant Pot is done cooking, remove chicken thigh pieces. Use an immersion blender to blend everything together, and then add in your butter and heavy cream/coconut milk. Replace chicken back to pot.
Love Cilantro? So do I! Cilantro adds a vibrant freshness to this dish, and I love it. It’s also why I add a little fresh sliced radishes. It adds so much accent to my Instant Pot butter chicken.
No Water Needed! There’s more than enough liquid that will come from your chicken and tomato sauce to allow everything to come to pressure. Adding water will just thin it out.
MyWW SmartPoints for All 3 Plans
For approximately a one cup serving, you will get 12 SmartPoints on all 3 plans.
Now, you can totally make this points MUCH lower! You can substitute a few things:
- Replace thigh meat with breast meat
- Replace heavy cream with fat free evaporated milk (not regular fat free milk!)
- For the butter, you can use Ghee or pumpkin purée. I know it’s not as glamour as full fat butter, but this will still give you lots of fabulous flavor!
With these simple switches, you can reduce your points down to approximately 6 SmartPoints for Green, and 3 SmartPoints on Blue & Purple.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Mango Chutney
- Instant Pot Green Beans and Potatoes
- Instant Pot Pot Roast
- Instant Pot Japanese Cheesecake
- Instant Pot Lime Cheesecake
- Instant Pot Chicken Taco Soup
- Low Point Instant Pot Potato Soup
Instant Pot Butter Chicken
I love delicious and easy this Instant Pot Butter chicken is to make, and how it so much more delicious than takeout!
MyWW SmartPoints as is with no changes:
GREEEN: 12 BLUE: 12 PURPLE: 12
Serving size approximately 1 cup.
Ingredients
- 16 ounces tomato sauce
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp sugar
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 lb diced chicken thigh meat
- 2/3 cup heavy cream or coconut milk
Instructions
1. Add the tomato sauce, minced garlic, curry powder, Garam Masala, paprika, onion powder, sugar and salt to the Instant Pot and mix together.
2. Add in the diced chicken thighs and butter on top.
3. Cover your Instant Pot, seal, select pressure cook / manual setting, high pressure and set the timer for 6 minutes.
4. When done, press cancel and let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes then quick pressure release the rest of the pressure.
5. Set the Instant Pot to the Sauté mode, and mix in the heavy cream. Allow to simmer till the butter sauce thickens to your taste.
6. Press the cancel button to switch off the heat and serve over your jasmine rice or riced cauliflower.