This Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala is one hundred percent made from scratch. Super flavorful with tender chicken and delicious curry – this recipe is always a family favorite!
The Instant Pot prevails again with this incredible chicken tikka masala. Who knew that it could be this easy to make chicken tikka masala right in your home and in your beloved Instant Pot? I did, because once again I’m showing you another popular favorite and how easy it is to make.
I love this recipe because it is just so quick to make. It’s my go to after a long day when I don’t want to work too hard over the stove but still want something tasty.
What Is Chicken Tikka Masala?
This Indian restaurant favorite is so simple, just cut up chicken cooked in a spiced curry. The curry is super simple to make with just a handful of ingredients. The question you must be burning to ask me is whether or not you could truly have restaurant quality chicken tikka masala made at home? Of course you can.
Don’t let Indian food scare you from trying to make it yourself. It really is not difficult to make at all. You just need a few good spices that are commonly used in Indian cuisine, and your Instant Pot.
Ingredients
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Chicken Tikka
- Chicken – Boneless skinless breast and/ or thighs.
- Yogurt – I used Greek but any kind of plain yogurt will work. Just be sure it’s plain.
- Lemon juice – We need some brightness and acidity in this dish, so be sure to use fresh.
- Garam masala – The key spice blend for this recipe, sold in the spice aisle of most grocery stores.
- Aromatics – Fresh ginger and garlic.
- Salt – Don’t forget the salt! We want this dish to have lots of flavor.
Curry sauce
- Oil – Use a light flavorless oil like Canola.
- Aromatics – Onion, garlic, and ginger.
- Spices – Garam masala, turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin, and chili powder.
- Diced tomatoes – I like the extra flavor that fire roasted canned tomatoes gives to this dish, but regular diced will also work.
- Tomato sauce – Or passata. You can also blend diced or whole tomatoes until smooth.
- Cream – I used half and half but feel free to use whichever cream you like for a richer or lighter dish.
- Butter – Unsalted as we want to control our sodium content.
- Salt – Don’t forget to season each layer of this dish!
How to make chicken Tikka Masala in the Instant Pot
Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Prepare the chicken tikka: Combine all the chicken tikka ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly so that each piece of chicken is fully coated in the yogurt mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 48 hours.
- Saute the saute-ables: Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. Add the vegetable oil, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, cumin, and chili powder. Stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the onion softens.
- Combine the curry sauce: Add the fire roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce and stir. Add the chicken to the Instant Pot, including all the yogurt marinade and stir. Close the lid. Set the Instant Pot to the Poultry setting and set the timer to 5 minutes.
- Finish the chicken tikka masala: Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, wait until the natural release cycle is complete, should take about 10 minutes. Add the half and half, salt, and butter and give it a good stir. Serve hot over rice, warm naan, or roti.
No Instant Pot? No problem!
That is probably the most popular question I get on any Instant Pot recipe and the answer is simply YES, of course. The Instant Pot is simply our skillet or whatever pot you choose to use, and it just helps us in cooking the chicken faster and under high pressure. you can always replace the Instant Pot with whatever you have.
Stove top
You can make this right on the stove in a dutch oven or large skillet. Follow the instructions above and once the sauce is incorporated allow it to simmer for 20 minutes before incorporating the chicken and allow it to cook for a further 10 minutes.
Slow cooker
Throw the ingredients (save for the cream and lemon juice) in your slow cooker and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. In the final 30 minutes add the remaining ingredients.
Leftovers
You can store this chicken tikka masala recipe in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container. It freezes well as well, for up to 3 months. Be sure to thaw it completely before reheating on the stove.
Some tips
- A true chicken tikka masala has the yogurt marinated chicken cooked in a wood or charcoal fired tandoor until the meat is thoroughly charred. Since we’re doing this in the Instant Pot we’re skipping that part, however you can still do that. To achieve that char flavor, you could use your grill and really grill the meat until it’s charred if not almost black, which should happen fairly quickly because of the yogurt marinade.
- If garam masala isn’t available you can substitute it for one part cumin and 1/4 part allspice.
More Pressure Cooker Recipes To Try:
- Butter Chicken
- Chicken Shawarma
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Beef Stroganoff
- Swedish Meatballs
- Mongolian Beef
- Zuppa Toscana
- Cashew Chicken
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Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken Tikka
- 2 pound chicken skinless and boneless, I used both chicken breast and thighs, cut into cubes
- 1 ½ cups plain yogurt I used Greek
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
Curry Sauce
- 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 large onion chopped
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
- 2 teaspoon coriander ground
- 2 teaspoon cumin ground
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 14 ounce fire roasted tomatoes or regular diced tomatoes
- 2 cups tomato sauce or passata
- 1 ½ cups half and half
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoon butter unsalted
- 3 tablespoon cilantro fresh, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Combine all the chicken tikka ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly so that each piece of chicken is fully coated in the yogurt mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 48 hours.
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. (See your manufacturer’s guide for detailed instructions on how to use your instant pot.)
- Add the vegetable oil, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, cumin, and chili powder. Stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the onion softens.
- Add the fire roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce and stir. Add the chicken to the Instant Pot, including all the yogurt marinade and stir.
- Close the lid (follow the manufacturer’s guide for instructions on how to close the instant pot lid). Set the Instant Pot to the Poultry setting and set the timer to 5 minutes.
- Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, wait until the natural release cycle is complete, should take about 10 minutes. Follow the manufacturer’s guide for quick release, if in a rush. Carefully unlock and remove the lid from the instant pot.
- Add the half and half, salt and butter and give it a good stir. The butter is added to smooth the sauce.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve warm over cooked rice with naan or roti.
Video
Recipe Notes
- What is an Instant Pot: An Instant Pot is a multi-cooker, it’s like seven different appliances all in one! It does the job of a slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, etc. I strongly recommend reading the manufacturer’s guide for instructions on how to use your Instant Pot before attempting this recipe.
- Note: The Instant Pot will default to 30 minutes when set on Poultry, use the down arrow to change to 5 minutes.
- Half and half can be found near the milk and cream in the dairy section of your local grocery store. Half and half is a blend of equal parts whole milk and light cream. It averages 10 to 12% of fat.
- Chicken: I used both skinless boneless chicken thighs and breasts, so both can be used with the same cooking time.
- Storage: You can store this chicken tikka masala recipe in the fridge for up to 4 days in an airtight container. It freezes well as well, for up to 3 months. Be sure to thaw it completely before reheating on the stove.
- Nutrition: Nutritional information does not include rice or roti. Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
I am not good with the pressure cooker so I decided for my old cooker pot, actually I like better this way I won’t burned my food and I just set up the timer and I am free to do my errands in and out whenever my food is cooking. The result was a little running e thin sauce and I used thighs bought on the same day from the farmers market and marinated over night following the instructions, I guess I cook a little too much (6 hours on low mode). Next time I will lower to 4 to 5 hours cooking, and I will share the results.
If I char the chicken on the grill first, do I lower the Instant Pot cook time, if so by how much?
Thank you,
Mike
I mean it’s only there for 5 minutes, so I suppose you could go down to 2 or 3 minutes.
This is a great recipe. I make it for my fiancé often since he loves it. I used to get burn notices every time until I purchased my non-stick liner. Also, the sauce is always super runny. I thicken it up with a slurry but not sure why I also have too much liquid. I use defrosted chicken, no extra water or liquid added other than the recipe.
I don’t do all the chicken prep, just throw it in the instant pot (usually frozen) and substitute milk for coconut milk. Comes out great.
I meant, I subtitute coconut milk for the half-n-half.
I got the food burn message when I added the tomato sauce, tomatoes, and chicken/yogurt marinade. I scraped the burned food off, added a cup of water, and started it back up. I have my fingers crossed that it will cook this time! Has anyone else gotten the food burn error message from this recipe? I can’t say I’m too surprised as it’s quite thick.
I never do anything with the chicken before as I usually decide last minute to make Tikka Masala, and the chicken is usually frozen. I just throw it in the pot with other ingredients and pull it out after it’s done to cut up or shred. I leave the coconut milk and or yogurt for when it’s done and chicken is back in the pot (I never have heavy cream either LOL). Works out great and a lot less fuss.
My Instant Pot doesn’t have a Poultry setting. Is there a different setting that is similar that I can use?
Just use the manual high pressure setting for the same amount of time.
Excellent !! Ended up making it on the stove, since I already started my rice in the instant pot. Perfect flavor — restaurant quality. Boom!
Tried this recipe this week and it turned out delicious! So simple and easy and packed full of flavor. A couple of modifications:
(1) I served it with cauliflower rice, which worked well if you want lower carbs.
(2) I tossed in some swiss chard to wilt towards the end to add an extra veggie boost.
(3) Hubby likes spicy, so I added some cayenne pepper in with the spice mix.
(3) I mis timed things with my instant pot and it was still incubating away with our weekly yogurt batch at the time I needed to make dinner 😐 So, I cooked this in my braiser (a dutch oven or large skillet with a lid would work too). Sauteed everything as instructed, and then just cooked about 20 minutes with the lid on instead of in the instant pot… It worked beautifully and was still pretty quick and easy!
Excited to try this. You mentioned that it could be frozen for up to 3 months. I am curious if I were to double the recipe and batch cook would I leave the pressure cooking time the same? Thank you!
Yeah, just make sure your IP is big enough.
I’m excited about this recipe, but I don’t have an instant pot. Can it be done in a slow cooker?
Yep! If you read the post there is actually a section with different cooking methods, everything is listed there 🙂
This is so good and so easy! I’ve actually been trying to tackle tikka masala for a while and have gone through a few recipes. Its funny how your ingredient list is practically identical but something about the ratios, the sauce is so much richer here. It doesn’t need cream, the half and half works just fine. I would also be satisfied with coconut milk as a lowfat alternative because the base sauce already has a nice constancy.
Jo, this looks delicious and we are making it tonight. Once the lid is on, do we really only cook the chicken for 5 mins? That seems so quick, will the chicken be cooked through?
Absolutely! The instant pot pressure cooks the chicken so it doesn’t take long!
Is it safe to cook the chicken in the used marinade?
Yes absolutely! Cooking it in the instant pot will eliminate any bacteria. As long as you cook it, it will be fine 🙂
I made this today and LOVED it. The flavor was great. The only issue was that the sauce was a little thin. I followed the recipe exactly. Not sure what to do to thicken it.
You could try adding a little extra sour cream! Another option you could try is letting the sauce simmer a bit longer to let it thicken up a bit!
Maybe you needed to pat your chicken dry before adding it to the yogurt. Just a guess. I use frozen chicken a lot and it tends to be very wet in recipes if I don’t pat it dry with some paper towels.
Hi! Making this now can I use frozen chicken? Xxx
You can, however I would recommend defrosting the chicken so you don’t have extra liquid!