Recipe This | Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken (2024)

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Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken. Fully loaded pressure cooker butter chicken with all my favourite vegetables and Indian spices to make the perfect creamy, yet healthy Instant Pot freezer meal.

Recipe This | Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken (1)

For our third instalment of our Instant Pot Curry Freezer Meals we have the legendary butter chicken.

Butter chicken is one of my all time favourite Indian curries and one that I grew up on, having visited many Indian restaurants as a child and teen.

Back in May 2017 I decided I needed to start my diet and finally lose the baby weight, the diet lasted about 10 days of course as I needed my Ben & Jerry’s. BUT I did make a delicious slow cooker butter chicken during that time. It was amazing.

It was free of butter and instead had the most heavenly creamy sauce that you didn’t miss the butter at all. Many of my readers even said it was better without.

It has been shared more than 100,000 times and I have had many requests for an Instant Pot version of my butter chicken. So here you are, finally, I have made an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken!

Table of Contents

Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken

Recipe This | Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken (3)

Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken is so easy to make. If you want a lazy Indian curry without the takeaway calories and the takeaway costs then you will be won over with my pressure cooker butter chicken.

In a nutshell you throw everything in the Instant Pot (or any other pressure cooker), let the pressure cooker do the work, chop up your chicken and enjoy!

Recipe This | Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken (4)

When we made our freezer meal of pressure cooker butter chicken, we were shocked by how much butter chicken it made us for the freezer.

Sometimes when you freezer cook you estimate what you expect it to make, but I was gobsmacked when it made 18 freezer meals.

Yes really 18 butter chicken freezer meals!

Yet there was me expecting to achieve 10 butter chicken freezer meals!

The pressure cooker butter chicken sauce is made up of lots of easy to obtain ingredients. The main ingredient being fresh and tinned tomatoes.

Tomatoes are very good for your health and even though it is high on tomatoes it doesn’t feel like it is. When I eat pasta with a tomato sauce, I really taste the tomatoes, but with other things going on in the butter chicken it is not the case.

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Next time you see a grocery deal for fresh tomatoes and wonder what you could possibly make with them and freeze for when tomatoes are out of season, then our pressure cooker butter chicken is simply perfect for you.

Because it is high in tomatoes and lean chicken breast, it is incredibly low in calories. Just scroll down to the recipe and see just how little each portion of our pressure cooker butter chicken works out at. Eat our butter chicken without guilt and bump up those calories on a delicious side.

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What To Serve With Our Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken

When I eat Indian food, its not just about the curry but what delicious side dishes I can enjoy with it.

Slow Cooker Spicy Vegetable Rice = This is a new favourite of mine and my son can not stop eating it. It makes a good-sized portion and could also be made into freezer portions.

Vegetable Korma Samosas = A favourite side dish of ours is vegetable korma samosas using leftover vegetable korma curry. You could also do the same leftover trick with spare butter chicken!

Vegetable Pakoras = My Dad always had pakoras as a starter at the Indian. When you taste these vegetable pakoras you will see why.

Onion Bhajis = My favourite ever Indian restaurant starter. I just want to eat them every day forever! When I worked in an Indian Takeaway I loved the fact that they would make me these every night!

Pilau Cauliflower Rice = If you want a low carb alternative to an Indian rice then you must start with my pilau cauliflower rice.

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Helpful Tools For Making Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken

The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker – I love my big 8 litre Instant Pot and we used it to make our pressure cooker butter chicken. A smaller Instant Pot would not hold as much food and we wouldn’t be able to meal prep as efficiently.

Hand Blender – For making your smooth butter chicken you need a blender to turn your tomatoes into a creamy sauce.

Glass Bottom – We placed our butter chicken into silver freezer containers. But only because we had run out of our favourite glass bottom containers. It seems when you’re making 52 freezer meals you need more than 6 glass bottom containers!

If you click on the banner below you can access all our recommended Instant Pot accessories that you should invest in for your pressure cooker. Many of them suit any brand of pressure cooker:

Get Our Instant Pot Curry Freezer Meals Pack

This Pressure Cooker Butter Chickenis featured in . Which is a collection of favourite Indian curries and side dishes.

It also includes information of how to bulk cook healthy curries for the freezer. In fact, we made more than 50 curry freezer meals in JUST 1 hour!

If you love a delicious pressure cooker curry and love eating healthy, then this is for you!

Click on the banner below for full details as well as which other curries have been transformed into Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Freezer Meals.

Recipe This | Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken (12)

Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken

Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken. Fully loaded pressure cooker butter chicken with all my favourite vegetables and Indian spices to make the perfect creamy, yet healthy Instant Pot freezer meal.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Instant Pot

Servings: 18

Calories: 175kcal

Author: RecipeThis.com

Ingredients

Recipe Ingredients:

Butter Chicken Marinade:

MetricImperial

Instructions

  • Mix your butter chicken marinade and put to one side.

  • Place into the Instant Pot 25 medium tomatoes, 2.5 large onions, 2.5tbsp tomato puree, 3 cans of tinned tomatoes and your 7.5 chicken breasts.

  • Give it a good coating of salt and add in ½ of your marinade ingredients.

  • Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes and then use quick pressure release.

  • Remove the chicken, add the other ½ of the marinade, 2 cans of tinned tomatoes and blend the remaining ingredients of the Instant Pot.

  • Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces.

  • Stir in the 7.5tbsp Greek Yoghurt and add the chicken back in.

  • Add to your freezer containers.

  • From the freezer place the butter chicken container into the Instant Pot over the steamer shelf. Make sure there is a cup of water beneath. Cook for 15 minutes on manual.

Notes

Because the Instant Pot strips flavour it is best to add ½ the seasoning before cooking and half after (like we have done above).

Nutrition

Calories: 175kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 286mg | Potassium: 1026mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1765IU | Vitamin C: 37.4mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 2.5mg

Nutrition InfoPlease Note: Nutrition values are our best estimate based on the software we use at Recipe This and are meant as a guide. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Recipe This | Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken (2024)

FAQs

Does cooking chicken in pressure cooker make it tender? ›

By placing cooking liquid in the bottom of the pressure cooker and placing the chicken in the steamer basket above the liquid, you are guaranteed tender, moist chicken every time. However, you can also use the cooker to make a sauce and cook your chicken submerged in flavour.

Can you overcook chicken in a pressure cooker? ›

Because chicken breast is so lean, just a couple of extra minutes of cook time turns them from juicy to overcooked and dry. Thighs, on the other hand, are a fattier cut, and not prone to dry out as quickly even after an extra minute or two of cooking.

Why is my pressure cooker chicken tough? ›

Chicken can get a rubbery texture in the instant pot when over cooked. To avoid this, try not to over cook your chicken. Storing the chicken in chicken broth can help rehydrate the chicken and make it less rubbery.

What is the best combination for butter chicken? ›

Butter Chicken is best served with Jeera rice , Turmeric Rice, plain fluffy Basmati Rice, Tandoori Roti, Naan or Paratha.

How much liquid do I need to pressure cook chicken? ›

You can cook chicken breasts in whatever size instant pot you have. Just make sure you add at least 1 cup of liquid, and then place the chicken in the pot in a single layer.

How long does it take to cook chicken in a pressure cooker? ›

How Long to Cook Chicken in a Pressure Cooker. Boneless chicken breasts and thighs cook in the same amount of time—just 10 minutes at high pressure will do it! Just be sure to arrange the meat in a single, even layer in the pot, as it cooks more evenly that way. It should reach about halfway up the chicken.

Do you cover meat with liquid in pressure cooker? ›

There's lots of water in the meat too, so even 1 cup added water will result in a fair amount of liquid after cooking. No you do not have to cover it.

Does KFC pressure cook their chicken? ›

KFC swears by high-temperature, industrial-strength pressure fryers for their extra-crispy skin. Pressure fryer is widely used in fast food industry. It is exclusively used by big corporations to fry their chicken fast.

Why does KFC pressure cook their chicken? ›

Pressure fryers allow the exterior of the chicken to get extra crispy, yet at the same time, it also creates meat that's ultra juicy and succulent inside. Pressure fryers can also fry chicken extremely fast, which allows KFC to cook big batches to keep up with customer demand.

Does a pressure cooker dry out chicken? ›

If you quick release, all the pressure in the meat forces the liquid out... resulting in a dry finish. If pressure is release naturally (slowly) equilibrium occurs and the moisture stays in the meat.

Should I slow cook or pressure cook chicken? ›

So can a Crock-Pot cook better chicken than an Instant Pot? Well, it really depends on what you're making. The Instant Pot cooks chicken much faster than its non-pressure counterparts, but the resulting texture isn't going to be the same as what you'd get with a slow cooker or Dutch oven.

What if pressure cooked chicken is not done? ›

There are many reasons why the chicken could be undercooked even after using the pressure cooker for a long time.
  1. Maybe the pressure build-up inside wasn't enough for the chicken.
  2. Maybe you didn't really cook it long enough.
  3. Maybe you released the pressure too soon, without allowing it to cook completely.
Jan 5, 2020

What thickens butter chicken? ›

Yoghurt or heavy cream:

To achieve a creamy, tangy curry sauce, incorporate yoghurt or heavy cream. Stir them in gently, as high heat may cause curdling. These ingredients are ideal for creating a luxurious texture in dishes like butter chicken or tikka masala.

What is the sauce in butter chicken made of? ›

You'll be surprised to find that you only need an onion, a can of crushed tomatoes, garlic and ginger, and some added spices to continue those beautiful flavours in the sauce. The trick to making a great sauce is to let the tomatoes cook off for at least 10-15 minutes, until they are almost dry on your pan.

Why does butter chicken taste so good? ›

Butter chicken is made with a spiced tomato and butter sauce, which does in fact give it the sweet, creamy and buttery taste.

Does pressure cooking make meat more tender? ›

Both slow cookers and pressure cookers do a good job of tenderizing tough meat, but each makes meat more edible in a different way.

Does pressure cooker make meat softer? ›

Pressure cooking, like slow cooking, will tenderize tough cuts of meat like beef brisket, beef chuck, pork shoulder and lots of other cheaper, tougher cuts. Pressure cooking (or slow cooking) is not the best approach for cooking expensive, tender steaks or rib roasts.

What cooking method makes chicken most tender? ›

Low and slow cooking methods like braising, stewing, or smoking are most effective when trying to create tender, succulent chicken.

Will pressure cooking cooked meat make it tender? ›

This technique also forces moisture into the food quickly. That's why things like meaty stews and curries are so perfect in a pressure cooker — all of the moisture makes for saucy, extra-tender, succulent results.

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