Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala is a great recipe filled with delicious Indian spices in a curry sauce loaded with tender chicken pour over top of basmati rice or pick to serve it with fresh homemade naan bread.
You can make this Instant Pot recipe taste just like you would have received from your favorite Indian restaurant, letting the pressure cooking to the heavy lifting of infusing the chicken pieces with an abundance of flavor.
While this recipe does use basic Indian spices, all of them should be able to be found at your local grocery store or of course Amazon is always a great resource.
Even though there are quite a few ingredients, don’t let that deter you. This is an easy recipe to make and perfect for meal prep for the week if you want a flavorful meal to get your through the busy week.
Recipe Ingredients:
Ingredients
- Yogurt: We use plain fat-free Greek Yogurt, but you could use sour cream in its place
- Seasonings: you will need ground ginger, black pepper, and Garam Masala, all of which can be found at your grocery store
- Juice: fresh lemon Juice is great, but you can also use lemon juice from a bottle
- Chicken: get boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut it into bite-sized pieces
Sauce
- Sauce: use tomato sauce or tomato puree from a can
- Seasonings: use fresh garlic minced, garam masala, paprika, turmeric, kosher salt, and cayenne pepper
- Cream: use heavy whipping cream and be sure to add it last
Serve with:
- Rice: cooked white basmati rice
- Bread: fresh naan bread
- Toppings: use chopped fresh cilantro
How to make Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala:
- Marinate the chicken first by combining the yogurt, Garam Masala, lemon juice, pepper, and ginger in a Ziploc gallon size freezer bag. Add chicken chunks and coat with the marinade. Zip it up and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Select the SAUTE mode on the Instant Pot. When it is hot, add the marinated chicken to the pot. Saute until the chicken is cooked on all sides, stirring occasionally. Turn off the SAUTE mode.
- Add all of the sauce ingredients except the cream to the pressure cooker and stir. Secure and seal the lid. Select MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to cook for 10 minutes. Turn the knob to VENTING when done to release the pressure.
- Push SAUTE on the Instant Pot. When it gets hot, add heavy cream to the pot, stirring with the other ingredients. Simmer until the sauce is thickened to your liking, a few minutes.
- Serve with white rice or naan. Garnish with cilantro.
Miscellaneous Tips and FAQ’s for this delicious Chicken Tikka Masala:
Generally, chicken tikka masala recipes do tend to be a bit spicy since there is no creamy base with is, however, in this recipe is whipping cream which is used to calm down the spice level a bit.
If you want to use the spice level, you can always add a little chili powder to the dish as well.
Yes! If you want to change out the chicken for either tofu or chickpeas, this can still make a delicious vegetarian meal.
We tend to use the brand Simply Organic for this Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe, but you can get a more in-depth review of the different brands of garam masala on Cuisine at home.
We are still coating and marinating our chicken with an aromatic spiced Tikka yogurt, using chicken breasts instead of thighs for a delicious outcome. I would suggest marinating even longer than an hour if you have the time.
If you use thighs, you can cut down your marinating time by 1/2 because it will soak in all the flavors faster. But the texture will be a little different. The choice is up to you!
The combination of spices going into this creamy, tomato-based sauce is so perfect it makes your Tikka Masala explode with flavor.
Type of rice to use:
When you are making Indian food, basmati rice always comes to mind as it is often served in Indian restaurants. However, you can use your favorite, or if you are looking for a healthier option, you can also use cauliflower rice too!
Storage Instructions:
Fridge: Store the rice and the tender bites of chicken in the sauce separately. Once everything has cooled down to room temperature, place them in airtight containers and store them for up to 5 days.
More Instant Pot recipes:
- Instant Pot Orange Chicken Recipe
- Instant Pot Sticky Chicken Recipe
- Instant Pot Honey Sesame Chicken
Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
- 7 ounces plain Greek Yogurt, fat free
- 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
Sauce
- 15 ounces tomato sauce, or puree
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, add last
Serve with:
- 2 cups white rice, cookied
- 2 naan bread
- 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken first by combining the yogurt, Garam Masala, lemon juice, pepper, and ginger in a Ziploc gallon size freezer bag. Add chicken chunks and coat with the marinade. Zip it up and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Select the SAUTE mode on the Instant Pot. When it is hot, add the marinaded chicken to the pot. Saute until the chicken is cooked on all sides, stirring occasionally. Turn off the SAUTE mode.
- Add all of the sauce ingredients except the cream to the pressure cooker and stir. Secure and seal the lid. Select MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to cook for 10 minutes. Turn the knob to VENTING when done to release the pressure.
- Push SAUTE on the Instant Pot. When it gets hot, add cream to the pot, stirring with the other ingredients. Simmer until the sauce is thickened to your liking, a few minutes.
- Serve with white rice or naan. Garnish with cilantro.
Notes
Nutrition
Video
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
I see you are not adding any water to your tikka masala dish. I thought water is always required in the Instant Pot? Do you ever have issues with it coming to pressure with no water added??
You actually just need liquid, not necessarily water. As long as you have about 1/2 cup of liquid, you should be fine!
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I could find the suggested servings on the recipe. How many people does this serve?
It serves 4-6 people. Depending on the size of the serving.
Can I double this recipe in the 6 quart instant pot?
I have even tripled it, no problem! Enjoy!
My instant pot alarmed for BURN three times when trying to cook this recipe. The chicken stuck and burned onto the bottom of the Instant Pot.
How can I adjust this for this still living under a rock and don’t have an instant pot yet?
This website may be able to help you. We have a post about converting slow cooker recipes to instant pot. But here is a post to convert instant pot to the slow cooker.
https://mycrazygoodlife.com/convert-instant-pot-recipes-crockpot/
Is there an alternative to using heavy whipping cream?
In some recipes, you can substitute 3/4 cup milk plus 1/3 cup butter or margarine for 1 cup of heavy cream.
Do you add the remaining marinade in the instant pot with the other sauce
I am wondering the same thing??
I got BURN as well.
Really loved this dish. Flavors were awesome and we liked that it had a little heat. I didn’t bother sautéing chicken since I was short on time. I used full fat coconut milk (in can) to make it dairy free and it turned out great!
I would also like to know!
I made this for dinner tonight and served it with rice, roasted potatoes and naan. Oh my goodness! It was incredible. My husband said he felt like he was eating at a restaurant. Thank you!
I had one problem or this dish would have been perfect. After pressure cooking the chicken, I vented the Instant Pot. Usually the steam lasts for about 60 to 90 seconds, but this time it just kept steaming and steaming for more than 10 minutes. Finally I just unplugged the pot and opened it. The chicken was burnt on the bottom but I was able to use the chicken on the top. It was overcooked but still edible. What did I do wrong? Because I definitely want to make this recipe again. Thanks so much!
I never get food burn, but I did with this recipe. I hope that it’s not ruined and tastes okay.
You just saute your chicken, not cook it all the way through at first. Then when you bring your Instant Pot to pressure, be sure your whipping cream was not added in. Add in 1/2 cup water. Maybe cook it for a minute or two less to prevent the burn notice.
My husband and I tried this for dinner and WOW, what a fabulous flavor! I’ve tried other tikka masala recipes, and this one turned out to be what I didn’t know I was looking for.
This was really good! Never had it, just looking for a different chicken recipe. Cooked as written, used the marinade too (wasn’t sure if I should). No burn warnings. Served with jasmine rice and Naan bread (& cilantro garnish).
I’ve had a few instances that sound similar to what you’re describing. It’s usually when I have a lot of small particulate matter spices like ground pepper or all spice in the InstantPot and performing a fast pressure release. When the pressure starts to fall on hot liquids near their boiling point, you tend to get a nasty, fast boiling effect and these particles tend to go flying up, gunking up, or restricting the vent for the pressure release and make it take much longer than usual. When performing a manual or quick release, plan for whatever is in the pot to try and exit through the small holes of the pressure release mechanism at first, which means you could very well end up with a clogged outlet, extending venting times. My method is to release pressure in a slower, controlled fashion, but that only seems possible on the newer design of InstantPot. Not having experience with the previous models, I would perhaps wait about 5-10 minutes before quick release if you can’t otherwise temper the pressure.
Very easy recipe that I make several times a month. The only thing I do differently is use half & half instead of the heavy whipping cream. I always serve with rice and naan and some cilantro on top. A family favorite!!
P. S. I’ve never gotten a burn notice or had venting issues👍
I cheat. I use already cooked chicken and just add everything into the pot except the heavy whipping cream and pressure cook it for about 8 minutes the add the cream. For a freezer meal I just dump everything (except heavy whipping cream) into a bag and it is a dump and go.