🍗 Chicken Tikka Masala with the Instant Pot

I recently purchased an Instant Pot, and by recently I actually mean last year when they were on sale during Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Anyways shortly after the purchase I started to look for recipes that I figured would work well in the Instant Pot, one being Chicken Tikka Masala. I came across a pretty decent recipe and made some alterations to fit my palate a bit better.

First, you will need to start by marinating the chicken. This is best marinated for around an hour or so, but I have let it sit for a few more and it has turned out great.

Ingredients For marinating the chicken

  • 1-2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 cup plain 2% fat greek yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice, I usually use half a lemon.
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Ingredients for the sauce

  • 15 ounces canned tomato sauce
  • 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Process

Cooking Instructions For the chicken marinate you will combine all chicken marinade ingredients except for the chicken in a bowl, or a large ziplock bag. Make sure that it is mixed well. You can mix in the pieces of chicken so that each piece is coated with the marinade. Once again make sure to try and let this sit for at least an hour in the refrigerator.

While the original recipe called for cooking everything in the Instant Pot I actually found that using the stove for part of this had better results. To start you will want to saute the chicken and all of the marinade in a pan on the stove until the chicken is browned on all sides.

No need to fully cook it, just make sure the outsides are brown. Now you will add the chicken and all of the sauce ingredients except the whipping cream to the Instant Pot using the High-pressure cooking mode.

Once you have added all of the sauce ingredients give it a good stir before securing the Instant Pot lid. Select the manual mode to cook for 12 minutes at high pressure. After the cook is complete use the quick steam release handle to release pressure.

Last but not least remove the Instant Pot lid and change the setting over the saute mode. You can now stir in the whipping cream. Continue to simmer until the sauce is thickened to your liking.

Now serve over basmati rice (This can be made in the Instant Pot as well. Using 1 cup of rice to 1 cup of water. I usually do about 4 of each.), with naan on the side.