Pressure Cooker Curry Chicken

5 from 2 votes

This flavorful Chicken Curry recipe is a winner for a Western Curry flavor! It's mild, creamy coconut curry sauce is made with just 6 ingredients, It's unbelievably simple, easy and ready in minutes when you use your pressure cooker!

Prep Time8

Cook Time10

Natural Release10

Total Time33

Course: main

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Pressure Cooker Curry Chicken

Servings: servings

Calories: 409kcal

Author: Wendi Spraker

Cost: $8

Equipment

cutting board
knife
measuring cups and spoons
pressure cooker or instant pot
stove if using stove top pressure cooker

Ingredients

1 lb Chicken Thigh Cut into 1-2" pieces
1 tbs butter
1 Tbs garlic powder If you prefer a less garlic forward dish, then decrease to 1-2 tsp garlic powder or you can substitute 3 cloves minced fresh garlic
1 tsp onion powder substitute 1/2 chopped fresh onion
2 inch fresh ginger minced or grated. Do not substitute ground ginger powder.
3 tsp curry powder use mild if you don't want it to be spicy.
1 cup coconut milk use full fat variety, shake well and incorporate the coconut fat. Reserve remainder of can, you may want to add some at the end.
1 tsp chicken stock concentrate substitute bouillon cube if you must, but leave off the salt until the end and then just add to taste
1/2 tsp salt check salt content of your curry powder, if it has salt, leave this off until the end and then just add to taste.
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 Tbs Tomato Paste Can substitute 1/2 cup diced tomato, drain well.
1 Cup Frozen baby peas Optional: Do not add to the pressure cooker until after pressure cooking is complete or the peas will disintegrate.

Instructions

Chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Add everything to the pressure cooker except the peas and green onion (unless your curry powder has salt, in which case, leave that off too).
Pressure cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and allow a natural release.
As soon as natural release occurs, add the baby peas and stir well. Serve by sprinkling green onion over the top for garnish. Serve hot over rice, potatoes or even noodles. Add the reserved coconut milk as a drizzle or to slightly thicken your curry if it isn't thick enough.

Video

Notes

The baby peas add color and flavor, if you don't like peas or prefer a different vegetable, simply cut small and add at the end. Frozen veggies are already cooked and can simply be heated.
Traditional dishes are garnished with cilantro, but if your grocery is like mine, finding cilantro is iffy at best so that's why I used the peas here.
I use chicken thighs in this recipe because they tend to have more flavor and are more juicy and forgiving with cooking.
You can use this recipe with other proteins like chicken breast or thin cuts of beef. You will want to increase the curry powder by 1/2 and will need to add a little more butter as well.
If you prefer curry to be more spicy, either use a spicy curry powder or add cayenne powder. Start with 1/4 tsp and increase according to your tastes.
Use the full fat coconut milk for the most flavor. If you have never used coconut milk before, be sure to shake it well before opening the can. You may notice that the fat is in a chunk inside the can. If you see this, it's ok, just break it up as best you can with a spoon. It will melt into the sauce in your pressure cooker as it cooks.
Our family enjoys this recipe best served over rice. If you have access to a flat bread, that works best as well. You can also try it over a baked potato or noodles!
***IMPORTANT NOTE**** These instructions are written for a 6 quart pressure cooker, if using larger, add 1/2 cup of water or stock to your recipe (in addition to the coconut milk)

PRO TIP: If you've never tried curry before, this is a good Americanized dish that you will enjoy. If you already know that you love curry, add more of the curry powder (about 1/2 as much more) and it will have a stronger flavor and go with the full garlic powder in the recipe.

Nutrition