This Instant Pot Chicken Curry is a delicious solution to the weeknight dinner dilemma. With no toasting of spice or sautéing required, it’s quick and easy to pull together in a matter of minutes.

Sometimes you have time to toast spices, sauté onions to a tender state, sear chicken to golden-brown perfection, simmer sauces for hours. But when you don’t and you’re craving a Chicken Curry, this recipe made in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker is the answer.

Chicken curry with carrots on one side, white rice on other side of white bowl with lime wedge.

Ingredients For Instant Pot Chicken Curry

Chicken – one thing that I think the Instant Pot and pressure cookers are exceptional at doing is maintaining the tenderness of chicken breasts. So for this recipe, I have opted to use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. If you prefer to use thighs, you can substitute them using the same cooking time.

Onions – yellow onion is my choice for this recipe. It brings a nice sweetness to the sauce.

Carrots – make sure to cut the carrots in 1-inch pieces. If they are any smaller, they’ll just break down in the sauce.

Crushed Tomatoes – with a bit of acidity, the tomatoes balance the creaminess of the coconut milk.

Chicken Broth – I feel like chicken broth helps to make the chicken taste just a little more chicken-y in dishes like this.

Tomato Paste – this ingredient adds a deeper tomato flavor to the curry.

Spices – I have kept the spices pretty simple in this recipe. They are easily obtained at the grocery store and you’ll likely have them in your pantry. They include garlic, ginger, curry power, cumin, and salt.

Coconut Milk – it’s important to use the full-fat version in this recipe. The low fat tends to thin out the sauce and the result is more of a chicken curry soup.

Garnishes – fresh red pepper adds a nice contrast in texture to the finished dish; cilantro is a traditional garnish that helps round out all of the flavors; and lime adds a nice brightness.

How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Curry

I like to call this a dump-and-go recipe. Outside of stirring a few ingredients before layering the chicken, carrots, and onions, you literally place all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot or pressure cooker – with the exception of the coconut milk – set it to cook and let it do with it does best.

The first ingredients that go into the Instant Pot are the tomatoes, chicken broth, tomato paste, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin, and salt. A quick stir makes sure that everything is distributed evenly before the layering starts.

Next the chicken, carrots, and onion are layered into the Instant Pot. There’s no need to stir at this point.

Secure the lid making sure that the vent is closed. Cook for 4 minutes time on high pressure. Once the time is up, make sure to allow the cooker to naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes. This helps to ensure that the meat stays tender and juicy. After 10 minutes are up, you can open the vent to allow the rest of the steam to release.

Remove the lid and choose the sauté function, adding the coconut milk and heat through. You may be temped to add the coconut to make this a complete dump-and-go, but please don’t. The high pressure cooking will curdle the coconut milk.

You can add the garnishes directly to the finished dish or let people add them as they prefer. But do make sure to serve the curry with rice – basmati is really great – or naan bread, or both!