Instant Pot Butter Chicken Using Chicken Thighs - Instant Pot Mini Recipes (2024)

Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe--a creamy, tangy chicken recipe with Indian spices made in the instant pot. Serve this Butter Chicken over white rice and a side of naan bread, and enjoy. If you love this Instant Pot Butter Chicken, be sure to check out all of my Instant Pot Mini recipes.

Can we talk a bit about food budgets?

I just wrapped up final recipe testing for cookbook #4, and took a quick look at my books. On average, I spent $100 every 3 days at the grocery store for 4 months. And honestly, that was just the last round of recipe testing; I don't have the heart to go back and track it beyond 2018.

This latest book was 2 years in the making, and it's a blessing that I had so much time to work on it.

If you're wondering:it will be more dinners for two with a release date of April 2019. I'll keep you updated: here's the pre-order link.

It's not that the book contains complicated recipes that have long ingredient lists (you know from my book Sweet & Simple that I'm a 10-ingredients or less kind of cook). It's that I made everything at least 3 times, and I'm a chronic over-buyer. I buy a bunch of cilantro and parsley every time I step in the grocery store, just in case the one in my fridge isn't perky enough for food photography.

I came out of the experience with an overstuffed freezer, a fridge full of food, and an overflowing pantry. (And then I landed right in 'book edits land', which is its own level of hell; ask me in 5 years and I'll tell you the story of this book).

I'm currently playing Grocery Games with myself each night, and coming up with recipes to use everything I have on hand. I've only been to the grocery store twice this month, and it was for toddler basics (Camille needs these 3-ingredient pancakes like I need coffee every morning).

Why Instant Pot Chicken Thighs are better than breasts:

With a small bag of frozen boneless chicken thighs, a messy spice rack, and partially full containers of heavy cream littering my fridge, I made this instant pot butter chicken in my instant pot mini.

Chicken thighs are absolutely the way to go when it comes to the instant pot because they stay moist. I used chicken breasts in my Instant Pot Salsa Chicken, because the starch from the rice helps with moisture in the pressure cooker. When I make Instant Pot Chicken Stock, I use bone-in skin-on thighs. Oh, and my Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings also uses chicken thighs.

When it comes to chicken, I'm an instant pot chicken thighs kind of girl it seems!

Instant Pot Butter Chicken, a list of reasons to love:

I love that this recipe is gluten free; I love that it's creamy, comforting and faster than take-out. Plus, I made you a video to show how fast this recipe is! Scroll up to see it, or check the side bar, where it sometimes lives. :)

Also, let's be honest--my favorite Indian restaurant is 25 minutes away. But, giving Camille a taste of pappadams and a cooling mint raita is on my summer bucket list. (Your summer bucket list is all food related, yes?)

There are a lot of recipes for instant pot butter chicken on the internet, and they're mostly too watery. Even though I closed the lid on thick tomato sauce barely clinging to cut up chicken thighs, I always opened the lid to a watery sauce. As a result, I eliminated the canned tomatoes, chicken broth and water commonly used in this recipe. I still thicken my final sauce with a bit of cornstarch, but it's entirely optional now.

Serve this Instant Pot Butter Chicken with chopped fresh cilantro, basmati rice, and a side of warm naan bread. If you have a minute to brush the naan bread with melted butter and finely chopped garlic, even better!