Pressure Cooker Butter Chicken with Rice
Tender chicken thighs simmered in a creamy tomato sauce with ginger, garlic and garam masala, then served over fluffy rice. A mild, not spicy, Indian-inspired dinner made entirely in the pressure cooker.
- Total
- 55 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 30 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Blooming spices · Absorption rice
- Savory
- Indian
- Pressure cooker
Instructions
-
Grate the ginger and finely chop the garlic. Cut the chicken thighs into 3 cm pieces. Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear, then drain well.
~10 min
Rinsing removes surface starch so the grains stay separate instead of turning gluey when steamed.
-
Set the pressure cooker to the sauté setting. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in the garam masala and cook for 30 seconds.
~1 min
Blooming spices in hot fat dissolves their fat-soluble flavor compounds, making the aroma deeper and more rounded.
Blooming spices Cook ground spices in fat for 30 seconds until fragrant; if they darken or smell acrid, they have burned and turned bitter.
-
Add the chicken thighs in a single layer and cook for 4 minutes, turning once, until lightly browned on the outside. The chicken does not need to be cooked through yet.
~4 min
Brief browning builds Maillard flavor, but stopping early keeps the chicken from drying out during pressure cooking.
-
Pour in the butter chicken sauce: tomatoes and 100 ml water. Stir in 1 tsp salt and the black pepper. Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes, then release the pressure naturally for 5 minutes before opening.
~15 min
Natural release lets the pressure and temperature drop gradually, so the chicken stays tender instead of toughening.
-
While step 4 cooks
While the chicken cooks, add the rice, 500 ml water and 0.5 tsp salt to a heatproof bowl that fits inside the pressure cooker. After the chicken is done, place the bowl on a trivet in the cooker, lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Release pressure quickly.
~6 min
Steaming the rice in a bowl above the sauce cooks it by absorption without scorching or diluting the curry.
Absorption rice Use the right water-to-rice ratio and leave the lid on; fluff with a fork only after resting so the grains stay intact.
-
Stir the cream into the chicken sauce and simmer on the sauté setting for 2 minutes until slightly thickened. Fluff the rice with a fork and let everything rest for 5 minutes before serving.
~7 min
Simmering after the cream evaporates excess water so the sauce thickens and clings to the chicken.
If the sauce looks thin after pressure cooking, simmer it on the sauté setting for 2 to 3 extra minutes to reduce it before adding the cream.