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Paleo Instant Pot Butter Chicken with gluten-free dairy-free coconut milk cream. This Keto and Whole30 Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe is easy and takes 10 minutes cook time. Use chicken thighs or breasts for the most easy flavorful Paleo Whole30 Instant Pot recipe plus tips on what to make with extra butter chicken sauce !
I’m so in love with my instant pot lately. I purchased mine more than a year ago but only until now I realize I haven’t fully used it to its potential. Not only because my readers are asking for more Paleo and Whole30 Instant Pot recipes, I found myself really enjoying this all-in-one pressure cooker that’s perfect for busy weeknight and when times you just want to set it and forget it type of meal. 🙂
Paleo Instant Pot Butter Chicken – Easy, Flavorful, Little Hands-On Time, Whole30/Keto friendly
A quick web search will show you tons of different ways in making butter chicken. But here I opted for the most basic and simple spice combos to make my Paleo Instant Pot butter chicken. You can use either boneless/skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts. If you are okay with either the thighs or breasts, I highly recommend using chicken thighs as the meat will be more tender and flavorful.
A few things I did differently than other recipes …and makes it more yummy !
I highly recommend using diced and fire roasted tomatoes from a can. WholeFoods own fire roasted tomatoes are my favorite whereas Trader Joe’s has a pretty good version too. The fire roasted tomatoes add extra smoky and sweet flavor and adds extra depth to the butter chicken sauce.
I puree the sauce with an immersion blender until the sauce is creamy smooth. I also use coconut cream to make my Paleo Instant Pot butter chicken extra creamy delicious.
Is butter chicken gluten free ?
It depends on the ingredients in the butter chicken recipe. For my Paleo Instant Pot Butter Chicken it is gluten-free, Paleo, Keto, and Whole30!
We use ghee (that’s clarified butter) and coconut cream (dairy-free) to make Paleo Instant Pot Butter Chicken creamy and smooth. For a complete gluten-free butter chicken, you’ll need to read your spice seasoning labels to see if there are any gluten products in the seasoning bottles.
This Paleo Instant Pot butter chicken is –
Creamy
Easy
Flavorful
Little hands-on time
10 minutes of cook time
& Paleo, Whole30, Keto, Gluten-Free
If you give this Paleo Instant Pot Butter Chicken a try, let me know ! Leave a comment and rate the recipe. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #IHeartUmami on Instagram. I’d love to see what you come up with. XOXO !
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Paleo Instant Pot Butter Chicken
Video
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp ghee (or clarified butter) divided
- 10 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger root
- 2 to 3 large shallots
- 2 lbs chicken thighs , boneless & skinless (alt. Chicken breasts)
- 28 oz. diced fire roasted tomatoes , canned. I use 365 Whole Foods brand
- ¼ cup full fat coconut milk , canned and stir-well. I use 365 Whole Foods brand.
- Cilantro , garnish, optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instant Pot Butter Chicken Dry Spice Seasonings:
- 1 tbsp garam masala powder
- 2 tsp smoked paprika alt. sweet paprika
- 1.5 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp turmeric powder
Instructions
- Prep: Roughly chop garlic cloves, ginger, and shallots. Combine ingredients under “Dry Spice Seasonings” in one bowl. Set aside.
- Instant Pot: Press Saute function - add 2 tbsp ghee. When the oil is melted, add chopped garlic, ginger, and shallots. Season with pinch of salt. Saute until fragrant (about 2-3 mins). Add Dry Spice Seasonings. Give a quick saute to slightly warm up the spices (about 10 seconds). Turn off Saute function.
- Add fire roasted tomato and scrape the bottom of the pot to ensure that nothing is stick to the bottom. Add chicken and cover the sauce over each pieces. Seal the lid and valve. Press Manual - 10 minutes. When done, natural release until the valve drops (should take about 10 mins).
- Scoop out the chicken. Add ¼ cup full-fat coconut milk and 2 tbsp ghee. Puree the sauce using an immersion blender until creamy smooth. Dice the chicken to bite sizes and add them back to the sauce pot. Give it a stir and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve the butter chicken over slightly cooked cauliflower rice or mashed (sweet) potatoes.
Notes
- Please note that different brands of fire roasted canned tomatoes might have different consistency. Some cans have less liquid than others. Some people have mentioned that there's not enough liquid in the instant pot during pressure cook. Please refer to the video or the process shot photos included in this blog post. As you can see there's enough liquid left in the pot after it's done cooking. If yours look drier than my video (or the photos included in this blog post), try adding 1/4 cup chicken stock before you pressure cook.
- If you don't have an immersion blender, you can also pour the sauce into a blender and blend until creamy smooth. Be careful the sauce will be hot.
- Tip: After the sauce is blended to creamy smooth (before adding the chicken back to the pot), ladle some extra chicken butter sauce aside for Healthy Shakshuka !
- Stove-top users: Follow the same cooking method/steps above. I recommend using a large size Dutch oven (or heavy bottom stock/soup pot). Adjust the stove-top cook time (it will be longer than 10 minutes). Cook over medium to medium-low heat. Cover with a lid and stir-often. Cook until the chicken is completely cooked through. You can either pre-slice the chicken to bite-size chunks prior to cooking (this will ensure them cook through faster) OR follow the Instant Pot directions above (dice them afterwards).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What to do with extra Butter Chicken Sauce?
Make my Healthy Shakshuka Recipe for breakfast ! It’s the perfect way to use up the creamy butter chicken sauce.
Also check out my Best Whole30 Instant Pot Recipes, Instant Pot Beef Brisket Pho, Instant Pot Vietnamese Beef Stew, Instant Pot Bone Broth, Chinese Chicken Bone Broth, Instant Pot Sweet Potato Yam Mash, and Instant Pot Chinese Chicken Sparerib Soup.
This was the very first thing I made with my Instant Pot and I don’t know it it gets any better than this! So creamy and delicious, the chicken thighs came out incredibly tender. I served with some cauliflower rice but might try some paleo naan next time. Overall delicious, thanks for this recipe!
Delicious recipe! Everyone in my picky family loved it – my 3 year old even asked for seconds 🙂
So happy to hear, Thank you!
Does this recipe freeze well?
Yes!
So good!
Thanks so much!
Great recipe! Super easy to follow, quick and tasty. The instructions and videos were also very helpful.
Thanks so much, Alicia!
This is so easy, insanely good and has become a staple in our home! I was looking for a curried beef instant pot recipe today wishing for something comparable to this sauce. Do you think this would work with beef as well?
Thanks, Nate! I haven’t tried beef but have a feeling it should work, too!
This is so amazing! Thank you so much. It’s my new favorite recipe ?
So lovely to hear. Thanks, Jane!
The flavour of this was delicious and perfect. My only change for next time would be to use 1 can of tomatoes. My sauce was a bit too watery even after pureeing parts of it. I used it as broth later on, but would have preferred a creamier sauce
Hi Zu, thanks for sharing. I think the difference will be the type of tomato “sauce” that you use. Mine is WholeFoods’ fire roasted tomatoes from a can not a tomato sauce so it has less liquid. Hope that helps. 🙂
Delicious and super easy to make
Made this tonight, it was delicious!
The recipe calls for ‘2 + 2 tbsp ghee’ Do you mean 4..?
Hi Casie, Thank you! Yes total 4 tbsp but we divided to 2 + 2 in two different occasions.
Ah I understand now! Thank you for the clarification!