Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken
Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken is moist and tender, and packed with the flavor of fragrant Indian spices, yogurt and citrus. Cooked to perfection, this Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken recipe is made quickly and easily in your Instant Pot.
Hi there, I’m Neena from Paint the Kitchen Red and I’m so excited that Barbara has invited me to share my Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken recipe with her readers. Thank you, Barbara!
How to Make Tandoori Chicken in an Instant Pot
An Instant Pot is one of the most popular brands of electric pressure cookers. They are easy to use and your Instant Pot can help you create this Tandoori Chicken!
Tandoori chicken is hands-down the most popular dish at any Indian restaurant, and one of my favorites. This Indian take on barbecue chicken is flavorful, spicy, and has universal appeal. Tandoori chicken is traditionally made in a tandoor, which is an Indian clay oven that comes to very high temperatures with a live coal or wood fire.
Since a tandoor is out of the question for most of us, I normally use a grill or oven to cook tandoori chicken. I’ve been making this tandoori chicken for many years, but recently adapted it for the pressure cooker. This pressure cooker tandoori chicken recipe gets you tender chicken without a long marinating time, and finishing it under the oven broiler gives it the traditional grilled look.
The nice thing about making tandoori chicken at home is that you can make it just as tasty as the restaurant version, but adjust the spiciness to suit your tastes. This chicken is perfect for a dinner party. Just cook the chicken in the pressure cooker ahead of time and put it under the broiler before your guests arrive. So easy, but they’ll never know!
To make the chicken, you’ll blend the ingredients for the sauce, pressure cook the chicken in the sauce, reduce the sauce and then baste and broil the chicken. When you’re all done, you’ll have leftover sauce that can be served on the side or even be used later in a separate curry. Store the sauce in the fridge.
If you’ve had tandoori chicken in an Indian restaurant, you probably noticed the red or orange color. Well, this color comes from food coloring. Since I’m not a big fan of food coloring, I don’t use it but feel free to add some to the sauce while you’re reducing it.
All the Indian spices in the recipe should be easily available at a well-stocked grocery store. For maximum flavor, I prefer to use bone-in skinless chicken thighs. Chicken breasts tend to become too dry, especially under the broiler. Serve the tandoori chicken with naan or rice and a salad or raita (Indian yogurt relish.)
Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken Recipe
Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken
Cooked to perfection, this Pressure Cooker Tandoori Chicken is moist and tender, and packed with the flavor of fragrant Indian spices, yogurt and citrus.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 Tbsp ginger, coarsely chopped
- 1 Tbsp garlic, coarsely chopped
- 1 jalapeno (or spicy green chili pepper), coarsely chopped
- 1 Tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp paprika
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 6 chicken thighs (bone-in, skinless)
- vegetable oil to coat tray
Instructions
- Combine onions, ginger, garlic, jalapeno, coriander, cumin, turmeric, garam masala, black pepper, paprika, brown sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, yogurt, and chicken broth in the container of a blender and blend to a smooth paste.
- Pour contents of blender into pressure cooker and add chicken pieces. Stir to coat chicken.
- Cover and lock the lid.
- Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
- Do a quick release of steam.
- Carefully remove the thighs from the pressure cooker and set aside.
- Select Saute or Browning and reduce remaining sauce until it thickens to the consistency of barbecue sauce; Stir occasionally. This may take up to 10 minutes.
- While sauce is reducing, preheat broiler.
- Line a rimmed baking tray with foil and lightly coat with oil.
- Brush both sides of chicken with sauce and broil until chicken has a grilled look, turning once.
- Serve tandoori chicken with rice or naan.
Notes
Notes:
- Leftover marinade can be served on the side and/or used for a curry for later. Store in the refrigerator.
- Adjust the quantity of jalapeno and cayenne to suit your taste.
Thanks Neena for guest posting. I’m looking forward to trying this one. I always get tandoori chicken when I’m at my favorite Indian restaurant. Visit Paint the Kitchen Red for more great pressure cooker recipes.
More Indian dishes to make in a pressure cooker:
- Pressure Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
- Pressure Cooker Beef Curry
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I bought marinated tandoori chicken from the supermarket do I still have to marinate it and use yoghurt before I put it in the instant pot
Hi Janet – is the chicken in a thin sauce that can create pressure when pressure cooked? If not, you’ll want to use the sauce ingredients in the recipe, or cook it pot in pot https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/how-to-use-the-pot-in-pot-method-in-your-pressure-cooker-instant-pot/
made this last night with boneless skin off chicken thighs and cooked for 10 mins and let pressure release naturally. I didn’t grill the chicken pieces but added some frozen spinach and tin of chickpeas whilst the sauce reduced a little. Absolutely delicious! I served with cauli rice. And I’m so pleased that i have a batch of this in the freezer for another day.
Thanks Lucy! Sounds like a great way to serve it.
Loved this recipe! Easy and delicious. Love that it used real spices instead of food coloring which several other recipes included! I want to save it to make again but not sure how to print it.
Geri
Thanks Geri – glad you enjoyed the recipe. Underneath the picture of the chicken in the recipe card there is a print button.
This is my husbands favorite instant pot recipe of all time. I recently made it for his birthday party and people raving and a few recipe requests and people bringing some home. Thank you!
That’s awesome – thanks for sharing Elizabeth!
This is an excellent recipe. I make it all the time, adjusting the heat depending on who is eating. Thanks so much for posting!
That’s great – thanks Barbara!
This recipe looks amazing! What kind of yogurt do you use? I didn’t see any mention of the type. Thanks
Hi Cheryl – whole fat plain yogurt.
I was just curious, I am new to the IP but from what I was told any dairy products will curdle in the IP. I’m just curious, has this happened to anyone in the IP with this recipe?
Hi Kristine – I’ve had good luck cooking with full fat yogurt and others pressure cook pasta with heavy cream successfully but when people substitute products with less milk fat, they do run into problems.
The recipe sounds delicious. Hats off to the photographer! That sold the recipe as much as anything. Thanks for what you do, Barbara. You have a great site.
Thanks Robin!
Do you need to do the broiler part to get the chicken cooked, or is that just for appearances? Could I skip it?
Hi Lauren – you could skip it, however the sauce does caramelize a bit and gives the chicken more flavor.
I’m pretty sure this is the most amazing recipe I have ever made. Was easy and OMG tasted delicious !!!
Now that’s a rave review! Thanks Deanne <3
I made this last night as written in the recipe and it came out perfect. Very easy and quick to make and I’ll be having leftovers for lunch today. Thank you!
That’s great – thanks Sue!
Hi Neena,
I accidentally picked up a package of chicken breasts instead of the thighs, so I’m wondering if marinating in yogurt overnight would help keep them tender for this recipe. Our family loves chicken thighs best but I thought it would be worth asking. We have enjoyed your recipes so far! Thank you.
Hi Susan – I don’t know about marinating them overnight but I would reduce the cook time to about 10 minutes.
Thank you — I’ll try it.
Just made it! So amazing. Loved it. I dipped the chicken meat into the boiled down sauce to get more of the flavor on the chicken. I also added salt to the finished chicken. WIll definitely make again. Tasty and delicious.
Made this today – absolutely delicious! Will definitely be making it again – and the investment in the Garam Marsala spice was worth it because I’ll be using again!
Thanks so much Laura!
Sorry, one of the few things that require a VERY hot oven and in the same time.
One free range chicken, Jointed or spatchcock.
Diagonal Slices into the meat to the bone at thicker points., i.e thighs/breast.
Beat all spices with 1 cup yogurt until its is slightly glossy.
Rub the chicken with lemon juice and if liked, chilli power.
Place chicken into marinade and then make sure you get it to every part of the chicken, fridge it for 1 hour to over night
Oven, fan assisted to MAX, chicken in, 20 minutes for a medium sized bird then leave in oven for 30 min , DO NOT open oven.
I assure you the bird will be authentic style., Love the site but ooer awful chicken ahoy.
For sauce, make a base onion tomato curry gravy. easily googled. don’t not use the leftover marinade from the chicken,
Sounds delicious Rob – but sorry, there is not just one right way to cook. I’m sure Neena’s chicken if fabulous as well.
Loved this recipe, even with my modifications. I used 4 medium/large frozen chicken breasts and omitted the jalapeno. I pureed the rest of the ingredients, and placed it all in the pot with the frozen breasts. Cooked on high pressure for 16 minutes, then I shredded the breasts and simmered on ‘saute’ for about 10 minutes since one of the breasts wasn’t quite cooked through and omitted the broiler part. 4.5/5 I will make this again.
Thanks for sharing your tweaks Sam. Glad you enjoyed it!
Could you replace the yogurt with canned coconut milk?
Hi JaLeen – I think that would work fine.
Just cooked this tonight in my Instant Pot. OMG it’s good!
Thanks Marc!
I’m sooo glad I found this website.
A friend gave me an electric pressure cooker as she just didn’t get on with it.
I’m REALLY keen to put it to use and try a few recipes. And hey presto looking for images I found you guys.
Defo bookmarked and staying connected.
I’ll let you know how it goes 😉
Hi Tony – glad you found me. Have fun!
I’ve been so scared to try my hand at Indian food, but this was so easy! Made it last night and it was fantastic! It had just the right amount of heat but was still Very flavorful. I will be making this again.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us! I can’t wait to try it tonight! I was just wondering if you think it would compromise the chicken (ie make it too dry) if instead of finishing in the broiler, I took it outside and finished it on the grill. Thank you again!
Hi Christopher – I think finishing them on the grill would work great. Let’s us know.
This was fantastic! I made it tonight for supper and everyone loved it! It was easy to make and came together so nicely. Thanks for another great recipe!
So glad to hear that – satisfied family is the ultimate compliment!
Great recipe, always looking for good Indian food in the pcooker and this hit the spot. I’m curious though if Browning the chicken in the cooker before putting the sauce in would increase the flavor and improve the texture of the chicken. What do you think?
Thanks, glad you liked it. If you have the time, it’s worth giving browning a try. Let us know what you discover!
I always brown my meats and saute vegetables in the pressure cooker before I use the pressure cooker function. Browning and sauteing give the food great color and flavor I never miss this part of the process.
Neena, this looks and sounds delicious. I’ve made Tandoori Chicken before but we did it on the grill. I sure do like the idea of saving time using the pressure cooker. Can’t wait to give your recipe a try. Our grocery store has chicken thighs on sale a lot so I know what I can make the next time I get a good deal on them. Thanks so much for sharing—off to pin! 🙂
Hi Carol – you’re welcome! I hope you like it – would love to hear back!
I make greek yogurt all the time. This recipe does not specify either style, but I suspect that greek would be too thin? Am i right?
I have not used Greek yogurt (which is thicker) for this recipe, but since we’re adding some broth to the marinade, I think you’ll be fine with the same quantity of yogurt. Good luck.
What can you do if you don’t have garam marsala? Thanks.
Hi Mary, Garam Masala literally means ‘warm spice mix’ and there are umpteen ways of making it – each family may have their own recipe! My version includes cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, anise, cardamom, black pepper, cloves. I would add a dash of whichever one of these spices you have on hand (with just a pinch of nutmeg.) You can also leave it out if you wish. There are recipes for garam masala if you do an internet search. Enjoy!
The recipe sounds delicious. I have skinless boneless chicken thighs now. What would I have to do to adjust the pressure cooking instructions or any other instructions? Thanks.
You can reduce the cooking time to 10 minutes. No other changes should be necessary other than making sure the chicken doesn’t dry out in the broiler.