Keto Butter Chicken (Instant Pot Version)
Keto Butter Chicken is a low-carb dish made in the Instant Pot to give you perfectly tender chicken and a rich, creamy sauce flavored with warm, aromatic spices.
This Keto Instant Pot Butter Chicken (Chicken Makhani) is a recipe Melinda and I have been working on for a while. Whenever we have a girls’ night out, you’ll find us at our favorite Indian restaurant with an order of vegetable samosas, butter chicken, and garlic naan.
With the start of the new year, we wanted an Instant Pot version of our favorite dinner, AND we wanted it to be low carb and keto (bye, bye vegetable samosas and garlic naan! We’ll miss you!)
Table of contents
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Why Keto Butter Chicken?
In the world of keto, where fats are friends and carbs are carefully counted, finding a dish that’s both comforting and compliant can be a challenge. Enter Keto Butter Chicken. Not only is it packed with protein and healthy fats, but it also carries the aromatic spices and luscious texture that make Indian cuisine a global favorite.
This Indian butter chicken recipe is naturally low carb so we didn’t have to make any major changes changes. Though a lot of recipes add cornstarch to thicken their butter chicken sauce, it isn’t necessary. Setting your Instant Pot to saute after it has finished pressure cooking will thicken the sauce up perfectly!
New to using an Instant Pot? Make sure you read our beginner’s guide on “How to Use an Instant Pot” to get started!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Chicken thighs – We use boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite size pieces. This gives you a flavorful, tender piece of chicken with a good balance of fat and protein.
- Tomato – Both tomato sauce (make sure it has no added sugar) and tomato paste make up the base of this sauce.
- Curry – Red curry paste is made with a blend of warm, aromatic spices. It gives a big boost of flavor.
- Spices – Any Indian-inspired dish requires some bold spices. Garam masala, ground ginger, smoked paprika, and salt take the sauce to the next level.
- Aromatics – Onion and garlic are sauteed with the chicken to add a depth of flavor.
- Fats – Butter and heavy cream are added to the sauce to give it that rich, creamy flavor and silky smooth texture.
- Chicken broth – A little chicken broth thins out the sauce and helps to thin the sauce and ensure that you don’t get the dreaded Instant Pot burn warning.
- Cilantro – This is simply a garnish. If you aren’t a fan of cilantro feel free to skip it.
What You Will Need to Make Instant Pot Butter Chicken:
- Instant Pot – You’ll need an Instant Pot or similar pressure cooker to make this recipe.
- Garam Masala – This delicious blend of spices can be found at your local grocery store or on Amazon.
How to Make Keto Butter Chicken in the Instant Pot:
Step 1 – Saute. Set your Instant Pot to SAUTE. Add the butter, onion and garlic. Saute for approximately 5 minutes until the onions are tender. Press OFF to cancel the saute.
Step 2 – Broth. Add the chicken broth and use a spatula or spoon to scrape the bottom of the pot to get up all of the little browned bits. This will help reduce the likelihood of the burn warning.
Step 3 – Add the rest. Add the chicken, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red curry paste, garam masala, ground ginger, salt, and smoked paprika to the Instant Pot.
Step 4 – Cook. Lock the lid in place and turn the pressure valve to seal it. Set to HIGH PRESSURE for 7 minutes.
Step 5 – Natural release. When the timer goes off turn the Instant Pot off and let it do a natural release for 5 minutes. Then carefully flip the valve to VENTING and let the remaining steam out of the pressure cooker.
Step 6 – Remove chicken. Remove the lid and using a slotted spoon remove the chicken from the sauce and set aside.
Step 6 – Add cream. Add the heavy cream to the pot and, using an immersion blender puree the sauce until smooth.
Step 7 – Thicken sauce. Set the Instant Pot to SAUTE and stir the sauce while simmering for 7-10 minutes, or until it thickens. Turn OFF saute.
Step 8 – Put it all together. Add the chicken back to the sauce and stir everything together.
Step 9 – Serve. Serve the butter chicken over your favorite low carb option and garnish with cilantro.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Chicken Breast Instead of Chicken Thighs?
The short answer is yes, BUT the dark meat gives this recipe so much more flavor, and it is even more moist and tender. It also helps keep your macro ratios of fat to protein in check. I highly recommend using dark meat if you can.
Is Keto Butter Chicken spicy?
In general butter chicken isn’t a spicy dish. It has a low level of heat with a lot of warm spices that give you a rich flavor. That being said every curry has it’s own makeup so the level of spice will be affected by the level of spicy in the red curry paste you choose. If you want to add a little extra spice you can add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
How can I thicken the sauce without carbs?
Though a lot of recipes add cornstarch to thicken their butter chicken sauce, it isn’t necessary. Setting your Instant Pot to saute after it has finished pressure cooking will thicken the sauce up perfectly!
Can I make this dairy-free?
Absolutely! Use coconut milk and dairy-free butter alternatives.
What Do I Serve With Keto Butter Chicken?
- Cauliflower Rice
- Zucchini Noodles
- Sauted yellow squash
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
- Keto Naan Bread
How to Store and Reheat
Refrigerator: Let the butter chicken cool completely then place in an airtight container. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
Freezer: Let the butter chicken cool completely then place it in an airtight container. It can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Reheating: When reheating, do so gently on the stove or in the microwave, adding a little extra cream or butter to revive the sauce’s creamy texture. This approach ensures the dish remains delicious and retains its consistency, making your keto meal prep both convenient and enjoyable.
Note: If you are reheating frozen keto butter chicken we suggest letting it thaw for 24 hours in the refrigerator before reheating. This will make the reheating process faster and give you the best results.
Want More Keto Instant Pot Recipes?
- Instant Pot Sausage and Kale Soup
- Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Soup
- Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Creamy Asparagus Soup {Instant Pot & Stove Top}
- Instant Pot Collard Greens
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
- Keto Instant Pot Cabbage Rolls
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Keto Butter Chicken in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups Onion, diced
- 5 cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons Butter
- 2 pounds Chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, cut into bite-size pieces
- 1/2 cup Chicken broth
- 15 ounces Tomato sauce, no added sugar
- 3 tablespoons Tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Red curry paste
- 2 teaspoons Garam masala
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Smoked paprika
- 1/2 cup Heavy cream
- Cilantro, garnish
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to SAUTE and add butter, onion and garlic. Saute for approximately 5 minutes until the onions are tender. Press OFF to cancel the saute.
- Add the chicken broth to the pot and use a spatula or spoon to scrap up any burned bit off of the bottom. Make to to get it nice and clean this will help prevent the burn warning.
- Add the tomato sauce, red curry paste, and tomato paste to the pot. Sprinkle in the garam masala, ground ginger, salt, and smoked paprika and stir everything together.
- Add the chicken to the liquid and lock the lid in place. Turn the pressure valve to seal it. Set to HIGH PRESSURE for 7 minutes.
- When the timer goes off do a natural release for 5 minutes and then turn the valve on top to VENTING to let the remaining steam out of the pressure cooker.
- Remove the lid and using a slotted spoon remove the chicken from the sauce and set aside.
- Add the heavy cream to the pot and, using an immersion blender puree the sauce until smooth. See note #1
- Set the Instant Pot to SAUTE and stir the sauce while simmering for 7-10 minutes, or until it thickens. Turn OFF saute.
- Add the chicken back to the sauce, stir together, and serve with a garnish of cilantro.
Notes
- You can skip the immersion blender if you don’t have one, it just gives the sauce a smoother texture. Still delicious either way!
Just made this for dinner. It was just like eating it at the restaurant and easy. My grocery store didn’t have garma masala so I googled it and had all the ingredients .
Yay! Love hearing that Helen. Thanks for sharing on Facebook too 🙂
I made this as directed with my new 6-qt. Instant Pot and got the “Burn” message. I opened it, added a cup of water and got it going again. Still got the “Burn” message. Gave up and put it in a pan on the stove. Any ideas how to avoid this problem? I’m an IP newbie and am frustrated by this. Looking forward to tasting it though. 🙂
Did you deglaze before setting it to pressure?
Sometimes bits of chicken (if you browned it first) or garlic, etc can stick to the bottom of the part, causing a burn notice.
Deglazing is crucial in a lot of IP recipes.
Me too! Kind of annoying :-/
If you are getting the burn notice try deglazing the pan before continuing on to the pressure cooker portion. You can use 1/4 cup of water or chicken broth.
I’m currently making this recipe. It smells fantastic but I also ended up with a burn message. I read through the comments to see if I happened to be the only one. I’m sad to see that your wonderful recipe was never updated.
This turned out perfectly! Really wonderful flavors. I had to abandon the Instant Pot due to repeated “Burn” messages, but it finished up well in a pan on the stove top.
I’m so glad it turned out so well even though you had to give up on the Instant Pot. I have never had any problem with burning but if you try it again you could add a 1/2 cup of chicken broth to see if that helps.
Another suggestion for the burn warning. Deglaze the bottom of the pot with 1/2 cup of broth to get all of the cooked bits of onion and chicken up before adding everything and locking the lid in place. I think that will solve your problem.
I have also been frustrated with BURN messages. I have learned NOT to use the plastic paddle to try to scrape any sauteed bits off the bottom before adding more ingredients. (Melted the tip…BOOO!!!) I now use a flat wooden spatula to really get all those bits up. Much success after that. Good luck!
I’m very excited to try this recipe! I am having trouble locating Indian red curry paste. Could you clarify that ingredient or direct me to it? Thank you!
The most popular brand available for us is Thai Kitchen. Found at grocery stores and also Target.
This is so good. It’s super easy to make, and smells fabulous.
The first time I served it with cauliflower rice (I’m on a keto diet)
I’m making it again, but will try it with zucchini noodles this time.
I’m so glad you liked it!!
I’m gonna try this recipe but I’m skeptical about no water being added. How does the pot come to pressure unless you add water. Tomato paste and sauce will only cause the pot to indicate burn and it won’t come to proper pressure.
Hi Allison, we didn’t have any problems with it not coming to pressure or burning but our Instant Pot is just old enough that it doesn’t have a burn warning indicator. If you are concerned I suggest adding 1/4 cup of water or broth after browning the onions and garlic, making sure to get up any bits that are stuck to the bottom. Then you can add the rest of the ingredients. The chicken does release water as it cooks and there is a lot of liquid in 15 ounces of tomato sauce so I wouldn’t add any more liquid than 1/4 cup.
Um. Yummy. Instead of heavy cream I used the fat from the coconut milk. Rock on
Sounds awesome I will have to try that
I made this last night. It burned in the instant pot so I had to finish it on the stove top. Said 32 minutes cook time but took me 1&1/2 hours. Served it over cauliflower rice. My husband loved it and I will make it again but on the stove top or in the slow cooker setting. The butter in the beginning is what made it burn. Overall a yummy recipe!
Thanks Lisa, I have had a few people get the burn notice so I’m going to add an additional step to the recipe to deglaze the pot with some broth after cooking the onions before adding the remaining ingredients. It definitely takes longer on the stove top but I’m glad you still liked it!!
Not deglazing isn’t the problem because I did not even do the browning in my pot and still got the burn notice twice. I then quit trying and cooked just the chicken on a rack with broth in the pot. When done I dumped the broth and added back the sauce ingredients and used the immersion blender on them. When they were reasonably smooth I added back the chicken for a few minutes on saute. It tasted good, but I feel I spent too much time trying to work it out for it to be worth trying again.
The recipe itself is excellent, however I also got the burn warning even after deglazing with 1/2c water and adding an additional 1/2 cup to the tomato sauce since I knew it would burn from past tomato-based experiences. I powered through and let the pot stay at pressure and was careful not to scrape the bottom to avoid the burned bits. Taste was amazing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the flavor despite the burn warning. I use an older version of the Instant Pot that doesn’t have that feature (and it doesn’t leave burned bits either!) so it’s hard for me to troubleshoot this one. Thanks for commenting with your tips.
hey!! just wondering. it says 8 servings, how many cups of the finished product is a serving? or is a half a cup a serving? i’m counting calories and carbs so i want to make sure i eat the right amount to match the nutritional value 🙂
Hi Nicole, this would be 4 ounces of chicken per serving and 1/8th of the sauce. The chicken releases water as it cooks so the amount of sauce can vary so we just portioned it out after cooking. It should be around 1/3 cup of sauce.
Made this for dinner my kids love it!
So happy your kids enjoyed it! What did you serve it with?
I made it with sushi rice and some salad on the side 🙂 It was so good!
Sounds delicious!
Made this dish tonight. It was awesome and very easy 😋
So glad you liked it!! It’s a favorite around here 🙂
I made this tonight. Did not have red curry paste but added more tomato paste and used straight curry instead of Garam Masala. I did not get a burn notice because I use a pressure cooker but it’s not an IP. Pretty sure those are overrated. Mine is an 11 quart and it only cost me $49.00, but the greatest thing about it, no burn notice and as of yet I have not burned anything in it.
My house smells delectable but I am currently waiting on the husband to get home from work to eat with him.
Hope it’s as good as it smells!
Glad to hear! Hope you and your husband enjoyed it as much as we did.
I just made this recipe and I could not be more pleased with it. This is the best butter chicken that’l I have ever made. I ran into the “burn” notice on the instant pot, so I transferred the contents, cleaned out the pot, added a half cup of water and continued without problem.
Many thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!
This is amazing. My husband wont usually eat butter chicken because the chicken us always overcooked and dried out but he loved this and wants this one on the “make again list”. I had to add a little more salt and I exaggerated the measurements of the spices a little and it was perfect. I also added about half a can of coconut milk into the tomato sauce mix to try to avoid the burn warning, which happened anyway. I think it may have been a malfunction of the the pop up indicator as it took forever to pop up but will make sure to do it again next time anytime.
I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! It’s one of my favorites!
Can you make this ahead and warm when you are going to eat it, a couple of days later?
Definitely. I make mine on Sunday and then heat it up for lunch during the week. I portion it out and just heat it in the microwave or on the stove top.
This sounds so delish!
The Hubs and I had butter chicken last night (from a restaurant) and I used the leftover sauce for meatballs, however its not enough for all the meatballs I have… which leads me to the question… if I only want to make the sauce, do I still need to use my IP? Or just saute, mix in liquids and wait for it to thicken?
Thanks!
You can just make the sauce in a saucepan and let it simmer until it thickens. I would add 1/2 cup of chicken broth to start also since the chicken in the original recipe releases liquid as it cooks.
This was such a yummy recipe! The only thing I changed was that I added turmeric and tried to soak the chicken in the sauce before cooking it. I will definitely be making this again soon! Next time I will make sure to deglaze my IP because I also got the burn warning. I was able to finish in the instant pot though because I stirred and it worked well. So happy I made this recipe!
Can you leave the chicken while while cooking and cut it up after? Great recipe my picky eaters love it!!
You can leave the chicken whole pieces (not a whole chicken though :)) and cut or shred it after. I would add 3 minutes to the High Pressure time so 10 minutes instead of 7 minutes just to ensure the chicken is cooked through.
Sooo yummy and easy! This beats my mama’s home cooking butter chicken (ssshhh). Thank you! Perfect for a working mom!
I am making this now in a 6 qt instant pot. I accidentally added the heavy cream in with the chicken and all the other ingredients. Will it still turn out okay?
There may a little more liquid than usual but overall taste should be the same. The chickens texture may be slightly different but not enough to make a difference.
How do you not get “burn” notice if the only liquid is tomato sauce? I have tried this twice now and both times got “burn” following instructions exactly (except not red curry paste and substitute tandoori masala instead of garam masala). Both times I have had to remove the contents to another pot so I can do PIP. I had to clean the burned insert or use a different one, add 1 cup water and then cook pot in pot. My daughter really likes it but I can’t give 5 stars if I can’t follow the directions without burning and modifying how to cook it.
Once the “burn” sign is on, you need to press the “cancel” button, then switch the Instant Pot to venting mode so that it releases the pressure. You should first check that there is no burned food stuck to the inner pot which caused the pot to overheat. Hope this help! My Instant Pot is the older model which does not have that feature.
Thought that this would be a perfect recipe….not sure. Twice during the 7 minute cooking time a burn notification appeared. Followed directions not sure why it happened. Perhaps not enough liquid, or maybe I diced the onions too fine. Oh well. It still tasted good.
I’ve made this twice and added a little bit of water before cooking it the second time around and didnt get a burn notice. I find sometimes these pots don’t want to pressure up properly so you can definitely get a burn notice. Amazaing recipe. My husband wont generally eat butter chicken because he finds the chicken to dry, but he loves this recipe. I’m trying this second round with chicken breasts and coconut milk instead of cream as I’m doing ww so can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Let us know how the coconut milk works. I think it sounds delicious!
This is stupid good.
Love this comment! Thanks 🙂
I am so grateful for people like you who post recipes! I, too, struggled with the mechanics of this one, though. Having read all the comments, I decided to sauté everything in advance but still got the “burn” indicator 3 times. It was so maddening. Instead of saving me time, using the IP seemed to take much longer than if u did it in the stove from the start.
For all those who got the burn signal, I keep the pot on saute after adding chicken, add some turmeric and salt and cover. Chicken will ooze out some water. After this you can add tomato sauce and follow the rest of the process.
I’ve made this three times so far and it’s a favorite in our house. The first time was too spicy so I put less red chili paste the second time and it was just right. I have a mealthy and for the first and second time I cooked it, the pressure valve didn’t pop up even with adding the 1/4 cup of water or chicken broth. For the third time, I put 1/2 cup water instead and I also sautéed the onions, garlic and butter over the stove and the pressure valve came up. I have yet to see what the consistency is like. Thank you for sharing!!
Fantastic recipe! I made basmati rice for my family and zoodles for me and my fiance to enjoy this over.
I too got the burn message for about 2 minutes which I ignored. Turned out perfectly.
Wasn’t on the plate long enough for a photo!
I’ve made Butter chicken before but this is definitely one of the best recipes I’ve tried!
I’ve tried making this recipe twice and each time my instapot says BURN, after a couple of minutes. Does anyone know how to stop this?