A mildly spiced Indian curry, Chicken Korma is made with whole aromatic spices like cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and cumin that are simmered in a light and flavorful yogurt-based sauce. This flavorful curry along with pot-in-pot rice makes a wholesome Dinner in under 30 minutes using Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.
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This simple curry never fails to please adults and children. With delicate aromas from whole spices and a mild yogurt-based sauce, this chicken korma makes a yummy everyday meal. It is a great dish for someone who is new to Indian food or is looking for a mild yet flavorful take on Indian curries.
This korma has become one of my favorite chicken curries, especially when I want something mildly spiced and satisfying. It makes for a perfect, quick, and easy weeknight dinner, and over time.
If you love Korma curry, there are a few favorites I have shared on the blog: Veg Korma, Navratan Korma( recipe from my The Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook), Shahi Chicken Korma, and Awadhi Chicken Korma.
Each of these has its own charm, but they all share one thing - they feel like a warm hug on a plate. Whether you're cooking for a special occasion or just want to treat yourself to something a little extra, korma is always a good idea.
Ingredients
- Chicken - I recommend using skinless chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs for a moist and flavorful curry. You can also use chicken breasts for this recipe
- Yellow Onion - finely diced onions make for a perfect curry base for korma
- Whole Spices - cumin seeds, black peppercorns, cloves, and green cardamom
- Ground Spices - turmeric, Kashmiri red chili powder, ground cumin, and coriander
- Yogurt - Plain full-fat yogurt works best for this recipe. You can also use Greek yogurt for a creamier curry or low-fat yogurt for a thinner curry
How To Skin Chicken Drumsticks
Most Indian recipes such as curries, pulao, and biryani calls for skinless chicken legs or drumsticks. And as you may have noticed, most US grocery stores sell drumsticks with skin. I have always gotten questions on how I deskin chicken and I recently also published a quick video tutorial on Instagram. Here are the quick and easy steps to de-skin the drumsticks:
- Break a paper towel into two pieces
- Use each piece as a grip to hold the two ends of the drumstick
- Then pull down the skin from the top thick part towards the bottom pulling apart the skin
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Korma
- Heat oil and sauté cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and cumin for 30 seconds or until aromatic.
- Add onions and cook for 2 minutes as the onions turn translucent. You may cover the pot with a non-locking glass lid to speed up the cooking of onions.
- Add remaining spices, ginger, and garlic and give a quick stir. Turn the saute mode off (photos 1 - 4).
- Add chicken and water and give a quick stir.
- Optional step if you would like to make pot-in-pot rice at the same time. Add rinsed rice, water, and salt to a stainless steel pot. Then place a tall trivet in the main pot over the chicken and place the rice container over it (photos 5 - 8).
- Close the Instant Pot with the pressure cooking valve to sealing and Pressure cook for 8 minutes.
- Allow a 5-minute natural pressure release and then release the remaining pressure by moving the pressure release valve from sealing to venting. Open the Instant Pot and carefully take out the rice and the trivet.
- Add a few spoonfuls of the curry to the yogurt and mix well. Stir in the yogurt in the chicken korma. PRO TIP: Adding cold yogurt to the hot curry can cause it to curdle. To prevent curdling of the yogurt, add a few spoons of hot curry to the yogurt, and mix it well. This will bring up the temperature of the yogurt and make a creamy yogurt mix that can be added to the curry. (photos 9 - 12).
- Mix it well and garnish it with cilantro (photos 13 - 14).
How to Make Stove Top Chicken Korma
- Heat oil in a large skillet or pot. Add cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and cumin, and saute for 30 seconds or until aromatic.
- Add onions and salt and cook on medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until the onions turn light brown and translucent. Cover the pot with a lid to speed up the cooking of onions.
- Add ground spices, ginger, garlic, and chicken.
- Add ¾ cup of water and give a quick stir.
- Cover the pot and cook on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Use a digital thermometer to make sure that the internal temperature of the thickest piece is at 165 F.
- Add a few spoonfuls of the curry to the yogurt and mix well. Stir in the yogurt in the chicken korma and gently mix. Garnish with cilantro.
Serving
Serve chicken korma with basmati rice, parathas, and cucumber salad. For a low-carb meal, serve with cauliflower rice. Note: Be sure to pick out and discard the whole spices while you eat.
Tips to Make the Best Chicken Korma
- Instant Pot Chicken Korma will look a bit watery after pressure cooking. It will start to thicken as the curry cools down and some of that excess moisture evaporates.
- Do not wash raw chicken. Just pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Cooking chicken removes any and all of the bacteria
- Remember to add a few spoonfuls of hot curry to the yogurt before adding the yogurt to the Pot. This will prevent the yogurt from splitting. You can also add coconut cream or coconut milk instead of yogurt
More Indian Curry Recipes
Do you Enjoy Indian curries? Here are some of my popular Instant Pot curry recipes:
- Insatnt Pot Butter Chicken
- Prawn Masala
- Restaurant Fav Chicken Tikka Masala
- Mom's Authentic Chicken Curry
- Indian Fish Curry
- Quick and Easy Kheema Curry
- Royal Mughlai Chicken Korma
- Spicy Homestyle Chicken Karahi
Looking for vegetarian options or trying to include more plant-based meals in your diet? Then check out these easy vegetarian recipes for dinner.
Recipe
Chicken Korma
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds chicken thighs cut into pieces or 6 skinless drumsticks **
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 4 whole green cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- 12 black peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 large yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste paste
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup full fat or Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
Optional Pot in Pot Rice (For Instant Pot Recipe only)
- 1 cup basmati rice rinsed and drained
- 1½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Instant Pot Recipe
- Turn the Instant Pot to sauté mode and heat oil. Add whole spices - cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and cumin. Saute for 30 seconds.
- Add onion and mix well. Saute for 2 minutes covered with glass lid.
- Add ginger, garlic, turmeric, red chili powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, and salt. Mix well.
- Add chicken and water. Mix well to evenly coat all the spices to the chicken. Turn the saute mode off.
- Optional Pot in Pot Rice - Add rice, water, and salt to a stainless steel pot.Place a tall trivet in the Instant and place the rice pot over it.
- Close Instant Pot with pressure valve to sealing. Pressure Cook for 8 minutes followed by 5-minute Natural Release.
- Open the Instant Pot. Take out the rice and trivet if cooking rice.
- Add a few spoonfuls of hot curry to the yogurt and mix well. This step is important to avoid the cold yogurt getting split in the curry.
- Cook on Saute mode to thicken the sauce. Garnish with chopped cilantro!
Stove Top Recipe
- Heat oil in a large skillet or pot. Add cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and cumin, and saute for 30 seconds or until aromatic.
- Add onions and salt and cook on medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until the onions turn light brown and translucent. Cover the pot with a lid to speed up the cooking of onions. Add ground spices, ginger, garlic, and chicken.
- Add ¾ cup of water and give a quick stir. Cover the pot and cook on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Use a digital thermometer to make sure that the internal temperature of the thickest piece is at 165 F.
- Add a few spoonfuls of the curry to the yogurt and mix well. Stir in the yogurt in the chicken korma and gently mix. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve with hot steamed rice and parathas. For a low-carb meal serve with cauliflower rice. Be sure to pick out and discard the whole spices while you eat.
Notes
- Break a paper towel into two pieces
- Use each piece as a grip to hold the two ends of the drumstick
- Then pull down the skin from the top thick part towards the bottom pulling apart the skin
- We enjoy this curry a bit soupy. If you want a thick curry, reduce the ¼ cup water by adding only 2 tablespoons of water and saute in the end for a few extra minutes.
- For boneless chicken thighs or breasts - cook for 5 minutes followed by a 10-minute natural pressure release.
Nutrition
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Judith Roff says
What happens to the whole spices? Are they edible, or do they to be removed?
Archana says
Hi Judith, we discard the whole spices while serving/eating
Uma says
Hi Archana, I follow a lot of recipe to the T and they turn out to be really yummy except for this recipe till date. The chicken did not get cooked, it was raw. I used 6 chicken like you. Its going back on the manual mode for 5 minutes. Would you know why would that happen.
Archana says
Hi Uma! The only reason I could think of is that the Instant Pot may not have come to pressure properly? Or may be the chicken was frozen in which case it would need longer time to cook.
Uma says
Thank you for the reply Archana. The pressure did build up, there was enough liquid and no the chicken was not frozen. We will never know now I think. Nevertheless, after 5 min of more manual hi cooking, the chicken came out delicious. See you in another recipe Archana.
Archana says
Glad you were able to fix the problem and enjoy the delicious chicken Korma.
Bob says
Hi - if I want to make this meal for twice as many people, do I simply use twice as much of everything?
Archana says
Hi Bob, You can double all the ingredients. Pressure cooking time will not change.
Anjuli says
Hi, whole spices - would you recommend I ground them and then put them in while sauteing? Or keep them whole and try to dig them out later :D. I am asking because of my kids. I know they won't like it if I accidentally miss taking it out. I remember as a child I used to hate biting into them when my mom cooked anything with whole spices. Q 2, would it be ok to use boneless thighs or breasts? How would the cook time differ? Thank you.
Archana says
I simply pick them out before serving. This korma had milder spice flavors so whole spices work best.
Piu Ghosh says
HI,
I changed the "servings" and the ingredients changed proportionally. None of the other details changed - I was wondering what the default serving is? I assume there is a maximum we can fit in a 6 quart IP? Also it seems like the cooking time does not change for a larger amount?
Thanks,
Archana says
Yes pressure cooking time will not change. You should be able to cook about 5 pounds of chicken in your 6 quart IP
Niti says
Hello. If I want to use frozen chicken breast, what should my cook time be. I made this prior with thigh and it was amazing!
Niti says
How long should I cook in IP if I use frozen/partly thawed chicken breast. I made this recipe with thighs last week and it was a hit!
Archana says
I assume you will cut the chicken breasts into smaller 2 inch pieces, in which case pressure cook for 5 mins with 10 min NPR.
Priya Desai says
I tried your chicken Korma from your recipe book, it was a hit. Can’t wait to try more recipes.
Archana says
Thank you for the feedback. Do write a review for the book on amazon when you get a chance and thank you for your support ❤️
Nisha says
Seriously good! Enjoy your instant pot recipes! Added soaked cashew to it! Should have read entire post and reduced the water but it was delicious!
Archana says
I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe. You can also try the Shahi Korma that has cashew paste in it and is a creamier version of this!
Jon Hernandez says
Made this yesterday in the instantpot. Doubles the ingredients and used a whole 3lb frozen cut up chicken and left it cooking for 45 min. Turned out delicious!
Liked it even more a few hours later 🙂
Rosemary says
Hi Archana, I am new to the instant pot and tried this but I kept getting the burn sign on my instant pot until I more than doubled the water quantity. I was using 6 rather large drumsticks. Is there anyway to stop that as I would have preferred it with less water.
I see you also recommend less than a 1/4 cup of water. Just wondering if this is possible without getting the burn sign?
Many thanks,
Rosemary
Archana says
I am so sorry that happened. I hope your sealing ring is secured and also make sure the pot is not browned from sautéing onions. Hope this helps.
Rosemary says
Oh Thankyou for your quick response. I am new to the instant pot so maybe I didn’t have the sealing ring on properly. I’ll try again.
Orma says
I want to make this tonight but only have chicken wings available. Would you suggest changing the cook time at all? Thanks!
Archana says
Reduce pressure cook time to 5 mins and they will be perfect! Follow remaining recipe as is 🙂
Naisha says
Best and easiest chicken korma recipe ever!
Tara says
One word: FANTASTIC! I added a 16 oz bag of frozen peas at the end, and it was a great way to sneak in more veggies. Great meal prep option. I made a pot, ate one serving for dinner and packaged up the remaining 3 for the rest of the week.
Sonya says
I would love to try this. If I have bone in chicken thighs, would you know the time for that please. Thank you and God bless 🙂
Archana says
same cook times will work for bine in chicken thighs too
Ayesha says
AMAZING!
I discovered your blog about a week ago and have tried 4 of your recipes. Each one was a BIG HIT. Just made this today...delicious!
Thank you for the great recipes.
Carolynne says
Hi, I made this last night for dinner and it went down well. We found there wasn't enough water and it was burning when we stopped the pressure. We added another 1/2 cup but then it was too liquidy. I added creme fresh instead of yoghurt and it was fine.
phil frosty says
This is super easy to make and is one of my go-to recipes for watching my weight. As others have pointed out, veggies are easy to sneak in with a trivet and a corel bowl or something similar; ditto rice. I would recommend only using chicken thighs; it makes a difference in taste. I prefer a slightly thicker sauce, but I don't like the hassle of reducing -- so I just use more non-fat yogurt. I often mate this with a curried lentil or black-eyed pea dish made and frozen earlier -- awesome. In fact, if you mate this with a curried bean recipe made with collard greens or swiss chard, you have a meal that is darned near 99% nutritionally complete.
Archana says
Thank you!
Aunt M Kitchen says
If you own a wire mesh tea ball, remove the chain, and place your whole spices into the ball and lock it shut. Then put it in the instant pot with the rest of the ingredients, and leave it in while you cook the meal. Then, when the food is done, use a pasta comb to fish it out, being careful not to open it, and you just removed all the whole spices so no child will chew down on a peppercorn or other hot thing in their mouth.
This works on the stovetop when making other meals as well. Cinnamon and allspice with clove into a pot of cider to mull it, bay leaf, allspice, peppercorns, and whole cloves in bean soup, etc. The tea ball lets you spice the meal and easily remove the whole spice pieces when it's done.
Kc says
Super easy and tastes good everytime.