Chicken karahi, also known as kadai chicken, is a spicy, tomatoey chicken curry that’s typically made by simmering and stir-frying chicken in a karahi, an Indian wok. I’m sharing a much simpler recipe using my pre-made onion masala and an instant pot!
I’m confident that you’ll love this chicken karahi. I can pretty much guarantee that this dish is restaurant-worthy. How?
Well… I may or may not have thought that it’d be a good idea to order chicken karahi from four different Indian restaurants near me…
And then I may or may not have moved the curries into four identical white bowls, added a fifth bowl with my homemade version, and then insisted that my husband taste each one and tell me which was best.
I mean, no pressure husband.l 😂 You can see how it went and watch him (really) struggle with this “kadai chicken challenge” lol. You can skip to the end if you want (I wasn’t sure I’d be sharing this iPhone video, so I’m sorry for the quality!).
I thought it’d be a fun experiment! Also, my 3-year-old and 1-year-old were out of town visiting their grandparents and after spending the past four months at home with them glued to me nearly 24-7, I had no idea what else to do with my newfound free time (omg what am I going to do when they go off to college?). This seemed like a good idea 🤷🏽♀️.
All five curries were good, and funnily enough, all a bit different from each other. Just goes to show, there’s no one “right” way to make a dish. But I do think there are a few things about my recipe that make it stand out…
What Makes an Excellent Chicken Karahi?
There are a few things that make for excellent chicken karahi:
- First, you’ve got to toast and blend whole spices. It’s what differentiates an excellent chicken karahi from an ordinary one.
- Then there’s the ghee. Oil is fine, but ghee gives chicken karahi a nutty and buttery edge over any other karahi contenders.
- For a restaurant-worthy dish, you need chicken karahi to have a suspicion of cream (a couple of tablespoons will do). Just enough to make you wonder, “hey is there cream in this?” 🤔
- And finally, cubes of stir-fried onion and green bell pepper, which add necessary crunch to the curry and give it that “karahi” vibe. You should think to yourself, “yeah, this dish could’ve totally been made in a karahi because the veggies are so bright and crisp.” 🥘✌🏽
And if you want to go from “excellent” to “omg amazing!” then you’ve got to up the presentation with cilantro, thinly sliced ginger and green chilies. When a dish looks better, it tastes better – pretty sure that’s a fact.
What do you eat with Karahi?
Instant Pot Chicken Karahi Recipe (Kadai Chicken)
Instant Pot Chicken Karahi Recipe (Kadai Chicken)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless and skinless chicken thighs quartered
Whole Spices
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon whole black pepper
- 4 tablespoons ghee divided
- 1 onion cubed
- 1 bell pepper cubed
Ground Spices
- 2 teaspoons paprika or Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne to taste
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 green chili minced
- 1 cup frozen onion masala
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves
Garnish
- 1-inch ginger julienned (cut into thin long strips)
- 1–2 green chilies sliced, to taste
- Cilantro
Instructions
- To dry roast spices, press the sauté button and wait 2 minutes for the pot to heat up. Add the whole spices to the pot and dry roast them for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take the spices out of the pot and coarsely grind them. Set aside for now.
- Add 2 tablespoons of ghee to the pot, then add the onion and bell pepper and sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly tender. Remove the onions and bell pepper from the pot.
- Add another 2 tablespoons of ghee to the pot, then add the chicken, freshly ground whole spices, ground spices and green chili to the pot and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until the outside of the chicken is well coated in the spices.
- Add onion masala and 3 tablespoons of water and mix well.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes.
- Press sauté and stir in heavy cream and fenugreek leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce reduces to desired consistency.
- Add the cubed onions and bell pepper back to the pot and mix well.
- Garnish with cilantro, ginger and green chilies.
Janie says
Amazing recipe thanks so much Ashley!!! Will be on our regular dinner rotation with all of your other ones that we LOVE!!! 5 stars for sure!!! Cheers from New Zealand!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Janie, so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much you like it 🙂
NK says
Can I make this with bone-in chicken?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Yes, I would make sure to remove the skin though. Enjoy!
Erin says
Delicious! Was fun to dry roast the spices. I only had 14oz of chicken and 4 people to feed so I threw in a head of fresh broccoli in the chicken step and it was great! Not exactly traditional but it worked well.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Erin, great to hear you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out 🙂
Miriam Kearney says
Indian food saved my cooking life. I was friends with a woman who was raised in Bombay as an Anglo-Indian and she taught me how to make curry. I felt like I had come home. So, some 50 years later here I am still making those same curries but your site has given me a whole new lease on my culinary life. I am definitely going to make your onion masala because often I don’t make a fully curry just because of all the steps.
Sophie says
HOLY MOLY ! I totally went wrong with the vindaloo the other day and didn’t vent it after 10 minutes, but this time I set a timer. Forgot the coriander, used a jalapeno instead, and everything was totally fine. I’m having a great time digging into your deep archive of recipes. I’m going to have to make a new batch of tomato onion masala in no time. Thank you Ashley!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Sophie, I’m glad the chicken karahi worked out well for you! Thanks for letting me know how much you liked this 🙂
Ashley M says
Hi Ashley,
I don’t have your onion masala frozen and ready to go, so I wanted to add those ingredients in fresh. Would you be able to help with how the recipe changes when I do so? I looked at your onion masala recipe, but it seems to be to make a large batch. I wanted to make just enough for this recipe. Thanks for your help!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Ashley, I haven’t tested this without onion masala so I’m not sure about the exact amount of onions/tomatoes needed but I do have a stovetop kadai chicken recipe that’s made without onion masala if you’d like to give that recipe a try: https://myheartbeets.com/kadai-chicken/
Karen Heim says
I have tried so many of your Indian recipes, they have all been delicious and easy! I love the make ahead onion masala, such a great time saver. Nothing but great stuff on your website!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Karen! I’m so glad you’ve tried so many of my recipes! I appreciate the kind words 🙂
Happy says
This turned out very nice; the flavor was right. It’s funny that a dish that’s literally named after a different way of cooking can work in the instant pot. But most important to me – this was my first attempt at using your onion masala, and wow – absolutely, this is the way to cook on weekdays. I’ll be trying more.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’m glad you made the onion masala and then used it to make this dish! Glad you liked it. 🙂 And haha yes, I think it’s funny too!
Penny says
I made this tonight exactly as directed and it was the best one yet, among many great recipes. I didn’t know before “my heart beets” that Indian food could happen on a weekday. Thank you!
My Heart Beets says
Penny, I’m so happy to hear that you liked this recipe and that you’re making Indian food so often! Thank you for sharing 🙂
upasna says
followed this recipe and substituted broccoli for the bell peppers since that’s what i had at home and this came out perfectly. didn’t add any heavy cream either and the flavor profile was great. thank you so much for this easy, quick and yummy recipe!!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Upasna, I’m so glad you made it and liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Anila says
Love this recipe! My husband’s favorite so far! Thanks for the accurate measurements ! I normally just never know how much salt to put in!
My Heart Beets says
Anila, I’m so glad you and your husband like this recipe so much! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Jamie says
Cooked this today and followed the recipe to the word, even making the onion masala – all I can say is WOW
the best curry I have ever tasted let alone made myself
Already shared the hell of this link for other to experience
Thank you
My Heart Beets says
Jamie, that’s awesome! I’m so glad you made this and liked it so much – and thank you for sharing my blog with others! 🙂
Jayesh says
Ashley,
You are awesome. I’m going to make all your recipes. This dish is the perfect blend of sweet and the right amount of hot. It smelled so perfect while I was cooking. I had the window open and I caught couple of neighbors looking in. Lolol
Initially, I was thinking that this is going to be “American spicy” but it was not. Thanks for not scaling back the spice. My son and I enjoyed it
My Heart Beets says
Thanks, Jayesh! I’m so glad you, your son (and your neighbors – lol!) liked this recipe!
michelle says
Do you think we could substitute mushrooms? If so, would we need to change the cooking time or amount of liquid?
Thanks!
Michelle
My Heart Beets says
Hi Michelle, I haven’t tried this with mushrooms so I’m not sure how it’ll go but if you do use them, you’d probably only need to pressure cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Let me know how it goes if you try!
Usha says
Hi, can we substitute chicken thighs to breast or tenders?
Do we need to make any changes if we substitute?
Thanks
Usha
My Heart Beets says
Hi Usha, I find chicken breast to be drier than thighs when cooked in an IP but you can use them if you don’t mind that 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Monami says
Hey Ashley, this looks amazing. Will try it over the weekend. Question for you, if I don’t have the onion tomato masala, would you be able to please tell me how much onions and tomatoes I need to add?
Christina says
I can’t have dairy, so I need to sub out the heavy cream. Which would you suggest – cashew cream or coconut milk?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Christina, either will work. I would probably put a full-fat can of coconut milk in the fridge and then use the cream that solidifies at the top as a substitute for heavy cream. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Ann says
Hey Ashley,
I’ve been a long time lurker but this is the first time I’m leaving a comment. Love your innovative rescues, especially the onion masala series! Can’t wait to try out this recipe and the chicken tikka masala rice recipe!
I had a question—do you think this chicken kadhai can be frozen? How do you judge of a dish can be frozen or not?
Thanks a lot for everything!
Ann says
*recipes
*if a dish
The typos that go unnoticed on a phone..ugh!
Gary says
This is really good. A big hit with my family including a picky 4 year old.
I had to make a few alterations due to lack of ingredients (namely replaced the coriander seed with powder – didn’t roast it, just added a teaspoon to the spices, omitted the ghee and cream, and toned down the spice level for the kids). But otherwise followed the recipe.
I did end up roasting the spices and sautéing the onions and peppers on the stovetop because it takes forever for my instant pot sauté function to get hot enough.
The grown ups really liked the addition of fresh ginger garnish to this dish.
My Heart Beets says
Hi Gary, I’m so glad your family liked this – especially your 4-year-old (I have an almost 4-year-old and know they can be picky, lol). Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Jenita says
I was gonna make your chicken patiala for dinner tonight, when I saw this new one. IWhat can I say, Ashley? think I’ve used up all my adjectives on your other recipes. Here’s another winner. Easy to make, delicious to eat, perfect balance of flavour and heat. Roasting and grinding the whole spices makes a huge difference in the taste. Hubby and kids loved it. I made it with chicken breast, coz that’s what I had on hand, will try with chicken thighs next time.
My Heart Beets says
hey Jenita, that’s awesome lol! I’m so glad you, your hubby and kiddos enjoyed this 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you – great to know it worked well with chicken breasts.