This green chicken curry is a pour and cook recipe! Blend a handful of ingredients together in a food processor or blender, pour the sauce over chicken, and cook!
Green chicken masala is light and lemony and herby. It’s very different from the more common tomato-based Indian curries that you might be used to eating.
This dish is really easy to make. I’ve been working on coming up with more pour and cook recipes, and this one (like all the rest) requires very little effort and happens to be big on flavor.
What’s Green Chicken Curry/Hariyali Chicken?
This green chicken curry goes by a few names: hariyali chicken, green chicken masala, and green chutney chicken. There’s a chance I may have made up that last one (green chutney chicken). I’m not actually sure anyone calls it that except for me, lol.
Hariyali chicken is typically made two ways: as a dry preparation, which is how you’ll often find it served at Indian parties (hariyali chicken tikka), or as a curry where chicken is simmered in a verdant sauce (hariyali chicken masala) and served over rice or with roti. The recipe I’m sharing today is a curry.
Also, for those who’ve never heard the word hariyali, it just means “greenery.” And clearly, there’s quite a bit of greenery in this. The main ingredients: cilantro, mint, yogurt, lemon, spices, and cashews.
Cashews aren’t typically used in this dish, but I like the nuttiness and the touch of creaminess they add to the sauce. I’ve made this without nuts too, and it’s still good, a bit thinner, though. If you can’t have nuts, leave them out, or maybe try it with unsweetened shredded coconut? Or white poppy seeds, or sesame seeds? I’m just thinking (writing?) out loud… 🤔
Reader Review:
“Amazing! I’ve made different hariyali chicken recipes before and this one really stands out because of the use of amchur and lemon juice. It made the flavor profile so much more complex and rich.”
– Manal
LOOK AT HOW EASY IT IS TO MAKE THIS POUR AND COOK GREEN CHICKEN CURRY IN AN INSTANT POT:
Blend a few ingredients together.
Pour the green sauce over chicken and cook!
Open the lid and admire your perfectly cooked green chicken curry!
Give this green chicken curry a try and let me know what you think!
Instant Pot Green Chicken Curry (Hariyali Chicken)
Instant Pot Green Chicken Curry (Hariyali Chicken)
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless and skinless chicken thighs
- 1 bunch cilantro including stems
- 1 small bunch mint leaves*
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons yogurt
- 2- inch ginger
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 serrano pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon amchur powder dried green mango powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
Instructions
- Add the chicken to the instant pot.
- Blend the remaining ingredients in a food processor or blender then pour this over the chicken.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure or wait 10 minutes then release pressure.
- Using two forks, shred the chicken right into the curry.
Video
Notes
PSullivan says
Have made this about 5 times and it’s delicious! However, I always get a burn notice – with both thighs and breasts. Have added extra water, put sauce in first with chicken on top, taken off lid before pressurization and stirred, etc. Just always get the burn notice and sometimes a slightly “extra” (burned?) flavor even when I take out chicken and pour sauce out leaving burned layer on bottom of pot. Sigh. Any thoughts on how to avoid the burn would be appreciated. Thanks!
Dave says
Agreed. This is one recipe we use a lot, and is one of our favourites. However I have never been able to cook this recipe without the burn message. Any suggestions?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’m sorry to hear that – some Instant Pots seem a bit more sensitive (I have a bunch that I use and have found this out during my cooking tests). Can you try scraping the bottom and adding a couple of tablespoons of water to see if that helps?
Karen D'souza says
Every time I make this recipe in the recipe, I see the burn sign on instant pot. It’s delicious though but I always have to recook it
Swetha says
My heartfelt thanks to you for these amazing recipes. You are a kind of visionary when it comes to creating easy recipes that taste heavenly ☺️.
I followed this recipe exactly except for adding some extra spice .
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Swetha, that’s so nice of you to say, thank you 🙂 I’m so glad you liked this!
Claire says
I love this recipe but I am having to remove dairy from my diet due to having a baby who is allergic. Do you think that coconut yoghurt could be used instead of regular yoghurt?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Claire, I haven’t tried this (I’m actually also currently dairy-free due to nursing) but my thought is if you like dairy-free yogurt then maybe you’ll like it in here too? I’m not a fan of dairy-free yogurt so I don’t think I’d personally make it.
Claire says
Oh sorry to hear you are also having to cut out dairy! I tried it with Greek coconut yoghurt and it was great! My husband and daughter didn’t even know the difference!
Darcy says
Too easy to be this delicious! The hardest part was making the mistake of using my awful blender instead of my food processor, otherwise it would have been breezy. Even so, it came together quickly and just should not taste this good. Why did it take me so long to try?! When I printed it out there was only one five star review, and this review will be #50, most of which are also 5 stars, too.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Darcy, so happy to hear that you liked it so much! Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Shashi says
Hi Ashley, I have the 8 quart instant pots. Are your recipes done in a 6 quart? Thus at times when you don’t add water before pressure cooking, I would need to in order to avoid burning?
Claire says
I’ve been making this regularly for nearly 2 years now and it’s my families favourite recipe…. But now I have to go dairy free!!
What would you recommend substituting for yoghurt? Would coconut yoghurt work? Have you ever tried it with that?
TIA! I miss eating this almost as much as I miss chocolate!
Priscilla says
Hello! Thanks for your recipes.
What would you recommend as a substitue for cashews? We have a family member that anaphylactic. Thank you 🙂
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi, can they have almonds? If so, blanched almonds might work well! If they can’t have nuts, you can leave them out but know it’ll be a much thinner sauce.