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.
SO 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 green 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 really like the nuttiness and the touch of creaminess they add to the sauce. I’ve made this without nuts and it’s still good – I just prefer it with cashews. If you can’t have nuts, leave them out or maybe try it with unsweetened shredded coconut? or white poppy seeds? I’m just thinking (writing?) out loud… 🤔
Give this green chicken curry a try and let me know what you think!
Instant Pot Green Chicken Curry (Hariyali Chicken)
Cuisine: Indian
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 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.
Notes
*I typically use a small packet (.5 ounces) of mint as that’s what my grocery store usually has available. More or less mint is fine.
This is on the menu for tonight!
Hey Maneesha! Awesome! Let me know what you think 🙂
“This is fantastic!” That’s verbatim what my husband said.when I made this! What a flavorful and easy way to make chicken! I’m going to try this for veggies too! You did it again, Ashley! Another winner recipe!!
★★★★★
Maneesha, that’s so great to hear!! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out 🙂 Please keep me posted on how it goes with veggies!
Do you think I could use creme fraiche instead of yogurt? That’s what I have on hand.
Hi Julie, I think it’ll be good but haven’t tried myself – creme fraiche will be heavier as its made from heavy cream vs milk so I wonder if it might mute the flavors a bit? You could do just 1 tablespoon rather than 2. If you try, let me know – very curious!
This turned out delicious! My Punjabi husband approved and my daughter had 4 helpings.
Thank you!
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Cara, wow, I’m so happy to hear that! 4 helpings? Best compliment ever, haha! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out 🙂
This was delicious and so easy!
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Dina, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Question- does the chicken have to be cooked before adding it to the instant pot? Does it need to be cut into pieces?
Hi Pavi, nope! Put the raw chicken in there, the instant pot will cook it. No need to cut it either (though you can) – I just shred it once it’s done cooking (step 5 in the recipe card). Hope that helps!
I’ve made a few of your recipes and they’ve all been amazing, but this one might have to be my new favorite considering how delicious it is and how easy it is to make and prep. It only took us like an hour total to prepare and cook. We doubled the recipe amount for meal prep, and we also added a little gf flour to thicken it at the end as well as some coconut milk for creaminess. It was delicious, I love all the herb flavors in it. Thanks so much for the recipe!
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Em, that makes me so happy to hear 🙂 And thank you for sharing the gf flour and coconut milk idea – I’ll have to try that next time! I’m sure it’ll be helpful for others too!
I’m trying this tomorrow. Looks amazing. One question though. Can this be frozen? I understand that recipes with dairy don’t freeze well?
Hi Kenneth, I haven’t tried freezing this but I think it’ll be fine – there’s very little yogurt in this and I know I’ve frozen similar recipes in the past. Hope you love it!
Absolutely delicious and I am also thinking how good this sauce is before cooking just as a chutney! I made this with chicken breast so cooked it 10 minutes before natural release. I think this would be really good with lamb too.
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Melissa, that’s so great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how much you liked the green chicken 🙂 I bet lamb would be great – if you try, let me know how it goes!
Is that ok if I make it with chicken breast ?
This recipe is so delicious and so easy to make. Thank you so much!
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Jasmine, that’s so great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how the hariyali chicken turned out for you 🙂
Looks delicious! Do you plan to make a video of this recipe? I was curious what would be considered a “small bunch” of mint 🙂
Thanks, Monica! I’ll add this to my video list! Also, such a great point – I’ll update the recipe card with this info! I’d say around .5 ounces (I use one of those small mint packets at the grocery store because that’s usually all they have). More or less is fine though!
also wondering about size of cilantro bunch? My bunches from the grocery store are huge!
Can you use bone in chicken and what if you don’t hav the mango powder?
Jenny, bone-in should be fine, maybe add an extra 2 minutes. As for the amchur, it’s fine to skip – it just adds a bit of fruity tanginess – do you have tamarind paste? If so, try 1/4 teaspoon of that.
Thanks. I had a similar question. Planning to try with chicken drumsticks. Will use tamarind instead of amchur.
this looks great so far! Can I use part skim ricotta cheese instead of yogurt? I know its a weird swap, but looking to get rid of it from my fridge!
Deepa, thanks! I actually think it’ll be a great swap – please let me know how that goes!
This recipe turned out terrific! Thanks Ashley.
Question: how would the cooking directions change if I wanted to cook baby potatoes in the hariyali base? I tried it for 10 minutes under high pressure with natural release and they were undercooked. Should the potatoes be precooked in the instant pot before adding them to the green base?
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Hi Jayram, I’m so glad you liked it! As for adding baby potatoes – I’m really surprised they weren’t done in that amount of time! You can try cutting them in half. Let me know how that goes if you try 🙂
Has anyone tried this with Paneer? I would like to substitute.
Hi Ashley,
I want to try the green chicken recipe. Is it cooked without oil?
Looks delicious.
Hi Sonal, yep! There’s no oil 🙂