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Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chicken with Soycurls and Chickpeas. 15 minute Active time! 1 Pot Creamy Indian Butter Soy Curls, Vegan Murgh Makhani. Use all chickpeas for soy-free. Vegetarian Gluten-free Recipe. Oil-free Nut-free option. Skillet option Jump to Recipe
Its no Butter No Chicken you all. Then why call it that? Well search! Most people search for vegan butter chicken for some reason and not vegan soycurls in no butter butter sauce or other variations ;). So here goes.
This recipe adapted from my popular Butter Tofu recipe. To make a skillet version, use the butter tofu recipe with soy curls. Just simmer the soy curls in the sauce with a up of water for 15 minutes. I use a combination of soy curls and chickpeas in this version and don’t use any oil. You can add some oil or vegan butter with the cashew cream to make it even more like restaurant flavor profile. Don’t have soy curls ? use all chickpeas, beans or veggies.
Its a super simple recipe. Blend up the tomato, garlic, ginger, chile. Add to the IP along with spices, soy curls and chickpeas, close and cook. Add some cashew cream and simmer for a few minutes to thicken, garnish and done! The garnish of fresh minced ginger and chile and some dried fenugreek takes this dish to an amazing flavor level. Make it!
Soy curls are a meat sub made with whole non gmo soy beans. You can find them in some stores or online on amazon. You can also use other bean curls! Look for “Wadi” in Indian stores made of moong dal, black eyed peas and other lentils/beans. The texture is different but they work equally well. You can also use seitan, tvp, soy chunks, beyond meat strips other chickin subs.
More IP recipes.
- Lentil Veggie Dhansak – Lentil Veggie Stew in IP. GF
- Kohlapuri Veggies – Veggies in sesame coconut sauce GF
- Mushroom Matar Masala GF
- Bombay Potato and Peas GF
- Aloo Palak Dal- Potato Spinach Lentils in IP. GF
- Eggplant Sambhar – Eggplant Split pea soup
- Aloo Gobi – Spiced potato and cauliflower
This recipe is adapted from my Butter Tofu “Paneer” recipe and the IP method is adapted from twosleevers’s butter chicken. Urvashi has some great tips on cooking indian food under pressure. This recipe benefits from a good fresh garam masala blend. I usually keep my garam masala in whole spice form and then grind it about a 1/4 cup at a time for a potent spice blend. Dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) can be bought online or from an Indian store. If you cant find them, omit and add 1/4 tsp ground mustard instead. Indian restaurants generally add fenugreek for the flavor and of course a ton of cream and butter.
If you make the recipe, please do rate it. I also love to see your creations, so do tag me #veganricha on Instagram.
Vegan Butter Chicken Video:
Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chicken with Soy Curls and Chickpeas - oil-free
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe tomatoes , or 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 inch cube of ginger
- 1 hot or mild green chile, , I use serrano
- 3/4 cup water, , use 1 cup if the tomatoes arent very juicy
- ½ to 1 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp paprika or kashmiri chili powder
- ¼ to ½ tsp cayenne
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup soy curls, (dry, not rehydrated)
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1/4 cup soaked cashews blended with ½ cup water, , or 1/2 cup cashew cream or other non Dairy cream
- 1 tsp or more garam masala
- 1/2 tsp or more sugar or sweetener
- 1 tsp kasoori methi - dried fenugreek leaves, or add a 1/4 tsp ground mustard
- 1/2 moderately hot green chile, finely chopped, or use 2 tbsp finely chopped green bell pepper
- 1/2 tsp minced or finely chopped ginger
- 1/4 cup cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Blend the tomatoes, garlic, ginger, chile with water until smooth.
- Add pureed tomato mixture to the Instant pot or pressure cooker. Add soy curls, chickpeas, spices and salt. Close the lid and press manual/pressure cook at high pressure, for 8 to 10 minutes. (6 minutes for stove top pressure cooker). Quick release after 10 minutes. (See notes for Stove top instructions)
- Start the IP on saute (medium heat for stove top pressure cooker). Add the cashew cream, garam masala, sweetener and fenugreek leaves and mix in. Bring to a boil, taste and adjust salt, heat, sweet. Add more cayenne and salt if needed. Fold in the chopped green chile, ginger and cilantro and press cancel(take off heat).
- At this point you can add some vegan butter or oil for additional buttery flavor. Serve hot over rice or with flatbread or Naan.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love curries,and and your lovely recipes so thank you.
Thank you!
My husband and I really loved this dish.
Can’t wait to make it again!
Awesome!
Absolutely perfect! We previously used the twosleevers recipe but wanted to cut the fat, so we used yours instead. We added a teaspoon of turmeric and a teaspoon of cumin, but kept everything else the same. SO DELICIOUS!
So glad you liked it!
I finally got some soy curls. Great recipe, easy, delicious (husband approved), and so easy to put together in the IP, as opposed to cooking Indian recipes on the stove.
Yay
I made this last night & it was delicious. It was my first experience with soy curls so I wasn’t sure what to expect. IMO this is a very close dupe to real butter chicken (minus the saturated fat) so thank you, Richa! My picky carnivore son even liked it. I made the stove top version & followed your directions. Easy peasy.
You know it’s good when the kids like it!
I got an instant pot today, along with your instant pot cookbook. The first thing I made was basmati rice, and this recipe was the second. My husband and I both LOVED it! Now I can’t wait to try some more of your recipes. Thank you!!
Yay! Thank you for buying my book and taking the time to comment!
Question: Is using half chickpeas just to add nutrition? Does it work to simply substitute more soy curls for the chickpeas? Or does that require more liquid or, for example, 1/2 c extra soy curls instead of 1 c extra? Just asking because regular Butter Chicken used to be my daughter’s favorite recipe, so thought all soy curls would make it more similar to the original Butter Chicken (which I used the Twosleeves recipe for). Thank you!
Yes, you can use soy curls just add 1/4 cup more water.
If I use a protein that doesn’t absorb liquid (seitan), should I reduce the water that goes into the puree? thanks!
Use all chickpeas, seitan, other meat subs, or veggies to make soyfree. When using subs that dont absorb much liquid, use larger quantity (for eg 2.5 to 3 cups shredded seitan to sub the soycurls+chickpeas).
but should I also reduce the water?
If you increase the amount of seitan you don’t need to reduce the water.
This recipe is one of my all time favorites. Seriously, it has inspired me to keep cooking, and I do some modifications with this recipe for different purposes, but truly it has made me a better cook. It was one of the first recipes I really mastered. And one of the first ones that made me love using my IP. Thank you so so much, Richa. Nowadays, I’m even writing a novel about a chef 🙂
yay! that is so great! i can’t wait to hear more about the novel!
I made this tonight and the recipe is a keeper. Used the stovetop method as I don’t have an Instant Pot. Served it over rice with a green salad and steamed asparagus. Love the cleanness of an oil free meal. Anticipating it’s only going to get better with flavors melding in the fridge, I’m looking forward to eating the left overs. Thanks VeganRicha!
🙂 thank you for the kind review!