Instant Pot Coconut Curry Chicken Thighs. An easy weeknight dinner, inspired by Thai curries, for when you need to spice up a random Tuesday.
Here are my quick, weeknight, Thai-inspired chicken thighs. It’s what I make when I don’t have time for a full Thai curry, but I crave those curry flavors of sweet, salty, spicy, and hot.
The key to this recipe is two canned ingredients, Thai curry paste and coconut milk. I use red curry paste in the pictures, but any curry paste - green, yellow, massaman, panning - will work. Use your favorite. For the coconut milk, make sure to get unsweetened. You don’t want “cream of coconut”, which is for use in Pina Coladas, not curries.
Other than that, this is a pretty simple pressure cooker meal. I sauté the garlic and ginger just a little, to release their flavors into the oil, and after that it’s a dump, stir, and lock the lid production. Serve this with jasmine rice, or Thai rice noodles for an easy weeknight meal with a lot of flavor.
Oh, and…please, join me on the Dark Side…of the chicken. Sure, you can make this recipe with boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but that’s boring. Chicken thighs have more flavor, and stand up to pressure cooking without overcooking. Dark meat is where it’s at!
Recipe: Instant Pot Coconut Curry Chicken Thighs
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Instant Pot Coconut Curry Chicken Thighs
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Instant Pot Coconut Curry Chicken Thighs. An easy weeknight dinner, inspired by Thai curries, for when you need to spice up a random Tuesday.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced thin
- 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Juice of 1 lime
- Minced cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Sauté the aromatics: Heat the vegetable oil in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode until the oil starts to shimmer. (Medium heat in any other pressure cooker.) Add the garlic and ginger, and cook until the garlic just starts to sizzle, about 1 minute.
- Coat the chicken with coconut milk and curry paste: Pour the coconut milk into the pot. Stir in the soy sauce and curry paste, and keep stirring until the coconut milk and curry paste are smooth and blended together. Sprinkle the chicken thighs with the sea salt, then add them to the pot, turning to coat with the coconut milk and curry sauce.
- Pressure cook for 10 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid on the cooker. Pressure cook at high pressure for 10 minutes (“Manual” or “Pressure cook” mode in an Instant Pot), then the pressure come down naturally, about 15 more minutes.
- Serve: Unlock the lid on the pressure cooker, and scoop the chicken thighs out into a bowl or platter. Stir the lime juice into the sauce in the pot, then ladle a few scoops of the sauce over the platter of chicken. Sprinkle the minced cilantro on the chicken, and serve, passing the rest of the sauce at the table. Enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now →
Notes
Thai Curry Paste is found in the international aisle in most grocery stores, but if you can’t find it, substitute 1 tablespoon of curry powder from the spice aisle. (That will be an Indian curry powder, which changes the flavor a bit, but it will still taste great.)
Tools
6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot 6-Quart Pressure Cooker)
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Weeknight Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Thai
Keywords: Instant Pot Coconut Curry Chicken Thighs, Pressure Cooker Coconut Curry Chicken Thighs
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Instant Pot Short Ribs with Coconut Milk and Thai Curry
Instant Pot Massaman Chicken Curry
Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry
My other Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes
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tamara says
easy peasy. what it says at the top. you want the basic flavors but not willing to put in the effort to get something more ...complex? authentic? dunno.
but this is great.
I added some lime leaves.
leftovers ( house of one so there were leftovers) become basic reheat (even better than the first time) , a soup with some veg and broth , a salad With chickpeas , cold rice onion and some pickled mango. , and a wrap with a lime cabbage slaw.
easy peasy good to eat. makes great leftovers .. what else do you want on a Monday >)
★★★★★
Mike Vrobel says
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!