← Replies in Authentic Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe for the Instant Pot

I used a pressure cooker as opposed to an instant pot. I tried following the recipe as close as I could, but alas. The flavor was ok but the chicken turned out very dry. The recipe is not very intuitive and I'm not sure why it calls for a pressure cooker. I'd rather just make a runnier sauce and cook the chicken in the sauce on the stove directly. I won't be making this one again.

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Karri Barlow· last month

When using just a pressure cooker for this recipe you must not add the salt until after the chicken is seared. The salt added before the searing will pull the juices out of the chicken. The searing seals the juices into the chicken so the salt can season instead of drying. Also, be careful to not use too much oil during searing. I have heard of it being drying to chicken, but have never seen it myself. Also, be careful not to "crowd" the chicken into the pan. If you put too much meat in the pan at once the meat does not sear; it just steams. That is very drying. The last thing to check is the heat. If it is too cold to sear and just fries the meat you will not get a good seal.