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Instant Pot Tikka Masala – Vegan Tikka Masala Sauce Recipe. Easy Tikka masala sauce, made in a Pressure Cooker. Saucepan option. Add veggies, tofu, chickpeas, vegan chickin subs. Freezer Friendly. Glutenfree Soyfree Nutfree Jump to Recipe
This Tikka Masala Sauce is ridiculously delicious, super easy and freezer friendly. Cook the sauce in a pressure cooker. Then use or freeze for later!
If you are new to the Indian Tikka Masala Sauce, it is a tomato based, tangy spicy flavorful sauce often found in Indian restaurants, served with veggies, paneer, meats. Many of the restaurant sauces have similar base or flavor components with variations here and there. They vary slightly in flavor and texture (creamy, chunky etc). Make this fabulous sauce, adjust after pressure cooking to your preference and use with veggies, beans, tofu, vegan chikin/meat subs or however! Freeze in serving portions, so you can use the sauce to whip up a meal in 10 mins!
See Saucepan and oilfree options in the Recipe notes. Also see Tips section below.
With Cauliflower above for Cauliflower Tikka Masala. Add chickpeas for chickpea tikka masala, some crisped tofu, soycurls for chickin tikka masala! How do you tikka masala?
Like with all my Indian Recipes, I try to keep the flavors as authentic as possible while making it simpler. You can change up other things based on availability and preference (non dairy yogurt can easily be subbed with non dairy cream or milk). It doesn’t affect the amazing flavor, the sauce is flavorful enough and some changes here and there dont affect the deliciousness. It might affect the traditional flavor profile, which may or may not be detectable :).
More Instant Pot Recipes
- IP Red Lentil Chili. GF
- Instant Pot Vegan Butter Chickin(soycurls). GF – Creamy, Delicious
- Japanese Veggie Curry. GF
- Potato Chickpea Spinach Soup. GF
- Instant Pot Lasagna Soup with Red lentils. – So Easy
- More Instant Pot Recipes!
Step by Step Photos
Uncooked Sauce below
Sauce just opened after cooking
Tips for a fabulous Instant Pot Tikka Masala Sauce
- As with all Indian food or spiced up food, the flavors tend to get stronger as the sauce or dish sits for a while. I generally adjust the spices later when ready to serve rather than right after cooking.
- Indian sauces/base are always overcooked for the best flavor. The onions caramelized, tomatoes well roasted. Pressure cooking helps with the roasting if you cook it long enough. If the sauce flavor feels less complex, just pressure cook the sauce, without the added veggies/beans,for longer.
- Since I eat Indian food at home often, I tend to use much less garam masala and let the other flavors and components shine. If you don’t cook it often or want more flavor playoff, use more garam masala and more of the other spices and flavors in general. This also depends on the flavor payoff of the spices. Old spices and garam masala will have significantly less flavor, so just add more as needed. Mine is pretty potent and a 1/4 tsp is usually enough for me. 🙂
- The right garam masala also is essential for some of these spice heavy restaurant style sauces. Some brands have an imbalance of flavors which make the dishes one dimensional. Get garam masala from Indian stores or make your own using my recipe from Indian kitchen or just omit and add some ground cumin, coriander.
- Salt, spices and heat to your preference will make the dish. Esp the right amount of salt, which immediately helps the flavors and spices bloom on your taste palette. The sauce also thickens on cooling, or you can thicken by simmering for a few mins for more concentrated flavor.
- For Burn errors: Make sure to stir the tomato really well to pick up scorched or browned onion and spices. Those scorched bits on stove top would dislodge with the bubbling and lower heat, but in a pressure cooker, they are under pressure and at higher heat, so they will continue to burn. Mix really well before closing the lid.
Instant Pot Tikka Masala - Vegan Tikka Masala Sauce Recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 small onion chopped, (I usually just process the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli to chop in a processor or a chopper)
- 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 inch of ginger, finely chopped
- 1 hot green chili, such as serrano or bird's eye
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp paprika, (combination of sweet and smoked)
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/3 to 1/2 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 to 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves, ,plus more for garnish
- 1/4 cup chopped red or green bell pepper
- 28 oz diced tomatoes(including juices), or 15 oz diced + 2 ripe tomato chopped
- 1/2 cup non dairy yogurt, , plain unsweetened, plain lightly sweetened also works
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup non dairy cream, such as cashew, soy or coconut (optional)
- smoked paprika or cayenne for garnish
Instructions
- Press saute on Instant Pot. When hot, add the oil then add finely chopped onion, ginger, garlic, and chili. Add good pinch of salt, mix well and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir occasionally
- Add the spices and mix well. Add bell pepper and mix well. Add tomatoes and non dairy yogurt and salt and mix well. (stir well for a few seconds to pick up the scorched onion bits, else they tend to scorch more and cause burn errors in some sensitive instant pots)
- Cancel saute. Close the lid. Pressure cook for 11-12 mins (manual high pressure)
- Let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid. mix, taste and adjust salt, flavor, heat. Add some sugar or maple syrup if needed. (I add 1/2 tsp if using plain unsweetened yogurt). Add some more fenugreek leaves or cilantro, some fresh smoked paprika or cayenne and garam masala for garnish.
- At this point you can freeze the tikka masala sauce for upto 2 months, and refrigerate for upto 4 days. Add some non dairy dream for creamier and use or store(refrigerated or freeze). You can also blend half of the sauce for smoother.
To use the sauce with veggies, chickpeas, tofu etc:
- Add the 4 cups vegetables, 3 cups chickpeas or 21 oz baked tofu or seitan/vegan chiken subs, and some non dairy cream like cashew/soy cream to the cooked sauce(after pressure cooking), and simmer for 10 minutes. Soycurls: Add 2 to 2.5 cups soy curls and 1/2 cup water to the sauce, Pressure cook for 6 mins and natural release. You can also add the soy curls earlier with the uncooked sauce.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is one of my family’s favorite recipes. I make a big big batch and freeze leftover sauce. When we get low in the freezer it’s an emergency! My 5yo regularly requests this for dinner and has for years!
Absolutely fantastic and dead simple.
love it when the kiddos enjoy! thank you for sharing!
One of the best curries I’ve ever tried!
yay! thank you!
Hi Richa,
I’ve made many indian dishes in the past but this has to be the simpliest and tastiest one. It really tasted fantastic. I was really suprised. I used tofu and peas and I just can’t wait to make it all again with soy curls. I didn’t get the Burn message on the Instant pot. Thank you so much.
Very glad to hear, Pierre!
Hey Richa! I only have ground/powdered fenugreek. Will this work? How much do I use?
Yes, you can use 1/4 tsp of the powdered fenugreek as a replacement.
I’m a big fan of your recipes and I attempted to make this one today, but my Instant Pot Pro Plus 6qt never automatically pressure-sealed, and basically boiled with the lid closed instead of pressure cooked. I was able to salvage an edible lunch, but I want to try again in the future to cook this properly.
This is my first IP recipe that was tomato-centric but did not include adding water in the instructions. So, I added the two full 14oz cans of diced tomatoes and liquid without additional water.
After my failed attempt, I did run the IP “initial test” of just pressure cooking water, and that sealed and pressure cooked correctly, so my IP isn’t malfunctioning.
In reading ALL of the comments on this recipe, I see that water sometimes needs to be added to tomato-centric recipes for the IP to work properly. How much water do you recommend adding to avoid IP trouble?
After cancelling the saute you might want to let the IP sit for a few minutes to cool. Just a splash of cold water (up to 1/4 cup) will help the cooling process. You can also use this to scrape anything stuck on the sides and bottom before pressure cooking.
I revisited this recipe today, and the 1/4 cup of added water did the trick to allow my Instant Pot to automatically pressure seal. Thanks!
Great!
Delicious recipe. What can I use to substitute the yogurt?
Non dairy cream cheese , cashew cream, blended silken tofu
Flavor of this recipe is great, but the Instant Pot kept going into “food burn” mode even though I followed the recipe exactly, so I finally had to transfer it to a sauce pan and cook that way. End result was still yummy, but just wanted to warn Instant Pot users of the potential “food burn” issue.
It’s the instant pot. Some models or pieces are just over sensitive or heat unevenly. I have 3 and one of them has a tendency to scorch on one side and if using tomato based sauces it can show burn error even though nothing is really sticking. Stir well, add a bit more water(cold water) to reduce the temp of the pot a bit, then pressure cook. Sometimes a different inner pot also solves the problem. I have 2 inner pots of the same size and one of them is less prone to scorching
This looks delicious. Is there also a simple Tikka Masala recipe that people without Instant Pots or Pressure Cookers, can make?
Yes see saucepan instructions in recipe notes. All instant pot recipes have saucepan/stove top instructions in notes
So I’ve made this twice now and just absolutely incredible flavour! Once my sauce was made I took extra firm tofu and cauliflower florets and I coated them in a couple tbsps of vegan korma paste we get here in the UK, some olive oil and then I air fried them and added to the sauce. I’ve also done the same with butternut squash chunks and added a tin of chickpeas once the tikka masala was ready. Thanks for another superb recipe Richa!
love the air fryer method ❤️
Question because I’m new to soy curls: do you need to reconstitute them first like it calls for in other recipes, or just toss in dry to the IP with the sauce? Thank you.
No they r dry . If it needs rehydrating, recipe will say to soak in x amount of water or broth
Wowzers! I had been looking for something different to eat- a change from the day to day menu. My husband wanted something spicy and saucy – this totally hit the spot. I added cauliflower (cauliflower tikka masala recipe) and cooked it right into the sauce (did not bake it) and added chickpeas as well to get some extra punch. Omitted the cashew cream and it was still super YUMMY! Thank you for this great recipe!
wowzers. haha I haven’t heard that in a while
Hi! Can I use a ginger garlic paste? If so, how much?
2 tbsp