Full of Plants

Tasty Vegan Recipes

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

Jump to Recipe

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

Is anyone up for a 30-minute recipe? More precisely Indian butter cauliflower?

Like many of you, I got an Instant Pot for Christmas and I have been using it every day since last week. It quickly became my best friend. Cooking beans, chickpeas, lentils, rice, buckwheat or even oats has never been easier. I have to admit that waking up to warm steel-cut oats feels pretty good (thanks to the timer!). What are you guys cooking in your Instant Pot?!

If Santa gave you this gadget for Christmas but you still don’t know what to cook, I have something for you! This flavorful cauliflower curry is made in only one pot and comes with a creamy masala sauce that is infused with Indian spices. The recipe is super simple and requires very little active time. It’s so easy you will be surprised by how good it tastes!

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

You start by making the tadka, also called tempering. Fry some onions, garlic, and ginger until onions become soft and start to brown. Then add the spices. Frying the spices in oil enhances their flavors. Next, we add the diced tomatoes and a drizzle of maple syrup to balance with the acidity of the tomatoes.

Regarding the diced tomatoes, it seems some brands have more juice than others. If your tomatoes are on the thicker side with very little juice, I recommend adding about 1/2 cup of water to make sure there is enough liquid in the Instant Pot.

Some of you reported getting a “burn” message on the Instant Pot. To prevent this from happening, make sure your onions don’t stick to the bottom of the liner before adding the other ingredients. If your onions are too brown, add 1 tbsp of oil and scrape the bottom to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot. This should fix the problem!

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

Finally, add the cauliflower florets and close the lid. You are done! It’s time to let the Instant Pot do its job.

Just 2 minutes under pressure and the cauliflower is cooked to perfection! You obviously have to wait for the Instant Pot to come to pressure, which can take 7-8 minutes, but that leaves you time to do the laundry, set the table, or whatever you have on your to-do list.

To make the curry creamier and richer, I stirred in some vegan yogurt at the end of cooking. You can use coconut yogurt, almond yogurt, or even homemade cashew cream. For the toppings, you can’t go wrong with fresh parsley and roasted cashews for a little crunch!

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

You can serve this cauliflower tikka masala with rice, quinoa, or tofu for a protein-packed meal. This curry is perfectly spiced, creamy, and nutritious!

For more Instant Pot recipes, check out this Instant Pot Creamy Masala Steel-Cut Oats, Instant Pot Sesame & Basil Noodles, or this Instant Pot Sticky Rice with Green Curry Sauce!

Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

 

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala
Print
Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

Instant Pot Cauliflower Tikka Masala

30-minute Instant Pot cauliflower curry! Perfectly spiced, incredibly easy to make, and super creamy!

★★★★★ 4.3 from 29 reviews
  • Author: Full of Plants
  • Yield: 4 1x
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp vegan butter (or oil)
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
  • 2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground chili
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice (about 3 cups)
  • 1 tbsp (15ml) maple syrup
  • 1 small cauliflower head, cut into florets (about 4 cups florets)
  • 1/2 cup (118ml) non-dairy yogurt (or cashew cream)
  • optional toppings: fresh parsley, roasted cashews

Instructions

  1. Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode for 7 minutes. Add the oil. Once hot, add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions start to caramelize and become soft. Add the dried fenugreek leaves, garam masala, turmeric, chili, cumin, and salt. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t burn. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and scrape the bottom to make sure nothing is sticking to it, this will prevent the Instant Pot from giving you a “burn” message.
  2. Add the crushed tomatoes, maple syrup, and cauliflower florets. Secure the lid and close the vent to Sealing. Press the Pressure Cook button and adjust the time to 2 minutes. The Instant Pot will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure, then cook under pressure for 2 minutes.
  3. Once the program is finished and you have heard the beeps, wait 1 minute and release the pressure. Stir in the non-dairy yogurt and stir to combine.
  4. Serve hot with rice, naan, or tofu, and top with fresh parsley and roasted cashews.

Notes

For a spicier curry, increase the ground chili to 1 teaspoon.

If your diced tomatoes don’t have much juice, add 1/2 cup of water.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1
  • Calories: 196
  • Sugar: 20.4g
  • Fat: 3.8g
  • Carbohydrates: 35.1g
  • Fiber: 12.5g
  • Protein: 9.6g

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Comments

  1. Just made this – It was awesome!!
    Added some chickpeas for protein and topped with cilantro.
    Love your recipe’s btw and your photos are amazing!

    Reply

  2. I’m going to use some left over cashew sour cream I made last night in place of the yogurt!
    Looking for and, I love tikka masala!

    Reply

  3. This cauliflower masala is absolutely delicious! And an “instant pot” is not necessary – an old fashioned yet perfectly reliable and practical pressure cooker works just as well. I use my mother-in-law’s which must be over 20 years old, but it cooks everything to perfection.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • I don’t have either! Crockpot will make the cauliflower fall apart probably. I’ll just wing it on the stove.
      Maybe oven roast the cauliflower?

      Reply

      • As Elaine said you can use a regular pressure cooker. If you don’t have one, boil the cauliflower until tender, drain and then add to the masala sauce.
        Yes, roasting should work well too!

        Reply

        • I roasted the cauliflower in the oven and added it to the sauce I made on the stove! I added about 1/4 cup of cashew sour cream…perfect! Amazingly easy and very good. Served with quinoa.
          Thank you!

          Reply

  4. This was absolutely delicious! I did’t have canned tomatoes or v-yogurt tho, so I made my own cashew cream and used fresh organic tomatoes. Still turned out super yummy. Also, didn’t have chili powder so opted for Red Harissa and it was absolutely banging good, delicious. Keep in mind we have only been using our instant pot since the day after Christmas and find the manual to be not so helpful so we spent a lot of time trying to get the pressure cooking right. Thank you so much for sharing this easy, delicious, healthy vegan meal with us. I’m a fan of fullofplants.com !!!! NOM NOM~

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  5. I made this last night and then used the Instant Pot to make your coconut yogurt. I wish there was leftover curry because they are both so good and would have been good together!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  8. Hi – I was wondering – what exactly is ‘ground chili’? Is that a spice? Or? Also, if one leaves out the maple syrup, would that ruin the recipe? Or is there a non-sugar type replacement?

    I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you!

    Reply

    • Hi Michelle, ground chili is a mix of spices. It usually contains cayenne pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika, etc, it’s not pure cayenne pepper.
      Leaving out the maple syrup won’t ruin the recipe at all, especially if you don’t have a sweet tooth. Otherwise, you can probably use a bit of stevia.

      Reply

  11. do you think you could put quinoa (along with some water) in along with everything else for the pressure cooking? i’m new to my instant pot but i love “all in one” recipes!

    Reply

  12. Really fabulous recipe. I’m always all about adding extras to my recipes and I think that cauliflower would be the bomb!

    Finally some much needed SUN!

    ★★★★

    Reply

  13. Looks so yum! This may be a stupid question, but is an instant pot the same as a pressure cooker? Or a CrockPot? So many pots. I’m confused.

    Reply

    • An Instant Pot can be used as a pressure cooker, or as a slow cooker. A CrockPot is a slow cooker but not a pressure cooker if I’m not wrong.
      You can probably make this recipe using a regular pressure cooker.

      Reply

  14. This is so good! Love that it’s so easy! I’m having a problem with the burn message though and I’m not sure what I did wrong.

    Reply

    • Thanks Britany! Usually the burn message appears where there is no liquid left in the Instant Pot. Did you put the valve on “seal” and added all the liquids?

      Reply

    • It’s about the same if using a pressure cooker, make sure it is in seal position. Cook for 2 minutes once the pressure cooker is under pressure. Then wait 10 minutes before releasing the pressure.

      Reply

  16. Tastes fine, but the cauliflower was seriously over cooked. I would reduce pressure cooking time at least in half.

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • Hi Stephen, I’m sorry to hear that! I make this recipe regularly and the cauliflower is never overcooked. My guess would be that your cauliflower florets were a bit too small?

      Reply

  17. My family loved this. Very complex flavors. I made my Garam Masala from scratch. I served it with a BBQ’d chicken. You could easily add cooked chicken right to it at the end.

    Reply

  18. Making this tonight! I don’t have a pressure cooker or an instant pot though. Are any major adjustments needed if I cook this on the stove-top besides oven cooking the cauliflower?

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • If using a stove-top pressure cooker, you might have to add 1-2 minutes to the pressure cooking time. Another option, cut the cauliflower into florets, lightly coat it with oil and bake in the oven until cooked. In the meantime, prepare the sauce in a skillet or large saucepan and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the cooked cauliflower to the sauce and cook for another 5 minutes.

      Reply

  19. I’m not sure what I didn’t wrong but I’m going on my third 2 minute pressure cooking session. The cauliflower keeps being under cooked. It appears that the pot is working correctly. I’m using the manual setting at 2 minutes. Thanks so much!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  22. I tried this recipe, and it’s delicious. But your instructions for using the manual pressure didn’t work nor did they gibe with the instantpots instructions. I ended up using the chili/beans feature for 10 minutes of pressure. Worked great.

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • Hi Jacqui,
      Glad to hear you liked it! Could you be a bit more specific on what went wrong for you? I made this recipe several times and 2 minutes was always enough to cook the cauliflower.

      Reply

  24. I made a double batch of this today. I was skeptical because I had read that too much tomato can lead to scorching. But I trusted the good ratings! Mine did indeed scorch but luckily I smelled it before it got too bad. The vent was on sealing and I followed the recipe. But I wonder if some brands of crushed tomatoes are thicker than others? The ones I used, which were def. crushed and not a sauce, were thick like a sauce. Anyway I caught it in time and just let it cook stovetop with a bit of water added.

    Reply

    • I guess it depends on the brand, mines have quite a lot of juice. You could also use a can of whole peeled tomatoes and chop them, then add it with the juice to the Instant Pot.

      Reply

  27. Delicious! Made it last night. I’m new to this whole “instant pot” cooking…Super easy recipe to follow. I recommend reading over the ingredients/recipe fully before starting & doing all the prep first…then the pot does the rest! Easier than I originally thought it would be. Thanks for the recipe!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  28. I followed the recipe perfectly but for some reason the instant pot was not able to reach pressure. This usually happens for me when there is not enough fluid…so I wonder if my caulifower head was too large, making the recipe dry overall. I ended up cooking it on stovetop until the caulifower was done and I loved the flavour…wondering what I can do differently next time so that I can make it in the pot. Do you think it was too much cauliflower?

    Reply

  29. Thank you – your recipe was delicious! I did not have diced tomatoes so I used stewed instead, just broke them up in a blender first. Thanks for the idea of using more chili powder – 1 teaspoon was perfect. I was nervous about using the IP’s saute function because the IP gave me the burn warning in the past, but this time I added a little water and scaped the bottom well before proceeding to pressure cooking – it worked great! I think it’s important to have all the ingredients chopped, measured and ready to go when using the IP, timing is more critical than usual.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  32. I’ve tried this recipe twice and I LOVE it! I saw another review that suggested adding garbanzo beans. I did that and it definitely added some substance to the meal. I know this is going to be a regular on my list.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Hi Erica,
      I’m not sure what happened, for most people this recipe works great but I had a few similar comments like yours regarding the ‘burn’ message. Did you add the juice of the diced tomatoes?
      I’m going to re-test this one once more and update it if needed.

      Reply

    • I just re-tested the recipe this morning and didn’t get any “burn” message. I’m not sure how it can happen since this is a curry and there is quite a lot of liquid. What kind of canned tomatoes did you use?

      Btw, the recipe has been updated with cup measurements for the cauliflower florets.

      Reply

  35. Love the combination of spices. Great recipe! I just discovered your blog and l will definitly try other recipes.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  36. This recipe ended up being my favorite of four curries I made for my visiting brothers and parents–I cook Indian food a lot and having tried many easy instant pot recipes, I honestly was not expecting much! It has a great spice blend that just tastes restaurant-style to me, and is creamy while still remaining light and healthy. Loved having a big bowl for breakfast–I’ll definitely be making this again as a low cal dead easy curry/stew. I used a onion-ginger-garlic puree that I had made for another recipe, and full fat greek dairy yogurt but I’m sure many variations would be delicious.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  38. My daughter made this for her YouTube channel (PickyPawsMouthPiece). We had to modify a few things because we couldn’t find the ingredients, It turned out delicious and was actually quite filling.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  39. Tastes great! Unfortunately like some others I kept getting “burn” but I was able to salvage it OK. I used 4 cups of frozen cauliflower florets and 1 28-oz can of Cento San Marzano tomatoes with the juice. I tried adding 1/2 cup of water, too but still got “burn.” I used an Instant Pot DUO60. It still came out OK though! I just finished it on “Saute” mode.

    ★★★★

    Reply

    • I re-tried this recipe many times after seeing some people had the burn message but I never get it. I assume it depends on the brand and consistency of the diced tomatoes. I’m surprised that you still got the message after adding 1/2 cup of water. Maybe it’s because something already burnt at the bottom.

      Reply

      • I think you are right about the burn message being triggered by food sticking on the bottom of the pot. After the saute function finished, I scraped the bottom, added a bit of liquid and allowed the pot to cool a minute. That eliminated the burn message for me. I love the spice blend and make this recipe often!

        ★★★★★

        Reply