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 27 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. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  6. I made this tonight and it was so good! The recipe was easy to follow and worked perfectly as written. I opted to stir in a container of plain cashew yogurt. I made some brown rice to go with it and then topped the dish with chopped cilantro and roasted cashews! Amazing! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  7. I made this the other night. I had all of the ingredients on hand. I found it to be a bit bland and half-hearted.
    Parsley? I think cilantro would have been a better choice. The cauliflower was over cooked at the 2 minute mark.
    It smelled great but I was very disappointed.
    I’ve had such great luck with the Instant Pot. Not this go ’round!

    ★★

    Reply

  9. I plan on making this tomorrow night….The recipe calls for ground chili – I’m guessing this is not chili powder???
    Thanks..

    Reply

  10. I have used a Breville Fast Slow Pro Pressure Cooker constantly for two years..It is more expensive than the Instant Pot but it is very versatile and well built. It would prevent the “burn” problem on saute experienced by other commenters because of its excellent non stick coating on its pot. Its only disadvantage is that it hasn’t a yogurt setting.

    Reply

  11. Ours wasn’t as red as in the picture. The ginger was overpowering and we didn’t really taste much besides that. The sauce ended up being pretty liquidy. It wasn’t that filling either. Oh well, we tried.

    ★★

    Reply

  13. Very well-written recipe. We substituted 2 tsp of mustard seed powder for the 2 tsp of dried fenugreek leaves. Tempering took longer than expected because the recipe didn’t specify whether to sauté on medium or high so I stayed safe with medium but then went again on high. I had one can of diced tomatoes and one of diced tomatoes with green chilies and it added a nice kick. The cauliflower still had a bit of crunch. Made 4 bowls and each serving was filling with a garlic naan. Will definitely make it again and haven’t yet thought of any ways to improve on this recipe.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  14. Was so good!! I’d like to make this a second time tomorrow. Only this time, would like to add chicken. Any suggestions on how to cook chicken in an instant pot? My first time with chicken! Thanks!

    ★★★★★

    Reply