Dinner is solved on a busy weeknight with this easy and delicious Pressure Cooker Japanese Curry using an Instant Pot!
My Instant Pot has been saving me plenty of time cooking for my family’s dinner. It has so many conveniences, but my favorite part is I am also able to cook up complex dishes like this Pressure Cooker Japanese Curry without having to sacrifice the flavors.
The actual pressure cooking time is only 15 minutes, and you don’t even have to be in the kitchen if you use an electric pressure cooker. I simply add the ingredients in the pot, set up the timer, go out for my kids’ activity, and come home for a fabulous dinner ready to eat. Who’s in?
Japanese Curry Rice カレーライス
Have you heard of Japanese curry or Curry Rice (Karē Raisu)? If not, it’s best described as mild and thick curry. Even though curry was originally from Southeast Asia, it has become one of the most popular foods in Japan enjoyed by people of all ages.
Japanese curry is always served with steamed rice, and the common ingredients include a variety of proteins (chicken, beef, pork, seafood), potatoes, onions, and carrots.
To make Thai or Indian curry, you would add the curry spices from the very beginning. However, Japanese curry is seasoned with curry roux toward the end of cooking. Until then it’s just a plain soup/stew.
What is Japanese Curry Roux?
As I mentioned earlier, Japanese curry is seasoned with curry roux. Typically made from fat and flour, roux is a type of thickening agent used for thickening soups and sauces.
Most Japanese make curry with a boxed Japanese curry roux like this (picture above). You can find different spice levels and various brands of curry roux at Japanese or Asian grocery stores. These days I can even find it in the Asian aisle at American supermarkets.
If you prefer to make curry roux from scratch and have an additional 30 minutes to spare, check out my Homemade Curry Roux recipe. All you need is flour, butter, curry powder, and additional spice.
Personalize the Store-Bought Curry with Additional Seasonings
Growing up in Japan, curry rice was a “fast food” for my family; the food that my mom made ahead of time or the previous day when she knew that she couldn’t prepare dinner in time.
I always saw my mom adding grated apples and different condiments to the curry while she was making them. She said, “If you put just the boxed curry roux, your curry will always taste the same. It will not be different from your neighbor’s curry.”
So she taught me two tricks. Use two different brands of curry roux (sometimes mix the spice level, like mild and medium spicy) and use additional seasonings.
My mom and I would use the combination of the following ingredients.
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Butter
- Yogurt
- Grated apple
- Honey
- Red wine or sake
- Oyster sauce
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Tonkatsu sauce
- Soy sauce (used in this recipe)
- Ketchup (used in this recipe)
Other ingredients that my mom or I haven’t added in our curry include peanut butter, marmalade, and banana. Do you add any additional flavoring to your Japanese curry?
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Pressure Cooker Japanese Curry
Video
Ingredients
- 3 onions (large; 2¼ lb, 1,005 g)
- 1½ carrots (5 oz, 143 g)
- 3 Yukon gold potatoes (15 oz, 432 g)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice)
- 1½ lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (see Notes for substitutions)
- ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the Curry Sauce
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil (for cooking)
- 3 cups chicken stock/broth (for lower sodium, use water only or half stock and half water)
- 1 package Japanese curry roux (7–8 oz or 200–230 g; or make my Japanese Curry Roux)
- 1 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
For Serving
- 6 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- fukujinzuke (Japanese red pickled vegetables) (optional; or make my Homemade Fukujinzuke)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Please read my blog post about options for add-on condiments to season the curry sauce.
To Prepare the Ingredients
- Cut 3 onions in half and cut each half into 5 wedges.
- Peel 1½ carrots and cut into bite-sized pieces. I use a Japanese cutting technique called rangiri. This cut creates more surface area, which helps the carrots absorb more flavor and cook faster. Tip: You can cut the vegetables slightly bigger to avoid a mushy texture.
- Peel 3 Yukon gold potatoes and cut them into quarters. Soak them in water for 15 minutes to remove the excess starch. Tip: Do not use russet potatoes since they would break down too easily.
- Mince 2 cloves garlic (I like this garlic press). Then, grate the ginger with a microplane zester or ceramic grater and reserve 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice).
- Cut 1½ lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces. I use the sogigiri Japanese cutting technique to create more surface area and flatten each piece so it cooks faster. Season with ⅛ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper.
To Cook the Curry
- Press the Sauté button on your Instant Pot (I use a 6 QT Instant Pot) or preheat a stovetop pressure cooker over medium heat. When the inner pot is hot, add 1 Tbsp neutral oil.
- Then, add the onion wedges, minced garlic, and grated ginger with juice.
- Add the chicken pieces to the pot and mix until just coated with the oil.
- Add the carrots and potatoes to the pot and mix well.
- Add 3 cups chicken stock/broth and use a spatula to press down the meat and vegetables into the liquid. Then, place the cubes from 1 package Japanese curry roux (I combine half mild and half medium spicy packaged roux) on top of the other ingredients. DO NOT MIX! Otherwise, the roux may sink to the bottom of the pot and burn while cooking. For solidified homemade roux, place the cubes on top of the ingredients and do not mix. For non-solidified homemade roux (that you just made), add it after pressure cooking is done.
- Cover and lock the lid. Make sure the Instant Pot‘s steam release handle points to Sealing and not Venting. Press the Keep Warm/Cancel button on the Instant Pot to stop sautéing. Then, press the Meat/Stew button to switch to pressure cooking. Press the “minus“ button to change the cooking time to 15 minutes.
- For a Stovetop Pressure Cooker: Close and lock the lid. Set the pressure level to high. Heat the pot on the stovetop over medium-high heat until you‘ve reached high pressure. Then, reduce the heat to medium low to maintain high pressure, and cook for 15 minutes.
- When it is finished cooking, the Instant Pot will switch automatically to the Keep Warm mode. Slide the steam release handle to Venting to let out steam until the float valve drops down, OR let the pressure release naturally (this takes about 15 minutes).
- Unlock the lid. (If you‘re using homemade curry roux, add it to the pot now and heat on Sauté mode for an additional 5 minutes until well blended into the stew.) Add 1 Tbsp ketchup and 1 Tbsp soy sauce now. Mix well, stirring to dissolve the curry roux and checking one last time that there are no undissolved chunks left. Tip: If you use my unsalted homemade curry roux, taste the curry sauce now and add salt to your liking. I recommend adding 2–4 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, but this will vary based on the brand of the chicken broth and condiments you added.
To Serve
- Portion 6 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice on individual plates and serve the curry on top. Serve with optional fukujinzuke (Japanese red pickled vegetables) on the side.
To Store
- Keep the leftovers in a glass airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month. The texture of the potatoes will change in the freezer, so remove them before freezing. Defrost the frozen curry in the refrigerator for 24 hours before you want to reheat it.
To Reheat
- Leftover curry sauce will thicken into a paste as it cools, so it tends to burn while reheating. To avoid this, stir ½ cup (120 ml) water or more into the leftover sauce until loosened. Then, gently reheat it on low heat. If the sauce seems thin, continue heating with the lid off to reduce the sauce.
I made it in the instant pot but It came out watery. Did I do something wrong?
Hello, Ingrid! Which curry roux did you use?
If using homemade curry roux, add it to the saucepan once the pressure naturally releases, then heat on Sauté mode for 5 minutes until it is fully mixed into the stew. You can also cook them a little longer until they get a nice consistency.
If you follow the recipe exactly and it’s still watery, add a little more roux.
We hope this helps!
Made this recipe several times over now. I think adding shitake mushrooms adds this umami richness that makes it one my top 10 favorite dishes. I like sprinkling some ichimi togarashi for extra spicy kick. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Hi Joe, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed her pressure cooker Japanese Curry recipe!
Thank you for sharing your cooking experience with us.
Is this possible in a. 3 qt instapot or should I half the recipe to fit?
Hello, Sayo! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes. If you cut the recipe in half, it should fit in a 3-quart saucepan. But we’ve never tested before, so please watch the maximum limit.
We hope this helps!
Hello! I’ve tried this recipe before and its absolutely amazing! Do you all think it would be possible for me to put tofu in the pressure cooker instead of meat? If so, do you happen to have an estimate for how long I’d pressure cook the curry with this substitute? Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe !
Hi Baker99, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe. We are glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe.
We haven’t tested it with tofu, however, many tofu curry recipes cook in a pressure cooker for around 10 minutes. We’re hoping this works! Please keep us updated on how things progress!
It worked PERFECTLY!!! Thank you all so much. I used firm tofu
Hello, Baker99! Thank you very much for the information!
We are happy that the method worked successfully for you.
Happy Cooking! 🤗🥰
Would you recommend/discourage carmelizing the onions (I think it’s a suggestion you give for the non-instant pot recipe)?
Hello Terence, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe.
You do not need to caramelize the onions with the pressure cooker approach. But if you like, you can do so as well. We hope this helps!
I am making this right now in my Instant Pot Duo Plus 6QT. It doesn’t have a meat/stew setting so I just set it to pressure cook for the stated amount of time. I decided to add some Yuzu Kosho, a little grated apple, and a little honey. Let’s see how it turns out!
Hi Justin! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We hope you enjoyed Japanese curry!🙂
I love this recipe making using the instant pot. I sometimes add apples and raisins, also delicious. I tried using ketchup and Worcestershire together. Also delicious. I enjoy the fact the curry is so versatile.
Hi Maureen, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and experimenting with her recipe!
Nami and all of us at JOC are so happy to hear you enjoyed the variety of secret ingredients!
Happy Cooking! 🥰
This has been one of my go to recipes for years. I always have some fresh and ready, or a few batches in the freezer for quick “over rice” meals. Recently brought it to a company potluck where it stole the show and made networking a breeze! My inbox has been full of recipe requests since. Thanks JOC team!
Hi, Nicholas! Aww. We are overjoyed to hear that everyone enjoyed the homemade Japanese curry!
The pressure cooker made it so much easier and faster.
Thank you for making Nami’s recipe and sharing it with others.💞
My mother added raisins to her curry, but that is too sweet for me. I like pineapple in mine! That little bit of acid really brightens it up and lightens the heat just a little! This is a wonderful recipe, quite a bit easier than the stovetop version I’ve been making. Thanks!
Hi, Peggy! Both raisins and pineapple sound delicious!
Thank you for taking the time to read Nami’s post and share your cooking experience with us.
Happy Cooking!
Just made this tonight, perfect! My instant pot doesn’t have the meat/stew button (six quart Instant Pot Pro), so I just did custom high pressure for 15 minutes and part natural release for a few minutes and then vented. Everything was cooked perfectly. Thanks for this great recipe. I browned the onions first in a skillet to build a bit more flavour and had only half a package of House brand curry roux but it was super tasty anyway. I made the recipe for homemade roux but didn’t need to add any after.
Hi Yvonne! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
We are happy to hear it turned out so perfectly. Happy Cooking!
I just wanted to say thank you for providing such a classic Japanese comfort meal with the ease of an Instant Pot. I am going through difficult times right now and the last thing I want to do is stand over a cookstove for an hour or two, and knowing that I can prepare an equally delicious dish over the pressure cooker is a game changer. Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Jess! We’re so glad to hear that this came just at the right time.😊 Homemade is the best indeed.
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Hi. I want to make this with shrimp. What is the cooking time?
Hi Jessica! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
To make this recipe with shrimp, we recommend about 5 minutes of cooking time.
Here is Nami’s Pressure Cooker Japanese Seafood Curry recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/pressure-cooker-japanese-seafood-curry/
We hope this helps!
I have made this so so many times now! I love that you can add any vegetable and also any addition you like to make it your own. Last night I included sweet potato, Indian red carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, baby red onions, frozen corn and cherry tomatoes (which just dissolved away deliciously). I also added a bit of coffee and white wine to the stock. When it was finished and I was adding ketchup and soy sauce, I also put in a small bit of maple syrup. It had so much depth of flavor. My husband said this was the best one yet and I have to agree. I even put in one small habanero and some hot sauce too. Cannot recommend this base recipe enough!!
Hi Star! Wow! Excellent! 🤩
Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us.
We are so happy to hear you enjoy the dish!
Please correct me if i’m wrong but 320 kcal per serving for 6 servings feels a bit off? I followed the video and used half a package of golden curry which is 4 cubes (same as what i used), and then half a package of vermont curry which is 6 cubes, also pictures in the video and same as what I used. Howevever, according to the back of both packages the golden curry was 90 calories x 6 for half the package if i read it correctly and the vermont was 100 calories x 6 if i read it correctly.
Thats 1140 calories alone divided by 6 would be 190. Then with the veggies + meat i imagine closer to maybe 400 calories a serving or more?
Either way, came out delicious but im trying to calorie count and the macros for the recipe seemed off when i was doing my own calorie counting. I also weighed all my veggies and used less than the recipe listed and got 400 calories per serving (not including rice).
Hi Marie! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed the curry. 🙂
The nutrition information is for approximately one serving without rice. However, it depends on the data source, which might be slightly different from yours. So please use it as a guide.
Hi! love all of your recipes! If I am planning to double the portion for a large party, do I need to increase the instant pot cooking time or keep it at 15 mins? Thank you so much!
Hi Deborah! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
You can keep the cooking time the same as this recipe.
We hope this helps!🙂