Instant Pot Frozen Cauliflower Curry

Instant pot frozen cauliflower curry using frozen cauliflower florets is easy to make, delicious & creamy cauliflower curry which is perfect for a vegetarian lunch or dinner.

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Cauliflower curry made using Indian spices goes great as a side dish with rice or Indian breads like chapathi or poori.

This is a very easy dump and go recipe where we just dump the ingredients to the instant pot pressure cooker and let it cook!

There is no need to do any saute or anything and we do not use onions or tomatoes in this recipe.

This is a most easy and simple way to make quick cauliflower curry with minimal efforts and we use onion powder and tomato sauce in this recipe, though we are not using any fresh onions or tomatoes.

Frozen Cauliflower Florets

Frozen vegetables like frozen cauliflower florets are super easy to use in cooking different dishes, whether you cook them on stove top or roast them in the oven or in the instant pot.

More easy, delicious recipes using frozen cauliflower includes roasted frozen cauliflower, curry roasted cauliflower, fried cauliflower etc!

Frozen cauliflower comes are cleaned florets ready to cook so you do not need to wash them before cooking.

They are so handy when you want something quick and no time for cleaning or chopping fresh cauliflower head!

I also have more frozen vegetable recipes like roasted frozen broccoli, how to cook frozen broccoli on stove top and frozen corn recipes like mini corn on the cob, instant pot mini frozen corn on the cob, roasted frozen corn kernels, buttered corn etc!

In this recipe for instant pot frozen cauliflower curry, we just add the frozen cauliflower florets and spices and other ingredients, then just pressure cook the contents for few minutes.

Once it is cooked, we just add the cream and cilantro leaves (coriander leaves) for garnishing which is optional.

In fact, I couldn’t add cilantro leaves since I didn’t have any at the time, however, I highly recommend adding fresh cilantro leaves if you have them.

How long to cook frozen cauliflower florets in instant pot pressure cooker?

Frozen cauliflower florets can be easily cooked in the instant pot pressure cooker.

To make cauliflower curry, we cook the frozen cauliflower florets for 1 minute in high pressure and do a natural pressure release for about 5 minutes and then do a careful, gradual manual pressure release.

That way, the cauliflower is never mushy or very soft, but slightly crunchy and slight soft in texture, just enough for the curry!

So here is how you can make cauliflower curry in instant pot following this easy recipe.

How to make instant pot frozen cauliflower curry?

We use the following ingredients to make easy frozen cauliflower curry in instant pot.

ingredients to make cauliflower curry

frozen cauliflower 24 oz (I used two bags of 12 oz cauliflower)

salt adjust to taste

garlic 1 tablespoon crushed or minced

ginger 1 teaspoon peeled and grated or minced

water ½ cup

lemon juice 1 tablespoon

tomato sauce 2 tablespoons

oil 2 tablespoons

coconut milk or heavy cream ¼ cup

coriander leaves chopped 1 tablespoon for garnishing (optional)

Spice Powders:

onion powder ½ teaspoon

turmeric powder ½ teaspoon

red chili powder ½ teaspoon

garam masala powder 2 teaspoons

coriander powder 2 tablespoons

Step by step instructions

Add the frozen cauliflower florets to instant pot.

Add the salt, garlic and ginger, mix well.

Also add all spice powders, lemon juice, tomato sauce and oil, mix well to combine with the frozen florets.

Add water also to the instant pot and close the instant pot with lid in sealing position.

Cook in high pressure for 1 minute.

Once the cooking is done, wait for a natural pressure release for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes of natural pressure release, carefully do a gradual controlled manual pressure release to release any remaining pressure.

Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the instant pot.

Add the coconut milk or heavy cream, stir well to combine with the cauliflower curry, garnish with cilantro leaves (if using), and the delicious instant pot cauliflower curry using frozen cauliflower florets is ready to be served!

Enjoy the cauliflower curry with rice or serve with Indian breads like chapathi, poori etc.

How to store curried frozen cauliflower?

Cauliflower curry made using frozen cauliflower florets stores well in the refrigerator (if stored properly in air tight containers) for another couple of days.

It is not a good idea to store this for longer time, since we used frozen produce to make the curry.

How to substitute frozen cauliflower with fresh cauliflower in this cauliflower curry recipe?

If you want to substitute frozen cauliflower florets with fresh cauliflower florets, you will need to adjust the cooking time.

Fresh cauliflower cooks faster than frozen cauliflower and so if you cook the same time that you do for frozen cauliflower, the cauliflower can turn too soft and mushy quickly.

So if you use fresh cauliflower in this recipe, it is a good idea to set the cooking time as just 0 minutes instead of 1 minute and you can either reduce the amount of water to about ¼ cup or reduce the natural pressure release time by a couple of minutes or do both so the cauliflower won’t turn too soft.

Below you can get the recipe for instant pot frozen cauliflower curry in detail.