Instant pot potato carrot curry is a vegetarian and vegan Indian style instant potato carrot stew or mixed vegetable stew (using root vegetables) which is super easy to make, simple & delicious. Potato carrot curry in the instant pot is made using potatoes, carrots, onions, tamarind, spices & also coconut milk for the slightly creamy, spicy & tangy gravy which is delicious when combined with the texture of potatoes & natural sweetness of carrots. You may also reduce the spices slightly for your preference if you like to enjoy this as a delicious and easy instant pot potato and carrot curried soup.
Curried potatoes & carrot go very well and I have already made potato carrot curry on stove top in a different way which is another delicious recipe.
This instant pot potato carrot curry is slightly different from the stove top version, and this is even more easy to make since we use instant pot to make this curry.
I have another easy instant pot potato curry here where we make the potato curry with potatoes, tomatoes, onions & spices.
We make this potato carrot curry using the Indian spices where its also known as aloo gajar curry or aloo gajar ki sabji (aloo means potatoes, gajar means carrots & sabji refers to curry in hindi).
A popular Indian curry using aloo and gajar (potatoes and carrots) includes peas as well (matar), however this is recipe is different just using potatoes and carrots and onions.
If you wish to add peas to this curry, you can easily add about 1 cup of fresh green peas (matar) along with other potatoes & carrots.
The dish is slightly spicy, but you can adjust the spiciness by reducing the chili powder (or ginger powder) and black pepper powder if you wish.
As I told above, you may adjust the spices to your preferences and enjoy this as soup or stew too to suit your taste.
However, this potato carrot curry or stew is not too spicy so if you prefer a slightly spicy curry, the spice levels are just right for you.
And if you do not want it spicy at all, just avoid the red chili & black pepper and also reduce the garam masala.
Related Recipes:
potato carrot curry for chapathi (on stove top)
jeera aloo gajar recipe (potatoes with cumin seeds & carrots dry masala)
More Instant Pot Curry Recipes:
instant pot black bean spinach curry
instant pot chickpea curry easy recipe
How To Make Instant Pot Potato Carrot Curry
We use the following ingredients to make potato carrot curry or stew in the instant pot.
ingredients used to make potato carrot curry
potatoes 4 medium sized
onion 1 large
carrots 4 medium sized
water 2 cups
salt as needed
tamarind paste 1 teaspoon
thick coconut milk 2 tablespoons (may use little more)
oil 1 tablespoon
spice powders
ginger powder ½ teaspoon
garlic powder 1 teaspoon
red chili powder ½ teaspoon (optional)
turmeric powder 1 teaspoon
cumin seeds powder ½ teaspoon
coriander powder 1 teaspoon
garam masala powder 1 teaspoon (or curry powder)
black pepper powder ¼ teaspoon (optional)
steps to follow (the process)
Add diced potatoes, carrots & sliced onions to the instant pot.
Add 1 cup of water also to the instant pot.
Also add salt and the spice powders (other than black pepper powder), mix everything well.
Add the tamarind, stir in to mix with the water and vegetables.
Also add the oil, stir the contents and close the instant pot with lid in sealing postion.
Cook in high pressure for 5 minutes. Do a natural pressure release for about 12 minutes, then do a careful and gradual manual pressure release.
Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid.
Stir the contents and gently mash a few cooked potato pieces.
Add the remaining 1 cup of water and also the black pepper powder (if using), mix the contents well and simmer the contents (using saute function) for a couple of minutes (stir in between).
Finally add the coconut milk, stir into mix with the curry, serve the delicious potato carrot curry hot with rice or Indian breads like chapathi, poori, naan bread etc.
Notes: You may also use heavy cream instead of coconut milk and may use butter instead of oil if you do not want to keep the recipe vegan.
Instead of garlic & ginger powder, you may use 2 cloves of fresh garlic chopped or pressed and also about 1 small piece fresh ginger grated or minced.
If you are replacing dry garlic & ginger with fresh produce, I recommend sauteeing the garlic and ginger in little oil (using saute function in instant pot). You can also saute the onions before you add the other ingredients to increase the flavor.
Substitutes for tamarind in curry
If you do not have tamarind, you can use tomatoes to add the required tanginess to the curry. Just use two medium sized tomatoes which can be chopped and add to the potaoes and carrots along with the onions.
If you do not have tomatoes, you can use 1 teaspoon of tomato paste or you can use 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce or any tomato based sauce like tomato basil sauce as they all add the sourness to the curry but will also add the flavors that come from the sauce that you use.
Instead of tomato baed sauces or tamarind, you can also use amchoor powder (just use 1 teaspoon) which is basically dried mango powder which is commonly used in North Indian cooking.
In this recipe, I have used tamarind concentrate, which is the concentrated form of tamarind extract, so you need only 1 teaspoon of it to add the required sourness. If you are using tamarind paste or tamarind pulp also you will only need to use the same amount.
If you use tamarind from the tamarind fruit it may have fibers so you may also dissolve the tamarind in a little water (if using from the fruit you may need a little more amount as it is not in concentrate form) and then filter and add it to the curry if that is easier.
Can You Add Indian Seasoning To This?
Yes, you can easily add Indian style seasoning or tadka to this dish if you wish. I made this a a simple and easy curry and so I wanted to make it an easy dump curry where you can literally dump all ingredients to the instant pot to make a delicious vegetarian curry to go with rice or chapathi.
If you wish to add the seasoning, add the oil to the instant pot, use the saute function and then light fry some cumin seeds and broken red chilies and also some curry leaves, then add the onions and saute the onions a little.
You can also add some crushed ginger and garlic and saute that too and then add the remaining ingredients to the pot and cook the curry.
You may also make seasoning or tadka in a separate pan on stove top and then add the seasoning to the prepared curry which is even more delicious.
How To Store The Potato Carrot Curry?
If you are not using the potato carrot curry on the same day, you can transfer the curry to air tight food containers and store in the refrigerator for upto another 2 to 3 days.
Below you can get the recipe for instant pot potato carrot curry in detail.
Instant Pot Potato Carrot Curry/Stew (Video)
Ingredients
- 4 medium sized potatoes
- 1 large sized onion
- 4 medium sized carrots
- 2 cups water
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste (if there are fibers in the tamarind that you use you have to dissolve in little water and filter it out)
- 2 tablespoons coconut milk (thick coconut milk, I used from canned coconut milk)
- 1 tablespoon oil
Spice Powders
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala powder or curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder (optional)
Instructions
- Add diced potatoes, carrots & sliced onions to the instant pot.
- Add 1 cup of water also to the instant pot.
- Also add salt and the spice powders (other than black pepper powder), mix everything well.
- Add the tamarind, stir in to mix with the water and vegetables.
- Also add the oil, stir the contents and close the instant pot with lid in sealing postion.
- Cook in high pressure for 5 minutes. Do a natural pressure release for about 12 minutes, then do a careful and gradual manual pressure release.
- Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid.
- Stir the contents and gently mash a few cooked potato pieces.
- Add the remaining 1 cup of water and also the black pepper powder (if using), mix the contents well and simmer the contents (using saute function) for a couple of minutes (stir in between).
- Finally add the coconut milk, stir into mix with the curry, serve the delicious potato carrot curry hot with rice or Indian breads like chapathi, poori, naan bread etc.
did just as the recipe said putting everything in the pot at once. There was really no kick to the taste and yes my spices are fresh enough. darn. What shall I add to get more flavour with the left overs?
Hi Laurie, I am sorry you didn’t find this flavorful. If you use butter, you can 2 tablespoons of melt butter in a pan and add little minced onions, lightly fry it and add this butter onion mixture to the leftovers and mix well. You can also lighty saute or fry chopped garlic and add to this. If you don’t want to use butter, you can use olive oil or coconut oil. You can add more cilantro leaves also for more flavor. If you used coconut milk, you can add more of that for more coconut milk flavor. If you have heavy cream, you may also use heavy cream instead of coconut milk. Just use more coconut milk or heavy cream to your preference so the dish will be more creamy and it will have more flavor. More ways to improve the flavor include using broth instead of water, adding chilies if you like spicy flavors etc. Hope this helps. Thank you.