Strawberry Chutney made in an Instant Pot with a hint of ginger flavor that will delight you with its sweet, sour and spicy flavors, all at the same time! This chutney recipe will enhance the flavors of wraps, sandwiches and salads, and you can enjoy it with your next barbecue, grilled vegetables, and paneer tikka. It's also quite delicious when paired with Indian street food and chat recipes.
When strawberry season arrives, I love to come up with different ways to incorporate strawberries into my family's diet. I didn't add ginger the first time I prepared it, but my next batch included it, and my family loved it!
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Easy Instant Pot Strawberry Chutney
I use an Instant Pot for this Strawberry Chutney recipe and use all-natural ingredients. Preparing it is a breeze, since no baby sitting is required, it's convenient, hands free, and hassle free all at the same time! I love that it doesn’t require any preservatives.
To make this, you need to first macerate the strawberries, then pressure cook the strawberries in their juices to reduce it to your desired thickness. It's an easy instant pot recipe for strawberry chutney that involves the following steps:
- Prep the strawberries: wash, hull and halved the strawberries.
- Macerate the Strawberries: Soak the strawberries with sugar, lime juice and salt at least for 30 minutes.
- Pressure cook the Strawberries: Pressure cook strawberries in its juices just for one minute on high pressure.
- Adding spices and simmer: Add spices and let the chutney reduce to your desired thickness.
- Blend the reduced chutney: Blend or mash the reduced chutney and you are done!
It stays well in the refrigerator for long time. I haven't tried to store this strawberry chutney at room temperature, so I can’t comment on its shelf life if stored in this manner.
What is Maceration?
Maceration is the process of softening or sweetening a fruit by soaking in a liquid. Fruit can be macerated in a liquid such as balsamic vinegar, liquor or using lemon juices and sugar. The sugar pulls out the juices of the fruit forming a syrup. This maceration helps to cook strawberries in its own juices.
To macerate strawberries, place clean, hulled, sliced fruit into a bowl and sprinkle them with sugar. The amount of sugar added to the strawberries will vary depending on how ripe they are and how sweet you like your chutney.
Tips to Make the Best Strawberry Chutney
- Since non organic strawberries falls under the category of dirty dozen produce (source: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php), I highly recommend using organic strawberries.
- Remember to macerate the strawberries. Do not skip this step.
- You can use your choice of sweetener such as jaggery powder, coconut sugar, or raw brown sugar. However, a dark sweetener will darken the Strawberry Chutney causing it to lose its vibrant color. I use raw light brown Kirkland brand sugar to maintain the vibrant and appealing color.
- The quantity of sweetner will vary depending on how sweet or tart your strawberries are and how sweet you like your Strawberry Chutney. I have found that you typically need ½ cup of sweetener per pound of strawberries.
- Don’t skip the ginger, roasted cumin powder (see notes how to make roasted cumin powder at home) or black rock salt. Black rock salt or kala namak is available at Amazon and Indian stores.
- Always blend the strawberries towards the end of the reduction period to reduce the splattering of the pureed strawberries. If you blend them before reducing, the pureed strawberries will splatter too much and make a mess.
How To Make Roasted Cumin Powder
Making your own roasted cumin powder is actually very easy. Just roast a handful of cumin seeds on low heat in a pan, keep stirring for even browning, and brown until you start smelling a nice aroma and see a dark brown color. Switch off the heat and let it cool down a bit, and then grind into a powder using a spice grinder or Nutribullet. Store in a clean, dry jar for later use.
Ingredients
Produce:
- Strawberry: 1 Lb.
- Ginger: 1 oz.
- Lime/Lemon Juice: 2 Tablespoon
Spices:
- Sugar: ½ cup
- Salt: 1 teaspoon (adjust as per taste)
- Roasted Cumin Seeds Powder (Bhuna Jeera): 1 Teaspoon
- Black Rock Salt (Kala Namak): ½ Teaspoon (powdered)
- Red Chili Powder (Lal Mirch Powder): ½ Teaspoon
- Red Chili Flakes: 1 teaspoon
How to Make Strawberry Chutney
- Wash, hull and slice the strawberries and add to Instant Pot’s inner pot.
- Add sugar, lime or lemon juice, and salt and give them a good stir. Let them rest at room temperature until the juices are released, at least 30 minutes.
- After 30-40 minutes and during this maceration process, the strawberries will release all their natural juices.
- Once the maceration process is over, close the lid of the Instant Pot and pressure cook on high for one minute, Non Pressure Release.
- When all the pressure is released and the pressure pin pops down, remove the lid and switch to sauté mode on normal heat level to reduce the mixture of strawberries and juices.
- After reducing for 15 minutes, add grated ginger, roasted cumin powder, black rock salt, red chili powder and chili flakes.
- For a smoother texture, blend the strawberries with the spices using an immersion blender. If you prefer a chunky chutney texture, use a potato masher to mash the cooked strawberries rather than an immersion blender.
- Let the chutney simmer on sauté mode for a few more minutes to achieve a spreadable, thick consistency.
- To check if the consistency is thick enough, it should coat the spatula.
- Once the desired thickness is achieved, turn off the Instant Pot and allow the Strawberry Chutney to cool down completely.
- Transfer to clean, dry glass jars and store in the refrigerator.
A Variation Using Different Spices
During the lockdown period, I ran out of my regular tamarind dates meethi chutney also known as saunth. Since we were trying our best not to go to Indian store for grocery shopping to get Indian groceries, I tried making this Strawberry Chutney with similar spices we use to make tamarind meethi chutney. It also came out delicious!
Recipes to Accompany Strawberry Chutney
- Multigrain Baked Methi Mathri (Fenugreek Savory Crackers)
- Baked Samosa Recipe with Enhanced Crust and Filling
- Healthy Zucchini Fritters - Vegan and Gluten Free Recipe
- Katori Chaat - Baked Mathri Cups filled with your favorite filling
- Baked Namak Para - Healthy and Crispy
- Makhana Bhel - Gluten & Soy Free Vegan Foxnut Indian Salad
Recipe
Strawberry Ginger Chutney: Sweet Sour and Spicy
Ingredients
Produce:
- 1 lb Strawberry
- 1 oz Ginger
- 2 tablespoon Lime/Lemon Juice
Spices:
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt adjust as per taste
- 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds Bhuna Jeera (Powder) - Roasted
- ½ teaspoon Black Rock Salt Kala Namak (powdered)
- ½ teaspoon Red Chili Powder Lal Mirch Powder
- 1 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
Instructions
- Wash, hull and slice strawberries and add to Instant Pot’s inner pot.
- Then add sugar, lime or lemon juice, salt give them a good stir. Let them rest at room temperature until juices are released, at least 30 minutes.
- After 30-40 minutes, during this maceration process strawberries will release all their natural juice.
- Once the maceration process is over, close the lid of the Instant Pot and pressure cook on high level for one minute, NPR.
- When all the pressure is released and the pressure pin pops down, remove the lid and switch to sauté mode on normal heat level to reduce the mixture of strawberries and juices.
- After reducing for 15 minutes, add grated ginger, roasted cumin powder, black rock salt, red chili powder and chili flakes.
- For a smoother texture, blend the strawberries using immersion blender with all the spices. If you prefer a chunky chutney texture, use a potato masher instead to mash the cooked strawberries.
- Let the chutney simmer on sauté mode for few more minutes to achieve the spreadable thick consistency. To check if the consistency is thick enough, it should coat the spatula.
- Once you have achieved the desired thickness, turn off the Instant Pot and allow the Strawberry Chutney to cool down completely.
- Transfer to clean, dry glass jars and store in the refrigerator.
- Use it in sandwiches, serve along your barbecue or top it on your favorite Indian chat.
Video
Equipment used in this recipe:
Maceration is the process of softening or sweetening a fruit by soaking it in a liquid. Fruit can be macerated in a liquid such as balsamic vinegar, liquor, or using lemon juices and sugar. The sugar pulls out the juices of the fruit forming a syrup.
Making your own roasted cumin powder is actually very easy. Just roast a handful of cumin seeds on low heat in a pan, keep stirring for even browning, and brown until you start smelling a nice aroma and see a dark brown color. Switch off the heat and let it cool down a bit, and then grind into a powder using a spice grinder or Nutribullet. Store in a clean, dry jar for later use.
Subha says
I am making this recipe for the second time, using instapot in the last 1 month. My family went crazy about it instantly. The only thing might be the process of making this in the pot. I made the mistake of semi covering with a glass lid, during sauté mode. It ended up boiling all over outside. I think I lost half of the end product due to this. New instapot users, please be careful. You do not want to lose even a single little drop of this delicious chutney recipe ??
Rupali Agarwal says
Thank you Shubha for trying and leaving such a wondeful feedback. Not covering pot is a great tip and I'll add it to tips section in the post.
Thanks-Rupali
Akhila says
This was delicious!!!! Thank you for the recipe!
Sheily says
Omg !!! This chutney was highlight of the party.
I made falafel bites and chutney was like cherry on the top. Thank you so much for sharing it. Always looking up for your recipes keep it coming .
Rupali Agarwal says
Thanks for sharing your feedback, I am so glad that you enjoyed it!!!
Thank you- Rupali