How to make the most delicious Palak Paneer, a popular Indian recipe made with cubes of paneer cheese bathed in a fragrant, creamy spinach sauce. Low-carb, vegetarian, gluten-free, and ready in 30 minutes. Video.
And the wheel goes round and round, and the flame in our souls will never burn out.
Rosanne Cash
Why You’ll Love this Palak Paneer Recipe
As a chef and former restaurant owner, I’ve cooked countless variations of Palak Paneer over the years. My travels through India also deepened my appreciation for the nuances between palak (spinach) and saag (a broader mix of greens). This recipe draws on both experiences and yields something accessible for the home cook.
What makes this version stand out is its authentic flavor and versatility. The luscious spinach sauce pairs beautifully not only with paneer, but also with crispy tofu, chickpeas, roasted veggies, chicken, or even fish. You can even try making homemade paneer, fun and easy!
Here we give the paneer a quick crisp, elevating both texture and flavor. With dozens of authentic Indian recipes on the blog, I’ve fine-tuned this method so you can achieve restaurant-quality results in under 30 minutes. Really!
This is a recipe I return to often in my own kitchen, and based on reader feedback, I know you’ll love it too! You’ll find a hundred uses for the sauce, and trust me, you’ll want to mop up every single drop. Serve it with fluffy basmati rice or warm naan, and you’ll have a cozy, nourishing meal.
What is Palak Paneer?
Palak Paneer is a popular Indian dish, originating in the Punjabi region of North India. Tender cubes of firm cheese (called paneer) are simmered in a creamy spinach sauce infused with warm Indian spices-comforting, wholesome, and full of flavor.
Palak Paneer is very similar to Saag Paneer, but slightly different, in that Saag uses different kinds of greens in the sauce, and Palak uses only spinach. In Hindi, palak means spinach, while saag is more general and means “greens”.
No matter what you want to call it, you’ll love the flavor. The luscious creamy spinach sauce can be a vehicle for so many things. You’ll want to lick the bowl.
Ingredients
- Spinach: Use 10-12 ounces frozen spinach or 1 1/2 pounds fresh baby spinach.
- Paneer: Use our recipe for homemade paneer cheese, or use 24 ounces of store-bought paneer.
- Ghee: Learn how to make your own homemade ghee! If you don’t have ghee, you can substitute it with oil.
- Onion: Use a white or yellow onion.
- Ginger and garlic: Use fresh ginger and garlic cloves for a complex, aromatic flavor.
- Jalapeño: For the green chilies, use one jalapeño or two Serrano chilies.
- Spices: Cumin seeds(or ground), coriander (ground or seeds), garam masala, and black mustard seeds (optional).
- Plain yogurt: Gives the spinach sauce a creamy texture and tangy flavor.
- Cashews: Helps make the sauce rich and silky smooth.
- Optional additions: Cayenne if you want a little kick, or lemon juice if you want it to be tangier.
Variations
There are many protein-rich and vegetable options you can substitute for paneer. Here are some of our favorites!
- Make it vegan with chickpeas or Crispy tofu– I love this with our crispy tofu!
- Try homemade paneer-it’s so rewarding!
- Add Chicken breast – use cubes of cooked chicken breast to the sauce.
- Roasted veggies – roasted cauliflower is nice!
How to make Palak Paneer (step-by-steP)
1. Pan-fry the paneer. Warm a few tablespoons of ghee or olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet. Season the pan generously with salt and pepper. Place the paneer cubes. Let it sit on one side, undisturbed, before flipping the cubes. They should naturally release from the pan. When done, set the paneer aside, covered with foil.
2. Make the spinach sauce. Wipe out the skillet, then add ghee or olive oil to the pan and turn heat to medium. Add onion, ginger, cloves, garlic, and chilies, sautéing until golden brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently.
Add coriander, cumin, garam masala, and mustard seeds to the pan and sauté 2-3 minutes. Then add the frozen spinach and a cup of water. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the spinach is just thawed.
3. Blend the sauce. Transfer the spinach mixture to a blender, along with the yogurt, cashews, salt, and sugar. Blend until achieving a silky smooth consistency. If too dry to blend, add a little water to get the motor going. A blender works best here, but you can use an immersion blender if you prefer.
Taste and adjust flavor, adding a pinch of cayenne for heat or a squeeze of lemon for tang. If it tastes slightly salty, that’s okay-once you add the paneer, it will soak up!
5. Combine. Pour the spinach puree back into the pan over medium-low heat, leaving it uncovered (this preserves its lovely, vibrant color!). Warm gently, stirring often to prevent burning. Add the paneer and continue cooking until warmed through.
6. Serve. Serve palak paneer over fluffy basmati rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice with naan bread, roti, chapati, or plain paratha. Sprinkle fresh herbs over top.
Chef’s Tips
- Choosing your spinach: While you can use fresh spinach, frozen spinach is a bit more cost-effective. You know me, of course, I made this with fresh spinach leaves in the beginning, and yes, you can do this too. But it’s hard watching a whole pound and a half of baby spinach wilt into practically nothing, and in winter, it just seems more cost-effective to simply use frozen spinach. Up to you.
- How to preserve the vibrant green color: Gently cook the sauce and avoid over-simmering after blending. Keep the pan uncovered to prevent dulling.
- For perfectly seared paneer: Pat the paneer dry before adding it to the pan. Let each side develop a gold crust without fiddling with it. When ready, it should naturally release from the pan.
- For a nut-free version: If you can’t use cashews, sunflower or hemp seeds, or even a splash of coconut milk, are good options to try that mimic cashew cream.
- Adjust to taste: Taste the spinach sauce at the end, adding salt for depth, lemon juice for brightness and tang, or cayenne for an extra kick.
Meal Prep & Storage
The spinach sauce can be blended and refrigerated for up to 3 days in advance. Gently reheat and add the freshly seared paneer just before serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Palak paneer can also be stored in the freezer for 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating. If you know you’ll be freezing it, store the sauce separately and make the fried paneer fresh.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Palak Paneer over basmati rice, quinoa, Indian lemon rice, or cauliflower rice with a side of naan. Here are some of our other favorite Indian cuisine pairings!
FAQs
Palak paneer is made of pan-seared paneer cheese in a silky spinach sauce made with onion, garlic, ginger, spinach, spices, jalapeño, yogurt, and cashews.
There are many layers of flavor in palak paneer. The spinach sauce is savory, rich, earthy, and aromatic, while the paneer adds a milky, creamy component. The fragrant Indian spices add depth and warmth.
Serve over a bed of fluffy basmati rice with a side of naan bread.
Hope you love this restaurant-style Palak Paneer recipe as much as we do, and please tell me below how you end up using it!
More Vegetarian Indian Recipes
Watch How to Make it
After you try this Palak Paneer recipe, let us know how it turns out in the comments below. Your review will help other readers, too! Sign up here to join our community and receive our latest recipes and weekly newsletter! xoxo Sylvia
Palak Paneer (Paneer in Spinach Sauce)
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: vegetarian dinner, dinner recipe, indian recipe,
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Ingredients
- 24 ounces paneer cheese (or try our homemade Paneer, crispy tofu, or cooked cubes of chicken breast)
- 3 tablespoons ghee or olive oil
- 1 white or yellow onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons ginger, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1/2 –1 jalapeno (or use 1–2 serrano chillies,) roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons cumin (ground or toasted whole seeds)
- 2 teaspoons coriander (ground or toasted whole seeds)
- 2 teaspoons garam masala, more to taste
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (optional, but good)
- 10–12 ounces frozen spinach (1 1/2 lbs fresh BABY spinach, see notes)
- 1 cup water or broth
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt or vegan coconut yogurt
- 1/2 cup cashews, raw if possible
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar or alternative
- squeeze lemon (optional)
Instructions
- Crisp the Paneer. In a large skillet, (a non-stick works great here) heat a few tablespoons oil or ghee and season the oil generously with salt and pepper. Pan-sear the paneer or crispy tofu until golden and crispy, and set it aside, covered with foil.
- Make the spinach sauce. Wipe out the skillet, heat 3 tablespoons ghee over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, garlic and chilies, and sauté until deeply golden and fragrant, stirring often, about 15 minutes, taking your time here.
- Add the spices (coriander, cumin, garam masala and mustard seeds) and sauté 2-3 more minutes. Add the frozen spinach and a cup of water, lower the heat, and simmer uncovered until the spinach is just thawed.
- Blend. Place this in a blender (see notes), topping it with the yogurt and cashews. Add the salt and sugar. Blend well, until silky smooth. If the mixture is too dry to blend, add just enough water to get the motor going. Taste and adjust the heat by adding a little cayenne if you want a stronger kick. Add a squeeze of lemon for a tangier flavor. The sauce will seem slightly salty at first, but once you add the paneer, it will soak up the salt.
- Combine. Place the blended spinach sauce back into the pan, on medium-low heat, uncovered. (Covering may lose the lovely, vibrant color ). Warm it up gently and slowly, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Add the crispy paneer and continue cooking until the paneer is warmed through.
Serve over Fluffy Basmati Rice, with Naan Bread Quinoa or cauliflower rice.
Notes
Blending: If you like more “chunky sauce” rather than a smooth creamy spinach sauce , feel free to only blend half of the spinach mixture. If using whole spices, I prefer to blend all the sauce.
Make the flavorful spinach sauce and serve it over anything you like- perfect for mixed households where some want vegan, some want meat. It is tasty over roasted cauliflower, pan-seared chicken or fish, tofu, roasted veggies, etc. Get creative!
FRESH SPINACH: Use baby spinach; mature spinach may make it bitter. Make sure to separately (it may too much to manage in the onion pan) or in batches, and add it to the onion-garlic mixture. You need about 1 ½ -2 cups wilted.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: -with 4 ounces paneer in each serving.
- Calories: 331
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 444.3 mg
- Fat: 24.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 12.9 g
- Fiber: 2.8 g
- Protein: 16.4 g
- Cholesterol: 19.2 mg
I did few changes and came out great. I blanched spinach, use one tomato after sautéing onion. Also used tandoori masala and whole milk.
And lime to keep green. This is all time favorite recipe.
Thanks
Love that you made it your own Jayshri!
So good especially the next day! I veganized mine using plant based margerine for ghee, chickpeas instead of paneer, and then blended some soft tofu in in place of the yogurt. I haven’t had palak paneer in years and this really hit the spot, wonderful flavour!
Love it Rebecca, thanks for taking time to leave your helpful notes!
Excellent!! And simple to make!
Glad you enjoyed this one Kim!
Such and great recipe for Palak Paneer- we make this all the time.
Thanks Gene- appreciate you circling back and rating it for us.
This has always been one of my favorite Indian dishes! I needed a recipe to use up some frozen spinach and Voila! It was amazing! *I even had a ‘happy accident’ when I browned the paneer in the same skillet–after heating everything else in it. The herbs that were left in the pan added a nice coat to the cheese!
Oh I love those happy accidents! So glad you enjoyed. 🙂
This is absolutely perfect. I also made the paneer, turned out perfect the first time with your details instructions. Thank you so much! I even used mature (spring) spinach and replaced the ghee with olive oil. Could not be more delicious or easier. Re paneer, I would love you to teach us how to make tofu too 🙂
So glad this all worked out for you Eva! Love the tweaking.
We made the recipe at 2x. The main things we’d change are cutting back on the paneer to half or even a third of what it calls for. It was overwhelming with paneer. The sauce isn’t very creamy and is very thick with just yogurt added.
The day after making this we made a batch of sauce to augment what we’d made the day before. For this we used just greens and spices. and we added a couple of cups of milk to the whole batch after adding the new batch of cause. Mixing this together improved the recipe a lot, and got it to a more normal and creamier consistency. It isn’t very spicy and I’d add more chili too.
Hi Oslar- thanks for your feedback. So when you doubled the recipe there was not enough sauce for the paneer? The muliplier looks like it is doubling correctly but I wondering if you by chance used the metric converter?
That’s right. Too much paneer and not enough sauce. We double checked the recipe and feel fairly certain the proportions were correct. After some adjustments it turned out nice !
Ok interesting. I will have to revisit this. Has anyone else had this issue? Mine was pretty saucy.
Is the sauce one that freezes well?
Yes, it freezes great!
Wow this was delicious! It was better than I’ve had in some restaurants. My husband was very impressed. Aside from reducing the garam masala by 1/2 tsp and using only 1 serrano chili, I followed the recipe exactly. Yum!! Definitely bookmarking this recipe!
Glad you both enjoyed this Christine!
Our nearest Indian restaurant is an hour away, so I was very excited to try this at home. I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe! It was easy enough to follow and came out beautifully. I will definitely make this again, but I found the amount of garam masala too much for me (I will add 1tsp next time and see). I also didn’t use any nuts (my hubby ate them all before I could get to them) and thought it was still plenty creamy – so anyone with nut issues, you won’t be missing out! Thank you for sharing!
Ok Jen, good to know- thanks!
What does the cashews add to the recipe? Is it flavor, texture? We have a nut allergy and would like to see if I should be trying to substitute with something else or just omit from the recipe all together. Thanks!
Hi Carle- we use cashews to give it the creaminess- you can sub yogurt, coconut milk, or cream if you prefer. Just add to taste. 🙂
Wonderful! 2nd time making since the first time many years ago.
I was generous with the olive oil. I use Dahi (indian homemade yogurt). I imagine it’s very tasty with rice.
Great to hear and happy you enjoyed this!
I forget to check 5 stars!
Awww…thanks Robin- always appreciated!
One of my most favorite recipes on the blog! Absolutely divine. I could bathe in this. And everyone in the family loves it. Completes with the best Indian restaurants we’ve visited anywhere.
Ahaha! Thanks so much- one of my favorites too!
Made for the first time to put over tofu we made in the air fryer- so yummy. Thanks for teaching me about the difference between saag and palak. As always, appreciate your recipes.
Thanks so much Chris!
We really liked this recipe. We were generous with our measurements for the spices, otherwise we made no alterations. Ours was not as smooth or vibrant green as your pictures, but it was still pretty. This will definitely go into our dinner rotation, especially as a vegetarian option!
Great to hear Paula! Thanks so much!
This was absolutely delicious! My picky 6 year old love it. And the recipe was easy to follow.
Thanks Julie, so glad you all enjoyed!
An easy and tasty meal, perfect substitute for a takeaway.
Glad you enjoyed!
Loved this panak paneer recipe!!! Anything with creamy spinach just makes me incredibly happy…
Just when making the paneer, I misread the recipe as I live in Europe and I used a liter of milk instead of a gallon… Lots of time for a tiny bit of paneer 😂😂😂 won’t happen again, though
Oh no! Sorry about that Julia!
Oh, not your fault at all 😉 we enjoyed every tiny bit :::::))))
So excited to try this because I have wanted a recipe that uses frozen spinach, and your recipes are good. My question is what would be a good cashew sub because of nut allergy. I suspect the cashews give it some body. Any suggestions? Thanks
How about coconut milk?
I can’t eat cashews, so I substitute an equal amount of raw sunflower seeds or raw pumpkin seeds. They’re not quite as creamy as cashews but are an acceptable substitute.
Thanks Holly!
Lovely recipe Sylvia I have tried many many of your recipes and they all turn out lovely! My kids used to love only restaurant North Indian dishes. Being a South Indian, I could never capture that. But with your recipes, my kids are enjoying home food 😊 Thank you!!
Om Kumar
Awesome and great to hear!
Any idea how much ginger garlic paste I could sub for the fresh ginger and garlic?
I’d use 3-4 tablespoons!