How to make Palak Paneer- a popular Indian recipe made with cubes of cheese (paneer) gently simmered in a creamy spinach sauce infused with fragrant Indian spices. Make this in 30 minutes. Keto-friendly, Vegetarian & Gluten-free! Video!
And the wheel goes round and round, and the flame in our souls will never burn out. ~Rosanne Cash~
What is Palak Paneer?
Palak Paneer is very similar to Saag Paneer, but this recipe is slightly different, or so I was told while in India. In Hindi, palak means spinach, while saag is more general and means “greens” where a variety of different greens can be used.
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. Instead of paneer, pair it with crispy tofu, chicken, fish or even roasted veggies! You’ll want to lick the bowl.
You’ll find a hundred uses, and trust me, you’ll want to mop up every single drop. Serve it with fluffy basmati rice or naan bread, or keep it low-carb with cauliflower rice. The best part?
The fragrant Palak Sauce can be made in under 30 minutes!
How to Make Palak Paneer | 60-Sec Video
How to make Palak Paneer
Step 1:
Saute onions, ginger, garlic until deeply golden. Add the spices along with frozen spinach and a little water.
NOTE: 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 in winter to simply use frozen spinach. Up to you.
STEP TWO:
Then simply blend it up with yogurt and cashews until you have a silky smooth vibrant green, pureed spinach sauce. A blender works best here but feel free to use an immersion blender.
Now you have the fragrant Palak Sauce!
STEP THREE:
Pan-sear or fry the paneer until golden brown for delicious texture before simmering in the sauce. Go here to learn how to make your own homemade Paneer Cheese!
Or for a lighter version, use crispy tofu, chicken or fish!
STEP FOUR:
Simmer the paneer in the fragrant Creamy Spinach Sauce until both sauce and paneer are warmed through, uncovered.
STEP FIVE
Serve! Palak Paneer is delicious with Indian Basmati Rice or Naan Bread!
A delicious simple feast, a delight for the senses!
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.
You may also like:
- Emerald Dal
- Indian Fried Rice
- Indian Shepherds Pie
- Frankies (Bombay Burritos)
- Naan Bread
- Indian Basmati Rice
- Raita
Happy yummy week!
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Palak Paneer (Paneer in Spinach Sauce)
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: vegetarian main, main
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Indian
Description
Palak Paneer – Pan-seared Paneer is bathed in a smooth and luscious spinach sauce infused with Indian spices. An easy authentic recipe, perfect for weeknight dinners. This is an adaptable recipe, perfect for mixed households, see notes.
Ingredients
- one recipe for Paneer ( or 24 ounces store-bought paneer, or crispy tofu, or chicken, or roasted veggies)
- 3 tablespoons ghee
- one white or yellow onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons ginger, rough chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 1/2 –1 jalapeno or use 2 serano chillies, rough chopped
- 2 teaspoons cumin ( ground or seeds)
- 2 teaspoons coriander ( ground or seeds)
- 2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (optional)
- 10–12 ounces frozen spinach ( 1 1/2 lbs fresh BABY spinach, see notes)
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar or alternative
- squeeze lemon (optional)
Instructions
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.
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 cup of water, lower heat and simmer uncovered until the spinach is just thawed.
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 more of a kick. Add a squeeze of lemon if you want it tangier.
The sauce will seem slightly salty at first but once you add the paneer, it will soak up the salt.
Place the blended spinach sauce back into the pan uncovered, on med-low heat. (Covering it will lose the lovely vibrant color ). Warm it up gently and slowly, stirring often so it doesn’t burn. Add the pan-seared paneer and continue cooking until the paneer is warmed just warmed through.
Enjoy this over Fluffy Basmati Rice, with Naan Bread, over 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.
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
My fiance and I loved this dish. I made it with fresh amaranth leaves from our garden and tofu, on top of an organic rice blend. Yummy, thank you!
Love it!
Hi Sylvia fountains
Thank you for this yummy recipe.
Can I make fresh palak paneer with same..
Big love for this recipe. I can’t make this often enough. My daughter is addicted and likes it better than what we get in the restaurant. We have yet to try making our own paneer but that may be next. Thank you!
Sorry it was bitter. Really not sure how this happened?
bitterness may result from the stems of mature Spinach (I read elsewhere)
Oh interesting! I used baby spinach. I will note the recipe- thanks this is helpful!
Wow… just made this for my kids and the husband and they LOVED it. Reminded us of the times we went to local Indian restaurant, love this flavourful ethnic recipe. -Ash
Great to hear Ash!
Made this two times already and will be making it for the third time. I just used butter instead of ghee and and used tofu. Still amazing.
Nice! Try it with ghee sometime! You’ll love it.
Thanks for the recipe. But I find the directions on what to do with the palak (spinach) confusing. Not sure what you are referring to with “spinach mixture”. Are you talking about the spinach mixed with the spices? So you mean put what’s in the pan to the blender and then back to thebpan? Unclear.
Paneer is very easy to make out if a gallon of milk. I made this recently using an Indian recipe. I used cumin seeds. And I used coconut milk as cream. The real recipe calls for dairy cream.
Yes, that is exactly what I mean. 🙂 I will clarify.
Love this recipe! This time, I didn’t have enough spinach but had some extra shredded zucchini that I subbed in for half the spinach. Not authentic, but it worked well!
Hi Sylvia: I still need to work on this saag. 1. There was a somewhat bitter aftertaste that I think came from the yogurt I used (farm-made). Or could it be from anything else? What would be a good yogurt to use instead? 2. My kiddo would have liked his spinach unblended but more chopped. How could I tweak it? Thank you so much!
Hi Ola, yes, it was proably the yogurt or the greens you used? Feel free to leave half unblended.
Do you think heavy cream would be good instead of the yogurt? Just asking because I have every ingredient at my house except for yogurt!
Give it a try. If you feel it needs a little tangy, squeeze with a tiny bit of lemon.
Look no further. This is the best recipe for this dish! I haven’t been able to find paneer, but firm tofu works great! This is a family favorite!
I love it with tofu! Glad you tried this!
I made this today and omg it was so delicious and im so glad it didn’t take too long to make it and it wasn’t too difficult as i thought it would be.Thank you so much 😊
Im so happy you liked it!!!
This was SO good! We skipped the paneer because we were pairing it with a NY Times Indian Butter Tofu (also great). We served both over a little basmati and it was a beautiful meal. Thank you again!
Absolutely delicious
Best paalak paneer I ever made and I ever had with minimal spices and effort. Thank You very much. I wish I could give more than five stars.
Thanks so much! You are so kind!
Hi, I made this palak paneer today, and it came out delish!! The husband loved it too! Thank you for the recipe!
Great to hear~!
So, there is actually a difference between Saag paneer and Palak paneer. Saag paneer, a Punjabi dish, is made from a variety of greens, primarily mustard greens, but including spinach, radish greens, broccoli rabe etc. It is very healthy vegetable dish that is commonly eaten in the winter months. ‘Saag’ refers to a mixture of greens. The word for spinach is ‘palak’. So palak paneer is the dish that contains only the spinach as the green. Most restaurants with authentic Punjabi cooks will serve saag paneer and the variety of greens will be represented.
Yes, exactly. Here I use spinach, thus, Palak paneer.
Fantastic!! I made this with tofu and used vegan substitutes for everything and it was absolutely amazing!! My husband and I couldn’t get enough. This will be a weekly meal for us!
Im so glad you enjoyed this- one of my favorites!!!
Hi came across your blog to let you know that sarvanaa bhavan sydney are using your photo to promote their palak paneer
Thanks I let them know!
Would pan seared Haloumi work in this recipe?
It would but it is quite a bit saltier.
Wish it was possible to give more than five stars – this is the best palak paneer recipe I have ever made!
Yay!!!! I love this on too! Thanks!
Yay!!!! I love this one too! Thanks!
HI Sylvia, I appreciate you too! All your recipes are thoughtful and I love the Nutrition Facts. I collect recipes for Saag or Palak. So far yours is the most thorough and honest recipe. It is great that you are teaching ‘how to’ for vegans & carnivores to share the same Meal!
Thanks, Bibi in Houston
Thanks Bibi! Glad you are enjoying the recipes!
So good. Been making this one pretty regularly since you posted it. I use tofu and/paneer depending on the mood. If I leave the chili out, my 1 and 3yo eat it too! Thanks, Sylvia, for yet another win!
thanks Erick, appreciate this and glad you are trying it with tofu!
I made the Palak Paneer with tofu. It was absolutely delicious! The spinach sauce makes a lot and I froze it for leftovers.
Thanks beautiful Sylvia for sharing this awesome recipe!
Cheers!
Suzan
Thanks so much Suzan, Im so glad you enjoyed it!
The palak paneer was simply delicious!
The spinach sauce freezes well!
I made it with tofu & it was fabulous!
Thank you Sylvia for sharing this with us.
I will definitely make it again!
👍🏽 I was wondering g if it keeps well in the freezer. Thanks 🙏🏽
Glad you enjoyed this!
Quick, easy, delicious, ethnic – all the ingredients for a wonderful dinner! I used store bought paneer and purple cauliflower to make this dish. Beautiful colors! Next time I will be sure to try your home made paneer – seems ridiculously easy to make!