Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (2024)

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (1)Helene Dsouza

Protein rich and flavorful Palak Paneer Recipe, Indian Spinach curry with fun Cottage cheese chunks. We need to blanch the spinach first so that the bitter raw flavors come out. You can serve the mildly spied green gravy over rice or with flat bread or regular bread.

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

2 servings

4.9 from 10 votes

RECIPE

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (2)

This Palak Paneer Recipe is a flavorful concoction of Indian spices with spinach and paneer cheese.

Did you know that to make a Vegetarian Palak Paneer is actually quite easy?

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (3)

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (4)

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Jump to:
  • 📕 What is Palak Paneer?
  • 🆚 Palak paneer vs saag paneer
  • 🧅 Ingredients
  • 🔪 How to make it?
  • 🥣 Serving Ideas
  • 🍱 Storing
  • 💭 FAQs
  • Dishes like the Palak Paneer Recipe🥘
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

I have put together a delicious recipe with useful how-to instructions to make palak paneer from scratch at home.

You will succeed even if you have never cooked Indian food before!

📕 What is Palak Paneer?

Palak Paneer is a hearty and nutritious dish that originated in Punjab, a region in North India.

It is made with finely-chopped fresh spinach, generously-sized cubes of homemade paneer (a fresh cottage cheese) and topped with blobs of delicious melting village butter.

In Punjabi roadside dhabas, palak paneer is usually served with several crisp rotis (flatbread), but it is also eaten with a serving of steamed rice all over India.

This dish is a nutritional delight as it combines the fresh goodness of spinach and the protein of milky paneer.

It is usually served mildly spiced and is suitable for even the most sensitive
palates. It is creamy, delicious, and satisfying!

The dish is quick and easy to make and can be easily made into a one-pot-meal.

It stores and reheats well and can be made in advance.

🆚 Palak paneer vs saag paneer

Palak paneer has a cousin: saag paneer.

“Saag” means "greens" in Hindi and this dish can be made from a variety of greens grown in India, such as mustard greens, amaranth leaves, fenugreek leaves, or even a mixture of several greens, including spinach.

But if a dish is only made with spinach and no other greens, it is called palak paneer.

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (5)

Note about Paneer

Paneer is the king of Indian vegetarian cuisine and loved by everyone.

It is made by a simple process of boiling whole milk and curdling it with an acid (lemon juice or vinegar) and then collecting the resulting curds (chenna) and pressing them to result in a solid, yet soft block of cottage cheese.

It can easily be made at home.

The unpressed curds are also used in a variety of Indian sweet preparations ranging from delicate Bengali rasgulla to fragrant gulab jamun, and saffron-flavored rasmalai.

🧅 Ingredients

  • Paneer - fresh would be best, but you can use frozen paneer as well
  • Spinach - fresh would be best, but you can use frozen spinach as well
  • Spices - ground cumin, ground coriander, ground garam masala, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Green chilies
  • Oil
  • Cream (dairy or coconut)
  • Tomato sauce

🔪 How to make it?

Here is a quick overview on how to make this spinach paneer from scratch.

The complete recipe with measurements is located further below in the recipe card.

Step 1

Blend the washed and blanched spinach in a blender with green chilies and a bit of water.

Step 2

In a pan, fry the chopped onions and remaining spices and add the tomato paste.

Add the blended spinach, mix it well and cook the mixture on a low fire.

Step 3

When the spinach mixture is cooked, add the cream and the paneer cubes in the end and stir gently so that the paneer does not break.

Serve with rotis or ever steamed rice.

🥣 Serving Ideas

For an authentic Dhaba-style Punjabi meal, serve the palak paneer with crisp and steaming rotis or naan.

Other dishes that would complement palak paneer well would be rajma (stewed red beans) or butter chicken.

Don’t forget to add a glass of delicately spiced lassi (buttermilk) to accompany the meal and lend it more North Indian flavor.

A simple salad of thinly sliced vegetables such as fresh tomato, cucumber, carrot, and radish and a small bowl of Indian pickles would complete the meal and turn it into a feast.

Serve some delicious Indian sweets at the end to round out this rich culinary experience.

🍱 Storing

Palak paneer can be easily stored in an air-tight container for 2-3 days in the fridge.

As it heats up well, it is also possible to freeze it in batches for later use.

It can be thawed and reheated in the microwave, but the paneer might lose its firmness.

💭 FAQs

Can paneer be substituted?

In this recipe, paneer can be easily substituted by extra-firm tofu. Haloumi could also be a decent substitute, but it is firmer and chewier than paneer. As halloumi is naturally, quite salty, you will need to be careful with the salt amount in the dish and adjust it accordingly.

Can it be made vegan?

Palak paneer can be made vegan by using extra-firm tofu or vegan halloumi. Or you could experiment and make vegan paneer from coconut milk. The cream in the recipe can be substituted by coconut cream or any other vegan cream options. You can also use chunks of starchy potato in the same recipe and turn it into aloo palak (potato spinach).

Dishes like the Palak Paneer Recipe🥘

  • Mater Paneer - Green Peas and Paneer
  • Amaranth (Red Spinach) stir fry
  • Goan Masoor Dal - Lentil curry

Note: The Post, Palak Paneer Recipe, was first published on the 1st November 2013 and has been enhanced and updated ever since.

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (7)

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with Spices and Herbs

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📖 Recipe

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (8)

Palak Paneer Recipe

Protein rich and flavorful Palak Paneer Recipe, Indian Spinach curry with fun Cottage cheese chunks. We need to blanch the spinach first so that the bitter raw flavors come out. You can serve the mildly spied green gravy over rice or with flat bread or regular bread.

4.91 from 10 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 servings

Calories: 475kcal

Recipe by: Helene Dsouza

Ingredients

US - Metric

Instructions

  • Wash your Spinach leaves well.

  • Blanch the Spinach in some boiling water for 30 seconds and then add them to a blender jar with green chili (stem removed, keep the seeds) and water. Blend the whole content well so that no pieces are left, it should be smooth. Keep aside.

  • Heat up a pan with the oil and fry your chopped onion translucent for a few minutes stirring frequently. Add the garlic and stir cook for another minute, then throw in the cumin powder, coriander powder, cinnamon powder, garam masala andcayenne powder. Stir fry for another minute.

  • Continue to add in the tomato paste and stir fry quickly, then take down the heat

  • Pour in the smooth spinach mass and mix everything well.

  • Continue to add the liquid cream and at this point, you can even add a few drops of green food coloring (Restaurant style with green coloring). Season with salt and pepper and let it cook for 10 minutes on a medium to slow heat. If you feel the whole mixture is getting too thick after 5 minutes cooking, then add a little bit water.

  • At the end add in the bite-size paneer cubes and mix the whole content. Cook for another 3-5 minutes. Once the paneer is in, try to not stir too much anymore. The Paneer may break into little bits (that happens mostly with frozen paneer) and you want the cubes to be whole.

  • Serve hot with roti or basmati rice.

Notes

  1. You can use fresh or frozen Paneer.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Palak Paneer Recipe

Amount Per Serving (350 g)

Calories 475Calories from Fat 342

% Daily Value*

Fat 38g58%

Saturated Fat 19g95%

Cholesterol 86mg29%

Sodium 274mg11%

Potassium 846mg24%

Carbohydrates 16g5%

Fiber 5g20%

Sugar 3g3%

Protein 19g38%

Vitamin A 12245IU245%

Vitamin C 43.3mg52%

Calcium 641mg64%

Iron 4.4mg24%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Easy Palak Paneer Recipe [Restaurant Style] 🌿 MasalaHerb.com (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between Saag Paneer and Palak Paneer? ›

What is the difference between saag paneer and palak paneer? Saag refers to different kinds of greens like mustard greens, spinach, fenugreek, amaranth and a few others. Saag paneer can be made with any of these greens but palak paneer is made with palak (spinach) alone.

Why is my Palak Paneer bitter? ›

Once the palak gravy is cooked, add whisked curd or fresh cream to it. This will balance the bitterness and also give a rich texture to the dish. If your palak gravy is too thick, you can add milk to it as well. This will give a bright green colour to the dish while reversing its bitter flavour.

Is Palak Paneer really healthy? ›

He added, “Palak Paneer as a dish is rich in protein, B vitamins, folates, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, magnesium, phosphorous, and dietary fiber – that it can be a great addition to your wholesome diet. In fact, it's a delicious way of adding some greens and high quality protein to your daily food.

How to make paneer Jamie Oliver? ›

To make the paneer, line a sieve with a large piece of muslin and place over a bowl. Heat the milk in a large heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Gently bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Gradually add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice, stirring continuously so the curds and whey separate.

What do we call Palak Paneer in English? ›

Palak paneer (pronounced [paːlək pəniːɾ]) or palak chhena is an Indian dish consisting of chhena or paneer in a thick paste made from puréed spinach, called palak in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, and other Indian languages.

Do Indians eat Saag Paneer? ›

Regardless of its modest roots, saag paneer in all its creamy simplicity is a beloved dish in home kitchens as well as at Indian restaurants across the diaspora. However, there have been notable variations: the type of greens commonly used in North India for this dish are mustard greens, not spinach.

How do you reduce bitterness in masala? ›

  1. Dilute the Curry:Increase the quantity of the other ingredients in the curry to dilute the excessive turmeric. ...
  2. Add Sweetness:Sweetness can help counteract bitterness. ...
  3. Acidic Ingredients:A squeeze of lemon juice or a small amount of vinegar can sometimes help balance the flavors and cut through the bitterness.
Dec 11, 2016

How to make paneer absorb flavor? ›

Lemon juice, salt, and spices are required for the basic marination process. Since lemon juice is an acidic element, it aids in the removal of any odor or taste from the Paneer pieces. Turmeric powder, red chili powder, and salt are used for simple marination.

What are the disadvantages of palak paneer? ›

When consumed together, the calcium in the paneer restricts the iron absorption from spinach. Since less than 5% of the iron in spinach is absorbed by the body, it offers relatively less iron to our bodies.

What to eat palak paneer with? ›

This healthy palak paneer is low-calorie and low in fat! So creamy, spicy, and full of flavor. Perfect with warm naan and basmati rice.

Can we eat egg and paneer together? ›

According to the expert, there is no harm in having paneer and eggs together. Both are packed with protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and iron. For vegetarians, paneer is the major source of protein, but non-vegetarians can have both. Being rich in protein, both are good options for weight loss.

Why do people soak paneer in water before? ›

10 minutes makes it extra soft and crumbly!

Why put paneer in water after frying? ›

After frying, if the paneer becomes hard, let the raw paneer soak in normal water for 10 minutes. This is because cooking extracts the paneer moisture making it hard or rubbery to eat. On the other hand, putting the paneer in water keeps it soft and gives the necessary moisture (if lost while cooking).

Is it better to fry paneer before cooking? ›

Whether or not you need to fry paneer before cooking depends on the specific recipe you are following. Frying paneer can enhance its texture, add a crispy outer layer, and help it hold its shape during cooking. However, it is not always necessary, and some recipes may call for using paneer as is, without frying.

Which is better palak or saag? ›

The main differences come down to the greens used and dairy additions. Calories and Fat: Palak Paneer often has more calories and fat due to cream or yogurt, making it richer. Saag Paneer might be leaner, especially if it skips the cream. Protein: Paneer brings plenty of protein to both dishes, great for vegetarians.

What is the difference between palak and saag? ›

The difference is only in the contents. Palak in hindi is a single vegetable called spinach in english. Whereas saag too a type of Indian vegetable is prepared by a mixture of three -four leafy varieties of mustard leaves, spinach, fenugreek leaves and bathua leaves..

What is Saag Paneer made of? ›

Saag paneer is a classic Indian dish of cooked spinach studded with cubes of fried paneer cheese. Thickened with cream or coconut milk, it's a hearty and filling vegetarian meal.

What does Saag Paneer taste like? ›

It's known for its rich texture and aromatic flavors. What does saag paneer taste like? Saag Paneer tastes creamy and rich, with a balanced blend of earthy greens and aromatic spices.

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