If you ever thought making Indian Palak Paneer (or Spinach with Paneer) was complicated, here’s the recipe that will convince you otherwise. Delicious, nutritious, full-flavored, and super easy to make!
Why This Palak Paneer Recipe Is So Good
I like recipes where you throw things in and walk away and they taste fantastic. Call me lazy, call me efficient, whichever, it works for me.
I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a recipe that was simple, and that didn’t require much effort. So essentially it needed to be a pour and cook recipe that harnessed the power of pressure cooking to extract every last bit of flavor from the vegetables.
So this is one of those. There’s really only one additional step that you might consider adding, which is to sauté the ginger and garlic and chili in oil, to get the oil richly flavored.
But to be honest I’ve made it both ways–by flavoring the oil, and by dumping everything in and cooking it. I must admit, I can’t always tell the difference.
So you do whatever sounds good to you, and I’m sure it will work out just fine.
How To Make Palak Paneer
I have instructions for how to make this in the Instant Pot as well as a slow cooker, so feel free to make it whichever way you prefer.
Pressure Cooker
- Set pot to sauté and when hot, put in the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, put in the garlic and ginger and chili, and sauté for a bit.
- Dump all ingredients except paneer together and set to high pressure for 4 mins.
- When done, use an immersion blender and mush everything up into either a very smooth puree, or leave some bits un-chopped. You’ll probably have to tilt the pot a little to get your blender to work.
- Gently mix in the paneer and serve
Slow Cooker
- Cook on high for 3 hours. Push the spinach down once so all gets moist.
- When done, use an immersion blender and mush everything up into either a very smooth puree, or leave some bits un-chopped
- Gently mix in the paneer and serve
Can You Freeze Palak Paneer?
Yes, this recipe actually freezes quite well. Just make sure that you’re freezing it in small batches as opposed to one big container. That way it will reheat faster the next time you find yourself wanting some.
Tips And Tricks For Making Palak Paneer
- Now in this recipe, you can either buy ready-made paneer at the Indian grocery store, or better still, you can make your own paneer at home by following my very simple, fail-proof homemade paneer recipe.
- You can use either fresh or frozen spinach for this. If you’re using frozen, just break up the blocks of spinach a little.
- You can also mix up greens for this such as adding swiss chard, collard greens, or mustard greens. This would make it more of a saag paneer since Palak means spinach. It’s actually very tasty that way.
Enjoy Paneer And Looking For More Recipes? Check These Out!
- Make some restaurant-quality Indian peas and paneer or Matar Paneer in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
- Make this low carb quick Paneer Tikka with just a few spices, and pan-fry in ghee for a boost of fat to make this keto-friendly.
- This fantastic and supremely easy Instant Pot Vegetarian Paneer Biryani is an easy, authentic, kid-friendly, vegetarian dinner that is done in under 30 minutes.
So next time you get the craving for some Palak Paneer, save yourself the unnecessary extra time and effort and follow this delicious recipe! Make sure to let me know if you enjoyed this recipe in the comments!
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 5 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger chopped
- 1/2 Jalapeño Peppers chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 pounds fresh spinach
- 2 Tomatoes chopped
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne (adjust as needed)
- 2 teaspoons Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 1.5 cup paneer
Instructions
Pressure Cooker
- Set pot to sauté and when hot, put in the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, put in the garlic and ginger and chili, and sauté for a bit.
- Dump all ingredients except paneer together and set to high pressure for 4 mins.
- When done, use as immersion blender and mush everything up into either a very smooth puree, or leave some bits un-chopped. You’ll probably have to tilt the pot a little to get your blender to work.
- Gently mix in the paneer and serve
Slow Cooker
- Cook on high for 3 hours. Push the spinach down once so all gets moist.
- When done, use as immersion blender and mush everything up into either a very smooth puree, or leave some bits un-chopped
- Gently mix in the paneer and serve
Notes
- Now in this recipe, you can either buy ready-made paneer at the Indian grocery store, or better still, you can make your own paneer at home by following my very simple, fail-proof homemade paneer recipe.
- You can use either fresh or frozen spinach for this. If you’re using frozen, just break up the blocks of spinach a little.
- You can also mix up greens for this such as adding swiss chard, collard greens, or mustard greens. This would make it more of a saag paneer since Palak means spinach. It’s actually very tasty that way.
Wendy
I love this dish so much! It’s what I order every single time we go to an Indian restaurant if they don’t have a buffet. I’m not sure if this recipe called for a little too much cumin for my taste or if I accidentally put too much in (I’m not very good about actually getting spoons out. I tend to just just estimate, and I’m usually prettygood. I have noticed my newest bottle of cumin is way stronger than any I’ve bought before so that might be it as well.) I’ll just use less cumin next time. My daughter loves it, too. My boys prefer matar paneer and really dislike spinach, so I made both tonight.
Diane Wimmer
Super easy, super good. I am lucky to have an Indian Market about 5 blocks from my house….found paneer there.
Diane Wimmer
Made this tonight….found the paneer at a local Indian market. Served with Garlic Naan….excellent dinner.
URVASHI PITRE
Yay! Gladd
Judy
Thank you for this recipe but ours came out so bitter and I only used a small portion of Garmon Masala. We used evaporated coconut milk but still had to add some other
Masking agents for the bitter Garmon Masala.
I don’t know why no one else thought it was too bitter.
Gina
Hi Esther, I have made this dish the traditional way and always freeze a batch or two. Have not had any issues with the Paneer or taste overall. In fact, I make paneer in large quantity, bake pieces at 350 F until slightly browned and then freeze it. Then I add it straight from the freezer to the dish and heat it through. Not had any issues. I make sure that there is a little extra liquid in the dish for the frozen paneer to absorb and soften.
Brent Weaver
I used Mexican Panela cheese (similar texture to Paneer) with good results. Love this recipe!
Jasmin
Dumped everything on the pot and turned on. Super delicious. Thank you!
Esther
Making my way through your cookbook and just made this last night (along with the paneer recipe for the second time). Both came out amazingly. I’m pregnant with my first and am looking for meals that I can freeze ahead – do you think this will freeze well? (Thinking maybe the paneer won’t hold up to the cold temperature so well but maybe?)
Shannon
Made this over the weekend. So yummy! Palak Paneer has always been one of my favourite Indian dishes, yet the stove top recipes I’ve seen for it were way too labour intensive, as well seemed to take too long. It was much easier to buy premade stuff from the store, or a restaurant. This recipe, especially being an Instant Pot one, is just so simple and easy. This will be remade many many times.
Elaine Brami
Great recipe! I make Palak Paneer pretty regularly, and this way is SO much easier! I simmered for a bit after releasing the pressure and pureeing, and I added some dry kasoori methi. I also used green chilis instead of jalapenos. Delish!