Palak paneer recipe – Indian cottage cheese in smooth creamy delicious spinach gravy. Palak paneer is one of the most loved North Indian dishes that’s eaten with roti, paratha, naan, jeera rice or even with plain rice. It is very easy to prepare and can be made in so many ways. This is an easy and healthy palak paneer recipe which I finally arrived at after trying so many other recipes.
In this palak paneer recipe, I have not blanched the spinach to prevent loss of nutrients. In most Indian recipes spinach is not blanched and used directly to make dal palak, spinach paratha, palak rice, spinach omelette, aloo palak and many other recipes as the nutrients are lost when blanched.
This palak paneer is the best I have made in the years. Not blanching the spinach and frying it for a short time is what makes this delicious. However this recipe also works with blanched spinach. I would recommend blanching, if you have been on a low oxalate diet and do not consume spinach without blanching in any other foods.
To make palak paneer, always spinach is blanched prior to making a puree. But if you are trying to make the best palak paneer, give it a try without blanching. I am sure you will wonder how good this tastes and completely different from the one made with blanched spinach.
To get the best color, keep garam masala to minimum in this recipe and also prevent overcooking which darkens the dish. You can check more palak recipes here which I have shared on the blog.
More Paneer recipes
Paneer butter masala
Malai kofta
Paneer makhani
Easy paneer bhurji
Paneer lababdar
Palak paneer recipe
Palak paneer recipe | How to make palak paneer recipe
Simple palak paneer recipe - Indian cottage cheese in simmered onion tomato spinach gravy. It is served with plain or flavored rice, paratha, naan or roti.
Ingredients (240 ml cup used)
Ingredients for palak paneer recipe
- 1 cup paneer heaped cup, cubes or Indian cottage cheese (150 grams)
- 2 cups palak or indian spinach, tightly packed (100 grams)
- 2 tbsp Oil or butter as needed
- 2 to 3 green chilies deseeded
- ¾ cup onions fine chopped or ½ cup paste
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste or garlic paste
- ½ cup tomatoes (deseeded) or puree
- ¼ tsp kasuri methi or dried fenugreek leaves
- 2 to 4 tbsp Fresh cream or 10 cashews (refer notes)
- salt as needed
Dry spices for palak paneer
- 1 inch cinnamon or dalchini
- 2 green cardamoms or elaichi
- 2 cloves or laung
- 1/8 tsp cumin or jeera
Spice powders for palak paneer recipe
- ½ tsp coriander powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp cumin powder or jeera powder
- ¼ to ½ tsp garam masala
How to make the recipe
Preparation for palak paneer
For best taste always use young and tender palak. Check each spinach leaf for worms. Pluck only the leaves and discard the stems as they may leave a bitter taste.
- Add to a large pot of water. I usually spray vinegar and leave for 10 mins before rinsing them to remove the pesticide residue.
Discard the water and rinse them again a few times. Remove them to a colander.
optional for low oxalate diet - If you prefer to blanch, then bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Then add the spinach to it along with ¼ tsp salt. Keep them for 2 mins and remove to a bowl of water with 10 ice cubes in it. After 2 minutes remove to a colander.
This step is optional. Firstly fry paneer in a pan with 1 tsp oil for 2 to 3 mins. To keep them soft, you can also drop them in water and leave for 10 to 15 mins. Drain and set aside.
In the same pan, add green chilies and spinach as well. Fry for just 2 to 3 mins on a medium heat. Spinach must wilt off thoroughly. Do not overcook. Set aside to cool.
Blend spinach with green chilies to a smooth puree in a mixer jar.
How to make palak paneer gravy
Heat a pan with oil. Next add cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves and cumin. When they begin to splutter add onions and fry till they turn transparent.
- Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes away.
Then put in tomatoes and sprinkle salt. Next fry till they turn mushy.
Next add kasuri methi, garam masala and coriander or cumin powder. Saute until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
- Pour half cup water and stir. Cook until the mixture thickens.
Next simmer the flame, add the pureed spinach. Mix well and cook until it begins to bubble for about 2 mins.
- Add paneer and mix. Switch off.
- This step is optional. If using cream add it now. As a substitute to cream, you can soak 10 cashews in warm water for 15 mins and blend to a smooth milk cream consistency.
- Serve palak paneer with naan, roti or rice.
Recipe Notes
Notes for palak paneer recipe
Take care not to add too much water or too much cream as it will make your gravy thin. A thicker gravy tastes better.
If using cashews, soak them in warm water for 15 minutes and blend to a smooth puree. Alternately you can soak almonds for about 4 hours, peel off the skin and blend to a smooth paste or milk.
Serving suggestions: palak paneer goes well with
Indian flat breads like roti, naan or plain paratha.
Plain or flavoured rice like jeera rice, biryani rice or ghee rice or veg pulao.
How to make palak paneer recipe – Preparation
1. Avoid using stems or stalks of palak. Use only young and fresh spinach. Wash cleaned palak thoroughly in a large pot filled with water. I also sprinkle vinegar and salt to remove the pesticide residue. Rinse a few times more. Drain off the water completely.
If you are on a low oxalate diet then you can blanch the spinach by following the steps mentioned in the recipe card above.
2. This step is optional. Heat a pan with 1 tsp oil and saute panir just for 2 to 3 mins. You can add them to warm water and leave for 10 to 15 mins to keep them soft. Drain and set aside. I do not add to water.
3. To the same pan add another tsp oil, then saute green chilies and palak on a medium heat.
4. Switch off when the leaves wilt off. This takes only 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overcook, spinach takes only 2 to 3 mins to cook. If there is any stock of spinach left, you can use up. You need not evaporate it.
5. Cool it completely. Add to a blender with green chilies. We are not going to use red chilli powder, so the heat comes only from green chilies. Mine were not hot, so I used 3.
6. Make a smooth paste. Set aside.
Make palak paneer gravy
7. Heat oil in a pan or pot. Add cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and jeera as well. Do not skip the dry spices as we are not going to use much garam masala in powder form which helps to retain a good color.
8. Add onions or onion paste. Fry until golden.
9. Add ginger garlic paste or garlic paste alone. Fry until the raw smell goes off.
10. Add deseeded tomatoes or tomato puree and salt.
11. When the tomatoes turn fully mushy, add crushed kasuri methi, coriander powder and garam masala. You can also add kasuri methi later along with pureed palak.
12. Saute until the masala smells good for 2 to 3 mins or until it begins to leave the sides of the pan.
13. Add half cup water and cook on a medium heat.
14. When the gravy thickens, lower the flame completely. Next add the puree.
15. Mix it well and cook until it begins to bubble just for about 2 mins. I do not suggest cooking for long at this stage as it discolors the gravy.
How to make palak paneer
16. Add the fried paneer. Mix well. Switch off the stove.
17. This step is optional. To make the palak paneer gravy creamy and tasty like in restaurants, add cream or cashew milk or almond milk. If using cashews, soak them in warm water for 15 minutes and then blend to smooth puree of thickened milk or cream consistency. For health reasons, if you like to avoid cashews, you can also use almonds. Soak them in water for about 4 hours. Remove the skin and blend them.
Serve palak paneer with rice, roti or paratha.
Victoria Ben says
Yummy recipe. I doubled the recipe and made it. Much tasty than what I had eaten in restaurants. Thank you for the recipes. Keep inspiring us!
swasthi says
Hi Victoria
You are welcome. Thank you very much for trying. Glad to know you liked palak paneer.
Thanks again
🙂
Gauba says
How to overcome bitterness of palak
swasthi says
Hi
The bitter taste lies in the stems of the spinach. You should always discard the stems and even remove the prominent part of it from each leaf if the spinach is not young. Always use young spinach and avoid aged as it tastes metallic and bitter. Also avoid overcooking it. Hope this helps
April says
Love love this blog for all Indian recipes. Your palak paneer tasted seriously amazing! After reading the comments I made this and it tasted much much better than I had eaten in the restaurants. Great work! Thank you
swasthi says
Welcome April
Thank you very much. Glad it turned out good.
🙂
DP says
Wow, this is the second recipe of yours that I tried and it was delicous! I also made the pav bhaji. My hopes in getting my Indian food to taste like my non-Indian cooking were not high. So many indian cooking blogs don’t deliver when you try out the recipes. Your recipes actually work. So excited. Thank you!
swasthi says
Welcome DP
Thanks for trying. Glad to know the recipes turned out good.
Thanks again for the comment.
🙂
Shweta Bansal says
Awesome recipe. I normally blanched the spinach but this time followed your step of frying and it really turned out well. I just added a dash of lemon in the end for the extra tang.
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Shweta
Valentina Gianetti says
This palak paneer is simply amazing! thank you
Ravali Bnk says
Ur recipes r always yummy
Radhika says
Hi Swasthi
Tried this palak paneer for the first time. Fantastic!!
Nazifa says
Hello I want to try your recipe, recently I had an amazing palak paneer but the spinach was not pureed, would you know how to do it in that style using your recipe?
Thanks in advance!
swasthi says
Hi Nazifa
Palak paneer gravy is always made of pureed palak. You can check this recipe of palak paneer bhurji where I have made without pureeing the palak
Helen says
Thank you so much for the awesome recipe. Your recipes are so good that makes me love cooking.
Vasavi says
😋 yummy
Yogitha says
Wow and wow!! I was stunned at this very good and delicious palak paneer. The flavour of palak is so much good in this dish. Thankful to you. I also tried ur kofta recipe last week . Absolute winner!!!
Jaya says
Very good recipe I have made it 4 times this month. Beats even the restaurant palak paneer. Keep up the good work dear swasthi!!
Sofi says
I made the palak paneer tasted awesome. I want to make your butter chicken with naan. Pls show me where is the naan recipe. I couldn’t find it on your blog
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Sofi. I haven’t posted a naan recipe yet on the blog. Will try to share it
Ce says
Perfection!
Naina says
Hey Swasthi,
I have tried a lot of recipes from your blog. Every recipe has turned out to be the best. Keep up the good work. Thanks a ton for the wonderful recipes
Prajakta says
Swasthi, my husband is a big fan of palak paneer and is always looking to have a tasty one. Your recipe has done miracles and has won tremendous accolades from him! Thank you!
Prajakta says
Swasthi, my husband is a big fan of palak paneer and is always looking to have a tasty one. Your recipe has done miracles and has won tremendous accolades from him! Thanks you!
Rupa says
So far the best palak paneer recipe .
Anna says
Making Palak paneer was always a nightmare for me. Usually the curry tastes bit bland but this time it’s sucess .i just followed the recipie and the curry turned out to be too good.so thought of posting the review
Deepthi says
This turned awesome for me..i really like the way you give detailed explanation of everything and the minute details you provide.. It makes us cook perfect recipes easily, even for beginners like me.. Thanks a lot ?
I had a query though,i like to repeat this every fortnight. And i heard this from many that frequent combination of palak and tomato isn’t good for your kidneys… Can you suggest me with an alternative for tomato, without much compromise of taste..
swasthi says
Welcome Deepti,
Firstly, As per my understanding, Oxalates that may cause kidney stones are present in the tomato seeds. So it should be safe to eat tomatoes without seeds along with palak.
Secondly, the high amount of oxalates in palak will neutralize when combined with any dairy. since paneer is used it should be fine.
I also make this palak paneer without tomato as my kids don’t like its skin. You can try this method. Saute some cashews along with palak and puree them. Then skip tomatoes and make the recipe the same way. Just before serving I squeeze in little lemon juice for the tang. It works well for our taste. You can try it and share your feedback.
Thanks for trying the recipes.
🙂
Janu says
Hi swati
I made the palak paneer without tomato just like the way you mentioned but added little curd for the tang. It turned out good and we all loved it.Thank you
Uma says
Hello Swathi
Today I made this recipe it came out super . usually I don’t like blanching palak but I used to do for some recipes. I liked your idea of just sauting in oil and grinding
This gravey tasted nice with rice also.
mahjabeen Khaliq says
Hey Swasthi – thank you so much for your lovely palak paneer recipe – it turned out beautifully although like most Indian and Pakistani cooks I go by instinct how much masala to add and I am one of those who is lazy to measure out things, nevertheless just followed through your recipe and this is the first time it turned out so authentic – just loved it! Bless you and your kitchen!
Randi says
I used one jalapeno pepper instead of 2-3 green chilies (because that’s what was in the fridge) and it was perfect for us. As a reference when requesting food at a restaurant (Indian, Mexican or Thai) we tell them we like our food at about Norte Americano palate of 4/5 spice) Why would you blanch spinach, when you can do it this way? Saving that step was what made me decide to try this recipe….I could say I like saving the nutrients , but really, I’m just lazy.
Reshu Agarwal says
Superb taste….very easy to make
swasthi says
Thank you
Merlyn says
Very simple to make and tasted very good. The masala were beautifully balanced.
Thanks
BINOJ K B says
Yesterday I tried for Paneer Butter Masala , and let me say frankly it was amazing…Thnx for the recipe….
Jayalaksmi says
Thanks for the recipe. It turned out very tasty. kasturi mehti added a special flavor. added one more masala star anise 2 nos( fried, grind) I also used home made fresh paneer at the end.. it was easy to follow & . Made our dinner remarkable by the kids.