This Easy Palak Paneer recipe tastes incredible with a few secret tips and tricks to get that same restaurant style flavour. You don't need to pre blanch the spinach, or add too many masalas. Quick, easy but so good!!
Palak paneer is a house favourite and I've been improving my recipe for years. I'm talking about a creamy, mildly flavoured herby green gravy that doesn't have any bitter spinach flavour or is heavy on spices. This is an easy recipe which means that there are no complicated steps, no long list of masalas, no major prep work. And the flavors are so restaurant style that I might almost stop ordering palak paneer outside.
This right here is a gem! Every bite will make you close your eyes and want more. Dip some garlic naan or scoop it up with some jeera rice.
Quick Walk Through: Palak Paneer
Blanching Spinach for Palak Paneer
Most palak paneer recipes on the internet will tell you to blanch spinach in hot water for a minute or two till it wilts and then immediately transfer it to cold water to stop the cooking process. Honestly, we don't need that. That's just one extra step which results in two extra things you have to clean. My method here is really unconventional - the spinach is lightly sauteed with onion, garlic and fresh coriander till it wilts. Exactly the same result as blanching without the extra effort.
Base of the Gravy
The base of the gravy comes from onions, garlic, tomatoes and all that spinach of course. What I've tried to do here is to retain the beautiful spinach flavour while cutting out the bitterness. Cooking it lightly and blending it with cooked onion and garlic makes an extra creamy gravy.
Secret Ingredient in this recipe
The secret ingredient in my recipe is fresh Coriander. I use some and blend it with spinach. It makes this dish taste herby, fresh and keeps it green without adding any coriander flavour. Nobody will guess!
Extra Garlic Tadka
I'm a big fan of garlic and my favourite way to boost that flavour is to add a spicy garlic tadka in the end. But even I'll admit, this one time, I liked palak paneer better without the tadka. Its an option in the recipe if you want to go with it, but just taste the palak paneer without it and you'll be amazed at how good it already is, and how little it needs.
Top Tips to make Restaurant Style Palak Paneer
- Preparing Spinach: If you want a truly creamy gravy, remove the hardy stems of spinach and only use the leaves. The stems are nutritious but make the gravy more fibrous
- Use only Green Chillies: For a natural bright green colour in palak paneer, use only green chillies for heat. Don't add any red chilli powder because that's one sure shot way of making the gravy brownish. Plus we have more chilli powder in the tadka that goes on top but doesn't affect the colour in any way
- Mild Spices: Stick to the recipe and don't go heavy on the spices. This recipe really doesn't need it. Let the beautiful flavour of palak or spinach really shine
- Coriander: Don't skip the coriander in the recipe because it helps keep that green intact and also cuts the bitterness out of the dish
- Don't overcook: Palak paneer becomes brownish when you over cook the spinach puree. At both times - first when sauteeing the spinach with onions, and later after you add the pureed spinach to the pan, cook for only 1-2 minutes. Bring the puree to a gentle boil and turn off the flame, because the longer you cook, the more oxidisation will take place and you'll leave that naturally beautiful bright green colour.
- Don't skip the cream: We are not using much - just 2 tablespoons of cream in the entire recipe which serves four. It adds volume to the gravy and makes it rich and luxurious.
- Vegan Palak Paneer: Palak paneer is easily made into a vegan recipe. Swap the paneer for tofu, the cream for coconut cream and the ghee for oil.
Is this palak paneer giving you the green, healthy feels yet?
If you try this out, Iโd love to see your creations on Instagram. Tag your pictures #myfoodstory and Iโd be sure to say hi!
This post was first published on January 11, 2017 and updated on 16 June, 2021 with significant changes to the recipe to improve the flavours and new images.
Watch the Video
Easy Palak Paneer Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Ghee divided
- 6 Garlic Cloves chopped
- 1-2 Green Chilli chopped
- 1 Onion sliced
- 150 grams chopped Palak (spinach), stems and roots removed - approximately one bunch
- 10 grams fresh Coriander stems and roots removed - approximately ยผ cup
- 1 Bayleaf
- 2 Cardamom Pods
- 2 Cloves
- 1 large Tomato finely chopped
- ยฝ teaspoon Jeera Powder
- ยฝ teaspoon Coriander Powder
- ยผ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Kasuri Methi roasted and crushed into a powder
- 2 tablespoon Cream
- 200 grams Paneer cut into cubes
For the Tadka/Tempering
- 1.5 tablespoons Ghee
- 5 Garlic Cloves smashed with skin on
- 2-3 whole dried Red Chillies
- 1 teaspoon Jeera
- 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
Instructions
- Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a pan and saute garlic for 30 seconds. Add sliced onions and green chillies and saute till the onion is just starting to become light brown. Add the palak (spinach) and coriander leaves and saute for a minute. Then turn off the heat and cover and let the leaves wilt for another 2-3 minutes. Set this aside to cool and then blend to a paste.
- In a bowl, add paneer and cover this with hot water. Let this sit for 10 minutes. This step is optional, but it helps soften the paneer.
- In the same pan, heat ghee and saute bayleaf, cardamom and cloves for a minute. Add tomatoes, jeera powder, coriander powder and salt and cook the tomatoes for 4-5 minutes till soft. Add kasuri methi and garam masala and cook for another minute.
- Add the pureed spinach and bring this to a gentle boil. Then turn off the heat, add the cream and paneer and let the paneer warm up in the hot gravy. If you havenโt soaked your paneer in hot water earlier, then let the paneer simmer in the gravy for a minute.
- Finally make the tadka by add ghee and garlic to a small pan. Cook the garlic till its a golden brown. Then add whole red chillies and jeera. Once the jeera starts spluttering, turn off the flame and add chilli powder.
- Pour this tadka on the palak paneer for an extra garlicky kick! Serve hot.
Video
Notes
- Use fresh tender spinach leaves. You can discard the stems or use them for any other dish. Tender stems however, can be used.ย
- I only use paneer for this dish. However, it is super versatile. You can add your favourite vegetables like mushrooms, bell peppers, potato etc., or even proteins like shrimp, chicken or mutton. The cook time will vary accordingly.
- To make this dish vegan, you can substitute fresh cream with coconut cream. You can also skip the cream if required.ย ย
- If the spinach tastes bitter, you can add half a teaspoon of sugar and adjust it to your liking.ย
Ninoshka says
Yumm! Easy and healthy!!
Richa says
Glad you liked it Ninoshka! Also love your name ๐
Seema says
Thanks for this recipe Richa! I cook reasonably well and have tried many versions of Palak Paneer but this one is a hit. It has become one of my favorites. Also your slow cooker Dal makhani is another superhit recipe.
Richa says
Thanks so much Seema! So glad you enjoyed both these recipe!
Sugandha says
Absolutely delicious. I would pay for the Palak Paneer I cooked using this recipe!
Richa says
Thank you so so much Sugandha! So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
SAyali says
It was really easy to make and it tasted Fab! ๐
Richa says
Sounds fantastic! Thank you so much Sayali. So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Aparna Poojari says
It's an amazing recipe. My kids loved it. I used a slight variation as I didn't have cream with me so I used full fat milk. Will be using this recipe again.
Richa says
Fantastic! I'm so glad your kids loved it Aparna. Thanks for leaving a comment.
Manoj Grover says
Sitting at home in lockdown state , have been following your post on insta on a regular basis and opted to have my fav dish palak paneer and went through your simple step guide to make one for family with help of my better half
It turned out a perfect 10 on 10 but wife gave me 9 on 10 as she made the parathas so 1 mark cut for me not able to make those
It was such a simple recipe and the cashews magical ingredients was the icing on the dish
Truly loved it and will try more dishes in coming 2 weeks
Richa says
This is so cute Manoj. Thanks for leaving a comment and I'm so happy you and your wife enjoyed this ๐
Yesenia M Serrano says
This recipe was amazing!! It was suuper easy and Fun and it tasted like something you would have from a rest. It will be something I would like e again. Some of my friends thought it was awesome and asked me for the recipe.
Richa says
Thanks Yesenia, glad you enjoyed it!
Jenn says
We are allergic to nut. Can we just leave out the cashews? Is there something we can substitute?
Richa says
Sure, you can leave them out and add some heavy cream instead.
Mary says
I was looking for an easy recipe. This was super easy and it taste just like I wanted . Thanks!
Richa says
Thanks Mary! Really glad you liked it
Santini says
I'm looking forward to try this one on the weekend but I'm pretty sure this one is delicious! This is an amazing recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Richa says
Thanks Santini!
smriti says
I tried your recipe and I did not blanch the spinach which made the palak paneer taste really bitter. I expected it to taste really good based on the comments but unfortunately it did not go very well for me.
Richa says
I'm so sorry to hear that Smriti. Did you cook the gravy for the time specified in the recipe or make any other changes to it?
MF says
Would frozen spinach work for this recipe? Looks lovely!!
Richa says
Yes, frozen spinach will work well!
Dil says
Such a delicious receipe and very easy to follow! My palak paneer was a hit with the family.
Richa says
Yay! So glad to hear that Diljeet
FARIDA BANU says
The way of presentation is wonderful.
Jahnavi says
Hi Richa,
Love your recipe for saag paneer. It was easy to make and my family loved it. My only question is you mentioned garam masala in the ingredients list but didn't mention where to add it in the instructions. I'm assuming it should be added with the bay leaf, cinnamon extra. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Richa says
Hey Jahnavi, so glad you liked this recipe. I'm sorry I missed the garam masala, but you should add it right towards the end. I've fixed that - thanks for pointing it out.