Paneer Sizzler with Shashlik Sauce
on Aug 24, 2026
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A sizzler at home might sound like a big project, but this paneer sizzler is honestly a lot easier than it looks. Once you see how simple each step actually is, you’ll wonder why you ever paid restaurant prices for one.
This paneer sizzler is the vegetarian version of our Chicken sizzler, and if you’ve made that one before, you already know most of the steps. If you haven’t, don’t worry. The recipe has a few components, but each one is really simple on its own, things like sautéing veggies, making a quick sauce, and cooking some herb rice.
Once everything is prepped, the final assembly is just a couple of minutes of putting it all together on the hot plate. I’d suggest prepping the different components earlier in the day so you’re not doing everything at once. That way when it’s time to eat, you can actually enjoy the assembly and the sizzle instead of rushing through it.
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Ingredients for Paneer Sizzler
Paneer: Cut into 4 squares or rectangles and marinate for 10-15 minutes before frying.
Paneer Marinade: Ginger garlic paste, salt, pepper, green chilli sauce, and soy sauce.
Shashlik Sauce: Ginger, garlic, celery, tomato ketchup, vinegar, sriracha, soy sauce, vegetable stock, pepper, sugar, salt, and cornflour slurry.
Herb Rice: Cooked rice sautéed with butter, garlic, and spring onion greens.
Vegetables: Broccoli, beans, carrots, and cabbage.
Mushrooms: Shiitake or shimeji, halved, sautéed with onion rings.
Potato Wedges: Fried, served on the plate alongside everything else.
Butter & Oil: Used across different components for cooking and flavour.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are two possible reasons. Either the sizzler plate wasn’t heated long enough, or the sauce wasn’t hot enough when you poured it. The plate needs to be smoking hot, which takes a good 5-7 minutes on high heat. And the sauce has to be at a rolling boil when it hits the plate. If either one has cooled down, you won’t get the sizzle.
You can serve all the same components on a regular plate, and it’ll taste just as good, you just won’t get the sizzling effect. If you want to get close, heat a cast iron skillet until it’s very hot, transfer everything onto it, and pour the boiling sauce at the table. It won’t be the same, but you’ll get some sizzle.
Yes. Firm tofu works well here. Cut it into similar sized pieces, marinate it the same way, and fry until golden on all sides. It holds up well on the sizzler plate and absorbs the sauce nicely.
Richa’s Top Tips
- Heat the sizzler plate until it smokes. This is the most important step. If the plate isn’t hot enough, there will be no sizzle or smoke and the whole experience will fall flat. Give it a good 5-7 minutes on high heat before you start assembling.
- The shashlik sauce must be boiling when you pour it. If the sauce has cooled down even slightly, it won’t sizzle when it hits the plate. Keep it on the stove at a rolling boil right until the moment you’re ready to pour.
- Don’t overcook the paneer while frying. 2-3 minutes on medium heat is enough to get a light golden colour. If you fry it too long, the paneer will turn hard and rubbery on the sizzler plate.
- Blanch the vegetables before sautéing. The vegetables don’t get enough cooking time during the final assembly, so if they go on the plate raw, they’ll stay raw. A quick one-minute blanch followed by an ice bath keeps them cooked but still crunchy.
- Don’t forget the cabbage under the rice. The sizzler plate is extremely hot, and rice placed directly on it will burn and stick almost immediately. The cabbage strips act as a barrier and keep everything in place.
Storage Tips
- In the fridge: Store each component separately in airtight containers for up to 2 days. The shashlik sauce, herb rice, sautéed veggies, mushrooms, and fried paneer all keep well individually. Keeping them separate means you can reheat and assemble a fresh sizzler whenever you want.
- Freezing: The shashlik sauce freezes well for up to two weeks. The rest of the components are best made fresh. Because overtime the veggies lose their crunch and the paneer can turn rubbery after freezing.
- Reheating tip: Reheat the sauce on the stove until it’s at a rolling boil, warm the rice and veggies separately, and heat the sizzler plate from scratch. The sizzle only works when the plate and sauce are both piping hot, so don’t rush this step even when reheating.
Serving Ideas
A sizzler Paneer is a complete meal on its own, but if you want to make it feel like a full restaurant experience:
- Start with Sweet Corn Soup or Eight Treasure Soup: A warm bowl of soup before the sizzler arrives at the table sets the whole mood.
- With Dominos Style Garlic Breadsticks: Something to munch on while the sizzler is being assembled.
- End with Mocha Lava Cake: A warm, gooey lava cake after the sizzler makes it a proper three-course meal at home.
Customisation Ideas
- Make it vegan: Swap the paneer for firm tofu and use oil instead of butter across the components. The shashlik sauce is already vegan, so the rest of the sizzler stays the same.
- Try a different sauce: Use the garlic pepper sauce from our Chicken sizzler instead for a spicier, more peppery version.
- Add more protein: Grilled mushroom steaks, marinated tofu slices, or even a fried egg on the side can make the sizzler feel more substantial.
- Switch up the veggies: Baby corn, asparagus, bell peppers, and zucchini all work well on a sizzler plate. Use whatever is in season and looks good at the market.
- Make a Mexican style sizzler: Swap the shashlik sauce for a spicy salsa, replace the herb rice with chilli garlic fried rice, and add some guacamole and sour cream on the side for a completely different experience.
Did You Know?
Shashlik sauce originated in Central Asia and has nothing to do with Indian or continental cooking. The word “shashlik” comes from the Turkic word for skewered meat, and the sauce was originally used to baste kebabs cooked over open flames. Somewhere along the way, Indian restaurants adopted the name for a tangy, tomato-vinegar-based sauce that bears little resemblance to the original. The Indian version has its own identity now, sweeter, tangier, and thickened with cornflour, and it’s become one of the most popular sizzler sauces in the country.
Making a sizzler at home is a lot more doable than most people think. And this paneer sizzler recipe is proof. Take it one step at a time, don’t rush the prep, and make sure the sauce is boiling when you pour it. That’s really all there is to it. When you make it, come show me on Instagram @my_foodstory, I’d love to see your sizzler moment.
Watch Paneer Sizzler Recipe Video
Paneer Sizzler with Shashlik Sauce
Ingredients
Shashlik sauce
- 2 teaspoons sunflower or any neutral cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced celery
- 2 ½ tablespoons tomato ketchup
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha or red chilli sauce
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon pepper, crushed
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon corn flour mixed in ¼ cup water
Paneer marinade
- 100 grams paneer, cut into 4 squares or rectangles
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed pepper
- ½ teaspoon green chilli sauce
- ½ teaspoon light soy sauce
Herb rice
- ½ teaspoon butter
- 1 teaspoon grated garlic
- ¾ cup cooked rice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped spring onion greens
Other
- 6-8 florets of broccoli
- 8 beans, cut into 2
- 2 carrots, cut into 2 inch strips
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- 1 tablespoon sunflower or any neutral cooking oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion cut into rings
- ½ cup halved mushrooms, shiitake, shimeji
- 4-5 cabbage leaves, cut into ½ inch wide strips
- 7-8 fried potato wedges
Instructions
Marinating paneer
- Add all the ingredients for marinade to a bowl, mix well and set aside for the paneer to marinate for 10-15 minutes.
Herb rice
- Heat ½ teaspoon of butter in a pan or kadai, add garlic and saute for a few secons till it turns light golden. Add rice, salt, mix well, top with spring onion greens. Set aside.
Sauteeing veggies
- Blanching veggies: Keep a large bowl of ice cold water ready. Boil 1½ cups of water in a pot, add ¼ teaspoon of salt, broccoli, beans, carrots and cook for maximum of 1 minute and take off the heat. Drain the water & dip them in ice cold water & drain again. Set aside.
- Sauteeing veggies: Heat a pan or kadai with a teaspoon of butter, add the blanched veggies, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and saute for 1-2 minutes till they turn glossy from the outside.
Sauteeing mushrooms
- Heat a pan or kadai with 1 teaspoon of oil, add onion rings and saute for a minute till they turn translucent, add mushrooms, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and saute for 1-2 minutes till they are lightly roasted.
Shashlik sauce
- Heat oil in a pan or kadai, add ginger, garlic, celery and saute on high for a few seconds till fragrant. Add vegetable stock, stir well, bring to a boil. Add ketchup, vinegar, sriracha, soy sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, stir and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add cornflour slurry while stirring continuously, once it starts boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes till the sauce thickens and turns glossy. Set aside.
Frying paneer
- Heat a flat-bottomed pan with 2 teaspoons of oil, add marinated paneer and fry on medium for 2-3 minutes till they are roasted well.
Making of Sizzler
- Heat the sizzler pan on high heat till it smokes and using tongs or kitchen gloves, place it on the wooden base. Add 1 teaspoon of butter to the sizzler pan, spread the cabbage leaf strips to cover the pan and saute for a few seconds. Spread herb rice on top of cabbage leaves, add the sauteed veggies & potato wedges. Place the roasted paneer on top of veggies, add mushrooms on top of paneer, pour the boiling hot garlic pepper sauce (refer note 4) on top of the paneer & mushrooms and also around the sizzler plate. The sauce will sizzle & smoke and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- You may add any veggies, mushrooms of your choice in the sizzler.
- Blanching veggies is very important to ensure that the veggies are not raw when served in the sizzler.
- Cabbage leaves are added so that the rice does not stick to the sizzler pan and does not get burnt while serving.
- Shashlik sauce has to be boiling hot when poured on the sizzler as it ensures the sizzling & smoking effect.
This article was researched and written by Harita Odedra.
